Unlike most UPSC aspirants, Apurva Tripathi was crystal clear in her head – she never wanted to take a coaching though she could not succeed in her first attempt the previous year. Despite failing in the mains exam, she kept her focus right and stuck to self-study. This way of tackling this exam worked out for Apoorva as she cleared the examination with flying colours.
She not only aced all three rounds this time but also got a top rank of 68. Speaking to Indian Masterminds, Apurva talked about this journey and the people who helped her on the way.
FAMILY ENVIRONMENT MATTERS
According to Apurva, the environment at home and the people around you matter a lot when it comes to shaping your goals.
“I started preparing for the civil services exam after my graduation in 2018. However, the desire to clear the examination was always there in the subconscious mind because of the environment at home and the constant motivation from family members.”
Apurva hails from Prayagraj in Uttar Pradesh. Her father Dinesh Tripathi is an Executive Engineer in the Irrigation Department. She finished her schooling at YMCA Centenary School and College and did her B.Tech from Kanpur University.
MENTOR HELPED HER CRACK INTERVIEW ROUND
Apurva had failed to clear the UPSC in her first attempt in 2019. Not wanting to take a chance this time, she decided to seek guidance from IRS officer, Mr. Virendra Ojha. His initiative ‘Marg Darshan’ provides free IAS coaching to aspirants.
He remembers, “She came to me after the result of the mains exam. I told her that she is destined for bigger things in life and will surely clear UPSC CSE this time. We started with a unique strategy, where we aimed for a rank in the top 50. Due to Covid 19 spread, the interview was postponed for two months. This provided her enough time to prepare for the interview.”
Facebook Video: Apurva Tripathi IAS Rank 68 Live, With her mentor Virendra Ojha
SHE MADE IT!
Her dedication and hard work, and more importantly, her willingness to learn from others helped Apurva to perform well in the interview round. When the results were announced, her rank was 68. From not making it to the interview list in her first attempt to adding her name to the top of the list this time, Apurva had come a long way, indeed!
BACK TO BASICS
About her preparation, Apurva told Indian Masterminds that she started from basics. “For the prelims, I had to start reading everything from afresh. I brought the NCERT books and the reference materials which all toppers recommend. I concentrated a lot on my optional subject Geography to get a good score. I also joined various online test series to prepare for the exam”, she said.
She cleared the state civil service examination, UPPSC, twice which increased her confidence. “This maintained the momentum of the UPSC mains preparation. The series of test kept me on examination mode all the time,” she remarked.
TIME TO GIVE BACK TO SOCIETY
The young achiever now wants to do something for the women of the country. She said, “Till now I was only doing things for myself. But now, the UPSC result has given me an opportunity to do things for others. It’s my desire to see women of my country become financially independent”
She would especially love to help the women of rural India. “I would be happy to put in all my efforts to raise their standard of living and give them a better life,” she said.
