My Strategy for the Personality Test

I got my Mains result on January 10, 2018. Clearing Mains and getting an interview call is a massive achievement in itself. Realising that you are one of the 2400 candidates invited by the Union Public Service Commission for a personality test is big personal win. Honestly, I was expecting an interview call as my Mains went quite well. However, considering how unpredictable and absurd the UPSC process can be, one cannot expect anything with full certainty.

My interview was scheduled on the 18th of April. That gave me around 3 months to prepare for the interview. This is both a good and a bad thing. Good because well, you get lots of time to get into a routine and prepare, especially if you have stopped studying after the Mains examination. Bad because it becomes really long drawn out and your patience is tested each week. And as you emotionally and mentally invest your being into the interview preparation, you keep losing your grip on Prelims. This can become problematic in case you don’t find your name in the final list and have to write the preliminary again.

One thing to remember about the interview is that there is no syllabus and no textbook that will come to your aid. There is a reason that the UPSC calls this stage of the examination a ‘personality test’ rather than an ‘interview’ or ‘viva.’ They know that if you have cleared Mains, you are a bright and hardworking candidate. It is not supposed to be a test of your knowledge. So don’t think that you have to memorise each and every concept and fact for the interview.

The Personality Test is primarily a way to understand your suitability for a career in public service. Whether the board can, in 25 minutes, objectively assess the kind of diplomat or police officer you will become is debatable. It is one of the many weaknesses of the selection process. However, the way things stand, this is the system. The UPSC does its best to be objective and fair in its personality tests. However, each board will interpret your background and your personality with its own prism. A lot ends up depending on the kind of board one gets.

Prepare really well for the personality test because in many ways, your rank depends on your interview. An interview can be the differentiator between rank 5 and rank 80. And that can mess up your cadre and even your service. However, you must understand that interviews are highly subjective. Don’t depend on the personality test to sail you through to your first preferred service. Score so high in Mains that it simply doesn’t matter what kind of board you get.

How I Prepared—

I went to visionIAS for my DAF analysis session. Saurabh (member of the faculty) spent more than two hours just analysing and brainstorming probable interview questions with me. This was very helpful as it gave me clarity on how to get started with my preparation. Certain points that emerged from our discussion:

1. There are many cities on my DAF because I was born in Amritsar, raised in Chandigarh, educated in Atlanta and London. So the first thing I did was a basic search on the geographical location and pop-cultural significance of these places. For example, Chandigarh is known for its French connection. UNESCO recently gave the city a World Heritage status. Atlanta is known for its role in the American civil rights movement where Dr. King played a leading role. You don’t have to go into too much detail and drive yourself insane. For example, I did not follow every news article on London. However, you should do a basic social, political, economic, historical, cultural analysis of the cities on your DAF. Especially if you have lived and studied in a city, they can ask you about your observations and how they compare to India.
2. My hobbies were reading, writing and meditation. So I prepared my hobbies really well. For example, they can ask you about the last book your read or why you prefer reading to watching television. They can ask you about your favourite authors, the distinction between fiction and non-fiction or the issues that you write about. I also prepared my basic responses on questions related to meditation like why do you meditate, how did you get into meditation, do you think anyone can meditate, etc. This was the easiest part of my interview preparation.
3. Since my academic domain for my bachelors, post-graduation as well as optional is Political Science and International Relations, I was expecting a major chunk of my interview to be on domestic and global politics. For this, I revised my optional. I didn’t go into too much detail but just scanned the basic concepts and ideas. I prepared a list of 70–80 probable questions on Indian Foreign Policy like India’s position on BRI, India’s relationship with Nepal, India’s position on Syria, Rohingya crisis, significance of the NAM, etc.
4. I had listed Feminism, Leadership and Political Economy of India’s Development as the key subjects I studied at the Young India Fellowship. So, I prepared basic economic issues facing the country by going back to the Economic Survey and my GS 3 notes. I also familiarised myself with different issues facing Indian women. I read some good articles on leadership, especially the classic one on emotional intelligence by Daniel Goleman.
5. The newspaper events of 10–15 days before the scheduled interview date are very important. Your interview will be based on events of the week. Keep following the newspaper each day to stay aware but focus specifically on the two weeks before your interview.

