The Success Story of Apurva Pandey: UPSC CSE 2017 Topper, Rank 39

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The Success Story of Apurva Pandey: UPSC CSE 2017 Topper, Rank 39

Every year UPSC conducts civil services examination for the recruitment of various civil services like Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Police Services (IPS), and Indian Revenue Services (IRS) etc. The result of UPSC Civil Services Examination was declared in May. This year result came with some interesting stories of toppers.

Anudeep Durishetty an IRS Officer secured 1st rank & becomes the topper of CSE 2017. 2nd rank is secured by Anu Kumari who started her career after her marriage. Sachin Gupta has secured 3rd rank with his dedication & hard work.
Apurva Pandey has secured 39th rank in CSE 2017. So let’s begin her journey.

Also read: The journey of Akhil Pilani: 2017 UPSC Topper

About Apurva

Name: Apurva Pandey
Mother’s Name: Meena Pandey
Father’s Name: K C Pandey
Brother’s Name: Manish Pandey
Elder Brother’s Name: Dr. Prakash Chandra Pandey
Birthplace: Haldwani
Hometown: Haldwani, Kumaon
Rank: AIR 39
Year: CSE 2017
No. of Attempts: 2
Optional Subject: Political Science & International Relations
Nationality: Indian

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Her Journey

Apurva belongs to Haldwani, the gateway of hills of Kumaon. She has secured 39th rank in UPSC civil services examination 2017. She never took any coaching for the CSE, she believed in herself and prepared for the CSE from her small city and proved her. She never thought that she will prepare for CSE from her home as her home is situated at a small place where she did not have any institutes or resources for the CSE preparation. But technology have played a keen role in her success. She purchased necessary books as well she followed all the online sources available like IAS baba, Neo stencil, Insights etc. for the CSE preparation.

Her mother Meena Pandey is a Chemistry spokesperson at the GGIC Nainital. Her father K C Pandey is a spokesman for Engineering Polytechnic in Kotbag. Her younger brother Manish Pandey is working at the Indian Statistical Institute, Bangalore. She comes from a family where mostly the people are doctor or Engineering. She is the first one from her family who opted for IAS. She will be the first IAS officer in her family.

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Educational Qualification

She belongs to a well-educated family and her parents always supported her decision and education. She did her bachelors in Mechanical Engineering from Govin Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology. She completed her engineering in 2016. When she was in the third year of her engineering, she decided to go for civil services and started her preparation. She decided to appear in the CSE 2016. At her first attempt, she did basic preparation and sit into exam to know more about the exam.

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Marks

She has secured 1070 marks out of 2025 and become a national topper by securing 39th rank. Her marks are given below.

Mandatory/ Compulsory Papers
Essay (Paper 1): 175
General Studies I (Paper 2): 110
General Studies II (Paper 3): 118
General Studies III (Paper 4): 145
General Studies IV (Paper 5): 92

Optional Papers
Optional paper I (Paper 6): 127
Optional paper II (Paper 7): 138

Written Total: 905
Personality Test/ Interview: 165
Final Marks: 1070

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Prelims Exam Strategy

Prelims is the first and most difficult stage in civil services examination. So the strategy she followed is discussed below.

Start with the basic books and read them properly. You should read NCERTs, Lakshmikant, and Spectrum. Read these books again and again till you become a master in that subject.
The necessary thing is to attempt mock tests, everyone knows the importance of attending mock tests. Give as many mocks as possible and write down about the topics or questions which you don’t know and then revise your notes again and try to find the answer this time. While attempting mock tests identify your strengths and weaknesses and schedule your study plan according to it.
If you have any confusion, go through the previous year paper to get to know more about the exam. This will help you to know where you have to be more focused. For an instance questions based on Buddhism & Jainism comes every year, so you need to focus on this topic.
The last but not the least is current affairs. Current affairs are very important for the CSE. Everything in the CSE depends upon current affairs. So updated with current affairs you should read a newspaper regularly.

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Important Areas

The important areas where you have to focus during your preparation are:

Environment:

You can read Shankar IAS book for this area. But you have to be very selective during your reading. And to find what you have to read and what you have to eliminate, you have to go through the previous year question papers. Detect the pattern of the exam, focused area on the exam and extract the important information for prelims exam. Do not rely on booksonly. Also, make use of online sources.

Art and Culture:

You have to go through the NCERT for this part. NCERT will give all the basic and relevant information about this topic for the prelims. You can also read Nitin Singhania’s book on Art & culture. Be selective while reading the topic, eliminate the unnecessary topics and read only the relevant topics.

Science and Technology:

She used to follow IAS baba current affairs compilation for this area regarding the prelims exam. She was PCBM student in her school as she opted for science. So being a PCBM student you can also go for some chapters of biology & chemistry.

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List of 2017 Toppers

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

The Success Story of Apurva Pandey: UPSC CSE 2017 Topper, Rank 39