Meet engineer, IIT graduate who cracked UPSC exam in first attempt at 22 without coaching, became IAS officer with rank…

UPSC and IIT are too invincible and power-packed combinations, and they assure and guarantee success in life. One person who is armed with this amazing combination and is a beacon of success is IAS officer Simi Karan who cracked UPSC in the first attempt. 

She hails from Odisha and did her schooling in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. Her father worked at Bhilai Steel Plant, while her mother was a teacher. 

She then pursued graduation at IIT Bombay and studied electrical engineering. There she also taught children in slums during free time. Consequently, Simi was inspired and driven by witnessing their living conditions and began aspiring to be a part of civil services.

She began preparations by following top UPSC candidates' interviews. Simi then cracked UPSC in her first attempt with a rank of 31 in the UPSC in 2019 and became an IAS officer at 22.

Talking about her strategy to crack UPSC, Simi said. "I never focused on the hours of study but rather set short-term goals (daily, sometimes even hourly) to focus on completion... Hence, the schedule fluctuated accordingly but on average, I studied for 8-10 hours. I also want to highlight that I focused on the quality of studies."