"What UPSC has taught me"- Bhuvanesh Patil (AIR- 59; 2017)

  

BHUVANESH PATIL

AIR -59 

Optional-Anthropology

Hello everyone, I am Bhuvanesh Patil. Fortunately, I have cleared CSE (UPSC) 2017 with the AIR 59. Here I won't be talking  about all the studies or any strategy that I followed or you should follow (that will be covered in other post), but this is a post about my journey of UPSC, how it makes or made differences in life of aspirants by giving my personal example. I hope this makes a little difference in your life too....

It all started from my graduation days. I would like to tell you some of the bad habits during my Graduation days...

1)Procrastination- Engineers are known to be best procrastinators and this makes you lazy and spending days, even weeks 'doing nothing' literally. This was major problem that I had faced  in my college days. Everything was just messed up. There was lack of planning, lack of seriousness about my life and that made my life unorganised.

2)Didn't focus much on Studies- I used to study only when exams are nearby and many engineers feel proud about it 😉.. But I tell you being studious is no bad thing at all, it helps you to be focused and serious about your career (provided you are enjoying other things in your life too).

3)Impatience- I didn't  like to wait and everything I wanted within a short period. 

4)Addicted to Social Media- This is the major danger which comes in between your goals and efforts. It wasted my time a lot which could have been used for much better purpose. Social media is not a bad thing at all but it depends on how you utilise it.

5)Insensitivity or being Casual- To have an opinion on any issue happening around in our society is a good thing but it should come from proper rational analysis and through effective discussion. I used to speak my mind but many times that was not based on reality but on emotions. And secondly, being causal about the important things happening around me, this was very difficult for me to overcome.

6)Poor English and Communication skills- This happens with many students especially from rural background and they are confused with which language to choose for UPSC preparation. Same was my condition when I started my preparation. But I would like to tell you guys one thing, as you are preparing for one of the most difficult exam of the country, language and communication skills can be overcome by effectively improving day in and day out. And it is totally okay whatever language you are choosing as long as you are able to understand and express (in writing as well as speaking) in that. 

So when I started my preparation for UPSC, these habits had deep impact on my studies. I was not planning my study effectively and everything was dependent on mood, there was lack of prioritization of my activities and that resulted into haphazard study, thanks to my casual attitude. Initially there was a little overconfidence also about clearing the exam (that I will crack this exam in max 2 attempts as I am good at studies or I have huge GK etc). This may happen due to ignorance about the whole examination process but eventually I realized that if I want to clear this exam I need to shade some of the bad habits of mine. I have already told you how I was during my college days, now lets talk about how did I overcome them and inculcated new habits (which are good one😉). As it took humongous 4 attempts for me clear it, lets take it attempt wise.

1st Attempt: It took a lot time to understand what UPSC actually is and which books should I read. There was a lot of confusion and doubts in initial days. Because of that I could not study much and there was lack of planning in my 1st attempt. Though I could clear prelims but I could not qualify for interview and I failed mains by huge margin.

2nd Attempt: After first attempt I realized that there was lack of preparation for mains as well as there was lack of understanding of various subjects. So I focused on reading more number of books. I studied a lot in my second attempt but again I repeated same mistakes (lack of planning, I did not solved enough question papers and did not focused on notes making). So despite of  much preparation,  I could not even clear prelims in my second attempt. As Einstien has said “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the different result”

3rd attempt: Back to back failure in 2 attempts was serious setback for me as I have never seen such kind of failure in my life. After that I did some serious introspection and identified some of the things which were coming in between me and my success and some of those I have already mentioned. I did following things to improve upon my drawbacks:

* First of all I shifted to Delhi as staying in Pune was not beneficial for me for my studies. I have done my graduation in Pune itself and therefore had a lot of friends there and being an engineer and follower of Hedonism philosophy I used to do a lot of things  that wasted much of my valuable time (like going on outing, watching movies). Although these things are necessary but you should set your priorities. 

* Then I stayed back from social media and used it only for study purpose. For eg. there are some groups on Telegram which are beneficial for UPSC Preparation and also on whatsapp I was the member of Interview guidance group of Mahesh Bhagwat Sir, IPS. 

* I changed my optional from Public Administration to Anthropology which was according to me a game-changer in my selection.( as I found Anthropology interesting as well as very manageable. And please take this advice cautiously as merely opting for Anthro won't ensure good score)

* Then I started making daily notes for GS as well as for my new optional. 

* I used to do daily answer answer writing from Insightsonindia site.

* Then I joined Test series for prelims too. This relieved me from exam anxiety.

* I also wrote topicwise notes of prelims.

* This time I also did group discussions with my friends that helped me a lot.

I also used to do some of these things in my first two attempts but those were sporadic and spontaneous and not well planned. And as a result of this I qualified for the Interview this time. But again I missed the final selection by 12 marks.

4th Attempt: After the 3rd attempt result I thought I had done everything, did a lot of hard work still I could not get through this time. But again I realised there must be some things that I could not do well. Failure is not permanent if you learn from it. It tells you what things you should focus on and what things you shouldn’t do. I got very less marks in Essay(103), Optional Paper 2 (111), and in the Interview (143). Therefore I started improving my essay writing, wrote notes for almost every topic of optional paper 2 and after mains started improving my communication skills. This helped me to improve especially on these subjects and as a result I got 140 in essay, 166 in optional and 165 in Interview and get a AIR which I could think only in my dreams. But here I would like to mention one thing...

“A Dream written down with a Date becomes a Goal, a Goal broken down into Steps become a Plan and a Plan backed by Action makes your Dream come True” 

      So this was a long struggle of more than four and a half years which taught me many life lessons. They not only helped me get a good rank but also helped me to grow as a person. I could see following lessons that I learnt from my UPSC Preparation and this entire journey.  

* Being patient - In any career or exam, patience is the important key. The first lesson that UPSC gives you to remain patient. Take sincere and continuous efforts and do smart work as well and wait for the result. Because I always feel that luck favors the prepared mind. 

* Planning- Due to successive failures I learnt that, if you fail to plan you plan to fail. Then I started making plans which were Achievable and tried to do study accordingly. This helped me to cover the syllabus as well I could give enough time to optional as well.

* Developing a Rational Thought Process- As UPSC asks a person to have a balanced approach by properly understanding various social economic and political issues, this kind of personality is automatically developed in you, provided you are going accordingly what UPSC demands from you.

* Develop a good Study habits- The exam demands lot of studies and this encouraged me to read more and more.

* Understanding the Golden Rule of Life- During the entire process I got to know and understand the Golden rule of life i.e “One should treat others as one would like to be treated.” So at any point of time you should practice Gratitude and be thankful to all those good things happening around you. This will make you calm and joyful. 

* And last but not the least UPSC taught me the most important thing and that is to Never Give Up. It made me strong and courageous to accept failure because eventually I learnt that Mistakes or failures are the proof that you are trying. Therefore before giving up one should think why he or she held on so long.

There are so many things that I would love to share with you about WHAT UPSC HAS TAUGHT ME but this would become a long drawn article which it already had become😃. And It is not that I have perfected in all these habits or completely got over my old ones but one thing I would definitely tell you that this UPSC JOURNY MADE ME BETTER PERSON THAN  WHAT I WAS.