UPSC CSE 2022 results came as an occasion for great joy for Ms. HS Bhavana, as finally her longstanding dream of becoming an IAS officer is set to be fulfilled. She has clinched the All India rank AIR 55. Her patience and hard work have finally paid off!
This was her second success in the highly competitive exam, and it wasn’t easy for her, having to balance work and studies. After she cleared the exam in 2018 with AIR 314 and joined IRTS, she attempted CSE twice unsuccessfully. But, being a fighter, she didn’t lose hope or stop trying. Now that she has secured AIR 55, her IAS dream is finally coming true.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Ms. Bhavana who is serving as Assistant Operating Manager in Sholapur, shared the learnings from her long and tiresome journey.
DEALING WITH FAILURES
After getting selected as an IRTS officer in 2018, Ms. Bhavana appeared again in UPSC CSE 2019 and reached till the interview stage, but couldn’t make it to the final list. In 2020, she couldn’t even clear Mains. This was a difficult period for her. She decided to skip an attempt in order to prepare better for her last and final try in 2022. All this while, her mother stood by her side like a rock, motivating her to keep trying. When asked about how she dealt with the failures after tasting success once, she replied, “First selection motivated me to try for better results but the failures in between really disappoint me. Dealing with failures is more of a mental preparation, and I am thankful I had my mother to support me.”
She added that after failure, one has only two options in hand. To accept it and analyze why it happened. And, then explore the scope for improvement.
CHOOSING OPTIONAL WISELY
Before the 2018 success, she gave two attempts with Geography as an optional. Since she wasn’t getting good results, she switched to Kannada literature, which proved successful. Again, after the failures in 2019 and 2020, she realized she wasn’t scoring good marks in the optional. So, she changed it again, taking Anthropology this time, and made it. She studied this subject on her own, made crisp notes, and revised again and again.
However, she feels it is not at all a good strategy. Aspirants should make a right and thoughtful decision before filling out the form. “I graduated with Electronics & Communication, but the subject wasn’t available in the optional list. I ended up experimenting with optionals, but it is not advisable for anyone,” she pointed out.
SUPPORT OF SENIORS AND FRIENDS
Besides her family, Ms. Bhavana gives credit of her success to her seniors and friends. The seniors guided her for the interview and the batchmates of IRTS shared their notes and cross-checked her answers. She is really grateful to Ity Pandey Mam (IRTS), Virendra Ojha Sir (IRS) and Shaurya Shashwat Sir for their guidance. All this helped her to crack the exam. She prepared General Science and Essay all by herself, as she believed coaching can’t help much with it. And for Anthropology, she studied with the help of friends. She advises students to stick to the syllabus if they want success in this exam.
“I started with understanding the syllabus and referring to standard text books. For current affairs, I religiously read newspapers daily. Nowadays students wander away from the syllabus as there is too much material available. They should avoid it if they want to be successful,” she said.
After a good work experience in IRTS, she is ready and looking forward to learning, experiencing, and growing further in new roles that would be assigned to her.
