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APSC Toppers’ Interview & Preparation Strategy – Sanju Das ( APSC 2016 – Rank 20 ALRS)

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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.

 

APSC mains 2018 test series GS & Optional Paper

APSC Toppers’ Interview & Preparation Strategy – Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah ( APSC 2016 – APS Rank 1)

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APSC Topper Aun Jyoti Borah APS Rank 1 Adhikary Education Test Series

APSC Toppers' Interview & Preparation Strategy

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah, APSC 2016 – Rank 1 (APS Jr. Grade) Interview – Success Strategy & APSC journey

 

Adhikary Education: Many congratulations on your grand success in APSC 2016 on securing 1 Ranks in Assam Police Service. You were associated with us in our Test Series for GS Paper.

INTERVIEW Qs & As


Adhikary Education: Tell us something about you and your Academic Background?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: My name is Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah. My father name is Bipin Chandra borah and mother is Dipali Borah. I did my schooling from Moran H.S School and higher secondary from JB College, Jorhat. I have completed by graduation in Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery from Govt. Ayurvedic College, Jalukbari.

 

Adhikary Education: Tell us something about your work experience?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: After completion of my internship, I joined as junior Resident doctor in the department of Accident and Emergency in GNRC (North Guwahati). In 2016, I have joined as Medical Officer in SKM Civil Hospital, Bokakhar SKM Civil Hospital, Bokakhat and since then I have been working there.

 

Adhikary Education: When and why you decided to appear for APSC?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I decided to appear for APSC CCE in 2015. Civil service is not merely job, it gives the opportunity to work towards the country and it’s citizens. There are lots of scopes in civil service to serve the society as compared to the other services. Moreover, I have been motivated by the success stories of the UPSC/APSC toppers since my school days.

 

Adhikary Education: What was your preference of cadre among various services of ACS, APS, ALRSetc? What is the motivation behind?Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: My order of preference of cadre was

  1. APS
  2. ACS
  3. ALRS

I preferred APS because my father is working in the police department and it was my childhood dream to wear the uniform on my father.

(Our View – Adhikary Education heartily respect his choice of putting APS as first preference over ACS (the most popular cadre). We should always try to do what fascinate us and where we can serve better, and not just following the popular trend.)

 

Adhikary Education: Your Number of Attempt in APSC CCE?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: It was my second attempt. I the first attempt, I cleared prelims but did not appeared for mains as I was not well prepared at that time.

 

Adhikary Education: Since when you started preparation for APSC CCE 2016? How many months of sincere preparation is required to clear APSC?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I started my serious preparation from August 2016. Our prelims was in July, 2017 and mains was in February 2018.

I think 10-12 months of sincere study before Mains is enough to clear CCE(APSC).

 

Adhikary Education: Tell us something about your work experience?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah:After completion of my internship, I joined as junior Resident doctor in the department of Accident and Emergency in GNRC (North Guwahati). In 2016, I have joined as Medical Officer in SKM Civil Hospital, Bokakhar SKM Civil Hospital, Bokakhat and since then I have been working there.

 

Adhikary Education: What was your optional subjects in APSC Prelims and Mains?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: For Prelims, – Indian History
For Mains – History and Education

 

Adhikary Education: What was your style of Preparation and Making Notes?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I started preparation with my favourite subject Indian History. I mainly concentrated on acquiring the knowledge of the static portions. To know the nature of the examination; I solved the Prelims 10 years question papers and completed the whole syllabus of my optional without leaving any portion behind.
Note making is very much essential for this examination and for it, I used the internet rigorously.

 

Adhikary Education: What are the most important/necessary Books for APSC Prelims, mainly GS Paper?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: For Prelims ( GS Paper): I mainly read

  1. General Studies (Paper 1) by McGrew Hill
  2. General Knowledge by Mahar Pandey
  3. Website (VISIONIAS, gktoday)
  4. Assam Year Book
  5. Assam Tribune (News paper)

 

Adhikary Education: Have you joined any Coaching classes? If not, why?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I have not joined any coaching class as I am a doctor is Civil hospital, so did not have much time to join coaching classes.

I think regular self study is sufficient to clear APSC CCE. 

 

Adhikary Education: What Test Series you joined for Prelims and Mains Exam?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah:

  1. Indian History by Krishna Reddy
  2. Various Magazines – Civil Service Chronicles, etc.

 

Adhikary Education: What were the Study Materials you used for Education optional for APSC Mains Exam?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I joined the Test Series of General Studies from Adhikary Education. There test series are immensely helpful and it improved my answer writing skills.

 

Adhikary Education: What were the Books/Study Materials you used for your optional subjects in APSC Prelims and Mains Exam?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: 

For Indian History

  1. India’s Ancient Past by R S Sharma
  2. History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra
  3. A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir
  4. NCERT Books (Class VI to XII)

For World History – Internet sources only – Unacademy, Britannica, Youtube

For Education –

  1. Mukunda Sarma 
  2. Internet sources

 

Adhikary Education: What was style of Answer writing in Mains Exam?
(A) Paragraph or Point-wise?
(B) Underlining?
(C) Format of Introduction – body – conclusion?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: For GS Paper, I write most of the answers Point wise. I did not use underline.

For optional, I used the format of Introduction-body-conclusion and I wrote the answers both in Paragraph and point wise depending upon the nature of the question.

 

Adhikary Education: Apart from books/study materials, what other Internet resources & websites you followed?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I used the internet sources like Unacademy, StudyIQ, VisionIAS, Mrunal, InsightIndia, gktoday, Britannica, Assamexam.com etc. I used to prepare my notes form the video too.

 

Adhikary Education: Many aspirants are confused about the extent of Current Affairs needed to prepare. Current Affairs for recent how many months is sufficient?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: I think current affairs of last 12 months is sufficient for appearing this examination.

 

Adhikary Education: Tell us something about your interview (Last Battle of the APSC CCE war)?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: The interview was good. There were three members in the interview board and the panel was cordial. They asked me questions regarding my profession, home district, social and environmental issues, terrorism, art and culture of our state etc. It was overall a nice experience for me and I come out from the interview room with a pleasant mood.

For the interview, I revised my whole subjects and mainly focused on the social issues and current affairs. I used to discuss with my friend Dr. Puja Punam Gogoi (ACS – 57th Rank) over telephone about the probable questions. It helped both of us to boost our confidence level.

(Our View – Adhikary Education heartily congratulate Dr. Puja Punam Gogoi on securing 57th rank in ACS cadre. We also recommend aspirants to make small group with like-minded peoples, to achieve the common goal of success in APSC CCE and everything else in life.

Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours. – Les Brown.

 

Adhikary Education: What is your ADVICE for all the new and old aspirants who are going to write APSC CCE 2018?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: Self motivation, dedication, smart and intelligent study and time management during examination are the pillars of success.

I always believe that “Hard work always pays off”.

 

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?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: The APSC Test Series helped me a lot in my GS preparation. The questions were well balanced and nice.

 

Adhikary Education: What is your view on our website www.Assamexam.com? Any advice for it’s improvement?

Dr. Anup Jyoti Borah: The website www.Assamexam.com is also very good.

I think any aspirant, especially who believed in Self-study, must follow this website to know the progress of his/her study. Really, it’s a great initiative by Adhikary group.

I think that both the website and test series are good and it needed no improvement right now. However, if any betterment needed, I will definitely give you suggestions.

Thank you very much.

 

Adhikary Education: Thank you very much and congratulation again for clearing the most coveted exam in Assam. Wish you a successful police service career and may you serve well the people of Assam.

 

Thank you very much.

 

APSC mains 2018 test series GS & Optional Paper