Dear Mam, Our hearty wishes for your success and huge thanks for sharing your precious strategies which would help your fellow aspirants.

Few questions that may help fellow aspirants :

QUESTION 1 : Your name and why were you attracted towards UPSC ? *

Shruthee Srinivasan. Career is something that shapes us, and develops our personality. A career in the higher bureaucracy is the best way to hone ones skills and character. This is the biggest attraction for me.

QUESTION 2 : When you started your prelims preparation ( Which month + year ) and Mains preparation ? *

Prelims - started in College itself, sometime in the 3rd year. (We had five year BA LLB course). But after I got placed, I started serious preparation from the month of October 2015.

Couldn't clear prelims in 2016, but I had already joined coaching for Prelims-cum-Mains , Chennai. Hence, I wrote all the Mains tests (around 12) from September 2016-December 2016.

So one year before I gave the current prelims, I already had a good answer/essay writing practice for mains and test practice for prelims. Optional answer writing I started only in December 2016.

QUESTION 3 : What was your strategy for prelims ? *

Once the basic fundamentals are done (which ideally would take a year), the only strategy is revision-solving test papers-going through my own answers-analysing myself-correcting the mistakes in the next test-revision again.

This is the most foolproof way of identifying where you're going wrong. An organised time table helped me immensely.

QUESTION 4: How did you schedule your daily routine for UPSC preparation ? *

I was working throughout my UPSC preparation, so time was doubly crucial for me. As emphasized before, an organised timetable did wonders.

I had detailed list of topics to revise, question papers to solve, explanations to check, write answers, read up law and note down my own plus and minus. Every night before going to bed, the list had to be ticked (and updated for the next 3 days), if any item got missed, it was imperative that it took precedence the next day, without compromising on the listed items for that day. So you are your best judge, don't overestimate yourself, but at the same time, test your limits every day. It did become sort of like an OCD, but was totally worth it.

QUESTION 5 : What is your optional and why did you chose it ? *

Law. There was never any doubt about it, since I am a law graduate, I am working too in the Legal field, and I really like Law as a subject. The primary criteria for choosing an optional, according to me, should be passion for that subject.

QUESTION 6 : What is the strategy/plan followed for law optional ? *

First of all, I downloaded the syllabus and stuck it on my wall. Secondly, I bought the last 25 years Mains Law Optional Question Bank. These two were the guiding lights, always coming back to it to analyse the pattern, and requirement.

QUESTION 7 : If you were a part of lawxperts how did the course help you ? *

It helped me a lot, the content, the standard of questions, the comments by faculty broadened by knowledge base.

I would recommend lawxperts to every law optional aspirant, with the only caveat that regular follow up might be needed!

QUESTION 8 : Any advice for other aspirants ? *

Believe in yourself. If you genuinely don't think you can do this, then you never will. This is not some preachy positive motivational one liner, you may not be the best, then try to find your own faults, and rectify it.

The winner is not the strongest or the fastest or the most intelligent, the winner here is the one who is smart enough to understand how UPSC works, and how to mould it to your advantage.