I am Laxmipriya Upadhyaya. I am from the Odisha town of Puri. I work for the Odisha Forest Service as an Assistant Conservator of Forest. I got an AIR of 176 in the UPSC CSE (2022) this year. It was my fourth try, my second mains exam, and my second interview.
Education: I got my B.Sc. (Agriculture Hons.) from Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology in Bhawanipatna. I then went to the Indian Agriculture Research Institute in New Delhi as a UGC JRF fellow to get my master’s and Ph.D.
UPSC Journey of Laxmipriya Upadhyaya
I started getting ready for the UPSC in February 2019, when I was in my second year of my PhD. I went to the prelims that year, but I could only get 67 marks in GS 1.
The second time I tried, I did it from home during the pandemic, but I did not pass Prelims. But I made a lot of progress. I was getting around 88 points, but the limit that year was 92.
For my third try, I decided to study for the main exam and keep the alternative ready, since I was sure I could pass the preliminary exam. I passed both the prelims and the mains, but I couldn’t get a score. The cutoff that year was 953, so I was about 26 points away. This is the fourth time I’ve tried to pass the test.
Coaching institute joined by Laxmipriya Upadhyaya
I did not join any coaching. Agriculture, which was my graduation subject, was my Optional. For GS, it was easy for me to read on my own, and there is a lot of help available now.
Some of these are the Only IAS YouTube channel, the telegram channel, and the materials from coaching schools. Mock Test • For prelims: Vision IAS (only full length) in 2021, but I didn’t have time to do it in 2022. I did a lot of PYQs practise.
For Mains: I’ve never taken a practise test. Instead, I used PYQs to practise answering problems and writing answers by myself.
For Optional: Jorben J. (IARI), Thorun Sir from Insight IAS. Time Table: I never made a tight timetable. Instead, I did things based on what needed to be done. I used to meet my goals every day and check on them every week. I think 5 to 6 hours a day would be enough. Book List A) History: R. S. Sharma, NCERT topics, Ancient History
History of the Middle Ages by Satish Chandra, Themes, TN Board Book. Choose any one of them.
Art and culture: Nitin Singhania’s book or notes on it. Did parts of the book, NCERT fine arts.
Spectrum did a great job with modern history, and Bipin Chandra read it like a book.
B) Geography: • NCERT 11th, PMF IAS guide (very thick, but it helped me)
GC Leong only looked at the climates of different parts of the world. • Did research on specific topics, such as minerals and the site of businesses. C) Polity, Laxmikanth, and IR, which is a newspaper D) Economy • Sriram IAS’s booklet goes into a lot of detail
Careful study of ideas from places like Investopedia, YouTube, etc. E) Science and Technology: Google and newspapers F) Society: Ideas and words from the Internet, teaching books, and newspapers. G) Ethics: Subba Rao; H) pieces: Editorial readings and practise pieces on philosophical, technical, and other topics. I) Current events: Hindu with notes, pre-exam news talk of ONLY IAS, insights/vision. Dos and don’ts in general
Think about the costs and benefits of doing a book before you do it. Don’t read more than one book on the same subject. I did too much history, for example, just because I liked it. I learned afterward that it was a waste of time.
Know at least half of what you need to know for mains before going for prelims.
The key to your rank is in the optional writing and ethics test. Don’t rush them.
Don’t take on too much schoolwork. Take a break.
Don’t try to write until you have something to say. Don’t do it right away.
Keep it easy to understand and practical. Don’t have high hopes. Not reading the newspaper for a day won’t stop you from getting ready, but you should do it the next day.
If you can, keep a backup.
Listen to the top songs, but know that they are all different. Plan your own moves.
Don’t go on and on. Less reading, more re-reading.
Give more weight to one-on-one advice than to coaching.
Agriculture Optional Strategy by Laxmipriya Upadhyaya
I am a master of agriculture. I chose agriculture as an elective mostly because of three things:
It was my major in college, and I did well in it.
It worked the same way every time. Most of the questions came from books, and the score was never too low.
I was working. I didn’t have much time to read something new. So, I chose to build on what I already knew. Paper-1 Booklist: Ecology and climate change notes from SR Reddy, the Internet, and evolution
SR Reddy/Reddy & Reddy, Rajendra Prasad, and Selective ANGRAU Notes on Agronomy
Forestry: Manikandan Weed: TK Das, thoughts on evolution
Soil Science: Notes from DK Das, ANGRAU, and TNAU
Agriculture Economics: ANGRAU notes
GL Ray/ANGRAU Notes on Agricultural Extension List of books for Paper 2: Genetics by BD Singh
Biochemistry: VK Jain and the Internet, thoughts on evolution
The ANGRAU notes on plant biology
Food stability and related problems:
Tips for UPSC Aspirants by Laxmipriya Upadhyaya
Read PYQs and describe them. I looked at PYQs from the year 2000 and put them into groups based on the subjects they were about.
Give your notes a direction. By looking at PYQs, you’ll know what’s important and what’s not. When you read a chapter, pay more attention to the parts where questions have come up before. As I said before, many of the choice questions in agriculture come from important areas that are already covered. People are told not to ignore other things but to pay more attention to the important things. Follow the rule of 80-20.When you’ve read a book many times, take notes. Add to your notes what you’ve learned from other places. For example, I had added a number of new findings from plant breeding and crop science study.
For Paper 1, add some current events or facts because it is a very broad topic.
You have to be very correct with definitions, especially in paper 2. Try to use scientific words and phrases and avoid making broad claims.
Make changes often. Reference books are big and there are a lot of them. So, there needs to be a lot of revising.
Choose one standard book and add to it with information from other sources as time and needs change.
I mostly used reference books and only sometimes used coaching tools or the internet.
I wrote Thorun Sir’s (Insights IAS) mock test with help from J Jorben’s (IARI) daily answer writing in his chat channel. It helped me make a difference.
