Jitendra Dudi (Rank-364/CSE-2015) History, 2nd Attempt, Jaipur, Rajasthan

Candidate Profile

Q.	Details
Name	Jitendra Dudi
Rank in CSE-2015	364
Roll No.	0012452
Age	26
Total attempts in CSE (including this one)	2
Optional Subject	history
Schooling Medium	english
College medium	english
Medium chosen for Mains answers	english
Medium chosen for Interview	english
Home town/city	jaipur
Work-experience if any	no
Service preferences (Top-5)	IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS(I.T), IRS(CUSTOMS AND CENTRAL EXCISE)
state cadre preference (Top-5)	Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra

Education

% in class 10	85.8
% in class 12	81.2
Graduation course and %	63.05
Name of college, city, passing out year	Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology Management and Gramothan, Jaipur. Passed out in 2013
Post-graduation	–
Any other professional courses	–
Hobbies & Extracurricular achievements	1.     PLAYING CRICKET, VOLLEYBALL AND KABADDI. 2. FOLLOWING EUROPEAN CLUB FOOTBALL LEAGUES. 3. WATCHING INDIAN PARALLEL CINEMA. 4.     WON MEDALS IN SPRINTS, DISCUS THROW AND SHOT PUT AT SCHOOL LEVEL. 5. WON GOLD MEDAL IN INTER SCHOOL KABADDI TOURNAMENT.

Electronic Vs Paper material

I used both electronic and printed sources depending on the quality of the content. It is advisable to make notes but it is impossible to make notes of everything. So, I used both notes making and underline method to consolidate my preparation. This was much easier way and I utilized the time saved in doing answer writing practice on a daily basis.

Struggle of a Senior player

1. What went wrong in your previous attempt? What changes did you make in this current attempt?
   I couldn’t clear prelims in my first attempt. That was very difficult time but I considered it as a blessing in disguise and chalked out the plan for the whole year. I studied everything in details like ARC reports, made notes as much as I can and most importantly I did lots of answer writing practice. In the month of may I began the prelims preparation and studied everything 2-4 times and attempted many test papers. This helped me to identify my mistakes and ultimately it came handy during the exam time
2. Any observation / comments / tips about GS prelim 2015 paper?
   As I have already mentioned please visit the government of india’s various websites. They are the direct and best source of information. Along with that I would suggest that keep the photo copies of last 5 years upsc prelims papers with you all the time so that you can have the idea of what to study and what to leave.
   Give as many tests as possible and don’t worry about the marks because these papers are set in such a way that u get wrong answers by applying logic while upsc wants you to arrive at the right answer by using common sense.
3. Now that Aptitude paper has become qualifying, obvious more attention needs to be paid on the GS paper so apart from the books that you already have gone through, what else would you have tried for CSE-2016 (if you were going to appear)?
4. Any observation / comments / tips about GS Aptitude 2015 paper.
   For aptitude paper attempt the previous year paper and if you are easily getting around 100 marks than there is no need to prepare for it separately. However if your score is around 70-80 than you should give time to this paper as well.

Prelim accuracy

Q1. Did you attend any ‘mock tests’? do you think they’re necessary for success?
No, I didn’t attend any mock tests but I solved lots of papers at home. I think one should solve as many papers as he/she can. This will not only refine your preparation but will also help you cover those topics which might have not have been prepared so far.
Q2. Approximate no. of attempted answers vs. correct answers. in CSAT-2015

	attempted Q.	correct (Expected)	Official score
GS	91	65	112
aptitude	61	53	126.58

Mains: Compulsory language paper

Compulsory language paper	Your preparation strategy / booklist?
English paper	Solved last year paper before the exam day
your regional language	Solved last year paper before the exam day and studied few topics like synonyms from some hindi book

1. other observations / tips / comments on the length / difficulty level of compulsory language papers in CSE-2015
   For this I would suggest to solve the last year papers. This will give you the confidence and the idea about the type of questions that are being asked.

