Apala Mishra Biography: Facts to Know about Her UPSC Marksheet and Optional Subject

Following the release of the UPSC exam result for 2020, the names of all the top scorers are being revealed one by one. One of them is known as IAS. Dr. Apala Mishra is also a UPSC topper, having received the 9th highest score in the civil services exam 2020.

Who is Apala Mishra? So today the article will discuss Dr. IAS Apala Mishra. Her family, education, and candidates will all be aware of her UPSC strategy. Let’s read on to know more. You must also have a look at the UPSC IAS foundation course and UPSC IAS online coaching to work in the right direction and achieve your goals in life. Let’s get started!

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Apala Mishra Biography

If you are an aspirant of UPSC, you should acknowledge everything about this unbelievable officer. Her life journey will inspire you incredibly and you will understand the right way to achieve your targets. She is a member of the Indian Police Service (IPS), batch 2020. She is the UPSC 2020 topper. Apala was raised in Jharkhand, India. Her UPSC 2020 roll number is 5903870, and she is in the 9th position.

She consents to work in the Indian nation, after which she declares that she will study for the UPSC Exam. She is very intelligent, and she is constantly told that she can achieve anything she desires.

Amitabh Mishra is her father’s name. Her education began at Delhi Public School, Rohini, and continued at Army College of Dental Science, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree.

Family

Amitabh Mishra, her father, is a retired military officer. Dr. Alphana, her mother, is a professor. Abhilekh Mishra is her brother’s name. Her grandfather is a novelist, the late Hazari Prasad Dwivedi.

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Age

Apala Mishra was born in the Uttar Pradesh district of Ghaziabad in 1997, and as of 2021, she is 24 years old.

UPSC Attempts

While engineers continue to dominate the UPSC Civil Services toppers list, Dr. Apala Mishra, who holds a dental surgery degree, has secured a spot at rank 9. Mishra, a Delhi resident, not only passed the exam but also received the highest score (215) on the personality test. The top student attributes her success to hard work and self-study. Interestingly, Mishra failed to pass the preliminary stage of the exam in both of her previous attempts.

Career Path

Talking about deviating the career path from medicine to administration, Apala said, “My background served as a source of inspiration for me. I took a careful look at our country’s healthcare system and realized it requires more attention. This thought inspired me to pursue a career in the civil service in order to make a greater impact in society,” she said.

“Exams like UPSC CSE can take a mental toll on anyone and it is very essential for aspirants to take care of themselves. It is important to make yourself a priority while chasing your goal,” the topper added. You must know the way to control yourself and be a continuous learner.

Apala Mishra Marksheet

You need to know the mark sheet of the bravest officer to become like her and to achieve satisfactory scores in the toughest examination to achieve your goals. Below is Apala Mishra’s main mark sheet.

#Mains Total Marks:- 816

#Interview:- 215

#Grand Total:- 1031

#Rank:- 9

Apala Mishra’s Optional Subject

Apala claimed that by the time she was in her final year of dentistry, she was leaning toward civil service because it provides a lot of work opportunities. Anthropology was her optional subject.

She intends to work in the field of health, with a focus on women’s health. She resolved to devote 100% of her attention to her studies. A schedule has been created. She believes that candidates must devote 7 to 8 hours to their studies. During this time, she also learned how to make a timetable.

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Apala Mishra Strategy

Because the syllabus was different from her educational background, Apala Mishra said she focused on understanding the exam and its syllabus, as well as her own strengths and weaknesses, in 2018. Understanding the pattern takes time. It gets better once candidates realize it, she says.

She then devised a study schedule of 7-8 hours per day. The UPSC topper took coaching classes in the beginning, but then switched to self-study because she believes that coaching centers can help them, but they must study by themselves at the end of the day.

Strategy for Prelims

Mishra’s weakest part was the prelims section because she was not able to clear it in her previous attempt. She says that one should revise the basic books as many times as possible. Because every time you go back and read, you will see topics that you don’t remember, so making it a point that you continually read and reread topics is very important.

Practice a lot of MCQs, and write as many mock exams as possible. When you don’t get a question, then make the answer a part of your notes, so that you don’t forget it. Mishra also said that one should do previous years’ papers after 2013, without fail.

Strategy for Mains

For preparation for mains, you should start it from the starting itself, as there is less time gap between prelims and mains. Your preparation should be integrated and combined from the start. One should also focus on answer-writing from the start of their preparation journey.

Mishra says that start your answer writing from the static portion rather than the current affairs portion. One should not wait till the syllabus is over, nor start it before you even start the syllabus, answer-writing should go hand-in-hand with the syllabus.

Strategy for GS Papers

One should go beyond the static portion, in the main examination. Apala didn’t make notes for the static portion, because she is quite comfortable with the printed material and prefers it more. She made 4 notebooks for GS papers 1,2,3 and 4.

These notes were actually made on her laptop in a soft copy format. She then divided the notebooks into further sections based on the topics. If you get more information about any certain topic, then you should go on adding it in the divided sections, so that this will give your answer an additional value.

