National Association of Civil Servants (NACS) has yet again started a series of seminars for young UPSC aspirants, but this time they are going to organise them in remote areas. The idea is to provide guidance to those students who do not have the facilities and resources that can be easily found in big cities. They started off by organising such seminars in Bihar. This time, it was Bhagalpur, where AIR 7 Praveen Kumar and AIR 10 Satyam Gandhi took part and shared preparation strategies.
The main objective of NACS is to reach to the remote districts of the country, like Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, Port Blair in Andaman, and many other districts of Bihar and Jharkhand, and provide proper guidance straight from the toppers’ mouth.
“In every place, the strategies of the successful candidates are same, but the unique part of the series is that this kind of seminar in remote districts had not taken place anywhere in India before. We are now taking this initiative to remote areas where people are looking for guidance from these toppers,” IAS Santosh Kumar told Indian Masterminds.
PRAVEEN KUMAR
AIR 7 Praveen Kumar shared his experience and strategies with the aspirants in a detailed manner in the Bhagalpur seminar. He said that with hard work and his grandfather’s guidance, he is standing here today as an IAS.
Besides his grandfather’s guidance, Praveen says he was much inspired by reading history books, especially what the freedom fighters did for the independence of our country.
“If you study well,you, too, can become a great human being,who can eventually take the country to new heights,” said Praveen Kumar.
According to him, the UPSC exam is a process. It takes time to understand the whole syllabus of CSE and, hence, he advised the students present in the seminar to limit their sources.
HARD WORK &SMART WORK
Praveen Kumar also said that the basic requirement of UPSC exam is hard work and smart work. “There are only two sources of UPSC, one is the syllabus and the other is previous years question papers. Make these two things your base,” he advised.
Praveen further emphasised on the wise use of technology. He says that “another aspect of smart work is to use technology in a wise manner. All the study materials, guidance and sources are available on the internet free of cost. It just depends on how you are utilising the internet.”
According to him, there are many videos on YouTube and blogs on internet on UPSC. Aspirants should first search for the booklists they need for the exam on the net, and then they can make a proper booklist by themselves for their preparation.
Praveen also said that aspirants should make their planning according to their strengths and weakness.Then only the resources that they have will be helpful to them.
He says that foundation is the most important part of this exam. Aspirants should have the basic information about the topics and,also, an idea of how to apply the information.
PREPARATION STRATEGY
Praveen’s preparation strategy was quite simple but accurate. He said, “I used to first study the book and then look up the previous year’s question paper. Then after reading the book for the second time, I underlined the important parts and then again go to the previous year’s question paper.”
He is of the view that aspirants should make a note by themselves and then read them thoroughly on a daily basis. “Note-making helps in simplifying your preparation. Simplifying things is not only helpful in the exam preparation but it also helps in life as well,” said Praveen Kumar.
In conclusion, he asked the youth present in the seminar to take a pledge to be wiser and work harder to reach their desired goals.