Mains: Essay

Q1. How did you prepare for the essay paper? 
For the essay paper I watched few videos on youtube in order to understand as how to build the structure, what to write in the introduction, etc. I also consulted few seniors and got some of my essays checked by them. Also I tried to follow the gaurav agarwal’s strategy(cse-2013 topper). His blog on essay writing was very helpful. And above all I wrote few essays( I should have done more on this front and I would suggest everyone to write at least 10 essays starting 2-3 months before the mains exam)

Q2. Which two essays did you write and What key points did you include in it?
1. Character of an institution is reflected in it’s leader
2. Dreams which should not let India sleep

Q3. Many candidates found Mains-2015 Ethics paper very peculiar and “out of the book”. What are your observations and tips for future aspirants regarding preparation of this paper?
This is one paper which can’t be taught through books or by coaching institutes. No one can teach you what is the meaning of happiness for you. So, just read and understand the basic terms from any source and then focus more on answer writing and thinking about day to day examples that can be used in your answers. I think this approach will make your answer more honest and more realistic and this is what this paper on ethics is all about.

Mains answer-writing?

Please tell us how many marks worth attempt did you give? along with comments if any, in the following cells:

Paper	Best attempted	Average quality	namesake answer	Total attempt
GS1	9-10	7-8	0	all
GS2	7-8	7-8	1	all
GS3	10	6	2-4	all
GS4	6-7	9-10	1	all
Opt-P1	4-5	rest	0	all
Opt-P2	6-8	rest	0	all

I would suggest to attempt the entire paper but of course don’t write anything unnecessary or redundant information just for the sake of writing. There will be some questions about which you will know too much. In that case don’t get over ambitious.  You can give 1-2 minutes extra for that answer but not more than that otherwise you will suffer in some other question. Just remember that every question is of same mark and thus has same importance. Finally manage you time on per answer basis rather than on hourly basis. You can cover the extra time given to a particular answer but it’s very difficult to cover the time if you have attempted less than the required number of questions in an hour.

1. How was your experience with the ‘fixed space’ answer sheet?
   There is sufficient space available in the answer sheet.
   Q. Did you write answers in bullet points or in paragraphs? Some players (who cleared mains and got interview call letter) were claiming that they wrote entire paper in bullet points, so it doesn’t matter….whether examiner is asking ‘examine, comment, discuss or xyz’….simply write in bullets and points.
   I used both formats as per the demand of the question. For example paper 1 was mostly in bullet format while paper 2 was mostly in paragraph format. You can use any format but make sure that you give as many examples as you can. That makes your answer specific and to the point. Always remember that there is no such thing as small example or big example. For instance it is better to write that we need to reform mgnrega in order to improve rural employment than to write nothing.
2. Did you follow the “introduction-body-conclusion” format? because some mains-qualified candidates claim they simply wrote the points they could recall within the time, instead of bothering with proper introduction and conclusion.
   Yes I followed this approach because this format makes your answer look complete and sometimes if you have fewer points than introduction and conclusion can make your answer of average quality at least in some cases. As an introduction I either mentioned background or gave some statistics. As a conclusion I mostly focused on suggesting some innovative solutions

Mains Optional Subject

1. What’s your optional subject and why did you chose it and not something else? 
   I had history as my optional and I chose it simply because I had interest in this subject.
2. If a new player wants to pick this subject, would you advice for it or against it? (e.g. every senior player in Public Administration seems to be advising against pub.ad)
   See, I can’t advice in taking a particular subject as the optional or advising against it because in my opinion one should choose that optional with which he/she is most comfortable with. If you have a very high interest in a particular subject than don’t worry about the pattern of previous years. You are most likely to score well in that particular optional if you justify your interest with the hard work
3. How many months did it take to finish the core optional syllabus? 
   This optional takes more time than other optionals because of it’s lengthy syllabus.  Around 5-6 months are needed to cover the core syllabus because you have to make notes otherwise you won’t be able to consolidate it in the end.
4. How many days/ weeks before the exam, you started answer writing practice?
   I had failed the prelims of my first attempt in 2014. I had lots of time and therefore i started answer writing  practice in November 2014 only and wrote atleast one answer on almost daily basis.  I request  everyone to write answer daily. Only then you can translate your knowledge into good score in mains exam.

Before the interview

Q1. How did you prepare for the interview? – for college grad, hobbies, place of origin, current affairs at national and international level?
This was the first interview of my life so I was very nervous about it. Fortunately my interview date was very late(3^rd may 2016) and therefore I  could prepare for it very thoroughly.
Make a group a 3-4 people and prepare your DAF word by word. Read at least two news papers( I would recommend the  Indian express and the economic times). Watch youtube videos for understanding international events(I prepared events like USA elections, brexit from youtube). Also it is very important to read transcripts. This will give you the idea that they are asking same questions again and again and thus you can consolidate your preparation as per the demand.

