Himanshu Gupta, an IAS officer from Uttarakhand, cleared the UPSC exam thrice as an aspirant. He first cleared the IRTS exam in 2018, soon followed by the IPS exam in 2019.
But the versatility of the IAS office kept him going till most recently, in 2020, with an All India Rank (AIR) of 139, he cleared the exam without any formal coaching!
“I wanted to get into IAS because it is not domain-specific and allows one to explore so many different aspects of bureaucracy,” he explains.
Himanshu’s father runs a general store at Sirauli in Bareilly district, while his mother is a homemaker.
Coming from a modest background, he did not want to burden his family with the tuition fees and decided to crack the exam without any expensive private coaching.
Now an IAS officer, at one point, Himanshu used to travel 70 km to reach his school.
While becoming an IAS officer was not a childhood dream for Himanshu, he says, “It was only after I completed my Class 12 examination that the thought of appearing for the UPSC-CSE struck me.”
This journey and goal had given him a sense of identity and purpose, he adds.
Here are a few tips that he shares for future aspirants who do not have access to coaching centres.
1. Read less, revise more:According to Himanshu, the best hack to clear UPSC is utmost revision. “Keep your sources fixed and ensure you follow a simple technique of ‘read-revise-rectify-repeat’. This will ensure you are well-prepared to tackle the examination,” he says.
2. Use digital resources efficiently:Himanshu combined the aid of audio-visuals and text to help him retain better. “Everyone has their own method of learning and retaining. Find what works best for you and stick to that. Do not get swayed by what your peers are doing.”
3. Be prepared emotionally too:“This is a tough examination and one that tests your physical, mental and emotional well-being. Managing all this, and also ensuring that you do well, needs you to prepare yourself mentally for it too,” he says.
3. Be prepared emotionally too:“This is a tough examination and one that tests your physical, mental and emotional well-being. Managing all this, and also ensuring that you do well, needs you to prepare yourself mentally for it too,” he says.
5. Make the most of what you have:“You have got this incredible opportunity to know about the world around you. You only get to do it once. Make the most of it. Be that knowledgeable person you always imagined yourself to be. Fear none except fear itself.”