Meet man who passed class 12 with 41%, failed UPSC exam thrice, later became IRS, then IAS officer, his AIR was...

It's a proud moment in a student’s life if they crack some of the toughest competitive exams like UPSC, JEE, NEET and others and when one does so history is created as he/she becomes an example for others to follow and inspiration to encourage others who dream of uplifting their career by clearing such prestigious and top exams in India. One such example is IAS Junaid Ahmad. His achievements go beyond just clearing the exam, as he took the exam twice and once even secured AIR 3 and became a UPSC topper. This is Junaid Ahmad’s IAS success story.  

From 41% marks in 12th to clearing UPSC twice

Junaid Ahmad is from Bijnor district in Uttar Pradesh. He said that he was a very average student in his school days. His marks in 10th class were very average as he could manage to secure only 60% and in 12th class he barely passed with 41.5%.  

Even after being an average student his entire school life, Junaid Ahmad dared to dream of clearing the UPSC exams. UPSC is one of the toughest exams in India and often even the most brilliant students are not able to clear the exam, but Junaid was different. He wanted to overcome his academic stagnation and make a mark for himself.  

And as he was determined and focused to clear the exam, he succeeded in cracking the UPSC exam not once but twice and with a good rank as well. After completing his schooling, Junaid got admission in Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) after which he pursued Master’s in Electronics Engineering from Sharda University, Noida. It was during this time that he decided to pursue UPSC. He attempted his first UPSC exam in 2014 but failed.  

To prepare better, he took coaching from Delhi’s Jamia Millia Islamia’s residential coaching center. He gave two more attempts but failed again. Not losing hope, he changed his strategy and studied from NCERT books and previous papers. He finally cracked the UPSC exam in his fourth attempt in 2017 in which he secured AIR 352 and got job under Indian Revenue Service. The next year he again took the exam and again passed it and this time with AIR 3 and became an IAS officer.