Full Name
NILABHARATHI M V
Rank
AIR-24(IFoS 2024)
What is your reaction immediately after seeing your rank on the list
Seeing years of hardwork paying back, I felt more satisfied that finally I could contribute positively towards the society, which I always think of.
Family Background.
I am from Tamilnadu with my father being a journalist and my mother being a writer as well as Assistant editor in state archives. I have two siblings who are also into the preparation for UPSC aspiring to be civil servants.
Who were the key people behind your success story?
Firstly, and importantly, it’s my entire family. They are the backbone for my preparation. They were the buffer agents who never made me worry of external factors other than the preparation. In addition, my college friends, Professors were instrumental in my success.
Educational Background.
I have done my graduation in B.Sc(Hons) Agriculture from AC&RI, Killikulam, Tuticorin
Coaching/Guidance/Test Series
I joined in GSPCM batch of Shankar IAS Academy after my graduation in 2021. Post that, for the mains I took guidance from Aram academy. For the mock interviews, I chose reputed institutes known for their mock panel.
Prelims Strategy
With respect to Prelims, I relied on UPSC PYQs for all my attempts to have a basic idea of what UPSC expects from a candidate. I wrote around 20-25 full tests prior to the prelims exam – which helped me in analyzing my accuracy, ideal number of questions I should go for and also my areas of weakness.
Prelims Books
The general recommended books for the major subjects such as for modern history-Spectrum, polity-Laxmikanth and NCERTS to have my fundamentals strong. After that, I revised the areas of current affairs from daily Newspapers.
Mains strategy
Here too, I utilized UPSC Previous papers to know the frequent areas. And I prepared my notes for each and every topic given in the UPSC syllabus. Along with the basic content, I enriched my notes with data, reports, indices, etc.. For that, I took ideas from Topper copies.
Mains Books
Same like Prelims. No major changes. But rather than going for surface reading, I had analytical notes of probable topics in the recent times.
Optional Strategy
My optional paper is Agriculture( Along with Botany in IFoS) With respect to Agriculture, again I would say previous year question papers, topper’s strategies and notes for possible topics. Repeated revisions of all the concepts and enriching it with diagrams, scientific terms would fetch more marks in the optional papers.
Optional Books and Coaching
I took optional coaching from Shankar IAS. I referred the notes of Mr.Kanagaraj sir and my college notes. And for the areas where i dont have enough content, I took it from online sources like TNAU website and other authenticated materials.
Interview Strategy
More than knowledge, its a test of our holistic personality. As the stage includes some kind of discretion, one should be ready to face any kind of questions. For that, preparation should not be confined within the areas of DAF, current affairs but also about the opinion of ours in various domains.
What were the mistakes you made during your preparation that others should avoid?
I often forget that the exam includes three stages and the candidate should successfully get through all the three stages. So, if you are preparing for prelims alone, Mains alone– change your strategy to one which includes the preparation for all the three stages.
Did you have a Plan B in case things didn’t go as expected?
Yes, I had a Plan B from the beginning. I gave myself three attempts — if I didn’t succeed, I had plans to pursue post-graduation or try for the State PSC. Thankfully, I cleared it in my third attempt. Having a Plan B is always a good idea, not just for UPSC, but in life as well.