Is UPSC Preparation Possible Without Coaching? Meet Ishita Rathi Who Secured 8th Rank Utilising Online Study-Material

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) examination is exceptionally well-established and is attempted multiple times by civil service aspirants till they crack it.

Due to this influx of aspirants all year round, it is elementary for coaching classes to be commodified. A simple search for UPSC would yield location results for coaching academies, which adds to this notion that you need to go to a coaching class to crack the exam.

Civil Services Exams Without Any Paid Coaching?

This works for people with the resources and means to enrol for paid coaching, and it does pay off too. However, what about the people who aren't privileged enough to register in these classes? Is the online material and guidance found on the internet sufficient for them to crack the CSE? Absolutely. There are many examples of officers who have qualified for it using the online material available.

Ishita Rathi, who has secured an AIR 8 in the Civil Service Examinations 2021, is one such example. 26-year-old Rathi said that she had prepared using strategies used by previous toppers and online material, which also includes YouTube content.

She also told PTI that she was 'present on social media' when she was preparing for the exam but was not active, as reported by NDTV.

'Parents Were Biggest Inspiration'

As the daughter of a Delhi Police assistant sub-inspector and head constable couple, she said her parents were her biggest inspiration for joining the civil service. Her mother would tell her stories of senior officers and their excellent work for the country's welfare.

Rathi's preference was the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), and on her third attempt, she cracked the exam. Her first attempt was in 2019, right after she completed her postgraduation from Madras School of Economics in Chennai.

"I am excited that I am getting a huge opportunity. Through civil services, I can give back to the community and contribute to nation-building," Rathi told PTI, as reported by The Print.

She was felicitated at the police headquarters by Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana on June 2, 2022.

Dropping Coaching Due To Financial Constraints

Coaching classes require a lot of financial capital, which every UPSC aspirant is not privileged enough to have. Anil Basak, who cleared the CSE 2020, was a village cloth seller's son from the small city of Kishanganj in Bihar. Being the second person in his family to pass the 10th class exam, he managed to crack the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) in 2014 and get a civil engineering seat at IIT Delhi.

He was forced to drop out of his UPSC coaching class due to financial constraints in 2018, but with dedication and the will, he cracked the exam on his third attempt, as reported by India Today.

Similar Examples

Other examples of UPSC aspirants who cracked the exam without coaching classes are Satyam Gandhi, hailing from Bihar, who secured an AIR 10 on his first attempt; Sarjana Yadav cleared the exam in 2017; Adarsh Kant Shukla cleared the 2020 exam on his first attempt; Tapasya Parihar secured AIR 23 in 2017 and others.

The standard strategy they used was to self-study effectively by taking extensive notes, knowing the curriculum of the exam, and solving various question papers available on the internet and in the UPSC practice textbooks.

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