UPSC Preparation: CSE tips by Aman Mittal (AIR 20 CSE 2014) - Part 1

Aman Mittal (AIR 20 CSE 2014) shares his strategy for CSE preparation below:

Q.	Details
Name	Aman Mittal
Rank in CSE-2014	20
Roll No.	275061
Age	23
Total attempts in CSE (including this one)	1
Optional Subject	Electrical Engineering
Schooling Medium	English
College medium	English
Medium chosen for Mains answers	English
Medium chosen for Interview	English
Home town/city	New Delhi
Work-experience if any	No
Details of other competitive exams, including success/failures
Details of coaching, mock tests, postal material for any competitive exam (if used)	Samkalp (classes)
GKToday – Prelims Test Series
GS Score –Mains Test Series

Education

% in class 10	92.6
% in class 12	90
Graduation course and %	Dual Degree (B. Tech in Electrical Engineering  and M. Tech in Information and Communication Technology),  CGPA : 8.2/10
Name of college, city, passing out year	IIT Delhi, Delhi, 2014
Post-graduation	M. Tech in ICT
Any other professional courses
Hobbies & Extracurricular achievements	Chess, Meditation

Introduction

Q. Tell us something about yourself, your family, when and why did you enter in this field of competitive exams?

I have largely been educated in Delhi and my academic details have been mentioned above. Apart from this, I practice meditation and strongly advise candidates to do the same during and after the course of preparation. My father is a professor in Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology Delhi and my mother is a homemaker. My elder brother works in a software firm in Gurgaon. 

My main motivation for entering the civil services is to look forward to a career spanning 40 years that can provide opportunities to bring about visible change to the society. Job satisfaction and challenges along with decent standard of living are important considerations that made me opt for civil services.

Electronic Vs Paper material

Q. In recent times, there is spur in electronic material- blogs, sites, pdfs, RSS-feeds. Many aspirants feel bogged down by this information overload. So, how much do you rely on electronic material and how much on the paper material (Books, newspapers)? If possible narrate a typical day in your studylife. What is your style of preparation (e.g. I continue making notes no matter what I’m reading, I just read multiple times but don’t maintain notes, I make mindmaps on computer …or xyz style)

I just got bogged down by the length and width of your question. :P  Anyways, I strongly believe that good selection of available electronic material is extremely essential in the current pattern of examination. My reliance on electronic material was more than 50% during the course of preparation as going through the books to clarify a single doubt is generally wasteful of time.

Personally, I relied on disciplined study during the course of preparation. In the meanwhile, there are many instances when the pattern gets broken but it is all a part of the bigger picture. There is no set time table that I can enunciate here as I made multiple schedules. But, it is important to set achievable targets for oneself during the course of preparation as it keeps one focused.

I generally relied upon the memorizing important points in the newspaper editorial which I diligently read. Usually, editorials on a topic get repeated multiple times. But it is always preferable to make notes topic-wise, which I did for some topics that were important.

Stay tuned for Mr. Aman Mittal's tips on Mains Examination, Answer Writing, Electrical Engineering optional and other important stuff concerning CSE Preparation.

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