Strategy by Namami Bansal: 2016 UPSC Topper AIR 17

About Namami Bansal upsc topper, IAS Topper 2016, Scores of Namami Bansal, Strategy by UPSC topper Namami Bansal,

Strategy by Namami Bansal: 2016 UPSC Topper AIR 17

There are many candidates who are preparing for Civil services Examination and waiting for a correct guidance and strategy. So, you don’t have to worry you can refer to this article to find the strategy for your preparation. We are going to share the journey of UPSC topper Namami Bansal who secured 17th rank in CSE 2016.

She is an inspiration to all the candidates who are working hard for their dreams. We will also tell you the strategies followed by the topper as well as we will mention some of the books she used to read during her preparation.

Namami is a young girl whose childhood dream is to become an IAS officer and do something for our country especially for women in India. She believes in hard work. She prepared for UPSC on her own, she didn’t go to any coaching, she just dedicated herself to her preparation.

Also read: The successful journey of Utsav Kaushal: UPSC IAS topper.

About Namami Bansal

Name: Namami Bansal
Brother’s Name: Vibhum Bansal
Age: 28 (Approx.)
Hometown: Rishikesh
Rank: AIR 17
Roll No. : 1950301
No. of Attempts: 4
Year: CSE 2016
State: Uttarakhand
Optional Subject: Economics
Work Experience: The Economic Times

Must read: The strategy for UPSC Interview?

Early Life

Namami is a very simple girl, she always believes in simplicity. When everyone is moving to the capital of India to prepare for UPSC, she did the reverse of it. She was doing her job at ET and she left her job at Delhi and moved to her hometown to start her preparation. She never wanted to go for a coaching institute that’s why she left Delhi and started preparing on her own.

Her inspiration is her family. She wanted to become an IAS officer since her childhood. But she started preparing for UPSC in 2014. His father is the one who introduced her to the world of Civil Services. His father always supported her decision. She also said that her mother is her best friend. Her mother’s smiling face is the motivation to her.

Her brother also supported her very much. Whenever she gets disheartened her brother always supported by saying her that this is not the end, don’t get disheartened you can do it. Her brother helped her to keeps grounded as well as motivated her. She gave the credit for her success to her family.

She used to live in Rishikesh so she did her schooling from her hometown. She used to go to Nirmal Deep School at Rishikesh. She was a brilliant student at her school. So, after completing her schooling she got admission in Delhi University. She moved to Delhi and completed her graduation from Lady Shri Ram College of Delhi University.

After completing her graduation she got a job at The Economic Times. She was doing her job when she thought of preparing for UPSC. She was in Delhi when she was doing her job but to prepare for CSE she left her job and moved to her home.

She started preparing for UPSC in 2014. In her first 3 attempts she did not make it to UPSC, unfortunately, she didn’t clear the exam. But she never stops doing hard work. She started preparing again and gave the exam in 2016. This time her hard work worth it, she got 17th rank and become a national topper.

Also look: The details about UPSC exam.

Marks of Namami Bansal

She got 1070 marks out of 2025 and secured 17th rank all over India. She made her family proud by her achievement. Unfortunately, we didn’t find her scores in brief but her marks are discussed below:

Written Total: 890
Personality Test/ Interview: 180
Total Marks: 1070

Also see: The inspirational journey of Ashish Tiwari: UPSC IAS topper.

Strategy

She shared her strategy in two categories. One for prelims and other for mains.

Prelims Strategy

This is the most difficult stage of the exam. You need to have a balanced approach between across sections. She used to read standard books like Bipin Chandra, Laxmikanth, NCERT for Geography. She also used to follow economic survey and she used to make her own notes for current affairs. For Science & technology, she focused on current developments in defense, space technology, biotech etc.

Always practice for the papers where you think you need improvement and revise those topics and areas.

Depend on one book on a specific topic, do not try to read 10 books on one topic, you will get confused.

Try to make your mind sharp for MCQs. And know your weaknesses and work on them. This will help you to perform well on the exam day.

Mains Strategy

The necessary thing in the preparation for UPSC is Answer Writing. Always try to practice answer writing. Namami also lacked in writing the essays that’s why she didn’t clear the exam in her first three attempts but later on, she found her mistake and worked on it, so you also try to do the same.

Revise the books for mains exam. She used to read the same books she read for prelims. For art & culture, she read NCERT of 11th class and also makes notes from the internet.

Practice the maps of India, world and also the diagrams in Geography.

For GS 2 she read Laxmikanth and current affairs of Polity and IR.

For GS 3 she used to follow economic survey and focus on the current developments in science & technology, environment, and their background information.

For essay try to practice essays on the trending topics. Use relevant facts and figures to write an essay.

Must read: The strategy and books for UPSC preliminary examination.

Books for Optional Subjects

The books she used to refer to Economics is:

Hal r Varian for Microeconomics.
Dornbusch and Fischer for Macroeconomics.
For public economics Musgrave for Public Economics.
Paul Krugman for International economics.
Debraj ray for growth and development.

She also motivated many candidates by saying that “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, and catch the trade winds in your sails. EXPLORE, DREAM, DISCOVER!”.

Also read: Everything you must know about UPSC exam.

Success Mantra

The basic success mantra she believed in is Preservance, Determination and Hard work.

Success cannot come to you, you have to do hard work to achieve success in your life. Never stop doing hard work in any situation. Preservance is also the hard work which you do to achieve your dreams. Great works are performed by preservance. Failure will never overtake you if you are determined towards your success. The determination is the key to motivation.
Always stay motivated and start preparing for your exam.

You can also see some of her interviews:

If you have any doubt or need guidance you can comment below, our team will try to answer it.

Strategy by Namami Bansal: 2016 UPSC Topper AIR 17