Saloni Chhabra: Gurugram Girl Secured AIR 29 in the Result of UPSC Announced in 2024

Brief Introduction

Saloni Chhabra, a 24 year old girl born and brought up in Gurugram, Haryana, has secured AIR 29 in the UPSC Civil Services Examination which was announced in 2024. She did her schooling from Gurugram and after that she completed her graduation B.A.(Hons) in Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce, University of Delhi. After that she started preparing for this examination. Her parents are entrepreneurs by profession. Her Optional subject was Sociology. She gave three attempts.

Motivation and Strategy

Since childhood she had a slight inclination towards public services and also her friends in her college motivated her towards this examination. During her tough times she got inspired by reading poems, by talking with her friends and most of all her parents supported her very much in every stage which keeps her motivated to clear this examination. She also has a dog and she used to take walks with her dog which lightens her mood.

For Prelims, she referred to the basic books only but what she did was revising it again and again which helped her to build a strong foundation and clear understanding of the topics. She also emphasized on reading the newspaper daily to cover the current affairs part. Apart from that she made short notes of the topics which she read which helped her to revise easily before the examination. She also gave daily quizzes of some institutes online. 

During her preparation, she referred to previous year question papers from the start and also gave mock tests which helped her how to deal in the actual examination. Both of which helped her immensely to clear this examination. She also gave more importance to tailor made courses than the foundation courses of institutes. 

For Mains, apart from reading standard textbooks, she had a descriptive strategy, she made some format of how to write introduction, body and conclusion on the repetitive topics which helped her to ace the examination. She also made her own notes from topper’s notes. 

For Interview, she started to focus more on general awareness by reading newspapers and also having her opinion on different topics.

For Optional Subject, she watched some online lectures and referred to notes of 2-3 institutes and made her own notes by culminating them and then extensively revised it. 

Marksheet

S.No.	Subject	Marks
1.	Written Total Marks	828
2.	Interview Marks	190
3.	Total Marks	1018

Hobbies

Saloni has an interest in debates. She also has hobbies which include strength training, zumba training and dog care.

Message to Aspirants

In her 1st two attempts her optional subject was Economics but she did not get good marks in it and due to which she was not able to get her name in the final list. So, she emphasized on choosing the correct Optional subject to the Aspirants.

She also gave importance to Previous year question papers and syllabus and she also told students to not get lost in the mock tests and internet resources. She also gave importance to having the right mindset and a calm mind on exam day which will help aspirants to give exams more easily. She also recommended looking for topper’s notes for optional preparation. 

Conclusion

Saloni’s family and friends have played a very instrumental and supportive role in her success. This shows how surrounding yourself with good people helps you to sail through difficult times and achieve your goal. She had confidence in her sources and strategy which ultimately led to her success. This can be taken as inspiration by others and to not get demoralize after having some failures, one should learn from their failures like her and bounce back and achieve their goals.