How New Delhi's Chitra Mishra Cracked UPSC On Her Sixth Attempt

It is said that the ones who work hard for their dreams never fail. One such success story that has garnered our attention is the story of IAS Officer Chitra Mishra who cleared the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam on her sixth attempt and not just that, she bagged the AIR 19 in UPSC in 2019. Let’s take a look at the success story.

During the first three years of preparation, Mishra worked as a guest lecturer at the Miranda House College under Delhi University and later at a private education firm till 2016.

After that, she decided to quit her job and completely focus on her preparation to become an IAS Officer. In 2016, Chitra cleared the written examination and appeared for the interview round but unfortunately, she wasn’t selected. But, she didn’t give up.

Chitra learned from her past mistakes and improved her preparation techniques. In her earlier attempts, she felt she could have done better by practising mock exam papers in both the preliminary and main stages.

She identified her mistakes, analysed them worked on new techniques to overcome them and finally cleared the UPSC exam.

She scored 240 in History optional in 2016, but in 2018, she increased her score to 300 by focusing more on the map component, which she lacked. Similarly, her Personality Test result was 193/275, a significant improvement over her previous tries. She listened to many Rajya Sabha discussions to learn how to handle questions.

For her preparation, Chitra referred to standard sources like NCERT books, the Press Information Bureau (PIB) website, Government Websites, Current Affairs magazines and newspapers.

Talking about her initial education, Chitra completed her graduation in History (Hons) from the Lady Shri Ram College for Women under Delhi University. After completing her Bachelor’s she obtained a Master’s degree in Modern History from St. Stephen’s College, Delhi University.

This year, the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary exam was conducted on June 16. The exam was originally scheduled for May 16 but got postponed due to the recently conducted Lok Sabha Elections.

Stay ahead with all the exam results updates on News18 Website.