APSC TOPPER - Interview & Preparation Strategy
SANJU DAS
APSC 2016 - Rank 20th Assam Land & Revenue Service
Roll No. 092503215
(Joined Adhikary Education's APSC Mains GS Test Series & APSC Mains Pol Science Test Series )
Adhikary Education: Many congratulations on your grand success in APSC 2016 on securing 20th Ranks in Assam Land & Revenue Service.
INTERVIEW Qs & As
Adhikary Education: Tell us something about you and your Academic Background?
Sanju Das: I’m Sanju Das of Silchar, Assam. I am a BA (Gold Medaliist) from NEHU, Shillong; and an MA (Political Science) from IGNOU.
I also have a PG Diploma in Environment and and Sustainable Development.
My schooling happened in Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, William nagar, East Garo Hills, from where I had completed my 10+2 (Science).
My hobbies include reading books, writing poems and watching motivational youtube videos.
Adhikary Education: Tell us something about your work experience?
Sanju Das: Currently, I am employed as a Forester I in the Deptt of Environment and Forest, Govt of Meghalaya. I had also been briefly deputed as an Assistant Instructor at the Meghalaya Forest Training School. I have a combined work experience of 13 years.
Adhikary Education: When and why you decided to appear for APSC?
Sanju Das: I have decided to appear in APSC-CCE in the early part of 2015, but was not serious enough. But when I acquainted myself thoroughly with the syllabus, I realized that General Studies has an important role to play. As I always loved (and still do) to keep myself updated with current affairs, I thought of seriously giving APSC a try. Serious preparation started after applying for the Prelims in January 2017.
Forest Deptt gave me an opportunity to get actively involved with the stakeholders – the people at the grassroot level through various bottom-up approached and other indispensable departmental activities. My penchant to serve people in whatever little way I could together with my love for current affairs deepened my interest to go for a wider platform to diversify my work. This is how APSC happened.
Adhikary Education: What was your preference of cadre among various services of ACS, APS, ALRSetc? What is the motivation behind?
Sanju Das: My Preference of cadres
ACS>ALRS>ARCS>Supt. of Taxes.
ACS was on top of my preference because I consider it as the first among the equals.
Adhikary Education: Your number of Attempt in APSC CCE?
Sanju Das: This was my first Attempt.
Adhikary Education: Since when you started preparation for APSC CCE 2016? How many months of sincere preparation is required to clear APSC?
Sanju Das: My dedicated preparation for CCE started form the month of February 2017. According to me, an average but serious ACS aspirant must be confident with 8-10 months of preparation.
Adhikary Education: What were your optional subjects in APSC Prelims and Mains Exam?
Sanju Das: Prelims – Pol. Science
Mains – (i) Pol. Science (ii) Education.
Adhikary Education: What was your style of Preparation and Notes Making?
Sanju Das: I prepared notes of selected topics only and doubled it up with mindmaps for final revisions. I also made short notes of Assam Tribune’s Editorials.
Adhikary Education: What are the most important/necessary Books for APSC Prelims, mainly GS Paper?
Sanju Das: All the standard books generally recommended by Toppers for APSC Prelims were followed by me.
The thrust, I must say, was on conceptual clarity from NCERT books (Class IX to XII) before switching over to Lucent’s objective GK and Assam Year Book for GS.
For Pol. Science I mostly referred to Previous Years Questions and online MCQ sources.
Adhikary Education: Have you joined any Coaching classed? If not, why?
Sanju Das: No, I did not join any coaching classes. There were two reasons for that – one, by constraint; and the other, by choice. As I was (and still is) a govt employee with field-oriented duties with no time regulation, I could not make coaching happen. Further, I loved preparing by myself.
Adhikary Education: What Test Series you joined for Prelims and Mains Exam?
Sanju Das: I subscribed to the Test Series (Mains) for Political Science and GS from Assamexam.com. I didn’t join any for my Prelims.
Adhikary Education: What were the Books/Study Materials you used for your optional subjects in APSC Prelims and Mains Exam?
Sanju Das: For both Prelims and Mains, I consolidated my preparation from NCERT Books (Class IX to XII) for General Studies. Other standard books generally recommended were also selectively referred.
For Political Science
- Laxmikant’s ‘Indian Polity’
- My MA (Pol. Science) notes form IGNOU
For Education
- By Sunita Agarwal
- By L. H. Das
Adhikary Education: What was style ofanswer writing in Mains Exam?
- Paragraph or Point-wise?
- Underlining?
- Format of Introduction – body – conclusion?
Sanju Das:
- I adopted a dual approach – bullet points and para format depending on the demand of the question.
- Yes, I underlined key phrases and those points/sentences to which I wanted to specifically draw the examiner’s attention.
- Introduction – Body – Conclusion format was followed.
Adhikary Education: Apart from books/study materials, what other Internet resources& websites you followed?
Sanju Das: kkhsou.in (for education), unacademy (for Pol. Science)
Selected notes/articles form insights, jagranjosh and Assamexam.com
Adhikary Education: Tell us something about your interview (Last Battle of the APSC CCE war)?
Sanju Das: My interview board was very cordial. It was chaired by Mr. Hajoari. Questions basically revolved around my academic background, my home district, my current job, and Assam oriented current affairs. It lasted for about 17 minutes.
Adhikary Education: What is your ADVICE for all the new and old aspirants who are going to write APSC CCE 2018?
Sanju Das: If I were to advise APSC aspirants, I would recommend emphasizing on being conceptually strong with an analytical frame of mind. NCERT books are a must.
Smart dedicated preparation must take precedence over hard work. It is important to enjoy the journey of preparation.
Adhikary Education: How was our APSC Test Series? How useful it was? Any specific point you want to tell us to appreciate or improve upon?
Sanju Das: I found the ‘Answer Booster’ part of Assamexam.com a virtual confidence booster. It complemented my stock of information/knowledge besides providing the ‘must-have’ part in any good answer.
Advice: It is advised to explore the feasibility of introducing an ‘Answer writing Challenge’, for the benefit of the aspirants much in the line of insights.com
( Information For Aspirants – We had started ‘Answer writing Practice’ for APSC Mains Exam, where aspirants can write answers of the Questions posted.)
Adhikary Education: What is your view on our website www.Assamexam.com? Any advice for it’s improvement?
Sanju Das: Assamexam.com has been doing a good job. I found it to be keen on transforming itself into an aspirant-friendly website catering to the needs of those deprived from physical facilities of classroom coaching.
More ‘Test Series’ may be introduced for Mains covering the entire syllabus.
I wish assamexam.com good luck.
Adhikary Education: Thank you very much for your time and congratulation again for clearing the most coveted exam in Assam with distinction. Wish you a successful civil service career and may you serve well the people of Assam.
Thank you very much.
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