7/27/2019 Toppers tips to suffix IAS to ones name

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Civil Services have craze and clamour. There is always a fascination for most people to go in a car

with a beacon light atop, and the number of youngsters aspiring to be in the civil services is

growing.

With several successful candidates hailing from smaller towns and rural areas, the hopes are

growing bigger.

The latest Civil Services topper from Madurai, T.Prabhu Shankar, gave a route map to students

on how to succeed and suffix IAS to their names.

At The Hindu Education Plus Career Counselling Fair 2013 held here on Saturday, the topper

shared his experience in preparation, coaching, managing optional subjects and interview round.

He has secured the seventh rank in the Civil Services Examination 2012-13 held by the Union

Public Service Commission recently. It was his second attempt.

Dr.Shankar, working as an assistant professor in a private medical college in Chennai, suggested

a few simple ways to crack the national-level competitive examination.

The IAS exam is not like a course and everything depends on interest, determination and

preparation. So, doing right things in a right way at the right time holds the key to success, he

says. The 29-year-old topper chose geography and political science as his optional subjects.

An analysis of Civil Services success trends in the recent years indicate that humanities are

popular subjects as close to 50 per cent of the toppers have chosen public administration,

management, accountancy, economics, commerce, political science, international relations and

geography.

If you ask me when one has to start preparation, I will say today is the day. Twelfth standard

pass-out stage is a very good age, he says.

Giving a recipe for success, he said IAS aspirants must develop national consciousness, civic

awareness, soft skills, read newspapers and magazines, besides being thorough with NCERT

textbooks of Standard VI to XII.

For the question on where to prepare, the topper said a hero could come from anywhere and not

necessarily from the metro cities.

Delhi is no more the Civil Service aspirants capital. There are good coaching centres in Chennai

too. In fact, the Tamil Nadu Government has All India Civil Services Coaching Centre at Adyar in

Chennai (www.civilservicecoaching. com), he told the students.

The topper expressed hope that a day would come when the UPSC first rank holder would be

from Madurai.

He made a power point presentation on the various stages of the civil services exams, age limit,

number of attempts allowed for candidates of various communities and various optional subjects

available to choose from.

Let us make our beloved city a bureaucrat production hub, he conclude