I did 4 mocks before my UPSC interview with Vision, Chanakya, KSG and Rau’s. All the 4 mocks were good and gave me some important lessons. Other than that, I had informal discussions with my mentor, Raji Srivastava, 1992 batch IAS officer and few other colleagues of my parents. They gave me a lot of precious advice which I will gladly pass on to all of you.

Things to Bear in Mind:

1. Be truthful. Be your natural self. Please don’t be rehearsed or tutored.
2. Think like an administrator → be open-minded and balanced. Don’t take an extreme position. Take a position from which you can extricate yourself.
3. Enter normally and say a common good morning while looking and smiling at everyone. Be calm and confident. Always face the person who is talking.
4. Don’t give impulsive answers. Relax! You are in no hurry to answer. Give respect to the question and ensure that the response is well-considered and thoughtful.
5. Follow speech protocol: no slang (like, yeah, you know). Don’t be fidgety.
6. Be sincere. Say what you’re feeling and don’t think that you’re being pompous. For example, you can say — I love my country and I am a proud Indian.
7. Think about the various aspects of your personality that you are proud of like your hobbies, background, the fact that you are a calm, reflective and public-spirited person. Weave that into your interview and project your strengths in your answers.
8. Practise your articulation. Don’t sound vague or confused, especially about your DAF because that is who you are.
   Also, don’t be hard on yourself or worry too much about sounding brilliant.
9. Your response should be precise and crisp. Don’t take the interview board on a long ride. Cut the fluff and get straight to the point. Pick up ideas from the question. That is something I found very difficult to do because I always felt tempted to share all my knowledge. What they want is the gist and your take on the issue.
10. Don’t narrate too much information because you’re leading the interview in a certain direction. They might pose a tough counter-question out of your response. So be mindful about what you say.
11. Hobbies are where you will get judged the most because this is intrinsically YOU. Reflect on your hobbies and keep it personal. There is no textbook that can help you here.
12. Be logical during the interview. Sometimes, we get overexcited and start talking exuberantly and spontaneously. Again, this is something that I struggled with.
    You don’t have to change yourself because frankly you can’t. Your real self will be on full display infront of the interview board because the stress in unreal. Be yourself but project yourself as a very mature, serious human being.
13. Please relax. If you’re stressed out, your ability to think on your feet will end. And trust me, the interview is weird and unsettling for everyone. This is because the nature of the Prelims and Mains preps turns us into solo-dolo warriors chilling in our rooms for extended periods of time. Human interaction gets limited. So to suddenly come out of that disorienting phase and be compelled to engage with experienced super-seniors can get overwhelming.
14. Feel, believe, see yourself as an officer. There is no substitute for feeling intrinsically worthy and confident as you walk into the chairperson’s room. Go with the flow and be at peace with the fact that this is not in your control. Your energy and expressions have to be positive and pleasant. Don’t be self-conscious when you enter.
15. Give a balanced response. For example, if they ask you about terrorism, you can talk about the security, human and economic dimension. Your answers should reflect empathy. If they ask you about poverty or corruption, don’t give a bookish answer. Tell them that you are pained by the appalling level of poverty in the country.
16. Slow the pace of answering. This adds more thoughtfulness to your response and your words will sound more weighty and substantial.
17. Don’t be cynical or pessimistic. The future is about hope and transformation. Believe in your heart that we are progressing and maturing as a democracy and our institutions are becoming stronger.

I will post the transcript of my interview as well as some extra advice in a separate article. Also, I must tell you all that I have average marks in the interview so I’m not the best person to guide you on how to score 200+. However, my experience is valuable in the sense that I can tell you about the things that went right and the things that I think went wrong during my actual interview. Hopefully, you won’t make the same mistakes and will be better prepared for the D-day. And I will reiterate this: Focus on Mains. Score so well in Mains that those 25 minutes have absolutely no bearing on your service.

All the best! Go kill it ❤