The recently announced results of the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2023-24 have yet again witnessed the successful candidates, particularly the toppers, reinventing and rewriting the definition of success in their own exclusive and unique ways. And you, as a reader of Competition Success Review (CSR), would be proud to note that your magazine has yet again been an integral part of the success stories of many of them, including the triumphant holder of All India Rank 1, Mr. Aditya Srivastava.
Giving part of the credit to CSR, Mr. Srivastava told us that “CSR is an authentic and to-the-point source for knowing facts”. He added : “CSR has been a part of my preparations ever since I was in Class 5, helping me since preparation days for the National Talent Search Examination (NTSE), which I cleared. It also helped me get some grasp of current affairs-related facts for UPSC CSE”. Unsurprisingly, his father also read CSR during his preparations for competitive examinations. Another reader of CSR among the toppers, AIR 10 Ms. Aishwaryam Prajapati told us that the model question papers and practice tests published in our magazine extensively helped her prepare for Prelims. “Strategies shared by past toppers in CSR also helped me to get a clear idea about Interview strategy,” she added. Among some other toppers we have been able to talk to so far, AIR 13 Ms. Medha Anand, AIR 15 Mr. Kunal Rastogi and AIR 36 Ms. Ayushi Pradhan also acknowledged that not only they but their fathers also referred to CSR for competitive examinations. These are only a few of a good number of examples where the UPSC CSE achievers vouched for CSR as a veritably holistic and guiding preparation tool.
While we heartily congratulate all the successful candidates of the UPSC CSE 2023-24, it is worthwhile for all the future aspirants among you to take cues from the well-thought-out systematic labour they put in and the strategies they adopted. We have published a detailed account of the toppers’ modus operandi and secrets of their success in this issue of the CSR, which is a must-read for all of you. In a nutshell, they all owe their success to a focused mindset, hard & smart work, patience, grit, determination, perseverance, a never-say-die attitude, and learning from failures. The background check of the Top 20 successful candidates of the UPSC CSE 2023-24 highlights their unwavering determination and resilience. Most of them triumphed over past failures and setbacks by tweaking their strategies—five of them were selected on their third try, while nine were chosen after more than three attempts. Among the Top 10, only three were selected on their first attempt, including AIR 2 Mr. Animesh Pradhan and AIR 3 Ms. Donuru Ananya Reddy. Many of the toppers were already under-training Indian Police Service (IPS) officers at the time of the exam but never let go of their dream of ultimately becoming an IAS officer only. They finally realised their dream this time by vastly improving upon their previous rankings. Such candidates included AIR 1 Mr. Srivastava, AIR 4 Mr. P.K. Sidharth Ramkumar, and AIR 5 Ms. Ruhani.
All the toppers we have been able to talk to so far have put absolute emphasis on ‘hard as well as smart work’ in addition to sustained motivation, focus, consistency, and a never-give-up approach. For instance, AIR 1 Mr. Aditya revealed to us that “consistency and a fine balance of hard work and smart work” did the trick for him. In another exclusive interview with us, AIR 2 Mr. Pradhan said that his secret of success has been “consistency with limited sources and multiple revisions”. AIR 3 Ms. Reddy says aspirants should decide their preparation strategy based on their strengths and weaknesses. While AIR 4 Mr. Ramkumar says one should go for limited but focused content during preparation, AIR 5 Ms. Ruhani revealed that she never had fixed hours for studying, but whatever she studied, she studied with total concentration.
All these traits of success, as demonstrated by this year’s IAS toppers, are worth emulating in letter and spirit. We hope all future aspirants follow in their footsteps and count on CSR to succeed.
All the very best!
