Meet beedi worker's son who cracked UPSC exam in second attempt, secured AIR...

Nandala Saikiran, despite coming from a humble background and facing hardships, managed to achieve an all India rank of 27 in the UPSC civil service examination. The weaver father of the 27-year-old hardware engineer passed away when he was a young boy. His mother works for Beedi. Saikiran studied for the test while employed by a multinational corporation, passing it on his second try.

After missing the cut by 19 marks on his first try, he told Times of India how he examined the gaps in his knowledge. He said, "I took a month or two to research UPSC, the syllabus for the exam, the type of questions they ask, how they test students, among other things. I also read blogs and watched videos of previous toppers from various fields to understand their strategy. I then prepared a rough plan and started my preparation

He added, "I strategised my time in a way that I could get maximum output with minimum effort," said Saikiran when asked how he balanced work and study. "I studied keeping the exam in mind and did not try to consume all the content available. I also made use of lunchtime by reading e-papers and took leave for preparation only when necessary. Generally, my weekends were dedicated to exam preparation as I used to hardly get time on weekdays."