PERSONAL PROFILE
|
Name |
Parineeta
Chakraborty |
|
Rank in Civil
Services |
4 |
|
Roll No. |
1001796 |
|
Age |
27 |
|
Marital Status |
Unmarried |
|
Total attempts in
CEE (including this one) |
1 |
|
Optional Subjects |
Chemistry(for
Prelims and Mains) and Education (for Mains) |
|
Service Joined |
ACS |
|
Medium chosen for
Mains answers |
English |
|
Medium chosen for
Interview |
Assamese and
English |
|
Home town/city |
Guwahati |
|
Work-experience |
Co-founder of
Ujjeevit Foundation |
EDUCATIONAL DETAILS
|
% in class 10 |
91.5 |
|
% in class 12 |
85.8 |
|
Graduation course
and % |
BSc. with honours
in Chemistry; 89% |
|
Name of college,
city, passing out year |
Cotton College,
Guwahati,2015 |
|
Post-graduation |
MSc. with
specialisation in Organic Chemistry, passed in 2017, CGPA-8.37 |
|
Hobbies &
Extracurricular achievements |
Gardening, Baking,
Cooking, Designing clothes, Singing, Dancing, etc. |
UNDERSTANDING YOUR
ONLINE LIFE?
|
Daily hrs spent on
online platforms for predicting cutoff / syllabus change / age-attempt limit
change and other “peripheral-discussion“ related to civil services. |
Not too much. I
usually kept away from browsing through such matters. |
|
Daily hrs spent on
WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram study groups |
No fixed time as
such but usage was relatively lesser during preparation days. |
|
Daily hrs spent on
online for exam prep/mock test |
I did not attend
any mock exam but relied mostly on online sources during my preparation. My
laptop was always open whenever I sat down to study. |
|
Primary Device for
online study: desktop, laptop, tablet, mobiles |
Laptop and my
mobile phone. |
ANSWER WRITING
|
Did you use
highlighters / sketch pens in your answers? |
No. |
|
Did you draw any
diagram in any paper? (e.g. in Geography) If yes, Did you draw diagrams with
pencil or pen? |
Yes. I did draw
diagrams as and where I felt the necessity. I drew the diagrams with pen . |
|
Did you use ruler
to draw the lines in diagram? Or did you just make it by hand? |
Used ruler |
|
You wrote the
answer in blue pen or black pen? |
Blue pen |
QUESTIONNAIRE:
1. Tell us
something about yourself, your family, when and why did you enter in this field
of competitive exams?
Ans: My name is
Parineeta Chakraborty. I’ve been born and brought up in Guwahati where I live
with my parents and my younger brother. My parents are working and my brother
is currently pursuing his Bachelors with honours in Economics.
The desire to become a
civil servant shaped up during high school days because this career field
provides an individual with ample opportunities to work for the public and
address and resolve various issues pertaining to the society and the public.
2. In recent times,
there is spur in electronic material- blogs, sites, pdfs, RSS-feeds. Many
aspirants feel bogged down by this information overload.
Ans: The
main essence of preparation is to keep one’s sources to a minimum and do
multiple revisions of the topics. As I did not take any coaching, so I did a
thorough analysis of the sources before beginning with my preparation and
studied accordingly. I did use the Internet but e-sources cannot be
the sole reliance. One needs to read and revise the topics from the standard
subject related books.
3. Do you maintain
self-notes for revision of optional? In which format- electronic or paper? What
is your style of preparation and notes making?
Ans: I did keep
self-notes,especially for topics pertaining to current affairs. I used to keep
those saved on my phone or laptop and the rest I used to read and revise
directly from the text books.
4. What was your
approach in the exam?
Ans: Except for
leaving a 4 marker question in my Chemistry Paper 1 Optional, I attempted every
question in all other papers. Regard the quality of the answers, I maintained a
uniformity throughout the paper. My answers were in line with the question and
within the given word limit.
5. Did you write
answers in bullet points or in paragraphs? Did you follow the
“introduction-body-conclusion” format?
Ans: I remember
attempting most of the questions where I had the opportunity to write in bullet
points. I began my answer with a short one-liner introduction and ended with an
optimistic conclusion.
6. What’s your
optional subject and why did you chose it and not something else? If a new
aspirant wants to pick your subject, would you advice for it or against it?
Ans: My optionals were
Chemistry and Education. I chose Chemistry because I did my post-graduation in
Chemistry and Education because the subject is interesting, practical and the
syllabus is quite concise. But the new syllabus of APSC CCE has excluded
Education as an optional paper. Regarding Chemistry as an optional, any
Chemistry graduate or post-graduate who is very thorough with their degree and
masters topics can definitely opt for it as their Optional.
7. What are the
books you studied doing your preparations and your list of recommended books?
Ans: The book sources
for Chemistry are same as the ones that are usually read in BSc and MSc honours
courses. Current affairs related to Chemistry are not generally asked in the
optional paper but such questions might be posed in the GS paper under Science
and Technology.
8. How many months
did it take to finish the optional syllabus?
Ans: It took me a month
to finish Chemistry and around 2 months for Education.
