Saumya Sharma, attained 9th Rank in 1st attempt Civil Services Examination,2017

“The secret of my success is hard work, Dedication toward my goal and Focused Preparation.”

                                                                                                                   – Saumya Sharma

 

‘Pratiyogita Darpan’ arranged an exclusive interview with Ms. Saumya Sharma who has been selected in Civil Services Examination 2017, conducted by UPSC. She deserves high admiration and our heartiest congratulations on her outstanding success. This important, thought-provoking and highly inspiring interview is being presented here in its original form.

 

PD—Achieving top slot in the coveted Civil Services Examination is no small feat; accept our heartiest congratulations on your splendid success.

Ms. Saumya—Thank you for your wishes. It certainly is a wonder-ful feeling to taste success after putting in effort through months of focused preparation for the UPSC examination.

PD—In how many attempts have you achieved this success ?

Ms. Saumya—One.

PD—What was your optional subject ?

Ms. Saumya—Optional Subject : Law.

PD—While making final choice for optional subject, what’s important and what’s not ?

Ms. Saumya—Your optional subject should be something which you have a genuine interest in. As the optional papers require a level of deeper study than the GS papers, it should be a subject you can spend long hours studying. Don’t select an optional subject based on the high marks it has scored in a particular year, as the trend may not be repeated in the next year.

PD—Give the basis of selecting the optional subject ?

Ms. Saumya—I chose law as my optional subject as I had spent 5 years studying it sincerely in my university for my graduation.

PD—What preference in services have you opted for and any parti-cular reason for that priority ?

Ms. Saumya—IAS

PD—‘Success is sweet’ were you confident of your success with top ranks and how did you react to this news ?

Ms. Saumya—I was certain that I will be clearing the examination with a decent rank. When the result was declared, it took me a while to process the information that I have secured the 9th rank. Being my first attempt, it felt surreal. I feel grateful to have seen the day of my UPSC result.

PD—Finally, at what point of time did you make up your mind to make career in ‘Civil Services’ ?

Ms. Saumya—Towards the end of 2015, I decided that I want to enter the civil services and serve the country. However, I did not start my formal preparation then as I was quite focused on my college education.

Later in 2016 during my fourth year in college, I got placed. I was offered high paying jobs by three of the top law firms of the country. My plans of writing the civil services examination took a backseat. It was only on 19 February, 2017, when I was in my final semester in college, that I realized that I am throwing away precious time by not preparing for the civil services examination. On that day, I decided I would appear for the 2017 CSE. Within a few days, I rejected my job offers.

From that moment on, there was no looking back. I spent all my hours preparing for the preliminary examination that was four months away. I am grateful that my efforts paid off.

PD—Did you keep in mind some time-frame for the examination prparation and number of attempts ?

Ms. Saumya—Although I started preparing quite late for the exam, I made up the target to clear the examination in my first attempt itself. My strategy was quite simple—to not waste any time, and to spend majority of my time studying.

PD—‘Time Management’ is a key factor. How did you manage things ?

Ms. Saumya—It is all about planning and ‘Time Management’ is very crucial. You need to set up things in such a way that preparation looks manageable and attention is given to areas that need attention.

PD—The first step is the most difficult; From where did you get the right advice ?

Ms. Saumya—I got the right advice and guidance from two sources. Firstly, I referred to many strategies given on the internet by toppers. I chalked my own strategy and book list after spending some time reading the strategies of previous successful candidates. Secondly, I was in touch with some of my college seniors who have cleared the examination previously. They helped me by answering my queries, and guiding me wherever I needed help. This was crucial as I had not joined any coaching classes.

PD—What was your approach towards Paper I (General Studies) and Paper II (Aptitude Test) during Preliminary Examination preparation ?

Ms. Saumya—It was a holistic approach for General Studies preparation and my focus was on overall preparation; so, for Prelims Paper I preparation was upright and I also took good care about Prelims Paper II.

PD—How did you manage to tackle the ‘Negative Marking’ in Prelims ?

Ms. Saumya—No unnecessary risk as I answered questions that I knew with intense care.

PD—What shift did you adopt in your strategy for Main Examination (Written) ?

Ms. Saumya—For the mains exam, I started reading The Indian Express in addition to The Hindu. I covered the entire syllabus topic wise and made my own notes where necessary. I also joined multiple test series to practice answer writing.

PD—Was there any special effort for effective preparation for ESSAY Paper ?

Ms. Saumya—I did spend considerable time practicing essay writing. Essay is one paper in which you can fully express your thoughts, beliefs and values. I wanted to make full use of the opportunity provided by the essay paper :

Topic I. Agriculture

Topic II. Women.

Bio-Data

Name—Saumya Sharma Father’s Name—Dr. Ashok Sharma Mother’s Name—Dr. Leena Sharma Date of Birth—7 September, 1994 Educational Qualifications— 10th—2010, CBSE, CGPA (10/10) 12th—2012, CBSE, (94%) B.A. L-L.B.—2012-17, National Law University, Delhi (7·03/8) Previous Selections—Cracked CLAT and AILET in 2012.

