Success Story: IFS officer Muskan Jindal, who cracked UPSC exam and secured AIR 87 in first attempt

Muskan has always wanted to become a civil servant, since childhood. Therefore, she always kept the direction of her studies in such a way that it would be beneficial for her later. 

She was a bright student since her school days. She was a topper in school, as well as in college. She had completed her schooling at Biddi. Muskan had secured 10 cumulative grade points average in the tenth and got 96% marks in Class 12. After this, she completed her graduation in B. Com (Hons) from SD College Chandigarh, Punjab University. She secured 5th rank in her graduation.

During her graduation, she started preparing for the UPSC exam. She used to devote 4 to 5 hours a day, in the last year of her graduation. When she completed her graduation, she was too young and also, she had to prepare for UPSC. Because of these reasons she took a year's break and started studying day and night.

Muskan said that “when I started preparing for UPSC, I never compared myself with those who have been preparing for many years or those who have gone further.” She further said that I always believed in myself and assumed that no one else knew, but I could crack this exam in my first attempt. She did not consider her notes, books etc less than anyone or anything important. She advised to keep your number of resources limited, but revise your resources a number of times.
Muskan kept her books very limited but read them again and again. Initially, the preparation of pre and mains was integrated. But when only two months were left for pre, then she started preparing for it only.

Muskan always loved reading newspapers but when she started preparing for UPSC, then she started reading it with more attention and interest. For current affairs, she used to rely on the online compilation available.

Muskan used Pre's facts and figures to write the answer in mains. She used to make her answers more relatable to how this fact can be used to write the answer.

According to Muskan, consistency is very important to prepare for the UPSC exam. You need to be motivated every day so that you never feel like going away from your studies. Though it is difficult, it has to be done anyway. But sometimes, even after motivating yourself, there are moments when it seems that today is not happening at all. If this happens, then don’t force yourself to study but do other activities of your interest. These breaks will not only refresh you but will also motivate you to study better.

Talking about phone and social media, Muskaan has a different point of view. She says, “I kept the phone with me during my entire preparation.”  According to Muskan, one must have enough self-control to not touch the phone unless it is important. 

Muskan was clear about her resources and therefore she had limited books. She read NCERT books many times. For some subjects, she only relied on these books. After finishing NCERT, she came to standard books. She then used to solve test papers and see how well her preparation is. For this, she used to give a sectional tests and used to analyse the answers and correct her mistakes.

As far as answer writing was concerned, Muskan used to write rough answers first. She then used to fair them so that she could learn how to write the correct answer. She gave importance to practice. Muskaan believes that one should not lie and be balanced during the interview. If you take care of all these small and important things, then you too can be successful in your first time itself.

During an interview, she said, “I took online and offline guidance from some institutes but dwelt mainly on self-study. I had set weekly targets and consistently followed them in letter and spirit. I devoted about 7 to 8 hours to study every day.” While advising other candidates, she said, “Remain focused and consistent in one’s preparation.” 

Photo: Muskan Jindal/Instagram