Success Secrets of Toppers

Few words from successful candidates

• Planned studies, hard work and inner motivation are the keys to
success.

• Strong willpower and faith in God are keys to success.

• Hard work, focused approach and faith in God are stepping-stones to

success.

• Hard work, good planning and positive approach.

• Dedication, time management and hard work are secrets of success.

• Self-confidence, planning and systematic study are stepping-stones

to success.

• Motivation and confidence are the keys to success.

• Determination, positive attitude - key to success.

• Patience, selection of optionals, hard work and good luck.

HARD WORK:
Remember that there is no substitute to hard work. No one will come and
help you. You have to finish the entire course by yourself. Civil Service
competition is like a marathon race. For that any competitive examination/even
this whole world is a competitive world. The aspirants of civil services are well
educated and more than 50 per cent of the candidates are serious ones. One,
who has the confidence that he can compete in this examination and succeed,
only will appear. UPSC statistics also reveals that around 50% of the total
applicants only appear in the Preliminary exam.

Among the 50 per cent of the serious candidates, more than 20 per cent are
hard workers, i.e. more than 50, 000 candidates are competing, who are really
hard working. There are hardly 400 posts in all. So, to make it to the 400, one
has to be really put in real hard work, good writing skills, unique style all put
together. It is not a university examination. One who puts in extra hard work,
practice, and unique presentation only will succeed i.e. be among the top 400.
So all successful candidates say the hard work one of the first pre-requisites for
the success.

There is no short cut to success and hard work never goes unrewarded. There
are many ups and downs during the course of preparation. It is the "downs"
which need to be tackled more vigorously and skillfully - more so at the
emotional and psychological level. Remember these lines - "what you build for
years, may be broken down in a single moment - build anyway".

DEDICATION:
Dedication towards your duty always pays in life. Be totally dedicated and
focused in your studies. You have to sacrifice something like movies, parties,
and entertainments etc at this stage of your life to achieve bigger things. Just
work day in and day out and go on and on. As told in the previous topic, one
should have dedication towards the goal otherwise it is very difficult to achieve.
Select standard study books/preparation of notes, as reading is the only
entertainment you should have during this period.

PATIENCE:
As the CSE preparation spans a minimum of one year, right from the
Preliminary stage to the interview state, it requires a lot of patience to maintain
your tempo. At times you may feel tired and sick of further studying during the
course of your preparation. Maintain your cool and patience and so on to break
the monotony of studies. Talk to friends and parents. They will provide with you
with the much-needed emotional support. Every aspirant tries to top in the first
attempt itself. If you don't get through, don't get frustrated. Don't slow down
your tempo and at the same time you should keep patience for another year to
reap the fruits of success. So one should not lose patience and the tempo
throughout the preparation period till success.

SELF-CONFIDENCE:
Your self-confidence can make the difference. If you don't believe in
yourself and your capacity to achieve then, no matter how hard you try. You will
end up failing. So your self-confidence should be at an all time high - always.
You should be in the company of people, who can increase your motivational
levels high and can inspire you. Form a group of close friends, who are as
determined as you are to make it to the Civil Services Examination. Keep good
friends, they are always a source of inspiration and motivation.

• Most of the candidates who have passed/cleared/topped the Civil Services

add this as a major key to success. Why everyone says this has a reason
behind it. The unforeseen reasons are listed below:

• Normally, candidates accept a standard formula, of what was once said of

Einstein - "Genius is 90 per cent perspiration and 10 per cent inspiration".
Some may say that it is 99 per cent hard work and 1 per cent luck. It is
like jumping into a well. Whether it is 90 per cent or 99 per cent, one will
fall into the well only. What are the factors for the 1- 10 per cent
variation varies from person to person.
• It often happens that one studies all subjects well enough, except one
small topic, as he/she might have thought that the topic is well known to
him/her. The question in the examination may appear from that topic
itself. The aspirant may not be able to answer the question satisfactorily,
but he has only this much under his/her control.

• Sometime in Prelims, unknowingly, candidates mark the wrong option

though they know the answer. It is a mental mistake. The aspirant should
have been more alert. Hence, mental alertness is of essence. This also is
a faculty under the candidate's control. In Prelims, if you are in doubt,
you are bound to get confused between two similar options. Hence,
comprehend the question carefully and do not rule out any option till you
have balanced each option carefully in the context of the question.

• Coming to Mains, you have nine papers. Leave the language papers as
they are of a qualifying nature and are not going to be added on to the
scores of the Mains examination. Moreover, language is not something
that can be prepared overnight. Just keep reading newspapers and
magazines regularly. Other seven papers are going to be different in
nature.

• Though the key is given by UPSC, it is not sure whether the evaluator will
award the same marks for same points to different students.

• One evaluator may like Mr. A's style, but the same may not like Mr. B's
answer, though the points are the same, but the style of presentation is
different.

• The Mains evaluator is also a human being; he may not always behave in
the same manner to award the same marks. The evaluator is not a
machine, which will behave in a similar fashion and is in the same mood
all the time.

• The mentality and the mood of the evaluator also play a crucial role at the
time of the correction of the paper.

• All seven papers go to different personalities and the caliber of evaluators

are also not the same.

• One person does not evaluate all the papers. Different evaluators from
different background evaluate the same subject. There may be lenient
and tough people are also there in the same lot. Suppose if an evaluator
is a little liberal to give one mark extra for one question. All the papers
put together will add another 30 marks more for the candidate which can
make a world of difference indeed to your final standing in the merit list.
 In such types of competition, even one mark can make the difference.

• At the interview stage too, the board chairman and members with
different backgrounds sit in the board. It is impossible to award the same
number of marks to a person in two different boards. Here the question
posed, timing, board members play a crucial role.

• 30-40 minutes of an interview is not the best way to judge the caliber of
a student.
At times, familiar questions which sound interesting to the candidate
might be asked which will definitely give an edge to the candidate. At
other times, even good answers can't be articulated well by the candidate
before the board.

• There are well known cases where the candidate was given different
marks, which varied in 100s from one exam to the other. One person got
210/300 marks in the first attempt, the same person got 150/300 in the
interview in the very next attempt. What can be the conclusion? Do we
conclude that the same person got worse over a period of one year? No,
here the questions posed to him are entirely different from those posed in
the previous year.

• Above all, during the examination one should keep sound health. Though
it may be under your control, certain things are beyond one's control.
This may mar the chances of success of the candidate.

• For the above reasons, candidates use to say that by luck/God's grace
also plays a major role. They above-mentioned factors should also play in
one's favour for huge success in this competitive world. The conclusion is
that you shouldn't worry if you face failure. There are uncontrollable
factors, which also play with us without our knowledge, so do hard work
and extra hard work and leave the rest to the Almighty.
Still, remember there is no alternative to hard work. And also believe that
God is on your side and go ahead with full determination and intelligent
study and practice, which will bring success to you