Interviewing the Toppers: Rohan Samant.

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1. Name: Rohan Rajendra Samant.

2. Age/DOB: 26 years. (15.08.1982)

3. Educational Background (with passing year): BE(Electronics) from TSEC, Mumbai University, 2004 pass out.

4. Exam: CSE 2008.

5. Roll number: 065878.

6. All India Rank: 159.

7. Category: G.

8. Service Allocated:

9. Service Preference (top 5): IFS, IAS, IPS, IRS(IT), IRS(C&E).

10. Number of Attempts: 2.

11. Prelims Score: 2006 (GS: 104, Geography: 93); 2008 (GS: 81, Geography: 78).

12. Mains Score (for 2006): Essay: 124, GS: 250 (approx.), Geography: 310, Pol. Sci.: 290, Interview: 105.


13. Mains Score (for 2008):

• Essay: 122.
• GS: 314 (170,144).
• Optional 1 (Geography): 270 (148,122).
• Optional 2 (Political Sc.): 317 (145,172).
• Total: 1023.
• Interview: 210.
• Grand Total: 1233.

Q: Why IFS and not IAS?
A: Today India is at a unique position in world’s history and geography. It is rising as a major regional power with world level possibilities and the opportunity to represent India on a world stage at such juncture is very exciting. Also, the forces of LPG are making IFS a very engaging and demanding service, day by day.
Having studied Pol.Sci, Spanish, German, etc. also strengthened my liking towards IFS.

Q: Since when you are preparing for CSE, I mean to ask was civil services a childhood dream?
A: It was on my mind right from school days. I was regularly participating in GK quizzes, competitive exams, NTSE, etc. to groom myself for UPSC. But the path became more clear after my engineering.


Q: Is there any significant event that motivated you towards civil services?
A: During my graduation I worked on a report with the M.P. government. This opportunity helped me in meeting many senior IAS and IPS officers. This interaction with them consolidated my desire. However, I cannot think of any single event, as such.

Q: Can you please give some detail of the report you mentioned?
A: A convention is held annually in Mumbai called International Economics Convention in which colleges from India, US and Australia participate. Each college gets a different theme for the project, our theme was Madhya Pradesh. So, we visited MP, met the then Chief Minister Digvijay Singh and other ministers, apart from the officers. We developed the report on the basis of 73rd and 74th amendment, focusing on the PRIs. We won the best paper award for the report and a commendation from MP government. This was in the year 2002-03.

Q: That means you were active in extra-curricular activities during college days, how were you as a student in school and college?
A: I was a good student in school (got 90%) but in engineering I was not all that great (got 55%)

Q: Moving on to the optionals, how did you choose your optionals? And why you didn't go for Engineering or Science subjects?
A: Based on popular trend I chose geography. Engineering marks indicate why not! But jokes apart, after working for a year I had lost touch with basic engineering concepts and somehow I was good with geography and maps etc. while at school.

Q: What about Pol.Sci.?
A: It is helpful for GS mains and is interesting for an IFS aspirant.

Q: With reference to Geography above, how did you analyze the trends? I mean what were the sources?
A: Orkut, Talking with seniors, friends, etc.

Q: From optionals to strategies, did you have different strategies for pre and mains?
A: In prelims, I focused on mental ability and science questions. For mains, I did answer writing practice.

Q: How did you prepare for current affairs and economy portions of GS for mains?
A: By reading the newspaper and conventional books, focused on class notes towards the end.

Q: Referring to class notes, did you attend any coaching classes?
A: Yes, Lakshya Academy in Mumbai and ALS crash-course for mains.

Q: How did you choose these institutes and why should one join a coaching institute? Is there a difference in the approaches of Delhi-based coachings and Mumbai-based coachings?
A: Coaching helps to show you the path. Thus, a person can fast track some aspects of his study with the help of coaching. But it is not mandatory. Mumbai has good coachings but the number of students taking the test is nowhere close to that of Delhi. Thus, for anyone seeking exposure, Delhi is a good platform.

Q: Going back to strategies, would you like to elaborate on the mains strategy, I'm asking this because people face a lot of problems dealing with CSE, taking attempt after attempt. You turned failure into success, how did you do this?
A: I used to write 2 answers everyday, one of GS and one of Pol. Sci. Adding to that, I used to get them checked either by seniors or by faculty. The focus in GS was big answers, to guess the questions and prepare the model answer. 2 markers I tried to read only before sleeping.


Q: How many hours did you put in everyday?
A: 8 hours on an average.

Q: Were you doing some job too while preparing or was yours a full time prep?
A: I taught CAT/GMAT students for about 4 hours daily.

Q: So you had a backup plan, a career in teaching or was something else on your mind?
A: Either teaching or MBA, but I hadn’t thought about this much.

Q: How did you divide these 8 hours?
A: For Mains – June - August: Pol.Sci and GS, 3 to 4 hours each, daily.
August & September: Geography and GS, 3 to 4 hours each, daily.
October: All three with no fixed time.

