Story of Raghav (Humanities Student)
Raghav is a living example of how the tortoise can win a race. The key to success doesn’t just lie in hard work but also consistency. He started preparing for UPSC since class eleven. He was a humanities student and did not believe in studying for eighteen hours a day. His mantra was regularity and persistence. He spent an hour a day thoroughly going through the news and then spending some time writing an essay or two on current topics, or his thoughts on what he had just read. Next, he dedicated an hour or so each day to reading UPSC related NCERT books like story- books.
The syllabus which looks like a violent ocean to others became a swimming pool for him by the time he was of ripe age to seriously prepare for the exam. When someone reads the same books for five years, they automatically master it. This was his secret to success.
Raghav joined a UPSC coaching centre after his second year of four-year graduation. These final two years he studied vigorously, slowly increasing his time slot for IAS exam preparation. He was persistent with his studying habits and in the last year of preparation where other students find out new things to study at the last moment, he was calmly practising and revising.
He sat for the exam at the age of twenty-two. It was not a surprise that he passed on his very first attempt and was selected for Indian Administrative Service. He says, “I took to heart the one proverb that changed my life – Practice makes a man perfect. I practised so much in the final year of preparation that the actual exam didn’t look any different to me than mere practice. You’ve got to make practising a habit and not something you’re forced to do. It has to come from within you. And let me tell you...it works!”