When becoming a civil servant becomes a passion, clearing UPSC CSE becomes a necessity as it is the gateway to civil services. Ishu Agrawal is an example. He passionately pursued his IAS passion and cleared UPSC CSE 2021 with AIR 81. We present his success story today.
FROM CA TO CIVIL SERVICES
26-year-old Ishu was a Chartered Accountant (CA) and had a good career going. But his passion was something else: civil service. And to pursue it, he was prepared to leave everything, be it a good paying job or a comfortable life.
He cleared CA in the first attempt itself and became a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in 2018. But his heart lay always in civil services. So, he started preparation for UPSC CSE and cleared it this year.
He said, “If one has self-belief, confidence, and willingness to put in the hard work, then nothing is impossible. People face mental breakdowns and even lose friends, but their aim should not be dismantled due to such small things.”
BEGINNING
Ishu hails from Dhamtari district of Chhattisgarh. His father Vijay Aggarwal does timber work. His mother Savita is a housewife. He also has a younger sister who is an interior designer by profession. Ishu has been a student of commerce. He says that he was good in commerce and after passing the CA examination, he had offers from good companies, but his dream was to become a collector. While practicing CA, he simultaneously started preparing for civil services.
He said, “I come from a very humble background. I feel that people around me have played a very essential part in my growth. So, I also want to give them back something. That is why, I has always been inclined towards civil services.”
PREPARATION
It was three years ago that Ishu decided to prepare for the UPSC exam. This was his second attempt. He did not get success in his first attempt, but with his hard work and dedication, he passed the examination this time with a good rank. In the first attempt in 2020, he cracked prelims but missed the mains by 9 marks. That was the time when Ishu started shrinking mentally because he faced failure for the first time in his academic career and he couldn’t get over it as he had always been an achiever before.
After failing in his first attempt, he came to know a lot about the exam, like which type of questions are asked in the prelims, or when to start preparation for mains, etc. Then he joined coaching for a few days in his town to know the complete pattern and syllabus.
After this, he prepared his own formula to prepare for the second attempt, which he named ‘Tracking Formula’. He says that along with doing all his CA work during the day, he used to study in between. “Meanwhile, I used to track the time. From this,I would know how much time was spent in studies and how many hours were wasted.”
His optional subject was Commerce and Accountancy. He used to study for seven to eight hours a day. He started making use of his wasted time by adopting his special formula during his preparation days. In the second attempt, he first cleared the mains with good numbers. Then,he shifted his focus to interview round. And then the day came that he was waiting for years. He secured the all India 81 rank in the UPSC exam.
SUCCESS FORMULA
Sharing his success formula, Ishu said that the support of family was the biggest thing behind his success. After that, it was his passion for civil services that motivated him always to keep working hard.
He was also diagnosed with corona virus in the second wave. It weakened his health as well as his preparation. But his dedication made him strong soon, and he recovered and started preparing again and completed the syllabus.
Ishu admits that despite very good preparation for the mains, when he failed in his first attempt by 9 marks, then his spirit for preparation weakened inside him. He said, “But the very next moment, I convinced myself that my goal is UPSC only, for which I turned down job offers worth lakhs of rupees.”
SUGGESTIONS
Offering suggestions for UPSC aspirants, Ishu said that UPSC exam is considered one of the toughest exams in the country. So, there is no fixed formula to crack this exam. One needs to work hard with smart time management and be dedicated towards studies. Apart from this, one needs to update himself continuously.
He further said that aspirants don’t need to go to big cities for preparation, especially those who are economically not stable.
“The place of preparation shouldn’t restrict the canvas of imagination. The aspirants from small towns have a fear of competing with others from big private schools in big cities like Mumbai and Delhi. Hopefully, my success will give them hope.”
