Success Story of A Manoj Kumar| Cleared GATE, CAT & RRB PO, While preparing for Civils

Manoj Kumar Aguru’s Success Story

My name is Manoj Kumar, and I graduated from the Civil Engineering department at JNTUK University in Andhra Pradesh. After graduation, I focused on preparing for the Civil Service Exam and took the UPSC CSE 2020. Unfortunately, I fell short of the prelims cutoff by 2.5 marks, which was a devastating setback for me. Given my financial constraints, I could no longer afford to focus solely on civil services preparation. So, I began exploring alternative job opportunities as a backup plan and sat for various exams that were completely unrelated to my civil services preparation.

Which exams did you appear in till date?

I appeared for UPSC CSE 2020 and also wrote the APPSC Group-1 Mains, for which I am still awaiting the results. I also took the GATE 2021 in Civil Engineering and was allotted MTech at IIT Madras, which I declined to continue preparing for the Civil Services Exam. Also wrote the NABARD exam and missed the final cutoff by a narrow margin. Secured 94 percentile in CAT 2020 and qualified for RRB PO 2021. I was also selected for the NIACL AO interview but chose not to attend, as I had already been selected for RRB PO, which allows me to stay in my home state and provides ample time to prepare for the Civil Services Exam.

Section-wise Preparation Strategy

English Section Preparation Strategy

I did not prepare for english separately. As i have the habit of watching english videos in youtube, i did not spend much time on english grammar as such. In my view reading books or newspaper helps more.

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Quantitative Aptitude Section Preparation Strategy

Just learning the basics enough. No need to do CAT level problems.

Reasoning Section Preparation Strategy

I just watched topic wise videos in youtube and selected one best approach for each subtopic and practiced that two or three times..

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General Awareness Section Preparation Strategy

Revising STUDY IQ and ADDA monthly magazines 2times before the exam.

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Computer Awareness Section Preparation Strategy

Mostly relied on youtube.

Overall Strategy, Study Schedule & Challenges Faced

I dont have a proper study schedule, but having one will help in channelizing your preparation in a proper direction. My preparation was random. I study when i feel like studying, because of that mindset, i wasted most of my time watching unnecessary videos in youtube. In my whole preparation i spent more than 95% of my time studying current affairs, because i know that i can manage the other four sections with just basic knowledge. Its better to analyse your own strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly.. Overall, one month is more than enough for this exam

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How did PracticeMock help you?

Ofcourse yes. In the initial days i practiced the daily quizzes, which helped me alot in my preparation.

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Message for the Fellow Aspirants

In the initial days of preparation, watch toppers strategy videos, to get a rough idea about the exam.. And then make your own strategy based on your strengths and weaknesses and stick to it at any cost.

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Cheena Sawhney