Q: Tell us about your interview, a brief outline.
A: I was in Shashi Uban Tripathi madam’s board. The interview lasted for about 20 minutes. The questions were general, largely based on India’s foreign policy, WTO, CTBT, etc. They also asked a bit on my teaching experience and economic convention report.

Q: And how did you prepare for it?
A: I prepared various topics through Wikipedia, Google and Project Syndicate for Indian foreign policy. And I also made a notebook of all possible questions on cv, and then again I googled each detail I had filled in, viz. name, school name, etc.


Q: Did you join some coaching institute for interview?
A: I used the notes of Vajiram’s for current GS.

Q: Did the board ask any interesting question or did anything interesting happen during your interview?
A: Not really, I guess. Yes, I slapped my head once, during the interview. It happened like this – when asked about CTBT, I started talking about NPT. The panel member then asked- what is the full form of NPT? Non Proliferation Treaty, I said. He asked further, is that all, shouldn’t there be something else? Then it dawned on me, I had missed out Nuclear, instinctively, I smacked my head making a loud sound.

Q: Please tell us about your family.
A: My father is an architect and my mom is a college teacher.

Q: How did they help you in achieving success?
A: Well, they let me quit my job, let me sit at home and study. They were the ones who forced me to take the second attempt. My mother even came to Delhi with me, for my interview.

Q: How do you consider State PSC as a backup plan for civil services aspirants? Did you appear for any?
A: Yes, I appeared for Maharashtra PSC, but couldn’t clear prelims three times. The syllabus is similar to UPSC’s but a lot of questions on agriculture are asked.


Q: Now some opinion-based questions,
a. Criticism of UPSC for unnecessary secrecy about cut-off marks, scaling and model answer sheets, your view?
A: well, secrecy is always a problem, I had a tough time understanding the changes needed to get better marks in mains.

sup-q: Can you please elaborate?
A: How can you alter your studies to get better marks when you have no clue where you lost out? So even with 4 attempts, the learning curve is not complete.

b: Is the reservation system up to the mark, is it serving its purpose?
A: I think so, though occasionally I have heard of fake caste certificates and other similar things, where the system may get subverted.


c: What reforms do you want in CSE?
A: Perhaps it could be fast-tracked, and the process can be made more open and transparent.


d: A debate arose after this years result, first-timers vs. veterans, questions are being raised about evaluation procedure of UPSC, what’s your say? Is CSE a subjective and unpredictable exam?
A: I don’t know about that, but if that’s what people believe in, right at the starting point, then it is increasingly difficult to tackle it.
Faith in yourself and the fairness of the assessment is crucial, I guess.

sup-q: Can you please explain the previous point?
A: what I meant was that if a student believes that UPSC is no good and unpredictable, then how can he even study and work towards it? The point is – you have to believe that you can do it and that the system is fundamentally sound, else don’t go for it in the first place.

e: (On Interview) some say be neutral at all cost, don't criticize the govt., some say be tactful, criticize intelligently, what's your say?
A: Hmmm . . . Neutral is better, I guess.

f: Do you feel IAS is hyped by people? Or all the services whether IAS, IFS, IPS, IRS aim at serving India equally?
A: The post of a collector has been respected since the colonial days. Thus it is natural that even today the IAS inspires awe and respect. However, I feel that all services would be equally demanding and enriching, when the aspect of serving the nation is considered.

g: Do you subscribe to the view that engineering and science subjects are penalized by UPSC?
A: I can’t comment on that but some of my friends have scored exceptionally high and exceptionally low in successive attempts in these subjects. Thus, the scaling system probably works to a disadvantage for these subjects.


Q: Please tell us about the books you referred for GS, Geography, and Pol Sci?
A: GS- History: Bipin Chandra, Polity: Fadia/Basu, Statistics – Spectrum. Actually it’s the usual list, nothing special.


Q: Please tell us about the Magazines and newspapers you read and how much time you gave daily for newspaper?
Magazines: CS Chronicle, CS Times, C Wizard.
Newspapers: Times of India and HT.
I gave about 30 minutes to newspapers daily.

Q: Did you make notes from the newspapers?
A: No.

Q: Please tell us about your hobbies.
A: My hobbies are reading and motorcycle maintenance.

Q: Should the aspirants too develop a habit of general reading? Can you suggest some books to start with?
A: The range of books is too wide, there are far too many. But believe me, no book ever goes waste.
Freedom at Midnight, Exodus, Umberto Eco's books, are the ones I love the most. I suggest that all of you must read Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything; it’s great for prelims GS.


Q: Sum up your tryst with UPSC in a couple of lines.
A: Its fun while it lasts, more so when it ends.


Q: Give a small motivational message to the student community especially the newcomers.
A: Focus on the goals and not on the obstacles. Have faith.


Q: What is your opinion about this interview? Is something lacking or are there some areas where we can improve to make these interviews more informative and useful? Would you like say something else which we might have ignored?
A: Not really, I think it’s great that you are giving such a platform for interaction.


(Thank you very much Rohan for sharing your thoughts and experiences with us. We wish you all the very best for your future.)

If you have any specific comments or queries please contact Rohan at rohan.r.samant@gmail.com, thanks.