Meet Pratyush Pandey, who was an IIT Kanpur passed out civil engineer and an IIM Ahmedabad MBA before clearing the Civil Service examination 2019 with AIR 21 in his very first attempt. Although he had a technical background, he chose Sociology as his optional and cleared the examination with flying colors. In our series of UPSC success stories, Indian Masterminds presents the UPSC journey of Pratyush Pandey, focusing mainly on his preparation strategy.
BACKGROUND
Pratyush Pandey hails from Delhi and did his early education from Sanskriti School. He did B.Tech. in Civil Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2017. After completing his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, Pratyush appeared in CSE 2019 for the first time. It was his proper understanding of the demand of this examination that made him clear it in the first attempt itself.
In an interaction with media, Pratyush had said, “I never followed any topper’s strategy. The basic understanding of topics is the key that can help you to prepare specifically. It is needed in the beginning so that you do not waste your time on unnecessary reading. To develop this understanding, I went through a lot of blogs that also helped me to prepare my book list.”
ON OPTIONAL
Pratyush said that choosing optional is a point where most of the aspirants struggle the most. “Having an engineering and management background, it was difficult for me, too, to decide what to choose as my optional. Juggling among Civil Engineering, Mathematics and even Philosophy, I finally chose Sociology, mainly due to time constraints and my interest in this particular subject as well.”
Talking about strategy, he said, ” Initially, you need to narrow down 3-4 subjects of your interest and should go through previous year papers. Your interest, familiarity with the subject, length of syllabus, time constraints, and most importantly, the availability of resources are some key points which I recommend to think about before finalising the optional.”
MAKING NOTES
According to Pratyush, one should not make notes in the beginning. “Initially, we don’t have an idea of important topics due to which everything seems important.” To understand the strategy of note making, he suggests going through the video of CSE 2018 topper Akshat Jain and IPS officer Archit Chandak’s blog. “Always remember, make notes short and crispy because ultimately you have to revise it again and again.”
Stressing on attempting mock test series, he says, “Giving mocks always develops the sense of elimination and guessing while choosing the right answer.”
STRATEGY FOR MAINS
Talking about his Mains experience, he said, “When I went through toppers answer sheets, one thing that I realised was, writing 3-4 excellent points does not bring you more marks. Instead, focus on writing 10 to 12 points which may be of an average category. Following the keywords of the question and breaking your answer into pointers make it more catchy.”
He advocates adopting a particular framework while writing answers. “For example, in Ethics, the answer should be framed with introduction, approach, options analysis and conclusion. Following this process increases the probability of getting good marks.”
IMPORTANCE OF EDITORIALS
The importance of editorials from the Interview point of view cannot be brushed aside. Pratyush tells us why they are in fact more important for the interview round.
“In an interview, you need to express your opinion too, and here editorials play an important role as your support pillars. It’s ok to not agree with the interview panel on any matter. You can just express your opinion with a particular reason; it’s like a natural conversation and nothing beyond that. Keep one thing in mind though: do not argue and maintain dignity while expressing your points.”
Last but not the least, he said that the civil service examination is not a test of our genius. “You don’t need to be from top notch colleges like IIT, IIM. If you are willing to make an effort and do not expect someone to spoonfeed you, then you are the one who can clear the exam.”
