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[Toppers Interview] Om Prakash Kasera (AIR 17/CSE 2011) working professional without Coaching cracks IAS exam and shares his[Toppers Interview] Om Prakash Kasera (AIR 17/CSE 2011) working professional without Coaching cracks IAS exam and shares hisjourney studyplan and preparation tipsjourney studyplan and preparation tips

ProloguePrologue

This gentleman was once rejected for a call centre job, but then he went on to ace the CharteredAccountants exam, was selected for IIM Calcutta. And now he has cracked the mother of all Exams, and

that too, without leaving the job and without coaching. His life and journey exemplifies that failure is atbest temporary, and with hard work, a man can achieve what he aims to achieve.

Its a pleasure and honor to have Mr. Om Prakash Kasera here with us, sharing his journey and IAS Exampreparation strategy for the benefit of future aspirants.

1. Prologue

2. Introduction

3. Inception

4. The Choice of Optional Subjects

5. Momentum

6. Hours

7. Internet

8. Essay

9. Working professional

10. Your Study plan

11. CSAT (Paper I) General studies

12. About the CSAT aptitude

13. Mains Examination

14. General Studies paper I

15. General Studies paper 2

16. Public Administration

17. Interview

18. Marksheet

19. Message

IntroductionIntroduction

Name OM PRAKASH KASERA

Roll number 315716

Rank (CSE 2011) 17

Optional Subjects Commerce, Pub Admn.

Medium for Mains Exam English

Mains Examination Centre Jaipur

Number of Attempts 2

Details of Graduation and Post-Grad. B.com, MBA(Finance), CA, CS, ICWA, CIMA(UK)

Schooling (Medium) Hindi

Extracurricular activities,

hobbies, achievements etc.

Hobbies (Reading Books, Solving Puzzles, Sleeping)

Selected for Fellowship in Finance discipline by IIM-Calcutta in 2008.(Did not Join)All India Topper in CS Inter.All India Topper in ICWA Inter.All India 2nd Rank in CS FinalAll India 2nd Rank in CWA FinalAll India 17th Rank in CA FinalGold Medalist of MBA 2005 batch in R A Podar Institute of Management, Jaipur.1st rank in University commerce college, Jaipur in B.Com.4th rank in Rajasthan Management Aptitude Test (RMAT)15th position in the merit list of Uni. of Rajasthan in B.Com.

Are you a working professional?Yes. Currently working in ONGC Videsh Limited as Finance and Accounts officer since Feb, 2010. Earlier also worked forWorld bank as research associate.

Prepared while on job.

If yes, then did you leave your job

or prepared while on the job?

Prepared while on job.

Took only one months leaves for preparation.

Still working.

Did you take Coaching?

Prelims: No

Mains: No

Interview:No

Did you buy any postal courses? No

Did you join any Mock test series? No

Did you appear in any othercompetitive exams?

Way back in PO and SSC,

Selected but did not join

InceptionInception

Q. When and how did the inspiration and idea of joining civil service come in your mind?

Its all written in Destiny. Like in Alchemist, Paulo Coelho says that if you really want something inlife from your heart, then the whole world conspires against you to achieve that.To to understand this,Please allow me to share my life story. I know its lengthy but its worthy to be read because if a person

like me who never got any guidance, was from Hindi medium till 12th, was from rural and humblefinancial background, did not have access to good schooling, books, friends, mentors etc.., can do this,then anybody in this world can do this. Even now I did not take any coaching, did not join any Mockinterview or test series at any stage of CSE.

Everybody sees lots of dreams in his childhood. IAS since my childhood was one of those dreams. SinceI belong to a very small town in Rajasthan and my parents are not that much educated, I never find anykind of guidance from anyone. So much so that till the time I came to Jaipur for B.com, I have not evenheard of term CA and MBA. B.com also was some kind of higher study for me and my parents. So Ijust enrolled for B.com and did nothing else in those 3 years except enjoying my life the most. In lastyear of B.com, there was this MBA wave and many of my friends were taking coaching for CAT andRMAT and one of those friends filled my form as well.

