Muskan Dagar, AIR-72 CSE-22 GS & Ethics Topper

Muskan Dagar, hailing from Village Sehlanga, District Jhajjar, Haryana, has secured the impressive rank of AIR 72 in the UPSC CSE 2022 examination. This was her second attempt, as in her first attempt, she had secured AIR 474 and was allocated the Indian Civil Accounts Service. Muskan's optional subject is History.

Muskan completed her 12th standard from Apeejay School, Charkhi Dadri, and went on to pursue a B.Sc. in Physical Science from Hindu College, University of Delhi, in 2020.

Journey of Preparation

Muskan began her preparation for the UPSC CSE during her third year of college, where she took coaching for her optional subject, History, as it was a new subject for her coming from a Science background. She started covering the basics of the General Studies (GS) curriculum only when the COVID-19 lockdown hit in March 2020, during her final semester.

Is coaching necessary?

Muskan's perspective on the necessity of coaching is quite clear. She believes that coaching is not a must-have for success in the UPSC CSE. In her case, she took coaching for History as she was unsure of the subject when she first started preparing for it. However, looking back, she feels that the coaching was entirely avoidable.

When it came to the GS portion, Muskan decided to prepare from her home in the village, as she wanted to avoid the additional costs of living in Delhi. She felt that she could grasp the concepts from the books themselves, and whenever she faced any doubts, she would turn to the web or YouTube to clear them.

Prelims Preparation

Muskan's focus during the Prelims preparation was on gaining conceptual clarity and covering all the necessary topics with multiple revisions. Her strategy was to solve an optimum number of tests (25-30) to reinforce logical clarity. Through these tests, she identified her shortcomings, such as the need for more revision in certain topics, issues with her logic, or the fear of negative marking. In subsequent tests, she worked on improving these limitations.

Muskan emphasized the importance of using common sense as her biggest tool in solving the Prelims questions. This approach helped her gain good logical clarity, which proved beneficial during the actual examination.

Additionally, Muskan solved all available Previous Year Questions (PYQs) to grasp the pattern and gain better clarity. During the actual Prelims exam, Muskan felt that the most important factor was having self-confidence. She had made some silly mistakes in her first attempt due to anxiety, and this time, she made sure to keep her nerves steady so that her mind could think clearly.

Regarding the CSAT paper, Muskan did not prepare for it separately, as she felt that her academic background was sufficient. She only solved the PYQs of the last two years to familiarize herself with the pattern, but she recommends that if one feels the need to prepare for this paper, they should do so thoroughly to devise a proper strategy.

Mains Preparation

Muskan was able to improve her GS marks from 401 to 470 in her second attempt. She attributes this improvement to the changes she made in her approach.

Addressing Shortcomings

Muskan identified two primary shortcomings in her previous year's answers: a lack of content and a lack of complete grasp on the topics, especially when it came to current affairs.

To overcome this, Muskan firstly went back to the syllabus and ensured comprehensive coverage of all the topics mentioned. She also took help from Rushikesh Reddy Sir's notes available online. Secondly, she diligently covered the current affairs from the newspaper and Mains 365 as her primary material, supplementing it with Forum IAS's Dipin Sir's current affairs PDFs.

The second shortcoming was not answering the question precisely as asked. Muskan made it a point to read the question 3-4 times while writing the answer to ensure that she did not stray away from the demand of the question.

Enhancing Answer Quality

Muskan also worked on enriching her answers with relevant facts, case studies, and examples, which she gathered from test series model answers, topper copies, newspapers, and other sources.

Alongside, she practiced brainstorming for each question to come up with a comprehensive answer.

Muskan joined Forum IAS's Mains Guidance Program (MGP) this time, which she found to be a decent test series, although she felt the evaluation could have been better.

Specific Aspects Focused On

Muskan paid attention to the following aspects in her answer writing:

• Meaningful introduction, containing definition, data, quote, or background, as relevant.
• Appropriate headings, using language directly from the question, to ensure that the answer addresses the question accurately.
• Breaking up the answer into relevant parts, such as administrative reasons, social reasons, structural and non-structural measures, etc.
• Including diagrams, maps, and processes, particularly in subjects like Geography, International Relations, Internal Security, and Disaster Management.
• Incorporating relevant facts and examples as sub-points to improve their visibility.
• Providing well-thought-out way forwards, wherever possible.
• Crafting a well-structured conclusion after each answer.
• Attempting all questions, even if she did not know the answer fully, to avoid wasting time.
• Strategically attempting the questions, starting with questions 1-5, then 11-20, and finally 6-10, to create a positive impression and allocate more time for the 15-mark questions.

Muskan emphasizes that practicing, with a focus on addressing the shortcomings, is key to improvement, rather than just practicing for the sake of it.

Booklist and Answer Writing

Muskan's booklist did not include any new or unconventional sources. She followed the standard recommended books but also supplemented her preparation with reports like NITI Aayog's "India @ 75" and used Google to research topics not covered in the primary sources.

Muskan started her answer writing practice once she had covered the majority of the syllabus at least twice. During this time, she focused on the structure and presentation of her answers, in addition to the content.

Conclusion

Muskan's journey to securing the impressive rank of AIR 72 in the UPSC CSE 2022 is a testament to her dedication, strategic approach, and willingness to learn from her past experiences. Her insights into the necessity of coaching, Prelims and Mains preparation, and specific focus areas in answer writing can be invaluable for aspiring civil servants.