The Union Public Service Commission had declared the UPSC Civil Services Result 2020. This year, a total of 761 candidates qualified for the civil services exam. Radhika Gupta also made her position in top 20 by securing AIR 18 in the UPSC Civil Services Exam 2020. Finally, in her second attempt at the civil services examination, she put all her efforts and hard work to clear the examination. She has done engineering and she thought that social service would be more interesting than working in an automotive industry. Radhika said “I come from the most illiterate place of India. This being the reason I always wanted to transform the scenario.”
While asking about her journey of preparation for UPSC CSE, she said “The journey has been good so far. I always got my family support which helped me a lot during the preparation. I prepared for the civil services examination in Indore where I took different coaching classes. Now, all my hard work and efforts are worth it.”
Radhika Gupta prepared for the examination by studying 8-10 hours on an average everyday. She said “Whenever anyone says that 14-15 hours of study everyday is required for UPSC Civil Services examination,I think it’s a myth. I personally did 8-10 hours of self-study everyday. I chose Anthropology as my optional subject and prepared for the examination by staying in Indore. People nowadays believe that Delhi is the best place for preparing for civil services examination, but a focused candidate can crack the examination by staying anywhere.
She appeared for the UPSC Civil Services interview 2 times. She said “Interview is an important stage for cracking the examination as it decides the overall marks and rank of the candidate. As of my experience, the interviewers were very polite and respectful. They asked general questions from the mechanical field as I am from the same background, business environment, and women related issues. The overall questions were general in nature. The UPSC CSE interview is known as the personality test. The interviewers asked very general and common questions like how is the day today?, can you give us some good news?.”
She managed her stress during the preparation for the exam by playing sports like table tennis. Initially, there were some self doubts that she was facing but she took it as a challenge. While asking about the time she decided that she will do UPSC Civil Services, she said “I’ve seen my grandmother serving people to the fullest. I come from a most illiterate place in India and that motivates me to transform the scenario. When I was in a company as an employee, I used to work for 8 hours a day and I was not satisfied with the work I was doing. Then came my brother who showed the way to apply and prepare for UPSC CSE. I immediately resigned from the company and enrolled myself for the civil service examination.”
Radhika believes that planning is important for preparation. As per Radhika, there are two types of planning- Micro and Macro. This gives clarity while preparing for the exam. She said “ I did plan wise studies and identified my strengths and weaknesses. Later, I converted the weak subjects as my strength. There should be no self doubt while doing the preparation. I stayed away from social media during the time I used to study. I studied with full honesty and consistency.But I use social media in-between the preparation for finding study materials and expert lectures on UPSC CSE.”
Radhika’s parents and the brother were the biggest support to her while she was preparing for the examination. The family always motivated her and kept her full of confidence. Radhika’s brother played a key role in showing her the way of UPSC Civil Services and helped her too in the preparation.
Radhika Gupta's Message for Civil Services Aspirants
Everyone who wishes to appear for the civil services examination should start the preparation early. Latest by when the candidate is in the final year of graduation. One should not be late in realizing that this is the right time to start preparing. The UPSC is a common sense related exam and one should not create any type of self doubt. Radhika said “If I can crack the civil services examination then I think anyone can do the same with hard work and consistent effort.”