Selfstudyhistory.com’s Interview of Golapkar Ashwin Rajan (Rank- 773, CSE- 2019) [History Optional]
Profile of the Candidate
| Name | Golapkar Ashwin Rajan | |
| Rank in Civil Services Exam 2019 | 773 | |
| Roll Number | 6703505 | |
| Age | 30 | |
| Total attempts in Civil Services Examination (including present one) | 4 | |
| Optional Subject | History | |
| Medium for History Optional | English | |
| Marks in History Optional in Earlier Examinations (Mention marks in Paper I and II) | ||
| Home town/village | Navi Mumbai | |
| Any past Work-experience | 1.5 yrs, Product Manager | |
| Were you preparing full time or working and preparing? | Full time | |
| Your place of preparation | Navi Mumbai, Old Rajinder Nagar | |
| Details of other success and failure in competitive exams | NTSE-2006 | |
| Details of coaching/ test series/ study material of any coaching used for History Optional | SSH Material + SSH Test Series, GS Score Test Series | |
| Educational Background | ||
| Percentage marks in class X | 99.33% | |
| Percentage marks in class XII | 72.5% | |
| Name of the subject in Graduation course and percentage marks | Electrical Engineering- 66% | |
| Name of college of graduation and place | Mumbai University | |
| Passing out year | 2012 | |
| Post-graduation if any | MBA, IIM Indore | |
| Did your educational Background help in History Optional? | Not really | |
Questions Related to History Optional
Why did you choose history as your optional subject?
- Hobby- Reading books on Maratha History, GS1 and helpful in essay
Mention booklist and sources which you followed for History Optional.
- Ancient- Upinder, SSH notes
- Medieval- IGNou notes plus SSH
- Modern- Bipan Chandra, Rajiv Ahir
How did you prepare for Map Portion?
- Entirely from SSH Material
How much time per day you used to give the history optional during your preparation (both before and after prelims)?
- 1.5 month after pre. Daily 10-12 hrs
Did you maintain self-notes? If yes, how did it help you?
- Yes. Enormous help
Have you solved previous years papers of history optional? Did it help you in the examination?
- Yes I have solved all the papers from 2014
In your views, how the nature of questions asked in history optional changed in recent years?
- Dynamic, more number of questions on topics that are relevant in even today.