Time Management

Mishra states that time management is the most important pillar of preparation as well as the examination. One should try and maintain discipline and motivation along the journey. To keep up their discipline and motivation, she bought a watch and kept a track of her study time. She would even stop her timer if she would drink water. She did a quality study and she advises the same to candidates. She says that consistency is the key to your routine studies.

Books and Online Materials

Mishra said she studied for 7 to 8 hours every day and used a timer to keep track of how much time she spent on each topic. She used the basic books as well during her preparation. Apart from that, she used Google and Youtube to find online study materials to help her understand topics that were not covered in the basic books.

Exam Preparation During COVID 19

The UPSC exams were twice postponed due to the pandemic, according to Apala. Second, the virus affected her parents. During the second wave, her father was in the ICU. It was a difficult time for her because she was preparing for the civil service interview. She remained calm, however, and continued her fight for a good rank, hoping for the best.

How to Maintain Good Health?

She says that you should never doubt yourself, as self-doubt is the most common thing that happens. Self-doubt directly impacts mental health and that is common in these kinds of exams. First, there should not be self-doubt, and keep away from people whom you feel are having a negative impact on you and intoxicating the environment around you. Be confident enough to push these people away.

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Advice for Future Aspirants

Dr. Apala offered some advice that she believes is both important and often overlooked.

“Balance your emotional and mental health because this exam will put your patience to the test. Have faith in yourself that you can succeed,” advises the UPSC alumnus.

Journey

After completing her dental studies in Hyderabad in 2018, the UPSC topper began preparing for this difficult exam 2018, and she was successful in her third attempt.

Mishra attended school in Dehradun until the tenth grade, then moved to Delhi for grades eleven and twelve. She then graduated from the Army College of Dental Sciences in Hyderabad with a bachelor’s degree in dental surgery and went on to work as a dentist.

Apala Setting a New Record

Last year, an aspirant scored 212 points in the UPSC interview round, the highest score ever. Dr. Apala Mishra set a new record by scoring 215 points this year. Dr. Apala Mishra was ranked ninth in the UPSC exam after passing it on her third attempt this year.

She explained how she set a new record in the UPSC civil services examination by answering almost all of the questions in the 40-minute interview round.

“Although I was nervous before the interview round began, I used my self-confidence as a winning tool and gave the interview,” she explained.

Interview Tips from Apala

Apala offered the following advice on how to ace the exam:

#Make good use of the numbers.

#Don’t be alarmed; have faith in what you’ve planned.

#Because his father was in the army, Apala said she had to prepare for it with zeal. #She used to spend a lot of time with her father getting information about the army and understanding things about it.

#Apart from that, her mother Alpana Mishra, a Hindi story writer and a professor of Hindi at Delhi University assisted her in learning literature.

Apala wants to help India by improving its foreign policy. She studied BDS at the beginning of her career, but she later decided to prepare for civil service to serve the country on a global scale.

Interview Questions Faced By Apala

Dr. Apala was asked the following UPSC interview questions:

#What does your given name mean?

#Because both her father and brother are in the army, she was asked about the challenges and positive aspects of serving in the army.

#Her optional subject was the subject of the third question. What was anthropology, and what was the relationship between culture and religion, she was asked?

#The most intriguing and unique question she was asked was, “What kind of saree were you wearing, and what did the border symbolize?”

#She was asked to recite any poem she wanted during the interview.

#When it came to literature, she was asked how she felt about it.

Apala’s Inspiration

Alpana Mishra said she put up a poster in Apala’s room a year ago titled

“I will be under 50.”

She kept this poster in front of her eyes all day and night to remind herself of her goal.

Apart from that, Apala’s father, Amitabh Mishra, an army colonel, claims that after studying for 8 to 10 hours, he used to play table tennis with Apala for 30 to 40 minutes every day to relieve the stress of his studies.

Her Goal

In the UPSC examination, Dr. Apala Mishra came in ninth place. Her achievement is noteworthy because she passed the UPSC exam on her third attempt. Her first attempt, however, was a failure.

She wants to help the country by improving foreign policy. She studied BDS at the beginning of her career, but she later decided to prepare for civil service in order to serve the country on a global scale.

Future Goals

Dr. Apala Mishra had already volunteered to serve her country as a dentist.

The UPSC top performer believes that she should take action in order to make significant, positive changes. In 2018, she made the decision to study for the civil service exam in order to serve the country.

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Conclusion

If you want to prepare for UPSC, Apala believes you need to keep moving forward with a better strategy. She claims that you will not be able to reach your destination unless you try every day. Hard work, the right strategy, answer writing practice, maximum revision, and a positive attitude, according to him, pave the way to success.

Hopefully, this article has provided candidates with a vision of success. Without hard work and dedication in one’s work, one can’t achieve success. Candidates need to grow out of failures to spread their wings to succeed. UPSC Pathshala helps candidates in every way to achieve their desired goals. Hop in now! You will get the UPSC IAS foundation course on the website where you can start preparing perfectly with the right study material and notes. Moreover, this UPSC IAS online coaching provides you with daily current affairs with Essence magazine. So, visit the website to get the benefits!