Q2. Any words of wisdom about Medical checkup?
Don’t eat too much sweets one night before the interview 

Q3. Describe the formal-dress worn by you in interview.
Shirt, pant and tie. Some people wore blazers as well in the heat of may. I don’t understand the logic behind it.

During the interview

Q1. Who was the chairman of you interview board? 
H.C Gupta Sir

Q2. How long was the interview?
30-35 minutes

Q3. Was your interview on the expected lines of what you had prepared or did they ask you totally unexpected questions?  Was it a stress interview, did they ask any uncomfortable questions? If yes, how did you handle it?
Yes the interview was mostly on the expected lines but they didn’t ask even a single opinion based question.  It was entirely factual with lots of names and dates being asked by them. I couldn’t  answer more than 50% questions of the chairman. He even said that I should know about these things and looked at me somewhat angrily. At that point it became little stressful and uncomfortable but it didn’t affect me. I kept on smiling and remained confident. I think this gave me good marks despite not answering most of the questions of the chairman and also despite fumbling 1-2 times.
Q4. Any side details about technicalities like “make sure you bring xyz document or do xyz thing, or you’ll face problem”?
Upsc staff is very cordial. Even if you fail to bring some document they will give the time to submit it at a later date. So, no need to worry  about it.

Q5. Any word of wisdom / observations about interview?
Before the interview it is natural to be nervous. In order to overcome this I gave general ‘gyan’ to the person sitting next to me that its just an interview, every board is very cordial and wants the best of you and blah blah. I don’t know how much it worked for him but it settled my nerves. It’s just a psychological thing.  It worked for me and may work for you as well.

CSE-2015 Marksheet

Q1. Please attach both prelim and final marksheet
Prelims mark sheet-

Subject	Marks obtained
Paper 1	112
Paper 2	126.58

Mains mark sheet-

Subject	Marks obtained
Essay – Paper-1	115
General Studies – Paper 2	91
General Studies – Paper 3	85
General Studies – Paper 4	88
General Studies – Paper 5	97
Optional Paper – Paper-1	114
Optional Paper – Paper-2	123
Written total	713
Personality Test	179
Final Total	892

Q2. After looking at the marksheet, suppose you had to prepare again next time, what changes will you make in your studies?
I would have practiced writing more number of essays

Career Backup

Q1. If you were not selected, what was your career backup plan?
I didn’t have a backup plan

Views on UPSC reforms

What are your views on following issues? 
Q. Optional subjects should be removed altogether. The present stalemate is helping no-one, except coaching-owners, book publishers.
I don’t have a straight opinion on this issue. I don’t know if it is level of preparation or the optionals itself that create the uncertainity.
Q. Your views on the decision to make CSAT paper 33% qualifying?
Increase the qualifying marks to somewhere around 100-110 and resolve the translation issue.

1. UPSC should disclose official prelim answerkey and cutoffs, immediately after prelim is over, instead of postponing it till interview phase is over.
   Yes, upsc should disclose the answer key and cutoffs early so that students can identify their mistakes early and subsequently can work upon them.

Insecurity about profile

1. Many candidates prepare sincerely but constantly live under fear about ‘profile insecurity’. I’m not from a big college, I’m not from English medium, and I don’t have work-experience. What if they ask some stressful questions in the interview about this? Did you suffer from such insecurities? What is your message to these candidates?
   I have never been in any interview room before, I am not from a big college nor am I very fluent in English and also I have no work-experience. Still I managed to score  179 in my interview.  I think this is sufficient to clear your doubts. They are not concerned about what you did in the past. They are more interested in you potential and what you can do after you become a civil servant.

Wisdom

1. Through this struggle and success, what have your learned? What is the wisdom of life and competition? What is your message to the new aspirants? 
   There are some things in life which takes time to translate into success. Civil services exam is a long process and sometimes it may take longer than usual for you to succeed but if you have patience, belief in your abilities and desire to work hard day in day out then you are more likely to clear this exam.
   Also, always remember that no exam is bigger than your life. So, keep good care of your health