First of all a big applause for UPSC CSE 2019 Rank 8 Abhishek Saraf. Each day is a new opportunity and to use the opportunity in right way is very important. Talking about opportunity comes success. We are glad to hear a lot of young blood securing positions in various services of the nation. 

UPSC CSE 2019 Rank 8 Abhishek Saraf

Abhishek Saraf is 28 years old, hailing from Bhopal. We see various number of people who appeared for UPSC CSE 2019 exam and came out with flying colors. Abhishek Saraf is yet another candidate who got qualified as an IAS officer, making his family and state proud.

UPSC CSE 2019 Rank 8 Abhishek Saraf’s Education and Early life

Abhishek Saraf’s father, Arvind Saraf, died when he was 10 years old. Thereafter his mother, Pratibha Saraf, a homemaker, took care of Abhishek and his brother. He says that his mother had been their backbone from their childhood. His brother is working as a business development associate in a private company. They had faced many financial problems.

Being strong and no one to rely fully on, the family with the help of maternal uncle and their paternal uncle, led a life. He looked forward to work in the field of skill development and education. Abhishek got graduated from IIT Kanpur with a Btech degree. In 2018 he had been selected under Indian Revenue Service(IRS). H e is an alumnus of Campion School and Arear Convent. The preparation for the journey to success started after he completed his degree.

UPSC CSE 2019 Rank 8 Abhishek Saraf’s Journey and how it took him through

1. Abhishek’s maternal uncle, an IAS officer motivated him a lot. He was his inspiration. Abhishek says that he frequently used to talk to his uncle to get motivated and imbibe qualities from him. This helped him gain confidence and know his strength and weakness.
2. Abhishek has always scored well in his education from childhood onward. He cracked IIT exam after completing his 12th. Being extremely talented he always knew how to overcome any situation.
3. He gave up UPSC CSE in 2015 becasue he thought he cannot succeed in it. Later on he says that if he had not given up during that time, he could have cleared it soon then. He didn’t clear his prelims and that gave him a shock. Because, though being the toughest exam, he had prepared clearly well and still couldn’t do well. Once he cracked IIT and did civil engineering. He appeared for civil engineering service exam which he got cleared with AIR 6 and was a railway executive engineer.
4. After giving up in 2015, he attempted for the 2nd time in 2017. With all support and guidance he worked hard for it. He cleared UPSC but did not qualify for IAS or IRS because of his low rank.  Started preparing for the 3rd attempt in 2018 wherein he scored 248th rank and still not satisfied, applied for 4th attempt.
5. As his optional subject was civil engineering and his background being the same, he didn’t go for coaching this time. He suggests not to go for coaching, rather sit at home and study.
6. During his 4th attempt, he had put in a lot of effort and scored AIR 4 in UPSC CSE exam.

Points to Remember

Just because you are working on something serious, doesn’t mean that you have cut yourself out from other thing, especially social media.

Learn to control yourself. Know that your time is precious and you need to work on your priority. Shutting yourself away from things is not the ultimate option.

Consistency, revision, support system and short breaks are very important. Studying throughout for long hours is not good. Your brain needs some rest. Revising the topic is mandatory because that is the only way you can keep yourself in touch with the portions covered.

Use flow charts, diagrams, underlines etc., because that will fetch you extra marks and answers will be in presentable form. He scored more during his IAS mains because that is where in used most of his conceptual knowledge. Essay writings were really good in his answers because he had focused more on it.

Content and material can be found anywhere and not just in coaching centres. He advises people to look into online material and content available in order to grab as much information possible.

Wishing all the best for the hard working aspirants whose names will in top lists in the forthcoming years and achieving their dreams.