Mahamuni Vinayak Prakashrao’s story demonstrates the hard work and perseverance needed for UPSC exam preparation. Hailing from Latur district of Maharashtra, he did B.Tech in 2012 and joined the corporate giant IBM (International Business Machines).
Serving there for three years, he decided to take a calculated risk. He resigned to prepare for UPSC knowing that he had a plan B – to take up a corporate job once again, if things went wrong. The journey which started in the beginning of 2016 finally culminated in a fruitful result after the Union Public Service Commission announced the CSE 2020 results.
MOTIVATION
In the exclusive interview with Indian Masterminds, Vinayak disclosed how he kept himself motivated throughout his journey. He said “I read lot of the stories and biographies of famous personalities of our country who faced a lot of challenges and successfully passed them and achieved their goal. These include Shivaji Maharaj, B R Ambedkar, APJ Abdul Kalam. They encouraged me a lot and filled me with positivity.”
He further said “I faced multiple setbacks during my preparation period. In first three attempts I could not even clear the prelims, the first stage of the three-tier examination. The feeling of failure and frustration engulfed me but my family and friends kept motivating me. My father always helped me in handling the pressure situations as he himself is a retired teacher and understands the condition of a student very well.”
HURDLES AND SUCCESS
Finally, he cleared his UPSC CSE Preliminary and Mains exams in the fourth attempt but not the interview. This was the first time he tasted some part of success, as he had cleared both the prelims and mains, and this boosted his confidence. Ultimately, in the fifth attempt, he cleared all the stages to get AIR 95 in UPSC 2020.
Mr. Vinayak said “I followed a simple strategy and started preparing on my own, after which I joined a Test Series to know where I stand. After clearing the pre and mains exam, I started giving mock Interviews which helped me n clearing the final interview”.
At last, he said, “Only hard work and a positive mindset helped to clear this examination and if someone is looking to prepare it, they should take a calculated risk by keeping the reality in mind. The success rate is very low but with perseverance and a lot of focus, anyone can find success in this exam.”