Subsequently, I appeared for RMAT and fortunate enough to get 4th rank and enter into the best B-school of Rajasthan and that too at a very low cost(very crucial for

me at that time.) After completing MBA I started looking for the jobs but could not succeed, even I was rejected for a 8000 Rs. Per month call center job. Thatwas the lowest point of my life. At that time, my mentor, my guru, Dr. Harsh Dwivedi who was professor in my MBA college and currently is the director of theRAPIM, came to my rescue. He advised me to start teaching and even arranged some guest classes for me. Later on while appearing for CA, CS and CWA, thisproved a great asset to me. Then I completed all these degrees, simultaneously taking guest classes and undergoing CA articleship. Meanwhile I was selected for

banks, SSC but did not join any of them. When I was in 3rd year of my CA articleship, I got selected for world bank but due to some technical problem with CAinstitute, I had to leave world bank after working for 2 months. Then I joined ONGC in Feb 2010. I dont remember why and how but I applied for CSE-2010 in Dec2010-Jan 2011 before going for training in ONGC Academy Dehradun and forgot about that.

While in ONGC Academy, there is an annual event called inter academy debate consisting of ONGC, IFoS and IAS probationers. I represented ONGC in that debateand there only I saw the charm and aura that an IAS officer carry along with him. When I saw those two IAS officers in making, something happened inside me and

then I decided to go for it. My training in ONGC completed on 17th may. I got engaged on 20th may and I appeared for prelims on 23rd may, 2010.

At the time of appearing in prelims-2010, I was not even aware of syllabus of pre. I did not even had the pen/pencil to appear in the exam on the day of exam. I was nottaking it seriously since I thought that I could not make it without any preparation but miracles do happen. Since I have very strong academic background in Commerce,I knew that I will handle it well. I attempted 117 out of 120 questions in Commerce, out of those 110 must be correct. Then came the GS paper. Since UPSC waschanging pattern from next year, 25-30 questions were there of Maths/LR/DI In place of regular 12-13. I attempted all those rightly and some 10-20 questions morerelated to economics, finance and commerce. So my net score was around 45-50 right questions. I lost all hopes and thought that I am gone. Then I did some surfing onthe net and found that it was the toughest paper in the history of IAs exam till date. Anybody doing 30-35 right alongwith 90 in the subject had a fair chance. But I tookit in jest and did not prepare anything for mains till the result in august when I was declared successful. Then I started thinking about it seriously and asked for leaves in

it in jest and did not prepare anything for mains till the result in august when I was declared successful. Then I started thinking about it seriously and asked for leaves in

my org. I was not given leaves immediately but when I told that I would resign if not granted leaves then I was granted the leaves. The time was very less with me. I

started my preparations from 15th Sep 2010 and first paper was on 29th Oct 2010 and till that time I was zero. So I planned a strategy. I did not even touch commercesince I was confident that I would handle it in 15 days of gap between pub ad and commerce paper. During that one and a half month I only studied GS and Pub Ad.My accumulated knowledge (derived from my hobby of reading books since my childhood) alongwith my writing skills proved very useful in the exam. In my secondattempt also, I followed the same pattern.

The Choice of Optional SubjectsThe Choice of Optional Subjects

Q7. After a person decides to appear in civil service exam, the first big obstacle is Choice of optional subjects. What factors did you consider before selecting youroptional?

Since I was a commerce student from the beginning, it was a natural choice for me to opt Commerce as one of my subjects. This decision proved right when I scoredAll India highest marks in CSE-2010 and second highest in CSE-2011 in Commerce.

Since I studied MBA as well, pub admn became my second choice because I was familiar with almost half of the syllabus. Moreover availability of material and directrelation to the role that I was aspiring were also deciding factor that I factored in.

Here I would advise that one should choose at least one optional that he/she has studied at his graduation or post-graduation level. Because if your aiming for top 100, atleast in one optional you have to score more than 350. I would share an incident here. One of my hostel junior also appeared for CSE-2011. He is a commerce grad withgood grades and an MBA from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management, Mumbai. He failed miserably this time with geography and sociology optionals. His main

problem was the misconception that commerce is not a good optional and one can never get selected with this optional. I gave him my own example. I

scored 372 and 378 in commerce both times . My other friend scored 350+ and 385 both times he appeared. And in CSE-2011, there are very few persons whohave scored more than 300 in Pub ad which is considered a good subject. So, all subjects are equally good or bad.

MomentumMomentum

Q. People initially prepare with much enthusiasm but then a boredom phase comes they dont even find the motivation to read the daily newspapers, let alone studyingthe books.

Sometimes they get diverted because of external factors e.g. heavy workload in office, family responsibilities and so on. How did you sustain the study-momentumthroughout the journey?

