Kaustubh Roy, ACS 2018 (APSC CCE 2016)

1. Name: KAUSTUBH ROY
2. Year of Qualifying APSC CCE: 2018
3. Rank 45
4. Service Allotted: ACS

Myself Kaustubh Roy. I belong to Guwahati. I did my schooling from Assam Jatiya Vidyalaya Guwahati, intermediate from Vikas Vidyaniketan (Visakhapatnam). I did my graduation in Electrical Engineering from Sikkim Manipal University and did my Masters in Journalism from Gauhati University. Before coming to this preparation phase, I worked in Print Media as well as in Telecom Industry. My father is a retired official from Indian Air Force and my mother is a house wife. I love reading books and engage in creative writing during my free time.

Mostly I have concentrated on answer writing part . I used to make notes for GS, English and for my optional subjects  as well. I used to keep my notes concise and exam friendly. Using flowcharts , maps etc in notes helped me a lot.

Yes. I attended mock tests. It is pretty much necessary for mains point of view. For time management, attending mock test is very important. It also gives us confidence before appearing for the mains exam. Thus a serious aspirant should not avoid this part.

I always used to read the editorial of daily English news paper ( I referred assam tribune ) and used to write it down in my own words.

Since my school days, History was one of my favorite subject and I had an inclination towards that subject. That is why I selected History as my 1st Optional.

On the other hand, Education subject has a lot of convergence with the History syllabus. Education is a very expressive subject and I had an interest on the subject. So, I selected Education as my 2nd Optional.

An aspirant has to focus on two things while choosing a new optional. First is, interest on the subject , which is very important and the second one is syllabus. In this regard, the aspirant should take his own decision.

1. History - Almost 5 Months
2. Education - Almost 4 Months

I started practicing answer writing almost immediately after the prelims was over.

It is necessary to have an overall idea about the important issues. This can be developed by regular reading of newspaper. Along with this, proper and effective use of internet can also help a lot. Specially for me, various youtube channels on History helped me a lot.

• KKHandique (Semister 1 to Semister 6 books)
• Lakhyahira Das
• Sunita Agarwal
• Phunu Das

I had attended Mock Interviews conducted by various coaching institutes. Attending these Mock Interviews gives a sense of what is expected of in the real Interview. It is not a must to attend these Mock interviews but I think it helps in building up your confidence level which ultimately helps in the real interview

1. Meaning of my name
2. BPO Industry
3. IT Industry scope in Assam
4. 4g Network and its prospect in Assam (Since I was a Telecom engineer)
5. Questions from basic Physics
6. Fall of Indian Currency against Dollar
7. Last kingdom of Ahom, reasons for shifting
8. Father of Lachit Borphukan
9. Assam history questions etc.

The Interview Board was friendly to a large extent. It was difficult to judge from the expressions how my interview went.

The interview was not exactly as I had prepared. In many questions, though I knew my answers were right, they tried to make it stressful by saying that the answer was wrong or think again. But when I was convinced that the answer was right, I stood my ground.

Nothing is impossible when you have determination Everyone goes through tough and difficult times. At times, the pace of life might seem to be slow. But moving ahead with self confidence and determination makes one successful in life. The most important lesson I learnt from my civil service preparation is the strength of self confidence.

Life is a beautiful journey and it is important to make the journey memorable and worthwhile.

I am very thankful to my parents, my best friend Jyotisha, my school mates, Rahul Pandey (Bihar), Partha, Chinmoy (ALRS), Maria Tanim (ACS), Bijit, Subasana Ma'am, Jnankita Ma'am, Anshuman Gogoi and many more - these are the people who instilled confidence in me and believed  that I can do it. I humbly owe my success to my near and dear ones.