Monday 29 July 2013

UPSC Exam-Civil Services-IAS Toppers Interview-Sathis Kumar 137th Rank

 Civil Services exam 2012-13 – IAS Topper Interview –
Dr.M.Sathisk Kumar-137th  Rank
1.      Brief Bio data

SATHISH KUMAR S
AGE 25 YEARS

Native: Tirupattur, Vellore Dt

Father: K.G.Shanmugam, a retired Village Administrative Officer
Mother: V.Poongothai, primary school HM
Sister: S.Vealvizhi, a doctor, married.

Schooling: upto 5th- St. Charles School, Tirupattur
  6th to 10th- Don Bosco Mat Hr Sec School, Tirupattur - Got 1032/1100 marks-94%-in 10th. 11th & 12th- Ideal Hr Sec School, Erode- Got 1163/1200 marks- 97% in 12th- got centum in biology, maths, physics & chemistry.

Graduation: Got 17th rank in the state in Medicine cutoff(299.17/300), joined  Madras Medical College, MBBS 2005-2011, Distinction in anatomy, pharmacology and pathology.

2011- first attempt in civil service exam, AIR 751, Got IDAS(Indian Defence Accounts Service) joined training at National Institue of Financial Management, Faridabad in December 2012

2012-Second attempt, AIR 137

Coaching: at chennai shankar academy, Ganesh academy, Smartleaders academy for prelims and mains. Anna state govt coaching institue and Doors Institute for interview

Optional papers: Public Administration and Geography

Other interests: active participation in college NCC,- B & C certificate holder, Gold Medal-Best entertainer  at Combined Annual Training Camp(CATC) Kadambathur, active participation in school & college culturals, Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association spokesperson in 2007-08, active participation in Blood Donors' Club(BDC) of MMC.

Other competitive exams: Secured Rank 53 in TNPSC Group 1 exam(my 1 rst attempt) and was alloted to DSP in 2013

First doctor and the first IAS in my extended family

Would like to specialise in developmental sectors like health (my graduation) &  education (my mothers profession), and Finance (my fathers profession VAO) and would like to head any one of the relevant ministries at the central govt. level and work for a social cause.



2.      Your interest in Civil Services Examination

I generated interest for civil services since my childhood from my father who was a Village Administrative Officer(VAO). I waned to become a collector as I considered a collector to be the first citizen of a district and people look forward to him for the betterment of their livelihoods. As one proceeds up in the hierarchy one can prescribe better policies that can have a positive impact on the lives of the people.The pride in becoming a civil servant especially an IAS officer and the instant  social recognition one gets are invaluable. Becoming the collector, who is considered to be the ‘first citizen’ of a district cannot be evaluated in monetary terms.


3.      Subject Selection

I chose Geography and Public Administration as my optionals. The selection was based on the advise of my seniors, my basic interest, utility of the optionals in general studies and essay, availability of good coaching in Chennai for that optional, and relevance to the civil services.Oscillating between optionals in each attempt may sometime prove dangerous. So , its better to give a serious thought before selecting an optional and stick to it and find ways of fine tuning it during the course of the attempts.

4.      Coaching if any

There are good coaching centres in Chennai. Its better to undergo coaching, because it would clarify the concepts, expose us to the competitive world, reduce our preparation time and labour, gives another perspective and would give us some best friends who are of same wavelength. I underwent coaching for prelims and mains at shankar ias, smartleaders ias, ganesh ias and coaching for interview at doors ias and anna govt institute. I did all my preparations from Chennai and did not go to Delhi, so I could vouch that Chennai has now grown into the new hub for civil services preparations.

5.      Preparation Strategy

Prelims:

 The change in prelims pattern stripped me off the burden of preparing for optional. As the CSAT paper was altogether a new one, I thought one could make a difference by strengthening the GS paper.

Focus was on paper 1. For paper 2, I spared some time for working out certain basic problems and framed the probable structure of CSAT paper in my mind. 90 to 95% time allotted for GS paper preparation

I managed to tackle the ‘Negative Marking’ in Prelims by answering almost all the questions. In prelims more than  80% of the questions are answered by making an intelligent guess. So there is no point in guessing only selective questions.

Revise the four core subjects history, geography, constitution and economy frequently. Have a good sleep the previous night. Take adequate rest by lying down and cooling your mind before the CSAT paper in the afternoon

Mains:

Issue based in-depth preparation for GS. Structuring answers in my mind for different sections of the optional papers, preparing flowcharts for pubad and practicing maps for geography helped me a lot.

I didnt put much effort for essays, as pubad as my optional helped me a lot .The only thing that I had to be careful is to utilize the concepts from pubad without explicitly making known that it was my optional subject.