Yes, I do agree with that. Even I also faced this problem of lack of motivation during my second attempt. But somehow I managed that. In my case, it was not a bigproblem since I prepared for only one and a half months for mains and it surfaced during last 15 days just before the mains. I lost some marks in commerce because ofthat. But I believe, if you are really passionate about the idea of being an IAS, it is itself a great motivation. Whenever you start feeling low on motivation, just startdaydreaming about the things that you would do on becoming an IAS and I am sure it will be a great morale booster.

HoursHours

On an average, How many hours did you study per day? How many months did it take you to complete the core syllabus of GS and optional subjects?

In a normal working day when I was in office (apart from one months leaves), I surfed the net only and did not study anything apart from that. Surfing time also used tovary depending upon workload in the office. During my leaves, it was around 5-6 hours a day.

InternetInternet

How did you use computer and internet for your exam-preparation?

Computer and internet: if I can give credit of my success to anyone, it is computer and internet only. I am sharing some wonderful websites down below which I visitedalmost on daily basis. And as I said, if internet was not there, I could not get succeeded.

EssayEssay

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Not any specific preparation.

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Small states.

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Ill be sharing full script whenever I get time to write as far as I can reproduce.

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108 (74 in CSE-2010)

0 \([SHULHQFHDQGP\DGYLFH1. Please dont make essay very lengthy. I did this mistake in my first attempt and even took a supplementary copy. This resulted in diversion of essay from main

theme.

1. 2.Prepare a rough sketch of essay and try to include all possible angles related to the topic. Mainly Social, Economical, Technological, political, legal, moral,historical, constitutional, environmental, international relation, cultural and many more.

2. Just let ideas freely flow in your mind during that phase. Jot down all ideas on paper and the rearrange them in logical order.

2. Just let ideas freely flow in your mind during that phase. Jot down all ideas on paper and the rearrange them in logical order.3. This process can take upto one hour. Remaining two hours are more than enough to write your ideas in form of an essay.4. Try to stick to the theme of the essay. Dont wander here and there.5. Practice at home. Just take any topic out of the blue and start writing on it.6. Discuss and debate among your friends about pros and cons of any topic.7. Most importantly, Watch any news channel debate daily. It helps in developing ideas. I used to watch newshour on times now.

PhoenixPhoenix

Q. Serious players get mentally shattered and depressed after failure in competitive exams. How did you cope up with failures and rose from the ashes again? Whathad gone wrong in your previous attempts? How did you fix those issues in your 2011s attempt?

Please see my comparative mark sheets down below. It was a disaster for me in essay, interview and paper-1 of pub ad. When I analyzed my performance, I foundthat, in essay my strategy was wrong and I corrected it second time as explained above. For Pub ad and interview, I am sharing my strategy down below. Pleaseremember one thing here, nobody is perfect. You never know, how close you are to the target when you give up. One famous saying sums it all: If you think you can oryou think you cant, both ways you are right.

ProfileProfile

Many aspirants fear the interview, thinking that my profile is not good because

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So, How important or relevant is the profile of a candidate during interview?

A good profile is always an added advantage but ultimately its your performance in the interview that matters. Also your luck and who is the chairman of your interviewboard play critical role in deciding your fate. I with the same profile got only 126 marks in the interview in my first attempt which I could improve to 210 in my next one.

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I think my profile is good.

[Mrunal comments: your profile is not good, it is totally awesome.]

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Not much. Questions were mainly opinion based.

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Yes. One member kept on repeating that you are just a book worm and you wont be able to survive in the system.

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I kept my calm throughout the interview and did not fall for the trap like I did last time. Always replied with a smile.

BackupBackup

Q. In case you had not cleared the UPSC exam, what was your career/future backup plan?

With 3-4 professional degrees and already a PSU job, I didnt have to think about that.

Working professionalWorking professional

What is your advice and tips to working professionals particularly on time Management?

Ans.Take out time at your workplace for CSE. Be regular. Harness the power of internet. Dont be afraid to take chances. Watch a news debate programme daily.Read newspapers from the point of view of CSE. Leave out the headlines, sports and cinema for your later years. Focus on editorials, govt programmes, policies, social-political-economic issues, World happenings etc..

Try to grab the news which you can utilize in your CSE answers like news related to women empowerment, gender issues, child labour/abuse/trafficking, environment,S&T, farmers, downtrodden groups of the society, employment generating schemes, Agricultural and Rural Development, infrastructure, transport, energy, banking andfinancial sector,Health, education, water conservation, sanitation, etc..

