Dr. Akshita Gupta, from Ambala, Punjab, was known as an MBBS doctor till the other day. Today, she has added another qualification to her name. That of an IAS! She cleared the civil services exam in her first attempt with a top rank of 69 this year. In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, Dr. Gupta said that she decided to join IAS because it’s a better platform for her to help the needy.
INSPIRED BY CIVIL SERVANTS
Dr. Gupta was inspired to join the civil services by family friends who are already there.
“We have a family friend who is an IPS officer. He told me about how they work for the public and the challenges they face. It inspired me a lot and I realized that my medical knowledge and experience can be used in a better way for society if I get into civil services,” she told Indian Masterminds.
BALANCING WORK AND STUDIES
That realization was the turning point in her life. She began preparing for the UPSC CSE examination from that very year. Initially, she just focused on getting acquainted with the syllabus, as subjects like Economics and Geography were new for her, given her science background.
“My actual preparation began during my internship period. I started learning and revising my notes. It was difficult but I managed to balance my internship and my preparation. I used to attend hospital in the day while my evenings were reserved for studies,” she revealed.
After clearing Prelims, she took 1.5 months leave from the hospital to prepare for Mains, as it was increasingly getting difficult to manage both work and studies.
SCIENCE BACKGROUND, ARTS SUBJECTS
Coming from a pure science background, she faced some initial difficulties with Arts subjects like Political Science, Economics and Sociology.
“They were new to me, and I faced quite a lot of trouble while understanding their concepts,” she told Indian Masterminds.
The onset of the Covid19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns created more hurdles for her.
“We had to follow everything in online mode, whether it was watching UPSC videos or giving tests. It was a little difficult to give an examination offline when we had prepared everything online,” she explained.
BRINGING HEALTH EXPERTISE TO PUBLIC SERVICE
Dr. Akshita is looking forward to whole new experiences as she sets foot into a new field altogether. She is hopeful of learning the ropes fast so that she can identify the major day-to-day problems faced by the public and work on addressing them. She is confident that her medical background will be of great help to her in this regard.
PRACTISE HARD TO WRITE MORE IN LESS TIME
To all future aspirants, Dr. Akshita would like to say that “the key strategy for cracking the exam is efficient time management. Keep practicing for the written test and manage your time in such a way that you can write a lot in less time”.