'Time Management' - is a key factor while making preparations as well as in writing examination papers, be it Prelims or Main Examination

While preparing I used to have a weekly target of covering the syllabus. I gave  equal importance to all the four core subjects i.e., History  Geography, Polity & Economy and the two optionals.

For prelims exam, I used to have half an hour target of no. of questions that I should complete. I used to shade the answers once I complete a set of questions in a page. I generally avoid revisiting the questions after sometime.

For mains, I prefer essay type questions first. Time divided approximately proportional to the marks.

Based on the recent changes for Main Examination 2013, one optional means UPSC is trying to reduce the weightage given to optionals. It means that we should increase the weightage given to GS. It also means that an optional which contributes much to GS would be preferred by candidates.

6.      Book List
LIST OF BOOKS/MAGAZINES
Preliminary Examination
Paper I (General Studies):

HISTORY:
1.Old NCERT-Ancient, Medieval &         Modern Indian History
  2. Spectrum- Modern India

GEOGRAPHY:

1.Certificate Physical Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
 a)class11-Fundamental of Physical Geography 
b)class12- Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People And Economy
d)class11-India Physical Environment
3. An Atlas

POLITY:

1.Indian Polity by Laxmikanth

ECONOMY:

1.Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
2.Economic Survey of India(tabled in parliament every year)
3. Yojana Budget Issue

OTHERS:

1.The Hindu
2. India Year Book(released by Min. of Information & Broadcasting)
3.Yojana(a monthly magazine)
4.Civil Services Chronicle
5. All India Radio (news analysis, current affairs) @ newsonair.nic.in
6.PIB website( documents, backgrounders & features)

Paper II (Aptitude Test):
No specific books

Main Examination
General Studies

HISTORY:

1.Old NCERT-  Modern Indian History
  2. Spectrum- Modern India

GEOGRAPHY:

1.Certificate Physical Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
 a)class11-Fundamental of Physical Geography
 b)class12- Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People And Economy
d)class11-India Physical Environment
3. An Atlas

POLITY:

1.Indian Polity by Laxmikanth

ECONOMY:

1.Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
2.Economic Survey of India
3. Yojana Budget Issue

OTHERS:

1.The Hindu
2. India Year Book(released bi min. of Info & Broadcasting)
3.Yojana(a monthly magazine)
4.Civil Services Chronicle
5. All India Radio news analysis
6.PIB website
7.Min. of Ext Affairs website(International Relations)
8. Wikipedia(references)
9.Ministry websites(Annual Reports)

OPTIONAL 1st

GEOGRAPHY

1.Certificate Physical Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
 a)class11-Fundamental of Physical Geography
 b)class12- Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People And Economy
d)class11-India Physical Environment
3. An Atlas
4. Savindra Singh- Physical Geography
5. Models in Geography –Majid  Hussain
6.Indian Geography- Khullar or Majid Hussain
7.Spectrum Geography(Selected topics) 

OPTIONAL 2nd
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION

1.Administrative Thinkers-Prasad & Prasad
2.New Horizons of Public Administration-Mohit Bhattacharya
3.Indian Public Administration-Arora & Goyal
4.Public Administration –Avasthi & Maheshwari
5. Constitution of India-D.D.Basu
6. IJPA Journals (Relevant)
7. Second ARC- summary of recommendations
8.Public Adminbistration super 50 by Shubhra Saxena
9.Public Administration – Laxmikanth- Tata McGraw Hill’s (Ref)
10.Fadia & Fadia (Ref)

7.      Examination Experience

"Do the best and leave the rest".
"Dont carry over one exam's negatives to the other exam. Even if you come to know that you have made a blunder in the previous exam, do the other exam as if you are going to be the topper in the CSE."
"Attitude is very important than anything"

8.      Interview (strategy, questions, and atmosphere) – UPSC Board

I did not set impressions about interview boards as I thought it would distract me from my core preparations. Our interview would not look real if we go with certain prejudices and predilections. Had some mock interviews during my first attempt. But, during my 2nd attempt, as I was in training, those candidates who were to appear in the interview had some discussions in certain core general issues. I also prepared for my biodata and my profession related issues separately. My interview was in the forenoon session with Prof. Purushottam Agarwal board. The interview was cordial and lasted for 25-30 minutes. Questions relating to why I wanted to become a collector, responsibilities of the collector, patent issues, how to tacke deficiencies of doctors in rural areas, private medical education, Italian marines issue, same sex marriages, values learnt from CMC hospital Vellore, Five personalities of 20th century eastern India, etc., were asked. I got 210 marks

9.      Total Marks scored

CSE 2012

Prelims:

GS-120 /CSAT-145= TOTAL-265

Mains:

Essay-121
GS-181
Geography-285
Pubad-209
TOTAL-796
Interview-210
GRAND TOTAL-1006




