My Personality Test was scheduled for 20th January 2026. In my previous attempt in 2023, I had scored 171 marks in the interview, which was one of the major reasons I ended up with AIR 455. Naturally, this time I was quite nervous about how to prepare differently and, more importantly, how to improve my score.

In fact, I spent almost two weeks overthinking the “perfect strategy” for interview preparation and delayed starting my preparation. By the last week of December 2025, I finally realised that my interview was just three weeks away! That left me with a very limited window to prepare, and I had to quickly shift from planning how to prepare to actually preparing.

One thing I had done even before my interview date was announced was to take up the responsibility of being the Class Representative (CR) during the Railways Foundation Course (RFC) at IRITM, the Railway Academy. I had taken up this role deliberately because I wanted to challenge myself and work on my communication skills. As a CR, I had to regularly interact with faculty members, batchmates and other officials, which pushed me out of my comfort zone.

As the interview approached, however, the responsibility also became somewhat challenging. I was expected to attend almost every class and field attachment, coordinate with others and take responsibility for various activities, leaving me with relatively less time for interview preparation.

Looking back, though, I feel the experience was worth it. It significantly improved my communication skills, made me more comfortable interacting with different people and, most importantly, helped me overcome my fear of public speaking. In hindsight, the responsibility of being a CR itself became an important part of my personality development and indirectly helped me during the interview.

Before the interview –

1. I used to read Indian Express everyday (offline copy) along with some static portion of my optional i.e. Economics.
2. I had appeared for 3 panel mocks :
   1. Samkalp : This was my first mock and I was given a good feedback. Members had asked me to brush up my current affairs and not do anything extra as they thought I was well-prepared.
   2. StudyIQ : According to me, this didn’t go very well. I fumbled at lot of places and I was put into spot multiple times by one of the panelists. Even during the mock, I was scolded multiple times. But this mock became most helpful for me as I was given very honest opinion to not beat around the bush. Another feedback was to pause and think for few seconds before giving answers.
   3. NextIAS : This went well but I was told to give scholarly answers if questions were from DAF. This helped me prepare better on DAF as many questions were asked around it and in real interview.
3. I had appeared for 2 one-on-one sessions :
   1. Anupam Sir(Smartworklabs) : It was a very useful session as Sir grilled me on my DAF and he also prepared me for some controversial questions (marital rape, lgbtq etc). One piece of advice Sir gave me has stayed with me ever since: “You can add 10 marks to your interview simply with your smile.”
   2. Utkarsh Sir(Mentoraid) : I was also part of daily group discussions under him and he gave inputs on structuring my answers better. Sir also suggested me to work on my voice modulations which was helpful during interview.

Apart from above, I did NOT join any interview guidance courses.

On Personality Test day i.e. 20^th Jan 2026 :

I was to appear for the afternoon slot i.e. 1300 hrs. I reached Dholpur house around 12.45 after having a light breakfast. I went inside the building around 1.15 pm. Post document verification, I got to know that I would be the second one to go. In both my interviews, I never interacted much with any fellow candidates not I used to study during that time. All I used to do was look point blank and control my nerves.

I was the second to go. My interview started around 2.15 pm. The candidate before me came out and he was profusely sweating. When I saw him, I got a bit nervous thinking “Aisa kya puch rahe hain?” But I maintained my calm, took a deep breath and went inside.

It was Anuradha Prasad ma’am’s board, ma’am was smiling when I entered. I wished the panel and took permission to sit down.

Member 1 – Chairman Ma’am

So Monika, Are you already in service? Yes ma’am I was allotted IRMS in 2023.

So your optional is economics ? Tell me which economist recently said that Indian economy is in Goldilocks Zone?

Me – Ma’am I am unable to recall who said that but I do remember the statement.

M1 – Tell me what is goldilocks economy? Why it is called so?

Me – Defined it and explained why its called so.

M1 – Why high growth and moderate inflation are good for economy? How inflation impacts our economy?

M1 – You are in railways, tell me what is operating ratio? Why we are not able to control it?

Me – I gave reasons for why we are not able to bring it down (one point was inefficiencies)

M1 – What are these inefficiencies that you are talking about? How will you reduce them?

Me – I gave some solutions like increasing cooperation with private sector, building coldware houses for storage

M1 – What is stored in coldware? I said edible items, she asked what else? I said pharmaceuticals

Then she handed over to M2 (she was also a female member)

M2 – what is browfield investment?

M2 – Do you know about POSH? There is lot of victim blaming, what is your opinion?

Me – I explained POSH and issues like lack of visibility , I tried giving ground level implementation issues by mentioning about IRITM where there are not enough signboards or information about POSH.

M2 – What is the main reason behind railway accidents? How will you tackle them?

M2 – We see that rupee is falling day-by-day, should I be concerned as a normal Indian citizen? I said ma’am the only one that should be concerned would be RBI, you should trust our central bank. I also explained why rupee was falling back then as RBI had left to let it fall based on market forces.

She said I am done, over to M3

M3 – So you are also a dummy school product, tell us about your experience in Kota.

I told him the challenges I faced but at the same time, how my father played a role in tackling them.

M3 – What is the reason behind dummy schools? I said huge mismatch between syllabus of boards and IIT which leads to collaboration between schools and coaching mafia.

M3 – What did you lose due to Kota days? I said I believe due to an isolated study environment, my communication skills got compromised. I worked on them later on.

M3 – What would you do to resolve issue of dummy schools? I told him that IIT Council is coming up with a solution of dynamic syllabus which would rate students based on their own ability to solve problems.

He seemed satisfied with my answer, He had a diary in which he had written something and he was check listing that.

While conversing with M3, M2 interrupted in between and said I want to ask 1 more question.

M2- I see that you had a very high salary in your corporate job, you know right you wont be getting that much salary even if you reach cabinet secretary level.

I said yes ma’am, I understand that. I feel money can be one of the reasons for joining any job but can’t be the primary reason. I feel my learnings and my skills could be put to better use in public service.

She laughed and said so you have decided.

Over to M4

M4 – I think he was a defense guy, he asked me only defense related questions.

Challenges in defense manufacturing?

Why defense startups are not doing well?

What kind of support government provides to startups? And why they fail?

Why private sector is not coming forward in defense sector?

I hadn’t given very specific answers, most answers that I gave was very generic like lack of credit, poor access to technology, huge competition with global players etc.

Over to M5

M5 – You could have been a great R&D scientist if you had gone for higher studies?

I said sir that was a natural career progression, after college I decided to work for sometime hence I joined corporate. While working I realized, I wanted to join civil services.

M4 – But you would have contributed to the global world, now you will be just confined to a small district.

I said yes sir I could have contributed to a particular sector by specializing in that, but I feel that my skills would be put to better use in civil services where I would be able to create a larger impact in multiple sectors be it health, education etc.

He smiled and said you are very determined to join IAS.

M4 – As you said in your previous answers, we need cooperation with private sector but they are not ready to join us. Why?

I said high risk of failure. There is no guarantee that their investments will not fail.

M4 – What is the solution to that? I said sharing the risk of failure.

M4 – Are there any existing models where risks are shared between government and private sector?

I was unable to recall, I said I am not aware of such models.

M4 – But how is Nitin Gadkari making so many highways? How he is getting money? Why is private sector trusting him?

I said Sir using investment trusts. I think he wanted to hear the exact work “PPP hybrid models” but I was unable to think in that direction.

M4 – One last question before you go, how much time did you take to run 10k?

Me – Sir, 1 hour 27 minutes.

M4 – Then I must say I am not that bad.

Me – Sir I am also trying to improve my timing for 10k. All of them laughed.

Chairman said you may go now.