UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey - AIR 1 (2024): Perfect Example of "Plateau Of Mediocrity"

UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey – AIR 1 (2024): Perfect Example of “Plateau Of Mediocrity”

Shakti Dubey is the topper of the UPSC CSE 2024 exam this year. She is a perfect example of resiliency, hard work, never give up attitude, fight back attitude, and last but not least, she is completely suitable to be a perfect example of defining “Plateau Of Mediocrity”. Let’s explore her journey in brief.

UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey Brief Journey Of UPSC CSE Preparation-

Way back in the year 2018, after completing her PG, she jumped into the preparation. Since then, she was preparing and, finally, after breaking the plateau of mediocrity, not only selected but also topped the list as AIR 1.

She totally gave 5 attempts, out of which she didn’t even qualify for the prelims in consecutive 3 attempts. Still, she didn’t give up and continued with extra hard work. In her 4th attempt, she got an interview call, but by god grace or disgrace, she didn’t make it as a final.

But as her brother said, god might have reserved rank 1 for you; that’s why you didn’t make it this time. And in the final attempt, his brother’s words became magically a manifestation for her. And seriously, she secured rank 1 this year.

Now, instead of jumping into her background, that doesn’t mean anything for you at all, as everyone has a different background and journey. But what is more important for u is to know how she made it.

So, let’s dive into it. As a beginner or experienced in the field of UPSC CSE preparation, there are a lot of myths and illusions regarding guidance sources, and so on.

UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey: Resources/ Coaching/ Guidance throughout the whole preparation

The following resources/guidance/materials/ institutes mentioned below are themselves disclosed by her at many platforms such as DKT Youtube Channel, other channels and her own official telegram channel.

During this preparation she was associated with following institutions

1. Vajiram & Ravi – Foundation course , Mains sureshot program 2024 , Smart current affairs 2024 , Interview guidance program 2023 & 2024

2. ⁠Sarrthi IAS – For GS 3 & Write Smart 2023 by Dr. Shivin & Interview Guidance under Sajal Sir

3. ⁠Understand UPSC :- Part of the mains support program & Interview guidance under the guidance of Satyam Jain sir in both of my attempts 2023 & 2024

4. Sajal sir has mentorship for mains and his templates of answer writing and the tail-word analysis. His guidance helped her to approach even the static topic with current orientation.

Mains Resources: UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey – AIR 1 (2024):

1. GS1 – For History and Geography it remained same as that for prelims, for Post Independence & World History used toppers material shared by Satyam Jain sir . For society made topic wise notes based on syllabus & PYQ taking help from toppers notes & online resources

2. ⁠GS 2 – For Governance she used VISION IAS material for static base and complemented it with current affairs & for Social Justice – more focus was on creating topic wise note based on PYQ & Syllabus from free online resources, govt schemes , data etc

3. ⁠GS 3 – She was student of GS3 course by Dr Shivin in 2023 that helped her build a framework & further she enriched it with data and current affairs from News, Budget, Eco survey etc. For Disaster Management used Utkarsh Dwivedi sir ( IAS) templates as foundation.

4. GS 4 :- She did lots of value addition and self study for this – used Prahaar Magzines , Toppers notes , Toppers copies , Satyam Jain sir notes , Better India website etc to create own notes on every keyword mentioned in the syllabus and the PYQ

Booklists: UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey – AIR 1 (2024):

1. Geography- 11th & 12th NCERT + class notes + current affairs + World Mapping (through free online resources)

2. ⁠Polity :- Class notes + Lakshmikant + Current affairs updation on regular basis { like SC cases , Committee recommendation etc }

3. ⁠Economics:- Class notes , Sriram IAS notes from market + Introductory Macroeconomics NCERT + Jayant sir’s lecture on Eco survey & Budget

4. ⁠Ancient History :- TN board ncert & 12th Class Themes in Indian history part 1 ( New NCERT)

5. ⁠Medieval India -: Free online lectures on Youtube

6. ⁠Modern India :- Spectrum

7. ⁠Art & Culture :- Introduction to Fine Arts NCERT

Learnings during this journey with UPSC: UPSC Topper Shakti Dubey – AIR 1 (2024):

1. Basics have to be strong ( Focus on NCERTs)

2. ⁠One should be thorough with the syllabus ( it tells us what is to be read )

3. ⁠PYQ analysis ( to understand how much is to be read i.e., Depth )

4. ⁠Minimal booklist

5. ⁠Stay updated with the current affairs

6. ⁠Repeated revision slots

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