Quotable Quote-Message of the Day

There is a voice inside you that whispers all day along, "I feel this is right for me, I  know this is wrong," No teacher, preacher, parent, friend, or wise man can decide what's right for you--Just listen to the voice from inside

Saturday 27 July 2013

Friday 26 July 2013

UPSC Exams-SCRA Exam 2013 Final Results declared

 Special Class Railway Apprentices'  (SCRA) Exam 2013 Final Results declared 

Based on the results of the written examination of Special Class Railway Apprentices` exam 2013 held by Union Public Service  Commission on 20th January, 2013 followed by Personality Test from  8th July, 2013 to 11th July, 2013, a list of 56 candidates [ 24 General (including  01 PH-I ), 14 Other Backward Classes, 13 Scheduled Castes and  05 Scheduled Tribes , in order of merit, who have been recommended  for appointment as Special Class Railway Apprentices in the Indian Railways  Service of Mechanical Engineers against 56 vacancies [ 26 General , 14 OBC, 11 SC and 05 ST ] including 01 vacancy for Physically handicapped candidate  is enclosed.

The medical examination for these recommended candidates shall be conducted by the Ministry of Railways. A communication for medical examination is expected to be issued by the Ministry of Railways to the candidates individually within 21 days from the date of declaration of final result.

ROLL NUMBERS & NAMES OF RECOMMENDED CANDIDATES
(In order of merit)

Sn.      Roll No.        Name
1          008759           PRANAV KUMAR
2          197064           KEERTI ANAND
3          054056          SHASWAT CHAUBEY
4          068201           SHOBHIT MATHUR
5          044863           SAKSHAM AGARWAL
6          009323           ASTRIT MANIKANTAN
7          194293           SHUBHAM YADAV
8          129637           PRATEEK RAISINGHANI
9          032997           PRERIT MATHUR
10        220327           OJASVI MONGA
11        018399           AMIT VISHNOI
12        051880           FARAN AHMAD
13        066080           HARSH MISRA
14        031120           ISHAN TYAGI
15        226949           ANIMESH BARANAWAL
16        010415           KRISHNA KINKER SINGH
17        127418           SHUBHAM MEHRA
18        008198           RISHABH AGARWAL
19        000439           SALIL MISHRA
20        025448           HIMANSHU KUMAR
21        135260           SHUBHAM KUMAR PANDEY
22        052662          MANRAJ SINGH BEVLI
23        004192           LAKSHAY SAPRA
24        020142           KUMAR SIDDHARTH
25        125936           ABHISHEK PRADHAN
26        173025           HIMANSHU SHUKLA
27        130718           PRASHANT KUMAR
28        009943           SAURAV KUMAR
29        019182           PRABHANSHU ABHISHEK
30        198471           BACHANTI KRISHNA
31        044249          VAIBHAV KUMAR
32        176170           GAURISH GANGWAR
33        043921           AAYUSH SHAURYA
34        128723           DEEPAK KUMAR
35        153650           DIBYENDU MONDAL
36        164096           RAKESH KUMAR PATEL
37        060743           SHUBHAM PRATAP SINGH
38        044598           FAIZAN AHMAD
39        108682           POONAM KUMARI SAHA
40        103910           PRAJIL CHANDRAN
41        130812           VIKASH RANJAN
42        029266           DIPTESH KUMAR MANDAL
43        221584           VAIBHAV SINGH
44        117074           PILLI HARSHA VARDHAN
45        001185           VISHESH CHOUDHARY
46        108567           VATSALYA KUMAR
47        199793           ASHWANI KUMAR D
48        123839           MANISH MEENA
49        235946           BADAL CHOUDHARY
50        159705           RONI SAIBA
51        014757          DEBATRA MAZUMDAR
52        070263           HIMANSHU PRAKASH
53        019564           SUNIL KUMAR
54        039417           VINEET KUMAR MEENA
55        120275           ABHISHEK PRATIHAR
56        045759           VEDPRAKASH BHAGAT

Note: The candidature of 11 candidates bearing Roll Nos. 9943, 43921, 60743, 117074, 164096, 235946, 19564, 45759, 103910, 120275 and 198471 is
Provisional
2. UPSC has a 'Facilitation Counter' near the Examination Halls in its campus. Candidates can obtain relevant information/clarification regarding their examination/ recruitment on any working day between 10:00 hrs to 17:00 hrs  in person or over telephone Nos. 011-23385271 / 23381125. Result will also be available on the UPSC web site i.e. http://www.upsc.gov.in.
 3. Further, the relevant marks are likely to be available on the Commission’s Website within 15 days from the declaration of the final result for access to candidates. The candidates can access these marks on the Website after keying their Roll No. and date of birth when prompted to do so at the appropriate link.

Courtesy: UPSC Website