Ashish Kumar Singhal, a resident of Jaipur, Rajasthan, pursued his higher studies from IIT with dreams of securing a high-paying job. He had a successful corporate career, however, something felt missing. He left his job to prepare for the UPSC exams. He failed in the exams four consecutive times and faced disappointment. Despite the setbacks, he refused to give up and eventually achieved an incredible AIR 8 in UPSC 2023. Let’s read about his inspiring journey. 

IAS Ashish Kumar Singhal

Since childhood, he performed exceptionally well in his studies. He earned an MTech degree in Industrial Management from IIT Kharagpur and even became a topper, earning a gold medal. After working for a year at a private company in Gurugram, Haryana, he decided to prepare for the UPSC exams. He quit his job and returned to Jaipur to embark on his UPSC journey. 

UPSC journey

Ashish appeared for his first attempt in the year 2019 but failed at the Mains stage. In his second attempt, he couldn’t even clear the prelims. In 2021, he reached the Mains exam again but couldn’t make it past that. He took the exams in 2022 but failed to clear the prelims again. During this difficult period, his friends began doubting him and questioned whether his decision to pursue UPSC was right or not. These failures left him feeling very disappointed, but he didn’t lose courage. He continued to receive unwavering support from his parents. 

Achieving dreams

Ashish changed his study strategies for his fifth attempt. Learning from his mistakes, he focused more on revising the NCERT textbooks and thoroughly covering the syllabus. As s result, he eventually achieved success in UPSC and secured 8th rank in the 2023 exams, joining the civil services as an IAS officer.