IAS Saumya Pandey from Allahabad achieved her dream in the UPSC 2016 exam by securing a glorified 4th rank in the CSE. She achieved this unbelievable rank at a very young age too at the very first attempt. This wonder woman completed her graduation in electrical engineering in 2015 and in the very next year, she not only cleared but also achieved the 4th rank.
Here in this article, you will get to know Saumya Pandey biography along with her preparation strategy. Read the article till the end to find the book list referred by her.
Saumya Pandey Biography
Belonging from a well-educated family, Saumya Pandey cracked UPSC in her first attempt in the year 2016. She got immense support from her parents when she decided to prepare for the examination.
She has always been good at her academics. She even was her district topper in class 10 with 98% and in class 12th with 97.8% marks. She did her schooling from Army School in Allahabad and has always been a good student.
In her graduation level, IAS Saumya Pandey was a gold medalist from the Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology.
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Mother’s Name: Dr Sadhana Pandey
Father’s Name: Ravi Pandey
Saumya Pandey husband: Nitin Gaur IAS
Birthplace: Allahabad, India
Date of birth: 12/01/1994
Saumya Pandey age: 23 (In the year of cracking the exam.)
Category: OBC
Saumya Pandey Rank: AIR 4
No. of Attempt: 1
Scores of IAS Saumya Pandey
Following is a glimpse of her mark sheet:
-
Compulsory Subjects:
Essay: 150
General Studies-I: 103
General Studies-II: 108
General Studies-III: 112
General Studies-IV: 124
- Optional Subjects:
Optional-I: 156
Optional-II: 158
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Written Total: 911
-
Personality Test: 184
-
Final Total: 1095
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Saumya Pandey Posting
- Home district: Prayagraj
- Date of appointment to IAS: 28/08/2017
- Officiating in senior scale: 01/01/2000
- Officiating: Joint Magistrate Ghaziabad
- Posting date: 24/09/2019
Saumya Pandey Previous Posting
A.
- Asst.Magistrate
- Siddarth Nagar
- From 27/04/2018 to 24/09/2019
- Joint Magistrate
- Ghaziabad
- Joining date – 24/09/2019
Saumya Pandey Marriage and Child
Saumya Pandey, after having a successful and happy marriage recently became a mother to a baby girl. Appointed as the nodal officer for Covid in Ghaziabad district, IAS Saumya Pandey rejoined her service just after 14 days of giving birth. Pandey stated, “I am an IAS officer so I have to look after my service. Due to Covid-19, there is a responsibility for all. God has given women the strength to give birth to her child and care for the child. In rural India, women do their household and work related to their livelihood in pregnancy during the near days of delivery and after giving birth they take care of the child and also manage their work and household. Similarly, it is the blessings of God that I am able to do my administrative work with my three-week-old girl child.”
Saumya Pandey UPSC Strategy for Prelims
Saumya focused more on practising mock papers before the prelims exam. As she belonged from an engineering background, she just needed to brush her skills a few days before the CSAT. Before the exam, she also gave time in studying English comprehension.
GS Paper I, IAS Saumya Pandey preferred NCERTs from class VI to class XII. She studied subjects like history, geography, political science, sociology and science and tech from those books only. She used to keep an eye on PIB and Hindu editorials updates for boosting her current affairs preparation.
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Saumya Pandey UPSC Strategy for Mains
Every 15 to 20 days, IAS Saumya Pandey practised essays on current affairs topics. For GS paper-I, she chose NCERTs. CCRT’s website was also followed by her for art and culture. For GS paper II, Saumya focused more on Yojana and Kurukshetra as according to her, this paper has more current affairs compared to GS Paper I.
She was focusing on current affairs, Economic Survey and budget highlights for the GS paper-III.
Saumya Pandey UPSC Strategy for Interview
She suggests all the aspirants fill the DAF very carefully as interviewers will ask a direct question from there along with questions about hobbies, hometown, awards, extra-curricular activities etc.
Questions from current affairs can also be expected.
4th rank holder Saumya Pandey suggests that aspirants must answer in a multi-dimensional, rational and balanced way.
Books referred by IAS Saumya Pandey
- India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra.
- Indian Polity by Laxmikanth.
- Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania.
- NCERTs from class VI to class XII for subjects like history, geography, political science, sociology and science and tech.
- Physical Geography by Savinder Singh
- Human Geography by Majid Hussain
- Indian Geography by D R Khullar
Conclusion
Hopefully, this inspiring biography on Saumya Pandey will motivate you to prepare well and even harder for the upcoming UPSC exam. For better preparation, you can always seek professional one to one mentorship so that expert mentors can guide you the right way. Best of luck!
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