Cassian Baliarsingh

Are toppers really invincible and have never failed in life? The answer is a big NO. Toppers are the ones who fail, but stand up again and give their best. They never give up and continue to fight for what they want in life.

One such inspiring story is that of IAS Ishita Kishore, the topper of the UPSC Civil Services 2022 exam.

Hailing from Greater Noida, Ishita is the daughter of a retired Air Force officer. Her mother is a teacher at a private school. She is the younger of two siblings with her elder brother working as a lawyer. A good student from school, Ishita pursued her graduation in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University in 2017.

Soon after her graduation, she got a high-paying job with Ernst & Young. However, her passion was in civil service. After working for almost two years, she quit her job in 2019 and began her UPSC preparations, a report in DNA India stated.

However, it wasn’t an easy journey for Ishita. She had to face multiple failures. She couldn’t even clear the Prelims twice in her first two attempts. However, she did not give up, and guess what- she topped the exam in her third attempt.

Ishita secured an All India Rank (AIR)-1 in her third attempt with an impressive 1094 marks. What’s more impressive is that she relied mostly on self-study. 

Speaking on her success, Ishita revealed that she would study for at least 8-9 hours every day during her preparation.

“One has to be disciplined and sincere in his/her efforts to crack any exam. No matter how intelligent you are, you have to put it in your hours, you have to put it in your work,” Ishita suggested to all the civil service aspirants.

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