TOPPER’S STRATEGY: ROHAN BOTRE (Rank 187) CSE – 2015

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Hello Friends

Rohan Botre who secured 187 rank in UPSC 2015 has shared some insight and words of wisdom about his preparation and follow ups. We are happy to share this with you all 🙂

Rohan Botre.
Rank 187
4th attempt

Educational qualifications

1. Masters of sciences (MS) Civil engineering—Purdue University, USA
2. Bachelors of Engineering— Pune university, India

When I was in 10th standard I came across a documentary related to the IAS training academy at mussorrie. I was inspired by that documentary and later tried to explore more information about the services like IAS and IPS. I was very much influenced by the work done by some renowned IAS and IPS officer , that I decided to study for this exam i,e UPSC.

I was in the United states for a masters in civil engineering program at the famous Purdue University in the state of Indiana. Being from a educational background (both parents are professors in pune), I had decided to first complete my education with a MS degree. Even when I was in USA, I always kept this at the back of my mind that I have to go back to India after the MS program gets completed and start my ups preparation. During my stay abroad I constantly read articles from THE HINDU AND INDIAN EXPRESS. I started my UPSC preparation in 2012. I selected Public administration and sociology as my optional subjects. Before 2013 prelims there were two optional subjects. But in 2013 attempt I dropped sociology and selected Public administration as my optional.

Prelims:

This is the most crucial part of the process. Due to heavy competition prelim has become a cause of concern. I suggest you to complete as much as syllabus as possible for prelims.

Here are the sources:
1. Spectrum: History
2. NCERT for ancient and medieval history( do not neglect this part)
3. CCRT plus Art NCERT( very important for mains also)
4. GC leong, 11th and 12th NCERT for geography
5. Shankar IAS material for Envo
6. Ramesh singh for economy.
7. Laxmikant for polity
8. IAS baba website for current happening through which you can solve many question
related to IR, international organizations, polity etc.
9. CSAT — any local class material (only 66 marks are needed now)

Read these sources thoroughly and completely..

Optional Preparation.

I never took any classes for optional. My mother, being a professor of political science taught me this optional. Most important thing i would suggest aspirants is to focus on answer writing and notes making in public administration. This attempt i was able to score 226 (110 + 116) in PA. I made extensive notes from various books like

1. stephen robbins
2. mohit bhattacharya
3. Fadia
4. IIPA journals
5. ARC reports.
6. rajni goyal.
7. if possible punch commission report.
8. most important is laxmikant ( public administration wali)

I had revised these notes a number of times.. The challenge in PA is to comprehend the question that is asked in the paper… the questions are not at all straight forward. This skill comes by extensive reading, notes making and answer writing.

General studies:

IASBABA has been a very important part of my preparation till now. I had focused on many sections of IAS baba like yojana compilations, various articles, discussions of LS and RS TV apart from TLP. Today is the time when paper reading becomes very difficult because of the vast nature of the syllabus. So i focused much more on time management. In reality, I devoted very less time on news paper reading. My mains focus was to collect as much as information as possible and produce that information in the exam papers…. for this I had a great benefit from IASBABA

This website is an ocean of knowledge and information. Personally it has benefited me immensely. As GS 2 and 3 are mostly current affairs , we need to have a good hold of the basics first.

Then IASbaba can be of greatest use for supporting that theoretical part with numbers , graphs, schemes, most important thing in GS papers in the variety of angle and inter-linking that you make in your answers.

I strongly believe that this website can be very helpful to those who do not have the resources to join classes in Delhi. This can be a treat for rural aspirants also.

Time Management

Most crucial thing in upsc prep is time management. I was very strict about time management. Every day i used to set a target for completion on some part of syllabus… and i used to try to complete my syllabus 2-4 days before the exams start… may it be prelims or mains… It is most crucial to stay relaxed before the exams…. revision of IAS baba notes and material used to be done on a regular basis..

Dedication and consistency:

Failures are part of the process of UPSC.. i had to face a number of failures. In 2014 I couldn’t clear prelims. This was the most toughest period of my life. But it is most important to stay focused and clam. Make a new plan after your failures and new plan should correct your past mistakes and lacunaes. IAS baba had given me a ray of hope that by systematic preparation success can be achieved. I hope this article helps every UPSC aspirant…stay blessed and healthy

Rohan Botre
Rank 187