Success doesn’t come in easy. Your patience, determination and tenacity, everything is tested in the journey. Sometimes the journey becomes long and one has to face unexpected situations.
Mr. Gaurav Pandey’s journey is somewhat that of a academic gladiator. He faced some unforeseen situations but didn’t give up. In his fourth attempt, he succeeded in UPSC CSE and secured AIR 168.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
Mr. Pandey’s family is settled in Delhi. His father is a retired army personnel and mother is a housewife. In an interview with the media, he mentioned that more than him, it was his family’s specially grandfather’s dream that he gets into UPSC CSE.
Since his father was in a transferrable job so he had studied in different schools including Army School, Kendriya Vidyalaya and Government School in Delhi. He considers himself as an average student. “I scored around 85% in 12th and landed in Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar College for BA (Hons) in English. I completed my Graduation with 66% and started preparation for UPSC simultaneously”, he said.
THE TEST OF TIME
Before clearing the exam this year, he had given three attempts. He managed to clear Prelims in every attempt but missed Interview with just two marks in his second attempt. In 2020, he appeared for interview but wasn’t in the final.
This was his fourth attempt and it was very important to him clear this time. He says, “Even if you fail then also UPSC teaches you a lot. With all those teachings you are definitely going to be successful in life. Having said that, the continuous rejection is going to make you sad. No matter how much you want to keep your motivation high, you will start questioning your abilities.”
He needed success but it wasn’t going to be a cake walk for him. After coming from the first day of Mains exam, he got 103 degree fever. It was difficult for him to travel to the examination centre and write the paper. He didn’t give up and wrote rest of the paper in that condition. In an interview he said, “In the exam hall, I saw blood in my cough. But, exam had to be taken. I gathered my strength and finished the paper. The fever continued and I was tested Covid +ve after that. It was a shocker for me but we dealt with it.”
PREVIOUS YEAR QUESTION PAPER
Mr. Pandey emphasizes that everyone should trust their strategy for the preparation. “Many aspirants focus on test series but I didn’t do it after my first attempt. I just solved last 20 years question papers for Pre and did it five or more times. This helped me a lot.”
Besides this, he focused on revising the content for Mains and didn’t attempt answer writing. Also, his optional was English which is considered as a low scoring subject still he didn’t change it after continuous failure. He advises the aspirants to trust their decision and don’t follow everything said by others.
