Passing on the buck

By Tanvi

The day I went to my alma mater, BIT Mesra I was asked alot of questions on whether to take Science/Engineering optionals , and about other Humanities optionals...in my humble opinion no one person can guide you with regard to all the optionals and since my batchmates have put in an effort to explain their strategy via blogging...I would ask you to also refer to their blogs :

For Science/ Engineering optionals please refer to:

1. http://prakashrajpurohit.wordpress.com....

He is Rank 2 , a true techie, aimed for a 100% in his optionals MATHEMATICS and ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING and got it too :)


2. http://abhijeetagrawal.blogspot.com/

He is rank 24 and has given a comprehensive listing of books that he referred to in PHYSICS and CHEMISTRY

A question was asked by a BITian that, the common perception is once you take up science/engg optionals you face competition from IITians...my answer would be- So what??

The point here is whether you are comfortable and super confident with your optionals,your concepts are clear,and are willing to work very very hard...

A non IITian who topped the CSE is a good example to draw from:

Muthyala Raju Revu(AIR 1, CSE 2007)

Thanks to Anay (rank 5) I got to know that Maitrey Kulkarni(rank 103) from our batch has MECHANICAL ENGINEERING though I have no blog details...maybe he could be contacted through the social networking sites facebook and orkut.

Some Engineers who took up humanities optionals:

1. www.anaydwivedi.wordpress.com

AIR 5, He has exceptional marks in PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION and has discussed on his very well organised blog not only strategy for pub adm and PSYCHOLOGY but also sample notes,his mock test answer papers and inter alia the manner in which a newspaper reading should be done ....very detailed ....he has saved all of us alot of effort !! :D


2.http://wwwrashmitapanda.blogspot.com

AIR 13, She scored extremely well in HISTORY and PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION and has discussed respective booklists in her blog.

3.Tanvi Sundriyal...I have decent marks in Sociology (esp paper one,trying very hard to be modest here :D) so you can refer to the booklist and strategy I followed in this very blog.

Though for Paper II I would recommend another Engineer's blog

4.http://intellection-rajiv.blogspot.com

Rajiv Ranjan Singh(AIR 191) chose SOCIOLOGY and PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION and has given a detailed write up on the notes and books that he referred to in Paper II- Sociology

Also he is the only person that I know of who prepared and got through alongwith a job (in TATA STEEL) so he would be the best person to tell you how to prepare alongwith a job.

5.www.shubhra-saxena.blogspot.com

AIR 1 in CSE 2008 ,her blog was referred to by some of my friends esp for PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION...though now she doesnt write on CSE prep , older posts on her blog might be helpful.

A doctor (AIR 8)who took up SOCIOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY has shared her personal experience,strategy,booklist , and stuff on answer writing and time management on

http://www.garima-mittal-ias.blogspot.com/
http://www.garima-mittal-ias.webs.com/
A MBA (rank 25) has shared notes and tips on Zoology(by a friend),Geography, Essay etc

www.ghanshyamthori.blogspot.com

Law graduates from NLS Bangalore Ashutosh Salil and Cyril have discussed LAW preparation on this very blog...

Hopefully my strategy of " Passing on the buck" has worked well for all of us!!! :)

Writing Civil Services For The Right Reasons

All of us have our own reasons for writing the civil services. It might sound cliche, but I wrote it for the enormous opportunities that civil services offer to make little differences to people's lives. Having said that, I must admit that getting to work for people and making meaningful differences to their lives was not the sole consideration. The enormous social prestige and recognition that came with the job did weigh heavily on my mind. However, red beacon fitted car and big government bungalows definitely did not figure any where in my scheme of things.

Very often one comes across civil service aspirants, who are drawn to this entire process solely by lure of perks and the power, than the opportunities to do diverse and interesting work that the services offer. Sometimes I do wonder, if the pull of perks and power is strong enough to motivate one to sail through this nerve wrecking exam. I personally do not know any one who has written the exam for the above reasons and has made it. I would like to believe that probably there are very few people who have got into services thinking solely of perks and powers.

I believe that the first question any aspirant must ask is: why does she want to take the exam? Everyone must find his/her answer because that is something one needs to keep going back to in hours of extreme frustration and distress. Therefore, it is important that we not only find an answer but we find the RIGHT answer. An answer that would inspire, motivate and encourage us to keep working incessantly till we have achieved, what we have set out to achieve for ourselves.