Family and FriendsFamily and Friends

Q. Behind one topper are many people who stood by him/her during those uncertain times when he/she was merely an aspirant. Would you like to tell the world, whowere those people in your case? Any specific incidence that you would like to share with the readers?

My parents, my brothers, my wife Rhythm and my friend Bhal Chandra were the key stones of my success. I think, I have shared enough incidences above.

Your Study planYour Study plan

CSAT (Paper I) General studiesCSAT (Paper I) General studies

CSAT (Paper I) General studiesCSAT (Paper I) General studies

Topic Source of your preparation

Current Affairs New papers, TV deabtes

History Ancient/Medieval/Modern Brief history of modern India

Physical Geography NCERT 6-12

Geography of India NCERT 6-12

Geography of World NCERT 6-12

Polity and Governance Laxmikanth

Public Policy Laxmikanth, news papers

Rights issue

Environment and Biodiversity Did not prepare

Economic and social Development News papers (TOI/ET)

Science Did not prepare

Economy ET, accumulated knowledge

About the CSAT aptitudeAbout the CSAT aptitude

Syllabus Topic Source of your preparation Remarks, if Any

Quantitative Aptitude R S AgarwalMy LR/DI and QA

Capabilities are good from

The beginning, thats why not prepared separately, though sharing some books.

Data interpretation R S Agarwal

Logical reasoning R S Agarwal

Reading comprehension

Decision Making and Problem solving R S Agarwal

Mains ExaminationMains Examination

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Source of your preparation

English Did not prepare separately

Indian language paper Did not prepare separately

There are some instances of candidates failing in Compulsory Indian language (Hindi / Bengali etc.) so please do provide your source of preparation for it.

General Studies paper IGeneral Studies paper I

Syllabus Topic Source of your preparation Remarks, if Any

Current Affairs

Mainly newspapers and internet.

Current Affairs Q&A Book by Chroniclehttp://indiacurrentaffairs.org/

http://www.jagranjosh.com/current-affairs

Wizard might also help

History Brief history of modern India

Culture Vajiram NotesFacts of Indian Culture by Spectrum (I did not read it though recommended by somefriend)

Geography of India NCERT 6-12Hang maps of india and world in your room and randomly study them, It frees upyour mind and good time pass.

Polity Laxmikanth

Issues of socialrelevance

Google+newspapers

Indian economy and

ET+Google +NCERT 9-12

http://www.ficci.com/studies.asp

Indian economy andplanning

http://www.ficci.com/studies.asp

Special issue of PD on economy

Economic survey(Dont mug up the data, try to understand macro policies)

Public health Newspapers

Law and order Newspapers

Good governanceNewspapers,http://www.indiagovernance.gov.in/map.php

This website is useful for quoting examples. More relevant for Pub ad

Environment Relevant portions of S&T book by spectrum+Google Mangrooves, wetlands, coral reefs etc..

+In leisure time,read blogs of civil service aspirants who became successful. It will provide motivation and information. Be observant to your nearby happenings. Joinone of the forums like indianofficer.com, Selectively read http://www.globalissues.org/ , once in a while visit, upscportal.com. No need to read DD Basu or SubhashKashyap, We are not preparing for LL.B. Laxmikanth is enough for polity/constitution plus one constitution chart that you may find at any book shop. Hang it in your

Room. Dont think that you would be able to answer all the questions. Nowdays 250 is the average GS score of top 100. Ill be sharing some of my GS notes withyou. I think that will help lot of people.

General Studies paper 2General Studies paper 2

Syllabus Topic Source of your preparation Remarks, if Any

India and the World

Read Indian foreign policy by Vivek Kumar Singh for understandingBasics.

For updates and current issues:

www.southasiaanalysis.org

www.idsa.in

mrunal.org

(Also see points illustrated below)

Most imp part of second paper and most neglected bycoaching institutes

Indian diaspora Not much focused

Indias Economic interactionwith world

Read about world bank, IMF, WTO on wikipedia.http://wtocentre.iift.ac.in/faq.asp

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/exrp/differ/differ.htmAlso subscribe one business news paper

International affairs andinstitutions

Newspapers+above websites

Statistics 12th NCERT is good, If want special knowledge then read SP

Gupta(relevant portions)

Science & Tech. Weakest area of my preparation, therefore cant guide

1. Just 15-20 days before mains, Go to the website of MEA. Look for the visits that indian PM/president made or some foreign premieres who came to India. In allprobability questions form those countries will be asked. Look for the press release or joint communique and briefly note down the main issues discussed oragreed upon.

