Aaditya Pandey AIR-48 CSE-22 Prelims Mains & Interview
Hello Everyone !!! Jai Jai Siyaram
My name is Aaditya Pandey. I am born and brought up in Vishunpur Pakri, a tiny hamlet like village in Patna, Bihar. I have done my +2 education from Kendriya Vidyalaya Kankarbagh, Patna. After that, I did my graduation in electronics and communication from LPU, Punjab. Not having an iota of interest in engineering career, I ventured in management studies and obtained an MBA from IIT Roorkee in 2018. Having secured a lucrative offer from ICICI Bank, I joined its niche strategic alliances and marketing team, where I earned corporate experience handling alliances with not only major firms of the globe like Apple, Samsung, One Plus but also startups. I resigned in October 2019, thus ending my private career with ICICI bank after 16 months of service. I started my preparation since Jan’ 2020. I chose philosophy as my optional subject.
You can contact Aaditya on his Instagram Profile and Telegram Channel
My UPSC Journey – I have given a total of 3 attempts and my study relied on self study except philosophy optional coaching from Mitra IAS. I took Assessment & mentorship programme with CivilsDaily to ensure my continuity with studies since I was a lone wolf for all my 3 attempts.
1st Attempt 2020
I had little knowledge about the syllabus and could not complete it and attempted prelims after a VUCA world posed by COVID. I attempted around 56-58 questions in total. I failed to clear prelim by more than 25 marks. Prelims marks for 2020 were released a week ago prelims 2021 and I had a mix feeling but 25 marks gap made me wary of my 2nd attempt.
2nd Attempt 2021
Having failed at 1st attempt by 25 marks in first stage, I was a bit worried but attempted confidently around 69-70 question and after a month I dint find my name in prelims result pdf. A Sense of fear was there but I had the company of few of the best people in my life who encouraged me in tough times. I would say, my belief in Prabhu Siyaramji is also another reason to stay motivated for this exam.
3rd Attempt 2022
Result for 2021 was declared and I downloaded my prelims result and I got to know that I failed the exam by 2.5 marks. This boosted my confidence since I had associated myself with assessment programme and I had a strategy set this year. Apart from that a consistent study of 6-8 hours in last 3 years had hardened my will. I had rectified my shortcomings and attempted a total of 86 questions in this attempt.
Having cleared CAT for MBA studies, I was able to clear CSAT easily in all attempts safely scoring above 80+ every time. My focus was on qualifying it than scoring the highest since all I needed was 67 marks in CSAT.
Prelims Strategy –
I would categorise the papers and then chalk out the subjects and utility of notes and revision –
A. General Studies (Paper 1)
- Polity – Relied solely on Laxmikanth. Made my own notes during 2nd attempt in the endnand it helped a lot. Though, I have read NCERTs of 11/12 also but it was a cursory reading.
- History – Studied extensively from RS Sharma, Bipin Chandra and Spectrum. For Art and Culture, I relied on notes of Pratik Nayak.
- Geography – Read NCERTs 11/12 completely and even made notes for it also. If some topics are not clear then referred YouTube.
- Economy – Relied on 2017 Mrunal Patel lectures freely available on YouTube mostly, and his PDF for 2021. I also read Ramesh Singh a couple of times and also made notes of some topics of Ramesh Singh
- Environment – Relied completely on Shankar IAS book and some peripheral topics from pdf of PMF pdf. For Maps, I watched free videos from Sudarshan Gurjar. Everything on maps from India, World, National parks to Biosphere and Ramsir sites, I made a map notes and revised multiple times.
- S&T – I watched free videos for class 6-10 of EDUHAP channel YouTube, and also watched PW free one shot video on certain chapters from Biology and Chemistry. For topics like Space, Defence, Biotech, Health, Wireless etc, I relied on current affairs of different coaching institutes pdf which are freely available.
- Current Affairs – I read The Hindu daily and complimented my study with SunyaIAS current affairs notes which is available at a very affordable cost (Usually less than INR 500) but a word of caution for them that they are not time bound and can make you suffer big time.
B. CSAT (Paper 2)
I had already cleared CAT earlier, and qualifying marks is 67, so I was comfortable everytime. If anyone wants to study for quants then would suggest them to read Quantum CAT by Sarvesh Verma (Arihant) and for RC, editorial and associated readings are helpful.
Mains Strategy –
GS 1 – My prelims notes were sufficient and read peripheral topics from google searches.
GS2 – Again my notes from Laxmikanth helped me. Regarding IR section, questions are of current in nature, so my CA notes of prelims were more than enough to scored good marks. For some peripheral topics, I made notes from Sunya GS2 books (Again, a word of caution – I only used GS2 books, since I dint find other GS books good. Rest is subjective in nature).
GS3 – Mrunal notes are enough and hands down. Shankar IAS is enough for Environment and PYQs are the best.
GS4 – MY optional is philosophy and it helped a lot. I did not read any specific book and made notes for each topic from google search and Wikipedia help Philosophy Optional – Mitra IAS coaching is good for 60-65% syllabus and rest is my self study.
Test Series and Number of Mocks –
I dint join any test series for Prelims in all 3 attempts. It is personal choice since free pdfs for mocks are available on internet. I attempted around 8nmocks before appearing for prelims 2022. I gave 8 mocks in proper prelims setting like taking full 2 hours and no less in a chair and table mode. I used to solve and bubble answers after 1 hour of attempt and then another 20-25 mins for questions which had 2 options eliminated and by 90 mins I used to bubble again and by end of time before 5 mins, I was always finished with prelims paper and it helped me in actual prelims. For MAINS, I attempted a couple of sectional tests of CivilsDaily and FLTs of FORUMIAS. The copies are available at forumias website and my telegram channel also. For time management, again the same room and same desk with table and 3 hours of time bound
manner, I practise a total of 5 GS papers (including essays) and 3 sectional philosophy tests.
Interview Stage –
Physical or Online Panel mocks were of no use to be fair. One on One sessions with Sajal Singh, CivilsDaily(3 Sessions) and Abhishek Saraf Sir(1 session) was pretty decent. In fact, these one on one sessions were more like actual UPSC interview. In this regard, one of my mentors from MBA days, Manish sir (Director – IMS Patna) was of immense help. We had many interactions regarding a plethora of questions.
Dealing with Frustration and Boredom – I had a couple of friends who used to spare some time to listen to my dramas. I had the support of my parents. Ultimately, whenever these failed, I relied on Sitaramji. I used to listen to RamKathas and Ram bhajans. These used to be my saviours.
Thanks and Regards;
Aaditya Pandey
AIR 48, CSE 2022
Jai Jai Siyaram
You can contact Aaditya on his Instagram Profile and Telegram Channel
