Dear Friend,
You must have received many tips from counsellors about how to go through the Personality Test, the last significant challenge before cracking the UPSC Civil Services Examination (CSE). They are always eager to tell you: Read and prepare your Detailed Application Form (DAF) thoroughly; be up-to-date with the Current Affairs; prepare questions about your reasons for choosing Civil Services, about your State and District; resort to good body language; be yourself and stay confident, etc. There is no dearth of golden voices telling you what to do and what not while appearing for a UPSC CSE interview. They are helpful, but only to an extent.
Nothing compares with the real-life experiences of the toppers who have triumphed outstandingly in a Personality Test and joined the Civil Services. After clearing the Prelim and Main examinations, most of the CSE aspirants find themselves highly curious about what was asked of the successful candidates who appeared and passed with flying colours in UPSC CSE
interviews before them, how they answered those questions, and how they conducted themselves throughout the interview. That is why we at the Competition Success Review (CSR) took it as our duty to bring you the actual and verbatim accounts of the IAS toppers’ interviews. In line with the decades-long tradition of CSR, a big number of such accounts of toppers’ interviews have been and are being regularly carried out in the magazine. It is not easy to arrange these actual accounts of UPSC CSE interviews for various reasons. Still, we go all out to get the UPSC CSE toppers to reveal the proceedings of their precious interviews because we know that nothing better serves the future aspirants in preparing for their Personality Tests. You will not find such actual accounts of toppers’ interviews reproduced verbatim by them anywhere else.
It is always better to learn from the experience of others. As Ms. Gina Greenlee, a coach, teacher, speaker, author of
14 books and a native of New York, U.S.A., says, “Experience is a master teacher, even when it’s not our own.” The nineteenth century German statesman and diplomat Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) used harsher words to express this: “Fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experience of others.” Our own Bhagwad Gita, the discourse between Lord
Krishna and Arjun before the start of the Kurukshetra war, emphasises developing the right perspective by learning from
others’ experiences.
Let me give you an example. It comes from Ms. Aishwaryam Prajapati, the topper with AIR 10 in UPSC CSE 2024,
whose verbatim account of the Personality Test we have carried in the CSR April 2025 issue. As she came after leaving
her year-old L&T engineering job to become an IAS, the Chairman of the Interview Board asked her: “Since the company
spent lakhs of rupees on you and you abruptly resigned, would it not be advisable that employees sign a bond with the
employers?” She could have quickly fallen into a guilt trap by supporting such a bond. She gave it quick thought before
disagreeing and politely but firmly replied, “No, Sir. I don’t think there should be a bond. The free will of the employee
should matter.” The Chairman persisted, “If there is no bond, should the employees return the money to the company
if they resign before time.” The trap became clearer. However, she stood her ground, replying, “No, Sir. Employees also
contribute to the company’s value when they are in the company. Hence, there is no need to return the money to the
company. Every employee has the right to pursue higher career goals”. This small nugget from her Interview delivers some
important lessons: Don’t get intimidated by the questions; neither tend to fall into the traps the interviewers might lay
sometimes. Be firm with your opinion and express it strongly but in a polite manner. And always make your perspective
behind any strongly opinionated view clear.
This is just one small example, but it suffices to show how rich and profound learning experiences this reservoir of
toppers’ actual interviews provides to future aspirants. Perceiving things in the right way plays a critical role in helping you understand what you should do, why you should do it, what your role is in the scheme of things and how they shape your attitudes. In every issue of CSR, we carry a regular feature, ‘Facing The Interview Board’, a well-thought-out example of UPSC CSE interview. It gives you insights into how to tackle questions besides providing a glimpse of the contemporary Current Affairs. However, the actual verbatim interviews of the toppers go miles ahead to provide you with the insights to master the art of taking Personality Tests. So, read, analyse, learn from, and preserve them to draw your own path of glorious success.
With these words, I wish you the best in all your endeavours.