2. Type INDIA in Wikipedia and read the article completely expanding the links. Also read history of Srilanka (ltte war), Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal to build thebase for understanding foreign relations.

3. Southasiaanalysis.org is the most referred source of mine. It beautifully captures the events affecting india from Indian perspective. It might happen that in thebeginning you dont understand anything but be persistent. With the time you will grasp it all. Use power of google and Wikipedia when you dont understandanything.

Optional Subject #1 and #2Optional Subject #1 and #2

If youve the time, please provide the detailed study plan for your both optional subjects, answer-writing skills etc.

Public AdministrationPublic Administration

Awasthi maheshwari, Fadia, Ramesh arora rajni goyal, Shubha saxena top 50.

Special issue of PD of PUB Ad,Some diagrams that I would be sharing. These are multi purpose and can be used in many answers creatively.And Most Important Administrative thinkers by Prasad and Prasad (read this book at least 6-8 times cover to cover and you will find each time something newthat you did not understand in your earlier readings) Plus selectively go through IGNOU Study Material. News papers and debates are must.Also refer http://www.indiagovernance.gov.in/map.php for good governance examples. Summary of ARC-II reports. Again I would say that dont try to mug upthese books, try to understand the macro concepts. Also dont refer so many books because someone else say they are good.Many people recommend Mohit Bahttacharya but It could not help me much though I read it once. These days, papers are focused on concepts and applicationrather on theories therefore a good knowledge base along with awareness regarding current social/governance issues will prove a great asset here.Also refer Prince Dhawans Blog @ https://princedhawan.wordpress.com (He is AIR3-CSE2011 and probably highest marks scorer in Pub Ad-394)

InterviewInterview

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Did not prepare separately. Though just before the interview I formed a group with 3-4 friends. We sat till late night. They asked me every possible question related to

Did not prepare separately. Though just before the interview I formed a group with 3-4 friends. We sat till late night. They asked me every possible question related tomy profile, current affairs. Then we discussed the answers and better way to present the answers.

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Nopes

Will be sharing script of my interview separately.

MarksheetMarksheet

SUBJECTS MARKS 2011 MARKS 2010

ESSAY (PAPER-III) 108 74

GENRAL STUDIES (PAPER-IV) 154 152

GENRAL STUDIES (PAPER-V) 096* 118

OPTIONAL-I(COMM.& ACCOUNTANCY) (PAPER-VI) 184 195

OPTIONAL-I(COMM.& ACCOUNTANCY) (PAPER-VII) 188 183

OPTIONAL-II(PUBLIC ADMIN.) (PAPER-VIII) 152 117

OPTIONAL-II(PUBLIC ADMIN.) (PAPER-IX) 159 178

WRITTEN TOTAL 1041 1017

PERSONALITY TEST 210 126

FINAL TOTAL 1251 1143

*I still dont understand that why did I get 96 in GS-II. I expected in the range of 150-170. But this is the way of UPSC. When mrunal can get 20 odd marks in essaythen why cant I 96 in GS-II.

Always remember, ultimately its all written in the destiny. Have faith in God. Whatever he does, does for the best.

MessageMessage

Q. What is your message to the aspirants?

Kaun kahta hai ki Aasman me ched nahi ho sakta.

Ek Patthar to dil se uchalo yaron

Kham thok thelta hai jab nar

Parwat ke jaate paon Ukhad,

Manav jab jor lagata hai..

To patthar pani ban jata hai.

Finally two questionsFinally two questions

When youll give interview in the famous competitive magazines, the last question is generally a loaded question how did our magazine help you in IAS preparation?

In the era of blatant marketing propaganda, I too need to ask something similar!

Did you use mrunal.org for your preparation? If yes, how did it help you?

You can reply no, and itll be published without any distortion.

You believe it or not, I did not use any magazines for my preparation. I just relied on internet and my accumulated knowledge. Your website was one great source thatmade me familiar with entire UPSC procedure apart from providing valuable knowledge inputs from time to time. I have bookmarked some websites that I open firstthing in the morning on my computer and mrunal.org is one of them.

Update : For the benefit of future aspirants, Mr.Om Kasera has provided all his notes for free download: Click ME

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To read other informative and inspirational interviews of UPSC Civil Service Exam toppers, Click ME

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