Inspiring Biography of Nagarjun Gowda

Nagarjun Gowda is an IAS officer.

He secured an all India rank of 418 in Civil Services Exam 2018.

Nagarjun Gowda’s story of cracking the Civil Services Exam without taking coaching and despite working full-time is very inspiring.

So read on.

Introduction-

Nagarjun B Gowda was born on 9 May 1992 into a middle-class family in Karnataka.

His mother tongue is Kannada.

Nagarjun Gowda studied MBBS from 2010 to 2016 from MIMS.

His inspiration-

Initially, Nagarjun Gowda was inspired by Chethan Gowda, an IPS officer.

Chethan Gowda hails from Nagarjun Gowda’s native place.

Later, when he started working as an intern in a government district hospital, he observed the problems of the people and realised that he can better serve them in a larger capacity by becoming an administrator.

So, at that moment, Nagarjun Gowda decided to become an IAS officer.

Later, he began working as a resident in the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences.

Preparing alongside with job-

As Nagarjun Gowda belonged to a middle-class family, he wasn’t in a position to afford coaching for the Civil Services Exam.

So, he decided to prepare for the exam without taking coaching so as to not exert a financial burden on his family.

So, from 2016, Nagarjun Gowda started preparing for the exam on his own while working as a tutor in the Department of Physiology in the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences in Mandya, Karnataka.

Wise decision-

Nagarjun Gowda had an option to work as a doctor in the metro cities and earn a handsome salary but he didn’t opt for it because he knew that by doing so he wouldn’t get sufficient time to prepare for the Civil Services Exam.

So, he chose to work as a tutor even though this job offered him a comparatively lower salary than that of a doctor but he wasn’t disappointed because this job provided him with ample time to prepare for the exam.

This job also made Nagarjun Gowda financially independent which further boosted his confidence.

His job as a tutor was to teach the MBBS students.

Excellent time management-

Even while working full time, Nagarjun Gowda was able to squeeze six to eight hours per day into preparing for the Civil Services Exam.

He worked in his job between 9 AM to 4 PM and in between these hours, he used to also prepare for the exam.

As his job also involved supervising practical classes of the students, Nagarjun Gowda used to get some free time in the classes which he utilised to read the Civil Services materials.

Daily routine-

Nagarjun Gowda used to wake up early and read The Hindu newspaper for current affairs.

He used to complete reading the entire newspaper within a couple of hours by 10-10.30 AM.

Nagarjun Gowda used to spend his time reading in the library from 4 to 9.30 PM.

Then, after returning home, he used to study again for a couple of hours.

Average but dedicated-

Even though Nagarjun Gowda was an average student, being very dedicated helped him.

He read the whole booklist thrice before attempting the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Nagarjun Gowda also attempted many test series and improved with each practice test.

And by the time he was attempting the Preliminary exam, he was in the top 10 in the practice tests.

In 2017, Nagarjun Gowda attended his first mock interview.

Focusing on current affairs-

Nagarjun Gowda focused extensively on current affairs by reading The Hindu newspaper daily.

He used to also read the summaries of the current affairs put forth by various institutes before going to sleep.

Nagarjun Gowda used to follow PT 365, a supplementary current affairs material and Insights IAS UPSC Current Affairs.

At the end of each year, he used to also read the news summary of that particular year.

Motivated by toppers-

Nagarjun Gowda watched the interview videos of toppers on YouTube and Instagram Live sessions and this not only motivated him but also provided him with guidance.

He began preparing answer writing and essay writing around seven months prior to the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination.

Initially, Nagarjun Gowda simultaneously prepared for both the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination and Civil Services (Main) Examination.

He chose medical science as an optional.

Plan B-

As it is somewhat difficult to clear the Civil Services Exam in the first attempt, Nagarjun Gowda’s plan B was to attempt the Civil Services Exam three to four times.

He wanted to attend the interview in the exam by his third attempt otherwise his plan was to pursue MS Orthopaedics.

Two attempts-

In his first attempt, Nagarjun Gowda was able to make it to the interview round but couldn’t get past it as he lagged behind with just six marks.

Thankfully in 2018, he cracked the Civil Services Exam in his second attempt and secured a rank of 418.

On 26 August 2019, Nagarjun Gowda got appointed into the service and as of 24 August 2021, he is serving as the Assistant Collector of Narsinghpur district.

He belongs to the IAS 2019 Madhya Pradesh (MP) Cadre.

Getting engaged-

In 2021, Nagarjun Gowda got engaged to Srushti Jayant Deshmukh, a fellow IAS officer.

He is a travelholic, sapiophile and foodie and is interested in sports and dance.

Some preparation strategies of Nagarjun Gowda-

• Nagarjun Gowda prepared for the General Studies Paper IV which includes ethics, integrity and aptitude by researching on the internet.
• As he is from a science background and as his aptitude was good, he didn’t prepare much for Paper -2 (CSAT).
• Nagarjun Gowda revised for the Civil Services Exam numerous times.
• He took Insights IAS Prelims Test Series and Mains Test Series and he also opted for Insights Interview Guidance program.
• Nagarjun Gowda preferred attending offline tests series more than online ones because writing tests offline gave him a feel of writing the actual Civil Services Exam.

So, how are you inspired by the success story of Nagarjun Gowda?

Tell me in the comment section below.