Aishwarya Sheoran Journey from Miss India Finalist to IAS Topper
Aishwarya has cracked the Civil Services 2019 exam in her first attempt with AIR 93. However, this career transition was not a sudden step as the topper claims that modeling is her hobby but being a Civil Servant was always her dream.
Aishwarya started her modeling career in Delhi. She entered the modeling world at the age of 19. She then went on to win the title of Miss Clean and Clear in 2014. Miss Campus Princess Delhi in the year 2015. After this, she participated in the Femina Miss India Contest in 2016 and became a finalist. She has also modeled for designers and magazines. She walked in the Bombay Times Fashion Week, Lakme Fashion Week, Amazon Fashion Week, and for designers like Manish Malhotra.
As per the topper “I thought that since I had always been good at academics, I should maybe take a break for a year or two from the modeling career and give civil services a try because it had always been my dream.”
Preparation Strategy
Aishwarya Sheoran worked Hard for 2 years in Preparation and it Payoff. For all those inspired by my success, here’s a heartfelt and honest description of what I did and feel in the past two years.
Initial Phase:
From May 1-15, I just spent time understanding the exam pattern and watching Mr.unal videos on how to read the newspaper. Also, read geography NCERT for an entire day to figure out how much time can I actually study without getting zoned out. Came out with the 10+8+6 formula – that is 10 hours of study, 8 hours of sleep, and six hours of everything else.
From May 16-June 30, I finished relevant NCERTs and gave a read to Laxmikanth and history. By this time, I started to make notes from newspapers but still could not answer any questions from the books I had completed.
Phase 2: Revision
I started reading new subjects including geography, society, etc during the first half of the day. The second half was devoted completely to the revision of at least three books that I had read in the previous phase and two for current affairs. I changed the way I made current affairs notes. Now, I first made them from Insight current affairs, then go on Indian Express app to see any essay punchlines from editorials, and finally go through The Hindu to see if there was anything left – all in 40 minutes. By the end of July, I started gaining some confidence in the polity, government schemes, history, and culture but geography was still pretty bad.
Phase 3: Optional Subject
This phase was dedicated to an optional subject – Economics. From August to October, my main focus shifted to optional and I did no new GS topics. Only revised the ones already read along with current affairs. I also started doing one chapter each on polity, history, geography, etc along with government schemes.
Phase 4: Back to GS
In November and December, my focus was back on GS as optional first reading, and concept clarity was over. Revision went on as usual but with a greater focus on current affairs-revised them on that day itself and then again every Saturday. The new year was bringing new hopes and I finally felt ready to answer writing.
Phase 5- Answer writing
I joined the Vision IAS test series for GS and found that my papers were getting completed in 4.10 hours. Along with these, I would also practice one or two questions from Insights secure and scribble the rest to check the answers. Despite my best efforts, I could not reduce my time beyond 3.40 hours till March.
Phase 6: Prelims
April was all about prelims — learning specific facts, map exercises for geography, and compilations of Vision IAS, however, I was still in touch with my optional subject for at least 30 minutes each day to do an overview of one chapter from each book. The prelims were held on June 2 and I had practiced about 25 test papers available free online by each within 1.30 hours. My plan was a simple-practice test in the morning, revise the answers in the evening, and again on Saturday. On Saturdays, I also used to focus on current affairs. No new current affairs were added in April.
Phase 7 – Prelims-Mains interface
After the prelims were over, I took a break of three days to recoup and was back in the game again. Answer writing, time management, keywords, and presentation is of paramount importance in this phase. I joined the Bliss point test series for economics along with my Vision Ias Essay and GS online mocks.
For essay and ethics, I took out half an hour to practice rough outlines and brainstorming. This, and a 20-minute audio recording of quotations on various topics in my own voice which I used to play every morning during the workout. This made it fun and easy to tackle. I filtered out all the trivial prelims current affairs and made a handy list of facts on education, health, etc which I could use in answers.
My slow handwriting was the elephant in the room. About 15 days before my mains, I realized that I would have to find another way to finish my papers. This realization took me to the world of flowcharts, diagrams, arrows, points, and one-line intro.
.jpeg)
The secret to clearing the UPSC exam on First Attempt without coaching
Aishwarya says that she did not take any coaching and prepared for a year. “I had to switch off my phone, social media, everything, to focus on the exam and the result is here. But it’s not that I suddenly generated interest in studies. I was always very studious. I was the head girl in my school. I was a science student and then I went to SRCC (Sri Ram College of Commerce), so my background was such. And ultimately I gravitated back to my studies,” she says in an interview with a national daily.
Aishwarya says that she wanted to join the services for the national service. Now that she has cleared the exam she is looking forward to contributing her part in the upliftment of society.
Lessons to take:-
There is no substitute for hard work and there is no shortcut to success.❤
