We all know that civil services exams are a hard nut to crack. Of course, we have also seen many success stories in the past. This is one such success story and the learning we need to take from this is that nothing is impossible to achieve if we have courage, determination, and ambition. These factors along with hard work helped one person achieve his goal.

Karthik Gurunathan Iyer, 22, cleared the CSE in one attempt and was ranked 7th this year. Karthik had always dreamt of becoming a diplomat and representing India. After completing his tenth from Bhavan’s, Nagpur, he joined the Services Preparatory Institute. After completion of 12th standard, he joined Fergusson College, Pune, and completed his Physics (Honors). He was very keen on becoming a fighter pilot and even successfully cleared the NDA exam with a 6th rank. However, he did not get through the medical test and was shattered.

His courage comes into play here. Instead of letting failure bog him down, he immediately took up an MA in political science from IGNOU in the distance learning mode and proceeded to pursue his original dream of cracking the CSE.

His formula for success was simple. He chose those subjects in which he had keen interest. He transformed all the frustration and anger of his past failures into positive energy and worked hard to achieve his goal. The notes from the distance-learning course from IGNOU were very extensive and he did not feel the need to take up any extra coaching.  IGNOU courses are very popular among IAS aspirants for their extensive and high-quality study material. Karthik, however, feels that there is no set learning plan that he would recommend for any exam and believes that each individual needs to determine what works best for them.

Karthik is planning to join the Indian Foreign Services and realize his dream of becoming a diplomat. Thus, we see how hard luck can transform a person to determinedly focus through hard work in order to realize one’s full potential and ultimately life’s dream itself.