UPSC IAS Topper 2020 Pratibha Verma shares her IAS preparation strategy

UPSC IAS Topper Pratibha Verma All India Rank 3 shares her experience and life journey. Read below for details.

Pratibha Verma has secured the all India rank 3 in the Civil Services Exam 2019. The UPSC has released the IAS result on August 4, 2020 and she became the topper among the girls' category. She hails from Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

She is an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi alumni. He has got a BTech degree in Engineering Physics and this was her reason for opting Physics as her optional subject. She worked in Vodafone for two years and after that, she came to Delhi for the IAS preparation. Her friends helped her in starting the preparation for IAS.

She started her preparation in 2016. She consulted her friends and seniors who were doing the IAS preparation. She also joined coaching for her optional subject Physics. She got 489th rank in the IAS exam 2018 and joined the IRS. The IAS toppers had a clear strategy to clear the IAS exam. Her first aim was to prepare the optional subject.

See here: IAS Toppers 2020 Success Stories

She could not clear the IAS prelims exam in her first attempt. In the second attempt, she covered all the static general studies books and besides that; she prepared the current affairs of two years for the IAS prelims exam because she said Current affairs is not limited to the current events; it requires knowledge and understanding of the background of the current event.

This preparation had helped her in writing the answer in the IAS main exam. But in the second attempt, she focussed more on the optional subject and somehow gave less time to the general studies and essay paper.

See Here: IAS Exam Pattern

In her third attempt, she gave equal priority to preparing the general studies and essay paper. She prepared notes for the general studies topics. She thoroughly read and studied her notes and revised them periodically. She took guidance for the essay paper and wrote two essays every fortnight.

For the optional subject also, she took guidance and prepared the notes. These notes immensely helped her in the IAS preparation. Besides that, she prepared the answer to the previous year's question papers. Answer writing for the optional subject was one of the important components of the IAS main preparation.

See here: IAS Syllabus 2020

She said I was confident about the IAS personality test because I score 173 marks in the IAS interview in the second attempt. But in the third attempt, she wanted to improve the depth of IAS preparation and the current issues. She also revised the notes prepared for the IAS main (written) exam before the interview.

IAS topper suggested that all the phases of the IAS exam should be prepared in continuity because everything is interlinked. The preparation in one stage will help in the successive stage. Her family and the city is proud of her.

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IAS Toppers 2019