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A medical graduate from rural Rajasthan, Dr. Ravindra Goswami, started his preparation after the age of 30. After working for two years in the Government setup as medical officer, he realized that he could deliver more as a citizen if he entered in administrative services. He failed in his first attempt and believing it to be a learning step, instead of a failing step, he finally qualified in 2015.

At an age when the social structure was not in favour of him- being married and father of two children, society was expecting more active involvement in family matters. It was his wife who showed him the path to try to realise the dream of becoming an IAS officer.

He sacrificed the good Post Graduation degree in Surgery and took the non-clinical branch so that he could devote time to study for IAS. People around him kept on telling that he had crossed the good age of UPSC preparation and it was futile effort, but he kept his head strong and moved forward.

Preparation Strategy:

His preparation strategy is a perfect example of hardwork and dedication. As a working professional, he relied heavily on online study sources especially for GS. For optional he consulted the standard text books.

On a typical day, he used to get up at 6am and study the optional for two hours, then while travelling from Huda city center Metro to AIIMS metro, he used to finish The Hindu, while on workplace he developed a habit of surfing online IAs study sites. At 6pm after reaching back home he used to write answers for 3 hours and crosscheck them. He reserved his time slot from 9-10 to watch RSTV.

He did prepare notes for optional subject, but not for GS due to paucity of time.

Mood swings and distractions:

He never read on Sundays, and used to share his thoughts with his wife.

“She kept on motivating me during mood swings.” Watching some comedy movies or inspirational movies like the Million Dollar Baby used to break the monotony of his weekday struggles.

Prelims strategy: He practiced almost 10000 questions and they are very essential for gaining greater accuracy.

Optional Subject: Medical Science

Mains Strategy: He attempted all the questions asked, as he is of the view that you know at least something about a topic and you should write that something on paper. He also tried to include as many dimensions of the problem in the answer as possible to give a holistic view of problem. He completely disbelieves in filler material like stuff and was not very conscious about how less words he was writing.

End Note:

“Believe in yourself, then only you can claim belief of UPSC.”