Rimita Saha (CSE-23 AIR-566) Anthropology & Comprehensive Strategy
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Hello everyone, I am Rimita Saha, hailing from North 24 Parganas, West Bengal. I have secured an AIR 566 in UPSC CSE 2023 with a score of 290 in optional. This was my 3rd mains and 1st interview.
After completing B.Tech in Electrical Engineering from NIT Durgapur in 2015, I decided to let go my PSU job and enrolled in M.tech in IIT Delhi. Thereafter, I worked as an Assistant Professor for a very brief period.
One year into the teaching job, the UPSC dream started waking me up again and I decided to quit everything to focus on my preparation. I managed to clear prelims in 2019, but mains did not happen. In 2020 and 2021, I could not clear the prelims. I had almost given up, but somehow kept going with my parents’ support. Things started working in my favor from 2022. Albeit I could not clear mains, CSE 2022 gave me a lot of confidence. It felt like I knew what to do and how to do that. It was really a tough decision to change the optional subject after these many years, but I took a leap of faith and changed my optional from Electrical Engineering to Anthropology.
People say “you get impatient as time progresses” but for me, it was the other way. Time made me realize the significance of perseverance and practice.
In 2023, every other day I was writing some mock exam; be it sectional or comprehensive, be it in a test center or with a model paper at my desk. In prelims 2023, I cleared the cut-off for Forest Service too. After prelims, I devoted almost 80% of my time for optional. Before prelims, I was able to complete the syllabus once but that was like a first read. After prelims, the actual answer- writing practices started and I literally spent two full months for Anthropology, with limited time spared for GS.
After mains, the interview preparation was done mostly through mock interviews and discussion with friends and seniors who have cleared earlier. Writing up the common HR questions and regular mocks with friends also helped me a lot.
How and When to Start Preparation
You should start preparing the moment you start considering UPSC as a career option. There might be dilemmas about career options, and it is very common to postpone preparation until you make up your mind “UPSC hi karna hain.” However, I would say, one should start making pro-UPSC habits if (s)he ever had even a little inclination towards civil service. Reading a newspaper daily, watching experts’ commentaries on current affairs in YouTube, and engaging in friendly discussions on socio-economic and political topics are not something that help one excel only in UPSC, but it enriches one as a learned human being. One may choose a different career path later, but these habits would help you in almost all professions. Coaching is helpful but not essential in today’s time when you have more than enough resources available in the internet.
Timetable
Rather than the duration or the timing, focus and the adherence to the plan are more important. Everyone has their own preferences, and one should plan accordingly. Make your timetable in such a way that it is suitable to your nature and yet gives you enough time to cover the syllabus, revise, and write a lots of mock tests. Speaking of myself, I usually spent a solid 6-8 hours outside reading newspapers and chitchatting with fellow aspirants. One month before prelims and in between prelims and mains, this increased to 10-12 hours outside mock exams, discussions, and newspaper reading.
Highlights Pre-Prelims
My maximum time before Prelims was devoted to mock tests here and there. I wrote almost all open mocks organized by every institute, barring a few. The tests really helped me analyse my preparation, gauge my accuracy and decide on the optimum number of questions I should attempt. Though it wasn’t fixed, however, I mostly confined my attempts to 86-90 questions. Another major portion of prelims preparation was PYQs. I solved last 15 years of PYQs with thorough analysis. This gave me confidence and helped me understand the demand of UPSC.
GS: Because of my new optional, I could hardly make out time for GS before Mains. I took guidance from Mudit Jain Sir’s answer writing strategies and wrote daily answers in OnlyIAS Srijan test series. This was the only time I studied and wrote GS answers.
Essay: I had scored 102 in my 2022 attempt. Therefore, I tried to analyse my mistakes. I referred the essay booklets of the previous successful candidates, and critically analysed my mistakes. I tried to understand their strategies and that helped me escalate my marks to 114 in 2023. Understanding the key demand of the topic, and few quotes and relevant anecdotes are the keys. •
Optional: I took up the Anthropology Advanced course in Next IAS, where the PYQs were discussed thoroughly. I enrolled for Answer writing in O2 IAS academy, where Akashdeep Sir was very patient with me, taught me the intricacies of answer writing and we together devised a strategy that worked for us. In any answer writing, understanding the demand of the question is important. We need to straightaway address the demand of the question without beating around the bush. Rigorous answer writing and analysing the feedbacks on the answer copies really helped me to increase my accuracy and relevance in my answers.
Highlights Post-Mains
During my interview preparation stage, I enrolled in few institutes for mocks. Though the questions during my actual interview were very different from the mocks, however, the mocks helped me shed off my hesitation, anxiety and nervousness. Additionally, I also practised one hour everyday with my friend over video call. That also helped me increase my confidence.
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