Meet man, IIT topper who left corporate job to become IAS officer, failed four times, later cracked UPSC exam with AIR...

Clearing the UPSC Civil Service Examination (CSE) is a hard nut to crack; yet millions of students appear for it every year, carrying aspirations to join the administrative field. One such remarkable name is Ashish Kumar Singhal who has conquered two of the country’s most challenging exams.

Ashish Kumar Singhal hails from Jaipur. He aced two of the toughest exams in the nation. He first cleared the JEE exam to get into IIT, and then he cracked the UPSC exam to fulfill his dream of becoming an IAS.  

Ashish Kumar Singhal is now an IAS officer, but it took him years to clear the Civil Services Exam. It's quite fascinating to read about Ashish Kumar Singhal's path to UPSC achievement. He was an IIT topper and well-known for his academic prowess. Despite this, he faced repeated failures in the civil service examination.  People started to question if Ashish was qualified for the exam, but he remained undeterred. He eventually succeeded because he was determined to pass the UPSC exam.

Ashish was one of the best students at IIT Kharagpur, where he excelled and won a gold medal. He earned an MTech in Industrial Management as well. He spent a year working at a company in Gurugram, Haryana, after finishing his school. He chose to leave his well-paying job and return to Jaipur in order to study for the UPSC exam. Ashish decided to prepare for the country’s toughest exam from home rather than join a coaching institute

Ashish's mother, Sudha Agarwal is a homemaker, while his father, Ramesh Chandra Agarwal, was a government teacher. Ashish failed the mains exam on his first attempt in the UPSC exam in 2019. He was unable to pass the preliminary exams in 2020. He failed the mains once more in 2021. By this point, his friends and family had begun to mock and condemn him, thinking that he wasn't cut out for the civil service. Ashish persisted in spite of this. He took the exam again in 2022, but unfortunately, he failed in the prelims once more.

After his four failed attempts, Ashish Kumar Singhal meticulously examined his mistakes. He admits that he neglected the mains in 2019 in favour of concentrating on getting ready for the preliminary exams.  His preparation was still inadequate in 2020. He only missed the UPSC mains cutoff by 20 marks in 2021.  He was preoccupied with his sister's wedding that year, which took place only 15 days prior to the test.  He was devastated by his 2022 attempt's failure. That is why in UPSC exam 2023, he learned from all his mistakes so far and doubled his focus on NCERT and syllabus revision. He passed the UPSC Civil Service Exam in 2023 with AIR 8 and became a government officer.