Priyanka Goel, AIR-369 CSE-22 Journey & Public Administration
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DecodeCIVILS – Mudit Jain
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Hi All,
This is the 18th Topper Journey & Strategy post from the Batch of 2023. Priyanka Goel secured AIR-369 in CSE-22 in her 6th & final attempt! What awaits you in this post is her journey of sheer grit and determination. She has also shared her Public Administration Optional Strategy vide which she scored 292 Marks.
Introduction
I am Priyanka Goel, AIR 369 in CSE 2022. I come from Delhi. I have graduated from Keshav Mahavidyalaya, Delhi University in bachelor of commerce and preparing for UPSC CSE ever since. This was my 6th and last attempt.
With introduction I would say it was a stressful, painful and very uncertain journey. However I won’t ignore the positive aspects of it. It was equally amazing which helped me in developing as an individual. During my long journey of 6 years there were many setbacks, instances of self doubt, emotional and mental breakdowns.
However, my heart never allowed me to give up on my dreams. Every time I fell I used to tell myself that priyanka you can do it. Just one more time girl!
A brief of my journey
1st attempt – I had limited knowledge about the exam and naturally did not clear Prelims.
2nd attempt – I studied really well but again missed the cut off by just 0.7 marks which was very drowning for me.
3rd attempt – I worked on the shortcomings of my previous attempt. So, I did clear Prelims but couldn’t clear mains as my preparation became prelims focused due to two initial failures.
4th attempt – This time i scored really good in GS of prelims but unfortunately couldn’t clear CSAT. This was the time when self doubts started haunting me. But again I didn’t give up. 😊
5th attempt – At this time as covid happened, my mother got very serious with 80% lungs damaged. But the god showered his kindness on us that she started recovering. However, In all of this I could not revise properly and forgot many crucial things in exam and again couldn’t clear prelims. (I should have dropped this attempt but I don’t know why I decided to appear for it. Anyways.)
6th attempt- Now this was ‘do or die’ for me. There was lot of pressure from the society as well of getting married and other things.
After I saw the result, all the 6-7 years of struggle and pain flashed through my eyes and all of it rolled down my cheeks in form of tears. It was a moment of bliss.
“Zindagi yu gale aa lagi hai , koi khoya hua barso ke baad aagya”
These are the lyrics which can somehow tell the feelings of my heart. I feel fortunate enough to have the best parents, teachers, mentors and friends who have been my backbone throughout and will always be. This achievement is just the beginning of a beautiful journey in the service of our nation.
Lessons Learnt
I gradually learnt the lessons after every attempt and used to find out the shortcomings and then work upon them. Everyone can have different weak areas so try to find out yours and then ways to overcome them.
As my optional subject is public administration and i have increased my marks from 216 to 292 (144+148), I will share few tips regarding improving the marks in this optional.
Read and memorise the syllabus. This will help in understanding the paper better and will also help in linking the current affairs.
Focus on conceptual clarity. We generally think theory do not have concepts but this is a myth. You really need to understand the topic and it’s essence for writing good answers and meeting the demand of the question.
Keep your study material and other resources limited. This will help you in making effective notes and multiple revisions My list-prasad n prasad for thinkers in paper 1 New public administration by mohit bhattacharya Lukmaan ias notes (paper1 &2) Previous year questions and model answers.
Note making: I prepared short notes. I made pointer notes for almost all chapters, according to syllabus. This helps in quick revision and retention of info. This also gives us a collection of keywords. The final notes were just of 50 pages.
Value Addition: This part includes Thinkers, Current Examples, Case studies, Diagrams, intriguing quotes etc. Also try to link topics of both papers. Such as try to write thinker in paper 2 as well.
Do answer writing practice daily and during exam try to write full length papers within prescribed time limit. Also prepare model answers for pyqs.
This journey is hard and demanding. There will be good days. There will be bad days. There will be challenging days. But you must keep going. You must remember your aim. And that’s how you’re going to achieve it.
I wish all of you all the best. Just remember winners are not born. They rise from the ashes of failures. Endure them and succeed.
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