Is the challenge of an ever-adapting civil services exam pattern proving to be an Achilles heel for you? Do you feel like you have a Waterloo to deal with? If you are a Civil Services Exam (CSE) aspirant overwhelmed with CSE exam-related stress and anxiety, then you have help at hand.
Unique Shiksha and Unique Publishers organised a talk by Dr. Roman Saini in the Capital recently for UPSC CSE 2015 aspirants. The talk ‘Changing Strategies with Varying Pattern’, was held at Vallabhai Patel Chest Institute’s auditorium, Delhi University (North Campus), and saw a huge turnout of more than 700 enthusiastic aspirants.
Saini, with many feathers in his cap, is one of the youngest candidates to crack the CSE at the age of 22 years, securing AIR 18 in his first attempt, and qualifying as an IAS.
He also happens to be an AIIMS graduate by qualification and an entrepreneur and motivational speaker by passion. His social media initiative, a YouTube channel called Unacademy, is a popular free education portal for UPSC aspirants, and has videos on educational and motivational topics and subjects related to cracking the CSE.
Saini, in his talk, emphasised on persistence and hard work as the mantras for success.
“One can be careless for a day or two, but persistent carelessness will lead to consistent failure,” warns Saini.
The young IAS shared some personal experiences and gave out tips that he prefers to call as ‘Roman’s Rituals’ (after his own name), to the aspirants. The tips include some time-tested formulas.
As advised by Saini, a student should study for 6-10 hours per day for a year, set academic study goals and achieve at least 70 per cent of them, be attentive in classes and try to sit away from friends (they, in his words, are distracters), never seek happiness and satisfaction in the sense of complacency, stop complaining, criticising and condemning, stay detail oriented, and take calculated risks.
Saini emphasised that the trends in changing exam pattern, require aspirants to focus more on Environment and Ecology, Science and Technology, and Arts and Culture. These subjects, he says, cover 50 percent of paper I. “For arts and culture, old editions of NCERT books should be considered as Bible, otherwise new editions are also good enough,” claims Saini.
The NCERT syllabus of class 6-10 is also covered in his YouTube videos that he has put up on his channel. Audio-visual learning tends to ensure better memory retention, and this is where an aspirant can benefit from his channel. Paper II of the CSE tests a good command over language and communication, great interpersonal skills, sharp problem solving and decision-making skills and advanced analytical ability.
The pattern of CSE 2015 more or less remains the same, while its method of evaluation has changed. Hence, according to Saini, aspirants need not make unnecessary changes in their exam preparation strategy.
“Stay focused and don’t underestimate yourself, for most of the toppers are just above-average in intelligence; the only difference lies in planning and execution.
Study and revise more often from the same source. Do not switch between books. Collecting and accumulating books will not lead to osmosis of knowledge,” says Saini, encouraging the aspirants, and unravelling the enigma of the insurmountable challenge that CSE seems to be.
