IAS Interview Tips

Mr. Sorabh Babu Maheshwari (23) achieved 1st position among the successful candidates of the Civil Services Examination, 1999-2000. He has done B.E. (Mech.)

" Planned Studies, Hard Work and INNER motivation are the Keys to Success "

We publish below an exclusive interview he gave to Competition Success Review.

CSR: What is the secret of your success in the Civil Services Examination?

Sorabh Babu Maheshwari : There are myriad of factors responsible; to sum up God's grace, family's support and encouragement, planned studies, hard work, inner motivation can be cited as the main factors.

Q. How much time do you think one requires for serious preparation for this examination ?

A. Atleast one year of serious dedicated preparation.

Q. Which journals and newspapers have you been reading for the General Knowledge and other papers ?

A. Competition Success Review, General Knowledge Today, The Hindu, The Hindustan Times, Frontline and a regular reader of India Today

Q.What is your impression of the Interview Board ?

A, Questions posed before a candidate are very well framed and answers to them should be made taking into consideration all possible views and a balanced approach is expected from a candidate.

Q. What is your advice to the future aspirants ?

A. The path towards this coveted service passes through many ups and downs. To carry oneself along these pulls and pushes requires strong inner motivation and decision to aspire for Civil Services should come from within.

Q . Competition Success Review, the largest selling youth magazine in English, has been extremely helpful because...

A. ...it helped in providing ready, easy-to-use material thus saving time. Topics, which are unique to this magazine e.g.,IAS Topper Talks To You, Essays, Personality. Tests proved extremely helpful while preparing as they give good insight into these issues.

Q. What prompted you to choose Civil Services as your career?

A. the unique blend of service opportunities which Civil Services offers. Diversity of job, being a party in policy implementation, bigger responsi­bilities, social esteem and to do good to common masses were some factors which made me to go in for Civil Services.

Q. How did your parents, family and friends contribute to your success ?

A. A larger part of success is attributable to them. Without the constant support, encouragement and boost up by family members and friends at times, this day was not possible.

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.This year. I did well in Written Exam ,and Interview and was confident of getting good rank. In adverse situation of not getting selected, though sad I would have gone for another attempt after finding out my lacunae.

Q. How would you visualise your success ?

A. Combined effort of everything went in my favour. I dedicate my success to my parents and elder brother and now find myself at a platform with even bigger responsibilities and challenges as never before.

Q Whom do you attribute your success to ?

A. To my eldest brother especially who has been a constant source of motivation throughout my life span. Without whose support, I could not have achieved this.

Q. What Were your Optionals for the Civil Services Examination ?

A. Mathematics for Prelims; Mathematics and Mechanical Engineering for Mains.

Q. What was your criterion for the selection of Optional subjects ?

A. Having studied Mechanical  Engg. in my graduation for 4 years, I found it a natural choice and I felt quite comfortable with Mathematics.

Q. How did you prepare for your Compulsory papers?

A. I made a list of topics to be read, then gave them a priority based on their importance and started from the top giving due time to each of them. This approach was mandatorv for me as I am already in job and did not have ample time.

Q. Competition Success Review is the largest read youth magazine in English. How do you visualise the role of this magazine in moulding the careers of the youth ?

A. Since my childhood, Civil Services ,specific issues particularly the column of 'IAS Toppers Talk To You' inspired me a lot to go for Civil Services as my career.

Q. How did Competition Succeess Review help you in your preparation for the interview?

A. Supplements like 'My Personality Test', 'Facing The Interview Board', 'Improve Your Personality' and 'Group Discussion' give quite an original view of the personality test and help us in assessing our deficiencies beforehand and taking corrective measures.

Q. What is your opinion about Competition Success Review?

A. Competition Success Review is indispensable for aspirants to Civil Services and other competitive exams. It is helping, candidates a lot. It is a part of study material.

Q. What is your opinion about General Knowledge Today?

A. More information ' i less space is the buzzword for General Know1odge Today. It provides quite handy, ready-to-use facts, database and information and as such is quite useful during revision hours.

Q. What do you think is the better way of preparation between selective, intensive study and wide, extensive study ?

A. Wide extensive study should be followed by selective intensive study.

Q. Is the pattern of the examination appropriate for selection ? Would you recommend any improvement?

A. By and large, the pattern of examination is good. Efforts, however, should be made to reduce the shell time of the whole process in line with other exams.

Q. Do you feel that there should be no restriction on the number of attempts ?

A. Current policy of restricting attempts checks non-serious candidates and prevents flooding up of the exam. This should continue. ,

Q. With the resumption of Essay paper in UPSC examinations, we are giving four senior essays every month. Is this focus­oriented, analytical, feature helpful for the TAS aspirants ?

A. Definitely yes. Best way to prepare for Essay paper is through careful reading of these well-crafted essays by top slot authors. It sharpens the writing ability and boosts confidence.

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. At present, it focusses only on General Studies aspects. Recent trends and practices in various Optionals should be published to make candidates more aware. Some more model question papers should also be given.