Why most of the students thinks that UPSC is not for them!
What is UPSC ?
The Civil Services Examination is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service(IFS), and Indian Police Service (IPS).
Himanshu Kasushik, IAS 2018 Batch. He secured AIR 77 in UPSC CSE 2017 in his first attempt. But his journey till here was not easy at all. Apart from this, his academic background wasnot very convincing. His score in class 10 was 87% which is fairly good. In class 11, he got around 60% and passed that class with grace in one subject. In Class 12, he scored 74% which is an average score.
From there, he gave several exams:
1. IIT JEE- Not Qualified
2. AIEEE – Rank above 1 Lakh
3. IP University Exam- Not Qualified
4. DCE – Not Qualified/ Failed
5. VIT and Manipal – Not Qualified
Having scored very poor in all these engineering exams he felt quite miserable and decided that he will not waste his one year by dropping. Finally, he somehow managed to get admission into Krishna Engineering College, Ghaziabad which comes under Uttar Pradesh Technical University. He completed his Engineering with 65% aggregate but he had to reappear for two tests. He got a job at CSC in Noida after completing his B.Tech and he worked there as a software developer for 3 years.
He thought of giving UPSC CSE Exam but other people adviced him not to give this exam as this exam is only meant for toppers.
He was again and again reminded of this, “ You’re just an average student, you will waste your life in pursuit of civil services and this exam is not for average people.”
Class X – 87%
Class XII – 74%
B.Tech – 65% (2 re-exam)
It can demotivate anyone when everyone reminds you of your failures and you tend to give up. So, he felt the same in his initial years of his job as a software engineer. He had decided that he will not attempt this exam. After some time, somehow he felt that enough is enough. He felt that no one else should write his destiny. He should write his own. So, he resigned from his job and started preparing from July 2016 onwards. He joined Vajiram & Ravi and started attending classes. He chose Political Science as his Optional Subject which was completely different from his Engineering background.
The one year of his preparation was the toughest time of his life.
He had to sit for around 7–8 hours daily. You have fight daily battle and you have to win these small battles. That’s how you have to prepare and Himanshu also did this.
Finally he wrote Prelims in June 2017, Mains in October and Interview in February. He cleared the exam in his First attempt and also cleared the so-called AVERAGE tag given to by the society.
What he Learned: Everyone is unique and everyone has different abilities. Average is just a Societal Tag. You don’t need to worry about your background. UPSC is just and its exam is fair for anyone and everyone. Anybody can clear it. What is required is utmost dedication and hardwork.
If he can clear the exam then you can too.
And remember,” Regret is worse than failure”. Try to give an attempt because if you don’t then you won’t be able to realise your capabilities and you will always be considered an AVERAGE by the society.
Trust me waiting for the right moment will not make any sense. The right moment is always here. Just try.