 

 

During last three decades I have interviewed more than a thousand IAS toppers and have had opportunity to interact with many such Goal-oriented youngsters who unleash their potential to accomplish the task in style. Story of Saumya Sharma (AIR 9; CSE 2017) is really inspiring and motivating as she faced all miseries bravely and with strong motivation and determination she grabbed single-digit rank in her first encounter with Civil Services Examination at an age of just 23. If Tina Dabi’s (AIR 1; CSE 2015) success made situation euphoric; I feel Saumya’s success is enough to encourage teenagers as with all the odds against her if Saumya can achieve it, I think anyone can do it too.                                                                                                                                                    —Atul Kapoor Saumya Sharma (AIR 9; CSE 2017) I am Saumya Sharma, born and brought up in Delhi. I am a law graduate, having graduated from National Law University, Delhi in 2017. When I was 16, I lost my sense of hearing in both my ears. The reason for my high percentage hearing loss still remains undiagnosed. I have been using my hearing aids for the last 7 years to hear and have conversations. When this episode occurred in my life, it was initially very difficult and miserable for me to cope with what had happened. However, I decided to not let my disability pull me down, and I am so grateful that I made that decision. My UPSC journey was a little out-of-the-ordinary. Just before the mains examination, I fell sick with viral fever. I wrote all my mains exams in fever as high as 102-103 degrees. I was lucky to have doctors as my parents, who ensured I was getting intravenous drip infusion thrice a day. I used to get my intravenous drip infused even in the lunch break between the morning and evening papers, once in my car and on the other days in the guard room of the UPSC center. It was quite a struggle for me to write my exams in that condition, with needles and injections accompanying me when I should have been revising my notes instead. At times my parents feared if I will be able to get up in the morning to write the exam, as I had lost much of my strength to the fever. Yet, somehow I found strength within me to go and write all that I had spent months preparing for. At that time I could not comprehend why all of this was happening to me, I felt quite powerless over the way things were unfolding. But now when I look back, I feel glad and grateful that my effort during those testing times did not go unrewarded. The take away from my struggle is that never ever give up. Had I given up then on account of lack of revision, I would not have been answering this interview today. So do not give up, and believe in yourself.

PD—How did you prepare your-self for Interview (Personality Test) ?

Ms. Saumya—My interview preparation revolved around preparing current affairs and covering my Detailed Application Form (DAF) in detail. I also revised notes of my graduation subject i.e., law.

My board was chaired by Shri Arvind Saxena. They asked me questions from my DAF and from current affairs. I was also asked a rapid fire round on criminal law, which I knew the answers for. I was asked of my opinion on Trump and on demonetization. I was also asked questions on net neutrality, on equalization levy and on wilful defaulters. One of the members asked me questions on environment law, and on the constitutional and legislative framework regarding water. I was able to answer these questions well.

I particularly enjoyed answering the question asked from my hobby of map reading. I was asked by the Chairman “If I travel from Delhi to Sudan via road, what all countries will I cross?’ I was able to provide him with the entire list of countries that will be crossed.

Overall, my entire interview was quite pleasant. It was an honour to sit at the round table with the esteemed board members and answer their questions.

PD—While the changing economic environment offers immense lucrative career opportunities in various sectors, still what kept you motivated towards Civil Services ?

Ms. Saumya—While other sectors may be more lucrative, I was attracted towards the civil services due to opportunity it provides to bring about large-scale change in society. The kind of satisfaction a career in the civil services provides is something that kept me motivated.

PD—In your opinion what role do the Competition Magazines play when you are preparing for an examination like Civil Services ?

Ms. Saumya—Competition magazines help aspirants dream, and work towards making their dreams into reality. Reading motivational stories of toppers pushes people to find the best version of themselves. Competition magazines are also useful as they keep aspirants updated on all relevant current affairs.

PD—What is the secret of your success ?

Ms. Saumya—The secret of my success is hard work, dedication towards my goal and focused preparation. I remained honest with my goal and with my preparation throughout, and that pushed me to work hard and succeed.

PD—To whom would you like to give the credit for your success ?

Ms. Saumya—I would like to give credit to my parents for being my biggest supporters. My parents not only were my mentors but also helped me with the papers. My mother helped me immensely with the ethics and essay papers. My father helped me with the qualifying papers. Their support was essential for my success.

PD—Your Hobbies.

Ms. Saumya—Travelling, map reading, photography

PD—Any suggestion/advice you would like to give to the future aspirants.

Ms. Saumya—My core advice would be- Believe in yourself. Do not ever think that you are any less capable. Be focused and dedicated towards your goal. Remain honest with yourself and your preparation. And finally, remain optimistic. All the best.

PD—Thank you very much and wishing you all the best for your future endeavours