IAS Harpreet Singh Wiki: All about the BSF Officer Who became an IAS Officer

Harpreet Singh IAS officer was born in Ludhiana Punjab and completed his bachelor’s in electronics. What’s unique about this man is his never give up attitude. Being a BSF officer himself, he changed his career path at such a crucial phase and decided to prepare for civil service exams.

His goal was to become an Indian administrative officer so he prepared for CSE tirelessly while he was serving as an assistant commander. That needs serious dedication! But his efforts paid off in 2018 when he cracked the IAS exam in his fifth attempt and achieved 19th rank all India! He scored a total of 1058 marks on his mark-sheet with public administration as his optional subject. Let’s find out his journey and how this BSF officer became an IAS officer.

Harpreet Singh’s Work Experience

If you did not know, Harpreet reached the interview rounds in his second, third, fourth attempts but could not make it. But later on, scored 19th rank all India. Prior to BSF, he worked in IBM for a year, and then he worked for BSF for 2.5 years. After that, he joined the Indian Trade service. His current posting is in Delhi.

What made Singh Choose Civil Services?

Surprisingly Singh’s interest in civil services began only after graduation. His peers influenced him to prepare for the UPSC exam. Initially, he felt difficult to prepare for CSE but later on stuck to his goal.

When asked what would you suggest to people who are planning to go for civil services? He responds first of all you should have a vision and see yourself as a future officer. You have to be extremely focused on the syllabus and the previous year questions papers. They are like your holy bibles. Your focus should be on what the question paper is asking and prepare accordingly.

He shares that even if you make one or two-page solutions to all the topics in the syllabus, you can even qualify for mains. And you can also add on current affairs from newspapers and other sources. He adds that once you’re done with the preparation be aware of what UPSC is asking in previous years’ papers then you have to make sure all your strategy and effort are made keeping the question papers in mind. At the end of the day, you are expected to write 250 words. Having a piece of vast knowledge about so many topics is a waste if you can’t give a gist of your knowledge in less than 250 words.

Also Read: IAS Exam Procedure: What is the Procedure to Become IAS Officer?

Read on Singh’s  pieces of Advice on Clearing Prelims

Again for prelims, look out for previous years’ question papers, The 40-50 days before the prelims, you need to start practicing. During your practice, you need to train yourself to be attentive, by checking how many questions you need to attend. For that, you can look for cut off for the expected year.

Singh reveals he never studies from any notes online. He made notes on his own and kept them brief. He used to make a 1-2 page note for each topic, not more than that. You can take the help of other coaching material but at the end of the day, you have to combine material from various sources and make it into your own set of notes.

Upon asking about his time table he speaks, He would make daily targets and when he finished the assigned topics he would close the books. You have to know where to stop as in the end of the day your writeup will not be more than 200 words.

What is Singh’s Procedure for Attempting Question Papers?

Seeing the last years’ papers and brainstorming over them. Not solving the papers but rather jotting down main points required to answer the question. As far as essays are concerned, Singh says that he believed in getting his introduction and conclusion right as most of the content is already studied in the general studies paper. So focus on writing a good start as it attracts examiner and fetches you more marks. He also suggests a book titled as “The country of first boys” by Amartya Sen for essay preparation.

How to Choose Your Optional Subject by Harpreet Singh

You should give first priority to the subject of your graduation. Because you already have a deeper understanding of the subject. For those, who did not have an interest in their graduation subject can explore other options. For example, Harpreet Singh optional subject was public administration and he had no background in this. And by spending 3- 4 months on your optional, you can still ace it. He also emphasizes on choosing an optional which has a history of scoring well.

Conclusion

A 27 yeard old aged Harpreet Singh has set out a perfect example of not letting go of your dreams. You do not have to stick to one job all your life. If you want to explore different fields, go ahead! Leaving a job does not symbolize failure and hence you should not be afraid of it. The more fields you explore the more fun and knowledge you will gain. All the best and go for it!

Also Read: UPSC CAPF Assistant Commandant Syllabus: Exam Pattern, Salary, and Benefits