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What 18 June 2017 means to me

It is August 26, 2016. Coming back after one year on this site for writing another blog. I finished my M.A. Now heading towards my particular dream- Indian Administrative Services.
I received my post-graduation degree on June 18, 2016. Co-incidentally next year's exam, in which I am going to appear will be on June 18, 2017. Preparing for this 'mother of all exams' has never been an easy task for anyone. Numbers suggest that the success rate in this exam is below 0.50%. If I tell this, in other words, it means that around 8,00,000 aspirants fill-up the form and on the day of exam nearly half of 8,00,000 means 4,00,000 appear, now inference is that among this figure of 4,00,000 contenders only 1,00,000 are giving it seriously. So, this final number of aspirants appear physically, mentally, actually in the Preliminary (this is the first stage of this three-stage exam, prelims followed by mains and interview) exam.
Now, suppose UPSC said that we have 1,000 vacancies or posts this year, then it clearly means that 99,000 have to say 'bye' to UPSC at any stage- prelims, mains and interview.
Carrying forward my numbers- out of those 1,00,000 aspirants, UPSC selects merely 10,000 for the next stage- Mains. This scrutiny based on 'cut-off''. Now, these 10,000 appear in Mains, which I say that not less than any 'Test cricket match', where you have to face around 100-150 questions from all domains- history, geography, economics, political science, science and technology, disaster management, international relations, emotional intelligence, case studies, Indian culture...to name few.
Now out of these 10,000 aspirants, UPSC opt-out only 2,000 on a cut-off basis. These 2,000 appear in the next and final stage of this exam- Interview.
With this interview, UPSC selects its final 1,000 officers to serve in all cadres of services- IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, IRTS, IAAS and some more.
So, this is the intensity of competition in this exam.
Those 1,00,000 also appear again with the same trust and faith in God and UPSC and apply next year, without knowing what the result will be!
I am also in the queue of these 1,00,000 this year. Preparing consistently every day. Let's see what will be the outcome. I can only do my level best.

Anshuman Mathur
19:33
26 August 2016 

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