—Mayur Dixit Topper—Civil Services Exam., 2012 (11th Rank)
‘Pratiyogita Darpan’ arranged an exclusive interview with Mayur Dixit who has been selected in Civil Services Exam., 2012. He has achieved 11th rank. He deserves all admiration and our heartiest congratulations on his splendid success. This important, thought provoking and highly inspiring interview is being presented here in its original form.
PD—Achieving top slot in the CS Examination is no small feat; accept our heartiest congratulations on your splendid success.
Mayur—Many thanks for your wishes.
PD—Were you confident of your success in this examination and how did you react to this news ?
Mayur—I was confident to the extent that I did my best in mains (written) exam and the personal inter-view. Honestly, I was not expecting a rank in top 50 but was sure of getting name in the merit list. My reaction* was full of happiness and it was a pleasant surprise. It took some time for the feeling to get sunk.
PD—What preference in services have you opted for ?
Mayur—I have preferred IAS as first choice because I want to work at grass roots level and experience and solve the most basic problems and difficulties of a common man.
PD—What were your optional subjects ?
Mayur—Optional Subjects :
1. Geography
2. Management
I kept the same set of optionals in all my attempts.
PD—In how many attempts have you achieved this success ?
Mayur—This was my second attempt. In the first attempt I secured 263 rank and got into IRS (Customs and Central Excise).
PD—You achieved the desired success in this attempt; how do you visualize your previous attempts ?
Mayur—My first attempt was lacking a bit in preparation because I wrote the exam while I was working in a company in private sector. In the second attempt, I devoted ample time to prepare for the optional papers.
PD—You must have read IAS Toppers’ interviews in newspapers/ magazines; what inspired you the most ? Any particular success story which influenced your journey to this result ?
Mayur—I believe in a saying— “Success is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration”. Even though the impor¬tance of inspiration appears less than the efforts we put in, it is a very essential ingredient. I got inspired to work hard and give my 100% from my family, friends and college batch- mates that had got into the Civil Services. Their encouragement and guidance provided me the essential inspiration component.
PD—Did change in Prelims pattern in 2011 become base for your decision to appear in Civil Services Examination or were you already preparing for it ?
Mayur—I was already planning to appear for the exam.
PD—As the Preliminary Exa-mination is staged with the new pattern, how did you manage to face it and what different strategy did you adopt to prepare for the new-look Prelims ?
Mayur—My first attempt was in 2011 when the new pattern got introduced so I didn’t have to alter any strategy. I started preparing as per the new pattern and focussed on Current Affairs for Paper-I and aptitude questions for Paper-II.
PD—What was your approach towards Paper-I (General Studies) and Paper-II (Aptitude Test) during Prelims preparation ? How much time and effort did you divide for each ?
Mayur—Reading 1-2 News¬
papers, Economic Survey, Modern History and Politics for Paper-I and solving a few Quantitative and Com-prehension problems for Paper-II.
Bio-Data
Name—Mayur Dixit
Father’s Name—Shri Umesh Chandra Dixit
Mother’s Name—Smt. Kalyani Dixit •
Educational Qualifications—
B. Tech.—2004-08, IIT Kanpur PGDM—2008-10, IIM Bangalore Previous Selection—
CSE-2011, Rank 263, IRS (C&CE)
PD—How did you manage to tackle the ‘Negative Marking’ in Prelims Mayur—I solved only those questions where I was confident of answering correctly.
PD—The first step is the most difficult. From where did you get the right advice ?
Mayur—1 dedicatedly followed the syllabus of examination and used internet for the various knowledge sources. I tried to read different things in a day that helped in connecting various points and keeping the content interesting. I chose optionals in which I had interest to study and go into depth.
PD—What shift did you adopt in your strategy for Mains (Written) ?
Mayur—Answer point to point; cover more aspects rather than explaining one aspect if not asked to do so; write in points as far as possible as it saves time.
PD—Was there any special effort for effective preparation for Essay Paper ?
Mayur—Rather than prepa¬ration, while appearing for essay, ample time should be given to choose essay topic and once chosen, to make rough structure and notes before writing the essay. Structure, content and language are key aspects of any essay. Focus should be kept on each one of them.
I chose PPP topic as I was more confident and had some knowledge base on that.
Personal Qualities
Favourite Person—My elder
brother.
Hobbies—Trekking, solving
puzzles.
PD—How did you prepare your¬self for Interview ?
Mayur—My focus was on two things : firstly on my profile and every detail that I had mentioned in the application form and secondly on the Current Affairs. I prepared short notes for topics concerning each of these sections and discussed them with friends. This helped in gaining varied views on same topic and different perspectives. My interview lasted for about 35 minutes. Ques¬tions asked during the interview varied from globalization, Indian Economy and monetary policies
related to optional subjects and hobbies.
PD—While the changing eco¬nomic environment offers immense lucrative career opportunities in various sectors, still what kept you motivated towards Civil Services ?
Mayur—I was already employed in a private sector firm while I was preparing for Civil Services and took my first attempt. The urge to work at the grass roots level and to under¬stand and solve the problems of the society always kept me motivated towards Civil Services.
PD—In your opinion at which Educational Level should one start preparing for Civil Services and what should be the minimum period of time required to prepare for Civil Services Examinations ?
Mayur—In my opinion there is no fixed educational level at which one should start preparation for Civil Services. At any point, if the person in convinced that Civil Services is the career that she should aspire for to fulfil the aspiration one has with her
PKAR’S
life and to create difference in the society, she should start preparation. Regarding time required for prepar¬ing, systematic and rigorous study is essential—it can be done in 6 months or more than that depending on the aptitude of the aspirant.
PD—What is the secret of your success ?
Mayur—As I have said above, success is a combination of perspira¬tion i.e., hard work and inspiration i.e., continuous motivation. I would attribute my success to these two factors.
PD—To whom would you like to give the credit for your success ?
Mayur—I would like to give credit for my success to my family and friends who have always moti¬vated me to work hard.
PD—Any suggestion/advice you would like to give to the future aspirants.
Mayur—Set your goal, work hard and never look back.
PD—Thank you very much and wishing you all the best for your future endeavours. RDiiwii