Meet Arth Jain, IITian who left engineering to become IAS, cracked UPSC with AIR 16

One of the highest numbers of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) graduates worldwide are produced in India. IIT JEE, UPSC, and GATE are India's most popular entrance exams and are taken by lakhs of candidates every year. Today, let’s take a look at the success story of Arth Jain, who cleared the UPSC exam and got ranked 16 on his second attempt. 

Arth Jain, who belongs to Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh has succeeded in passing some of India's most challenging exams, including the JEE Advanced and civil services exams. Art cracked JEE Advanced in the first attempt and gained admission in IIT-Delhi with 703rd rank. He has completed mechanical engineering from IIT-Delhi batch 2019. 

Jain, who plans to become an IAS officer, said contrary to popular belief, going all-in is not the best strategy for passing a competitive exam. Entrance exams, whether JEE or UPSC, require a strategy for long-term study.

“It is important to have a sustainable preparation strategy while preparing for a competitive exam. I have seen some extremely talented kids leaving their preparations midway not because they were not smart or were not dedicated enough, but because they followed an exhaustive routine and could not keep it up for years on," says Jain as quoted by News18.

Even the UPSC Preliminaries were too difficult for Arth to pass on his first attempt. He, however, never gave up. He was aware that he had to pass the Civil Service exam. He tracked down his problems and learned why he failed to succeed at CSE on his first attempt. 

For his second attempt, Arth said, he has taken more than 200 mock tests, was unusually high, Jain says he “overcompensated"  since he didn't want to take any chances.

In his second attempt, Arth Jain was rewarded for his hard work. He secured AIR 16 in the 2020 UPSC CSE. Arth received 122 points for his essay, 99 for GS1, 117 for GS 2, 92 for GS 3, and 124 for GS 4.  Maths was an optional subject for him, and he got scores of 145 and 154. Additionally, his UPSC interview went well, and he received 168 points. All UPSC Civil Service candidates should take inspiration from Arth Jain's remarkable efforts and strategy. 

Despite being a graduate from IIT-Delhi, Jain decided against considering a career in engineering since "Class 10 was too early" for him to make such a decision. He realised he wanted to pursue a career in public service instead during his second year of college.