—Mr. Anudeep Durishetty, IAS Topper 2017-18, 1st Rank
Mr. Anudeep Durishetty, IAS Topper 2017-18, 1st Rank honoured with the CSR Gold Medal and Trophy.
Mr. Anudeep Durishetty from Metapally, Telangana has secured the All India 1st Rank in the Civil Services Examination 2017-18. Mr. Durishetty has completed his degree in Engineering in Electronics & Instrumentation from B.I.T.S., Pilani, Rajasthan. This is the successive second year when a youth belonging to a southern state of India has secured the top position. Mr. Durishetty was working with Google before being selected in Civil Services. He credits the secret of his success to persistence, self-belief and hard work. For General Studies and other papers, he consulted Competition Success Review, General Knowledge Today and CSR Year Book apart from Forum IAS. According to Mr. Durishetty, Competition Success Review helps in providing good material for Civil Services and its compilation is good as compared to other standard material. He advises future aspirants to work on their weaknesses. He says that his mantra to succeed is : “Read, Revise and Practice.”
Here, we publish an exclusive interview which he gave to Competition Success Review.
CSR : What is the secret of your success in the Civil Services Examination?
Mr. Anudeep Durishetty : Persistence, self belief and hard work. I had no dearth of material. I finished the syllabus and revised often.
Q. How much time do you think one requires for serious preparations for this examination?
A. One year.
Q. Which journals have you been reading for the General Studies and other papers?
A. Apart from Competition Success Review, General Knowledge Today, CSR Year Book, CSR special editions,I prepared from Yojana, Kurukshetra and civilsdaily.com
Q. Do you remember any remarkable incident in your life that motivated or prompted you to go for a career in the Civil Services?
A. My father works in the State government as Asst. Engineer in the Electricity department. This prompted me for Civil Services.
Q. Competition Success Review, the largest selling youth magazine in English for 35 years, has been extremely helpful because
A. I have carefully read contents of special editions of Competition Success Review.
Q. How did your parents, family and friends contribute to your success?
A. Received
a lot of consistent support and encouragement. Cleared it in 5th attempt.
Q. Had you not been selected in the Civil Services Examination, what would have been your reaction? Which other service/career would you have gone in/opted for?
A. Working with Google before Civil Services, would have continued there.
Q. How do you visualise your success?
A. To identify problems in the districts and work towards them especially primary education and job creation in rural areas.
Q. What were your strong points which enabled you to achieve spectacular success in the Civil Services Examination?
A. Recognised and worked on my mistakes. Persistence has paid off.
Q. What was your Optional at the Civil Services Examination?
A. Anthropology.
Q. How many attempts had you made earlier before you got selected?
A. Five.
Q. What was your criterion for the selection of the optional subject?
A. Interest, availability of material and how it has been performing over the years.
Q. How did you prepare for your compulsory papers?
A. Read local newspapers and read previous years’ answers.
Q. What is your impression about the Interview Board?
A. Very cordial, did not stress me. Asked questions about my DAF/Profile. The stimulating conversation made me feel at ease in the 35 minutes interview.
Q. Competition Success Review has been the largest selling ABC-certified magazine in English since 1981. How do you visualise the role of this magazine in moulding the careers of the youth.
A. Helps in giving good material. Compilation is good as compared to other standard materials.
Q. How did Competition Success Review help you in your preparation for the interview?
A. The special editions of Competition Success Review are very helpful for General Studies.
Q. What is your opinion about Competition Success Review?
A. Readily available in small towns. Crisp information.
Q. Since when have you been reading Competition Success Review ?
A. Since 2012.
Q. What is your opinion about General Knowledge Today ?
A. Scheming compilation is very good. Issue-wise compilation is good.
Q. To prepare for this Civil Services Examination, did you join any Coaching Institute(s)?
A. I have taken test series at Forum IAS.
Q. What do you think is a better way of preparation between selective intensive study and wide extensive study?
A. Questions are generally within study but covers a lot of things.
Q. Is this pattern of the exam appropriate for selection? Would you recommend any other improvement?
A. Cycle should be condensed. It is too long.
Q. Do you feel that there should be no restriction on the number of attempts ?
A. There should be a limit. A lot of youth is lost in the preparation and taking attempts.
Q. We have been awarding CSR Gold Medal to top 50 Rank Holders of CSE who have been our readers. Do you think that our gesture has been a source of inspiration for the Civil Services aspirants?
A. Helps aspirants in rural background.
Q. We have been publishing essays every month under Current Issues and CSR Essay Contests and CSR Super Brain Youth Contest by adding eight more pages to encourage our readers not only to write better, but also to know what the top competitors could be writing. Besides, we offer CSR Gold Medal & Trophy to the winners of the CSR Super Brain Youth Contest. Is this focus-oriented approach helpful for the IAS aspirants?
A. Practice is very crucial.
Q. We have been publishing Mock Tests in every issue prepared by India’s Top IAS Coaching Institutes as IAS Special Supplements in Competition Success Review to help aspirants in CSE preparation. Were these helpful to you?
A. Yes.
Q. How do you think Competition Success Review could be more useful to the candidates appearing in the Civil Services and various other competitive examinations ?
A. Go digital (a good website, apps). Not everyone would want to purchase or go to Delhi.
Q. Do you think that the UPSC needs to be more transparent in its examination and evaluation ?
A. It should come up with parameters on which answers are judged. A broad outline regarding this will help in every doubt.
Q. What is your advice to the future aspirants?
A. Give your best. Work on your weaknesses. Read, Revise and Practice.