BPSC CCE topper aims for UPSC Civil Services, wants to improve digital infrastructure

Om Prakash Gupta, a native of Sonaru village, Patna, has topped the Bihar Public Service Commission 64th CCE exam in his first attempt. He has appeared twice in the UPSC civil service exam but couldn’t clear the prelims in his first attempt and interview in the second. Now, in his third attempt, he will be appearing for the UPSC civil service interview in September 2021.

Talking about his success in the BPSC exam, the 30-year-old said, “I was confident to clear the exam but emerging as a topper is certainly unexpected. I want to work towards improving the digital infrastructure in Bihar.

Gupta graduated from IIT Roorkee in 2012 and began teaching in engineering coaching institutes (alternatively in Patna and Delhi) to support his family. “I wanted to become one of the youngest IAS officers immediately after completing graduation but due to financial constraints, I had to start working. I worked for five years to support my family and resigned when it felt suitable,” says Om Prakash.

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While he worked as a tutor, he himself never joined any coaching institute for preparation. After staying in Delhi for a year to acquire all the necessary information and study material related to the exam, he returned to his village.

“Each day during my stay in Delhi, I talked to as many aspirants as I could to understand their strategy and study patterns. I was an amateur then and every candidate’s experience was helpful in creating my own strategy. I did not join any coaching apart from doing the test series during my preparation,” said Gupta about his initial preparation days.

“Coming to Delhi was the first step of my preparation journey but I knew that I could only prepare in the comfort of my home. Therefore, I went back to my village after one year,” he further added.

Unlike others, Om Prakash does not emphasise on reading NCERT books for BPSC and UPSC preparation. He only followed the standard books, vision IAS current affairs magazine, and some Youtube channels for his preparation.

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“The standard books we read during the preparation period cover the same information available in NCERT books. If it is absolutely necessary, a candidate should not read the NCERTs more than once,” said the BPSC topper.

Om Prakash stresses the importance of multiple readings of the standard books rather than following multiple books for one subject. He also suggests solving mock papers before the exam to evaluate one’s preparation. The topper recommends Indian Polity by M Laxmikant, A Brief History Of Modern India by Spectrum books, Environment by Shankar IAS, Nitin Singhania’s Handwritten for Art and Culture, Mrunal Pandey’s YouTube lessons on economy, and Lucent for science and technology.