It is not easy to balance academics and preparation for any competitive exam, more so if you are pursuing a PhD. However, Hemant Mishra from Bihar makes it seem like a cakewalk. While doing PhD in Waste Management from Jamia Millia Islamia, he managed to crack UP’s state civil services exam back to back, each time with a good rank.
First time, he became a DySp and this time, he is going to join as a SDM.
Interacting exclusively with Indian Masterminds, he narrated his inspiring journey.
JOURNEY SO FAR
Hemant started his civil service preparation in 2020 after completing his Masters. He had actually started his preparation for UPSC, but after failing in the CSE-2021 attempt, he moved on to state civil service exams.
He made his first attempt in UPPCS-2022 and cracked it. He got the Deputy SP post after getting Rank 47 rank overall, while he was placed at the 8th position in the DySP list.
Not content with this, he gave the next exam too – UPPCS-2023 – where he emerged as one of the toppers with 9th rank. Now, he will join as a SDM.
Meanwhile, he had also cracked the 68th Bihar Civil Services Exam (BPSC).
He said humbly, “My journey is not different from others. I learned from my mistakes that had deprived me of a SDM post. This time, I focussed on all those things and achieved a top rank. It feels really good to see all that hard work being paid off.”
BACKGROUND
He hails from Bihar’s Buxar, where his father Om Prakash Mishra works in the Bihar Education Department as APO, while his mother is a teacher in a private school. He has a brother also.
He completed his 10th from Buxar and did his Intermediate from Patna. After that, he moved to Delhi and completed his Graduation (BA Honours) in Geography from Jamia Millia Islamia.
Then he did his Masters in Geography from JNU in 2020. Thereafter, he enrolled in PhD in Waste Management in Jamia Millia Islamia. He will be completing it this year.
PREPARATION
He never joined any coaching institute and focussed on self study, while doing his PHD in Delhi.
For Prelims, he did not make any specific notes. He studied General Studies from Lucent’s Book. For current affairs, he relied on ‘Ghatna Chakra’. He also focussed on PYQs.
For Mains, he made his notes for all papers, according to the syllabus, but kept his resources very minimal.
In his first attempt of UPPCS, he made some mistakes while writing his answers. That’s why he practised answer writing a lot for the next attempt to take it to the perfection level as, according to him, good answer presentation helps in getting good marks.
He also said, “There was no optional this time in UPPCS as the syllabus was changed by the Commission. So, I changed my strategy a bit and focussed on UP special topics.”
INTERVIEW
His interview was very cordial, but he was grilled thoroughly. He said that, this year, the interview was more aptitude oriented.
He was asked many questions from his background, specially his PhD.
A member asked him: “What will be a feasible use of your PhD knowledge in this administrative job?”
He was also asked many basic questions from his academic discipline.
Another member asked him an interesting question about his PhD subject: “If you are a SDM and get duty in waste management in Prayagraj’s famous Kumbh Mela, how would you manage using your knowledge?”
Yet another member asked him what book he was currently reading and then discussed a lot about it. The name he had given was ‘Capital in the Twenty First Century’ by Thomas Piketty.
SUGGESTIONS
Lastly, giving suggestions for aspirants, Hemant said, “Be very clear about your strategy. Start your preparation after analysing the syllabus with PYQs. And, keep your resources minimal and focus on more revisions.”