9. Did you attend
any ‘mock tests’? Do you think they’re necessary for success? How many days/
weeks before the exam, you started answer writing practice papers?
Ans: No, I did not
attend any mock test for mains. I cannot say that they are
indispensable but as we know “Practice makes a man perfect,” so attending mocks
can surely improve one’s answer writing skills. As far as answer writing is
concerned, I did not do much of it. I did not do practice papers before the
exam as well. By saying so, I do not encourage upcoming aspirants to do the
same. I’ve had the habit of creative writing since school which , I think, have
helped me in framing answers directly in the exam papers.
Interview
1. How did you
prepare for the interview? – (for college grad, hobbies, place of origin,
current affairs at national and international level)
Ans: The interview is
the most unpredictable stage in the whole exam. We all know that it is
primarily a test of one’s personality, so we need to answer with honesty . It’s
always better to say “Sorry,I do not know the answer.” than to just beat around
the bush if we are unsure of anything that the interviewer asks. All I did
before the interview was to go throughout facts relating to my
hometown,hobbies, educational background and optionals.
2. Did you attend
any mock interviews by coaching classes? How were they similar / different than
official interview? Do you believe it is necessary to attend such mock
interviews?
Ans:
3. Where did you
stay for the interview?
Ans: As I am from
Guwahati, so I went from home for the interview. I did not carry any book or
material alongwith me. I kept myself calm and positive and patiently waited for
my turn.
4. Who was the
chairman of you interview board? How long was the interview?
Ans: I interview board
was chaired by Sanjib Gohain Baruah Sir. It went on for about half an hour.
5. Describe the
formal-dress worn by you on the day of your interview.
Ans: I wore an Uka
Muga mekhela and a Muga and Khadi blended sador with a maroon coloured blouse.
I accessorised my outfit with my grandmother’s heirloom earrings and a simple
rose gold watch.
6. Was your
interview on the expected lines of what you had prepared or did they ask you
totally unexpected questions?
Ans: It wasn’t
completely on expected lines because at times, I was thrown upon a lot of
counter questions. But it was overall, a pleasant conversation. The panelists
were extremely cordial and there was nothing to be stressed about inside the
interview room.
7. Any side details
about technicalities like “make sure you bring xyz document or do xyz thing, or
you’ll face problem”?
Ans: It is always
better to carry a pen.
8. Please narrate
your entire interview.
Ans: My interview
started with questions relating to the organisation that I am a part of (Ujjeevit
Foundation) post which they asked me questions relating to Assamese literature,
Fokora Jojona,etc . I was also asked a few questions on Chemistry (eg: what is cascading
effect in water treatment process, pH scale etc) as well as a few Educational
policies (as my second optional was Education). There were also a few
situational and miscellaneous questions.
The Miscellaneous
Ones
1. If you were not
selected, what was your career backup plan?
Ans: It’s always good to have a backup plan but I had none. I gave my entire time and energy to this examination. Had I not been selected this time, I would’ve definitely tried once again because “Failures are the pillars of success.”
2. Many candidates
prepare sincerely but constantly live under fear about ‘profile insecurity’.
I’m not from a big college, I’m not from English medium, and I don’t have
work-experience. What if they ask some stressful questions in the interview
about this? What is your message to these candidates?
Ans: These aren’t even issues to be bothered about while preparing for this examination. It hardly matters which school or college an aspirant is from. All that matters is how sincere,hardworking and passionate an individual is towards fulfilling his/her vision. So I would like to request all the upcoming aspirants to keep all their insecurities at bay and continue preparing with a positive mindset.
3. People, most of
them lack consistency in their preparation. So, how do you keep study momentum
going on?
Ans: If the reason / driving force to become a civil servant is strong, one will never be derailed from their path. There were , of course ,moments when I felt anxious and worried about the uncertain future but I was always surrounded with a bunch of amazing friends and family who cheered me up during my gloomy days and motivated me to remain focused on my preparation.
4. Through this
struggle and success, what have your learned? What is your message to the new
aspirants? Many hardworking candidates have failed in Mains/Interview. They’re
feeling cynical, hopeless and depressed- what is your message to them?
Ans: Our life is all about facing the struggles that are posed upon us at different stages in life. In the end, this is just an exam and it can never be larger than life. Failures do bring in disappointment but certain things are beyond our control, eg our destiny. So we should focus on what lies in our hands; if a candidate failed to get through this time, he/she shall analyse their respective loopholes, start rectifying them and start afresh on an optimistic note.
6. Behind every
topper are many people who stood by during those uncertain times when he/she
was merely an ‘aspirant’. Would you like to tell the world, who were those
people in your case?
Ans: Behind every successful individual,there stands an army of supporters. I,too, had my army who believed in me more than I believed in myself. My parents to whom I owe every little achievement of mine, my brother ,teachers,friends, neighbours and relatives filled in my surroundings with positivity. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank one of my strongest support systems, Madhurjya Buragohain(Asst. Commisioner and EM, Sadiya) who stood by me whenever I felt low, took great care of my mental well-being and also provided me with valuable guidance to boost my preparation. Last but never the least, I dedicate this fulfilment of mine to my deceased grandmother whose last wish was to see me as a public servant.
