Civil Services exam 2012-13 – IAS Topper Interview –
Dr.M.Sathisk Kumar-137th Rank
1. Brief Bio data
SATHISH KUMAR S
AGE 25 YEARS
Native: Tirupattur,
Vellore Dt
Father: K.G.Shanmugam,
a retired Village Administrative Officer
Mother: V.Poongothai,
primary school HM
Sister: S.Vealvizhi, a
doctor, married.
Schooling: upto 5th-
St. Charles School, Tirupattur
6th to
10th- Don Bosco Mat Hr Sec School, Tirupattur - Got 1032/1100 marks-94%-in 10th.
11th & 12th- Ideal Hr Sec School, Erode- Got 1163/1200 marks- 97% in 12th-
got centum in biology, maths, physics & chemistry.
Graduation: Got 17th
rank in the state in Medicine cutoff(299.17/300), joined Madras Medical
College, MBBS 2005-2011, Distinction in anatomy, pharmacology and pathology.
2011- first attempt in
civil service exam, AIR 751, Got IDAS(Indian Defence Accounts Service) joined
training at National Institue of Financial Management, Faridabad in December
2012
2012-Second attempt,
AIR 137
Coaching: at chennai
shankar academy, Ganesh academy, Smartleaders academy for prelims and mains.
Anna state govt coaching institue and Doors Institute for interview
Optional papers:
Public Administration and Geography
Other interests: active participation in college NCC,- B & C certificate
holder, Gold Medal-Best entertainer at Combined Annual Training
Camp(CATC) Kadambathur, active participation in school & college culturals,
Tamil Nadu Medical Students Association spokesperson in 2007-08, active
participation in Blood Donors' Club(BDC) of MMC.
Other competitive exams: Secured Rank 53 in TNPSC Group 1 exam(my 1 rst attempt) and was
alloted to DSP in 2013
First doctor and the
first IAS in my extended family
Would like to
specialise in developmental sectors like health (my graduation) & education
(my mothers profession), and Finance (my fathers profession VAO) and would like
to head any one of the relevant ministries at the central govt. level and work
for a social cause.
2. Your interest in Civil
Services Examination
I generated interest
for civil services since my childhood from my father who was a Village
Administrative Officer(VAO). I waned to become a collector as I considered a
collector to be the first citizen of a district and people look forward to him
for the betterment of their livelihoods. As one proceeds up in the hierarchy
one can prescribe better policies that can have a positive impact on the lives
of the people.The pride in becoming a civil servant especially an IAS officer
and the instant social recognition one gets are invaluable. Becoming
the collector, who is considered to be the ‘first citizen’ of a district cannot
be evaluated in monetary terms.
3. Subject Selection
I chose Geography and
Public Administration as my optionals. The selection was based on the advise of
my seniors, my basic interest, utility of the optionals in general studies and
essay, availability of good coaching in Chennai for that optional, and
relevance to the civil services.Oscillating between optionals in each attempt
may sometime prove dangerous. So , its better to give a serious thought before
selecting an optional and stick to it and find ways of fine tuning it during
the course of the attempts.
4. Coaching if any
There are good
coaching centres in Chennai. Its better to undergo coaching, because it would
clarify the concepts, expose us to the competitive world, reduce our
preparation time and labour, gives another perspective and would give us some
best friends who are of same wavelength. I underwent coaching for prelims and
mains at shankar ias, smartleaders ias, ganesh ias and coaching for interview
at doors ias and anna govt institute. I did all my preparations from Chennai
and did not go to Delhi, so I could vouch that Chennai has now grown into the
new hub for civil services preparations.
5. Preparation Strategy
Prelims:
The change in
prelims pattern stripped me off the burden of preparing for optional. As the
CSAT paper was altogether a new one, I thought one could make a difference by
strengthening the GS paper.
Focus was on paper 1.
For paper 2, I spared some time for working out certain basic problems and
framed the probable structure of CSAT paper in my mind. 90 to 95% time allotted
for GS paper preparation
I managed to tackle
the ‘Negative Marking’ in Prelims by answering almost all the questions.
In prelims more than 80% of the questions are answered by making an
intelligent guess. So there is no point in guessing only selective questions.
Revise the four core
subjects history, geography, constitution and economy frequently. Have a good
sleep the previous night. Take adequate rest by lying down and cooling your
mind before the CSAT paper in the afternoon
Mains:
Issue based in-depth
preparation for GS. Structuring answers in my mind for different sections of
the optional papers, preparing flowcharts for pubad and practicing maps for
geography helped me a lot.
I didnt put much
effort for essays, as pubad as my optional helped me a lot .The only thing that
I had to be careful is to utilize the concepts from pubad without explicitly
making known that it was my optional subject.
'Time Management' - is
a key factor while making preparations as well as in writing examination
papers, be it Prelims or Main Examination
While preparing I used
to have a weekly target of covering the syllabus. I gave equal importance
to all the four core subjects i.e., History Geography, Polity & Economy
and the two optionals.
