Amit Ray:  The idea of joining civil service came to my mind way back in 2015 and this inspiration came from a dear friend of mine.  I was absolutely clear that I wanted to pursue a career where I could see the impact of the decisions taken by me and which would give me an opportunity for diverse and happening work profile.

Amit Ray: I did my schooling from Shree Jain Vidyalaya ,Kolkata and after that I passed West Bengal Joint Entrance Exam and subsequently pursued B-Tech in Computer Science from Techno India, saltlake. I had work experience of around 7.5 years in IT Industry and got an opportunity to work with some of the renowned MNC’s like TCS, IBM and Cognizant.

Amit Ray:  I considered one and only one factor before selecting my Optional . It was because of my interest in Indian Polity and International Relations. I would advise my young friends to not believe in the myths that some subjects are scoring and it should be chosen whether you like the subject or not. You are bound to do well in the subject in which you have natural inclinations and interests. This should be considered while selecting an optionals.

Amit Ray:  Two factor kept my momentum going. First, my sheer determination to crack this exam as I have invested heavily in terms of number of years I have given for Civil Service exam and I wanted to be in position where my decision would have impact on large section of society. The second was the humiliation one receives after successive failures. There are some odd elements in the society who would mock you , judge you at every instance and would never fail to remind where are you while where others have reached.

My wife played a crucial role to keep me motivated whenever I felt low for some reasons.

Amit Ray:  Specifically for WBCS , I did not studied much. I started my journey with UPSC preparation but could not cross the finishing line after few attempts. I, then decided to focus on WBCS. Thus majority of my syllabus were already covered.My focus was on those areas specific to WBCS and adapting myself to it’s question format. I gave around 2-3 weeks for mains.

Amit Ray:  Yes. I did use internet for some topics. Some of those includes international relations in my optionals, Geography of West Bengal etc. Internet was most useful during interview preparation.

Amit Ray:  I was working in IT sector from the day I decided to pursue civil service . I took one year break from my IT career to study. After that I joined Cognizant and appeared for WBCS while still being there.

Amit Ray: The Indian Express. Also took help from some websites like Mrunal , Insights etc.

Amit Ray: No. I did not attend any coaching for full course and it was self study. However, I did attend mock interview from WBCS MadeEasy. The panelist here were awesome and I got an idea about the interview only after attending their mock interview.

Amit Ray:  The interview board was very cordial. I have put my entire interview experience in very minute detail in a separate article  (click to see it here).

Amit Ray: My advise to my young friends is not to read too many books and confuse yourself. Select some standard books like Lakshmikant for polity , Bipin Chandra / Spectrum for History etc. and read it multiple times.

Amit Ray:  The master strategy to crack WBCS is to do extremely well in GS- 4 paper ( Maths and Reasoning). This paper along with optional decides whether you will get call for interview. Do not panic if you are not able to score much in Science Tech Paper. It is difficult for everyone. Polity and economics paper could also be scoring if one has studied with minute details.

Amit Ray: Yes. Few important suggestions.

A) Isolate yourself from every single person who you feel demotivates you by his action or words or eats up your crucial time. Don’t worry too much about your social contacts as the whole word will change suddenly once you pass. Suddenly everyone will start behaving with you nicely . So focus on your goal.

B) Minimize the use of social media(especially Facebook ) as much as you can.

C) Don’t let the circumstances decide your fate. I am a husband , a father of one year old kid , a working professional in IT sector where you will hardly get free time but still I managed to crack this exam by God grace. So have belief in yourself and learn to tackle your challenging circumstances.

Amit Ray: Yes. This is my first WBCS attempt.I ranked 10 in Revenue Service in WBCS- 2017.

Amit Ray:  As mentioned earlier focus should be on scoring as much as possible in GS-4 and optional paper. Also one should NEVER ignore the languages paper. It is as important as any other GS paper.

Amit Ray:  Yes. I have seen that and it’s very useful. Students will get a good idea in which direction to proceed.

We thank Mr. Amit Ray for his help to other students/ aspirants.