[ad_1]
Dr Saloni Sidana pursued civil providers after finishing her MBBS. She aced UPSC CSE, securing 74th rank in her first try. Serving as Mandla’s district collector in Madhya Pradesh, she lately went viral for spending solely Rs 500 on her wedding ceremony.
Presently posted because the district collector of Mandla in Madhya Pradesh, turning into an IAS officer was by no means a life-long dream for Saloni Sidana.
A health care provider by training, she accomplished her MBBS from Delhi’s Woman Hardinge Medical School in 2012. Earlier than getting ready for the UPSC CSE (Union Public Service Fee Civil Providers Examination), Saloni obtained a chance to maneuver overseas for larger research. Nonetheless, she selected to remain in India.
“That is when my father advised that I seem for the UPSC examination,” Saloni, who hails from Jalalabad city in Punjab, tells The Higher India.
Speaking about her motivation to pursue a profession being a civil servant, she says, “I nonetheless worth the career of a health care provider. The commonality between the 2 jobs [doctors and civil servants] is that you just take care of individuals. Not like many different professions the place you will have a desk job, being a health care provider allowed me to deal instantly with individuals, which is similar after you turn into a public servant.”
“Additionally, UPSC lets you broaden your data horizon. If I had been simply a health care provider, I might haven’t learn geography, civics, or economics. Throughout preparation, I bought to find out about my nation intimately. That is the great thing about the examination,” says the 35-year-old, who didn’t take drugs as her optionally available however a brand new topic — regulation.
Saloni’s quest for data helped her crack the UPSC examination on her very first try. With a 12 months’s preparation, she was in a position to obtain an All India Rank of 74.
Initially, Saloni was allotted to the Andhra Pradesh cadre. Put up her marriage with IAS Ashish Vashishta, she joined the Madhya Pradesh cadre. For his or her marriage, Saloni paid a courtroom price of Rs 500 and reported to work inside two days. She has been praised for her simplicity.
The 2014-batch IAS officer shares her technique for the first-time aspirants:
Don’t observe what everybody else does
The IAS officer advises UPSC aspirants to not observe a blanket strategy.
“Determine what works out greatest for you. It’s good to have a really customised strategy for your self. Some individuals desire finding out in teams, some desire to check alone in a room. That’s completely okay,” she provides.
Be constant
Given Saloni had roughly a 12 months for preparation, she selected to be constant in her preparation.
“Making ready for UPSC is just not a 100-metre race. It’s a marathon. Right here, you must examine for at the very least a complete 12 months. You can not have abrupt moments of very in depth examine after which go right into a shell,” she opines.
Not like most aspirants, Saloni says, she was not obsessive about the preparation. “I used to be very devoted and honest to my preparation, however on the identical time, I used to be relaxed and never confused,” she provides.
What helped her crack the examination within the very first try, Saloni says, was her consistency.
“Daily, I might dedicate round six to eight hours to preparation. There was not a single day once I took an off. Normally, some individuals examine for 12 hours at some point after which waste time sleeping for the whole subsequent day. I didn’t try this,” she says.
Search steerage
“There may be nothing mistaken if you wish to take help from teaching. Personally, I most well-liked becoming a member of a training institute the place they’d very much less aspirants, as an alternative of going to a category of 400,” says Saloni.
“I solely had 5 months to look for prelims. I might seclude myself in a library, away from the chaos of aspirants who preserve advising others to observe this or that strategy,” she provides.
Dwell in your consolation zone a month earlier than the examination
Saloni says that she moved to her consolation zone — her residence — within the final month earlier than showing for the examination.
“I didn’t need to get influenced by anybody. I restricted speaking to different aspirants. I solely talked to mates from drugs, my lecturers, and members of the family,” she says.
“On this interval, I focussed on revising the outdated content material as an alternative of studying new matters. Additionally, I might give mock papers as soon as each three days. I might dedicate one entire day to analysing the mock paper,” she provides.
Saloni confused that giving extra mocks doesn’t assist if aspirants don’t analyse them. “In the end, their objective is to show you out of your errors. The entire train is futile if you don’t analyse them,” she factors out.
craft a robust essay
UPSC examination checks not solely the content material of your essay but additionally your writing expertise, the movement of concepts, and the way aspirants weave all of it collectively. Saloni says acing essay writing doesn’t occur in a single day.
Sharing her technique, the IAS officer says, “I puzzled what sort of writing engages me as a reader. I might learn the editorial part of The Hindu and write down my inference within the type of a narrative.”
“I included that very same model in my reply writing. Your essay ought to be crisp, participating, and backed by information. You may as well embody flowcharts to make solutions fascinating,” she provides.
No fancy solutions within the interview
The IAS officer says she didn’t give any fancy solutions to the interviewers. “I used to be simply myself”
She shares an occasion from her interview. “I’m a state-level silver medalist in taekwondo. I keep in mind I used to be instructed that I appeared so fragile and that it didn’t appear to be I might follow taekwondo. I politely mentioned that power issues greater than bodily look. I used to be not like ‘Oh, my god, sir, it’s all about willpower’,” she laughs.
“They’re too senior; they perceive if you find yourself not being your self. They don’t recognize it,” provides Saloni.
Edited by Pranita Bhat; All pictures: Mandla District Collectorate Fb, Saloni Sidana
[ad_2]