For prelims exam, I
used to have half an hour target of no. of questions that I should complete. I
used to shade the answers once I complete a set of questions in a page. I
generally avoid revisiting the questions after sometime.
For mains, I prefer
essay type questions first. Time divided approximately proportional to the
marks.
Based on the recent
changes for Main Examination 2013, one optional means UPSC is trying to reduce
the weightage given to optionals. It means that we should increase the
weightage given to GS. It also means that an optional which contributes much to
GS would be preferred by candidates.
6. Book List
LIST OF
BOOKS/MAGAZINES
Preliminary
Examination
Paper I (General
Studies):
HISTORY:
1.Old NCERT-Ancient,
Medieval & Modern Indian
History
2. Spectrum-
Modern India
GEOGRAPHY:
1.Certificate Physical
Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
a)class11-Fundamental
of Physical Geography
b)class12-
Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People
And Economy
d)class11-India Physical
Environment
3. An Atlas
POLITY:
1.Indian Polity by
Laxmikanth
ECONOMY:
1.Indian Economy by
Ramesh Singh
2.Economic Survey of
India(tabled in parliament every year)
3. Yojana Budget Issue
OTHERS:
1.The Hindu
2. India Year
Book(released by Min. of Information & Broadcasting)
3.Yojana(a monthly
magazine)
4.Civil Services
Chronicle
5. All India Radio
(news analysis, current affairs) @ newsonair.nic.in
6.PIB website(
documents, backgrounders & features)
Paper II (Aptitude
Test):
No specific books
Main Examination
General Studies
HISTORY:
1.Old NCERT-
Modern Indian History
2. Spectrum-
Modern India
GEOGRAPHY:
1.Certificate Physical
Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
a)class11-Fundamental
of Physical Geography
b)class12-
Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People
And Economy
d)class11-India
Physical Environment
3. An Atlas
POLITY:
1.Indian Polity by
Laxmikanth
ECONOMY:
1.Indian Economy by
Ramesh Singh
2.Economic Survey of
India
3. Yojana Budget Issue
OTHERS:
1.The Hindu
2. India Year
Book(released bi min. of Info & Broadcasting)
3.Yojana(a monthly
magazine)
4.Civil Services
Chronicle
5. All India Radio
news analysis
6.PIB website
7.Min. of Ext Affairs
website(International Relations)
8.
Wikipedia(references)
9.Ministry
websites(Annual Reports)
OPTIONAL 1st
GEOGRAPHY
1.Certificate Physical
Human Geography- Goh Cheng Leong
2.NCERT Books
a)class11-Fundamental
of Physical Geography
b)class12-
Fundamentals of Human Geography
c)class12-India People
And Economy
d)class11-India
Physical Environment
3. An Atlas
4. Savindra Singh-
Physical Geography
5. Models in Geography
–Majid Hussain
6.Indian Geography-
Khullar or Majid Hussain
7.Spectrum
Geography(Selected topics)
OPTIONAL 2nd
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION
1.Administrative
Thinkers-Prasad & Prasad
2.New Horizons of
Public Administration-Mohit Bhattacharya
3.Indian Public
Administration-Arora & Goyal
4.Public
Administration –Avasthi & Maheshwari
5. Constitution of
India-D.D.Basu
6. IJPA Journals
(Relevant)
7. Second ARC- summary
of recommendations
8.Public
Adminbistration super 50 by Shubhra Saxena
9.Public Administration
– Laxmikanth- Tata McGraw Hill’s (Ref)
10.Fadia & Fadia
(Ref)
7. Examination Experience
"Do the best and
leave the rest".
"Dont carry over
one exam's negatives to the other exam. Even if you come to know that you have
made a blunder in the previous exam, do the other exam as if you are going to
be the topper in the CSE."
"Attitude is very
important than anything"
8. Interview (strategy,
questions, and atmosphere) – UPSC Board
I did not set
impressions about interview boards as I thought it would distract me from my
core preparations. Our interview would not look real if we go with certain
prejudices and predilections. Had some mock interviews during my first
attempt. But, during my 2nd attempt, as I was in training,
those candidates who were to appear in the interview had some discussions in
certain core general issues. I also prepared for my biodata and my profession
related issues separately. My interview was in the forenoon session with Prof.
Purushottam Agarwal board. The interview was cordial and lasted for 25-30
minutes. Questions relating to why I wanted to become a collector,
responsibilities of the collector, patent issues, how to tacke deficiencies of
doctors in rural areas, private medical education, Italian marines issue, same
sex marriages, values learnt from CMC hospital Vellore, Five personalities of
20th century eastern India, etc., were asked. I got 210 marks
9. Total Marks scored
CSE 2012
Prelims:
GS-120 /CSAT-145=
TOTAL-265
Mains:
Essay-121
GS-181
Geography-285
Pubad-209
TOTAL-796
Interview-210
GRAND TOTAL-1006
