There are some UPSC stories that inspire because of the rank secured.
There are some that inspire because of strategy and preparation techniques.
But a few journeys stay with us because they reveal the emotional weight hidden behind the examination.
The story of Palli Pramod Vishnu is one such journey.
It is not merely the story of an aspirant clearing one of the toughest examinations in the country. It is the story of a son carrying the hopes of his family, a young man learning to balance grief with responsibility, and an individual who repeatedly rebuilt himself despite uncertainty, failure, emotional loss, and circumstances beyond his control.
At several points, life gave Pramod enough reasons to stop.
Yet he continued.
And perhaps that is what truly defines his journey.
Childhood, Family, and Early Academic Excellence:
Palli Pramod Vishnu hails from Vijayanagaram district of Andhra Pradesh. He was born into a family deeply connected with education, discipline, and simplicity. His father, Srinivasa Rao, works as a School Assistant for English, while his mother, Lata had served as a Second Grade Teacher.
In many Indian middle-class families, education is seen as a path toward dignity, stability, and self-respect. For Pramod’s family, it was even more personal because both his parents were teachers themselves. Naturally, from a very young age, he grew up in an environment where discipline, sincerity, and consistent effort were silently practiced every day.
Pramod completed his schooling from KKR Gautam English Medium School and passed his 10th Class examination in 2015 with a perfect 10/10 CGPA. His academic consistency continued during Intermediate education at Sri Chaitanya Narayana Junior College.
Later, he secured admission into Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, where he pursued B.Tech in Electrical Engineering and graduated in 2021 with a CGPA of 7.7
Like many IIT graduates, Pramod had a promising corporate future ahead of him. During his internship at Samsung in Noida, he worked on ‘cryptographic algorithms’ and security-oriented technical systems. Even today, he occasionally reflects that if he had continued in the corporate sector, he might have achieved considerable financial security much earlier.
But somewhere along the way, UPSC had already become more than just an examination for him.
The Beginning of the UPSC Journey:
Like most serious aspirants, Pramod entered UPSC preparation with ambition, discipline, and optimism. However, very early in the journey, he understood that the examination tests not just knowledge, but emotional endurance.
In 2022, he failed to clear the Preliminary Examination by just 0.66 marks.
For any aspirant, losing an attempt by less than a single mark can be emotionally crushing. Months of preparation suddenly collapse into a number so small that it becomes difficult to even process emotionally. For Pramod too, the result was deeply painful.
Still, he did not stop.
In 2023, he came back stronger and managed to clear Prelims. However, during Mains, he made one major strategic mistake — he left nearly two questions unanswered in almost every paper because of time pressure.
Only later did he realize how costly those unattempted questions had become.
That phase changed his understanding of Mains completely. He understood that UPSC rewards completeness, consistency, and emotional composure under pressure more than perfection in a few answers.
Financial Responsibility and Parallel Work:
Unlike aspirants who can prepare in complete isolation from practical responsibilities, Pramod simultaneously balanced employment and preparation through several phases of his journey.
In 2024, he worked as a Physics Teacher and Academic Mentor at an EdTech institution. Later, he joined a coaching institute where he worked as a content writer and UPSC answer copy evaluator.
Ironically, this professional exposure itself became part of his preparation.
Evaluating answer sheets regularly helped him understand what differentiated average answers from high-scoring answers. It sharpened his understanding of structure, presentation, introductions, conclusions, and analytical flow.
He particularly mentions that the notes he prepared during this period became extremely useful for World History preparation later on.
Meanwhile, despite growing uncertainty surrounding the examination, his parents continued believing in him completely. Their emotional support became one of the strongest foundations sustaining him through repeated setbacks.
The 2024 Setback and the Mathematics Optional Phase
By 2024, Pramod genuinely felt that his preparation had become much more mature and refined. He believed he had corrected many of his earlier mistakes.
Yet UPSC once again reminded him of its unpredictability.
He failed to clear the Preliminary Examination in 2024. One reason that particularly stayed with him involved a controversial question about Coriolis Force, FM presents budget on behalf of president instead of PM question which UPSC has given wrong key. Pramod has missed the Prelims score by 2 marks that year. For Pramod, the experience reinforced a difficult truth: there are certain aspects of UPSC completely beyond an aspirant’s control.
Instead of emotionally collapsing, he used the additional time strategically.
From 2024 until March 2025, From June 2024 to November 2024, he shifted his major focus toward Mathematics Optional preparation. During this period, he prepared nearly 700 pages of Mathematics notes with immense seriousness and depth. That preparation later became one of the strongest pillars of his Mains performance.
He shifted from Delhi to his Hometown in November 2024 as his Mother was facing some health problems. In Dec 2024 and Jan 2025, he has done 5 Questions answer writing and Micro notes preparation for GS2 and GS4. Later till March 2025, he evolved an integrated preparation strategy for General Studies. Instead of preparing Prelims and Mains separately, he combined both.
For example, while studying History for Prelims, he simultaneously thought from the perspective of Mains answer writing. Even during intense Prelims preparation till March 2025 , he maintained the habit of practicing maths everyday
This continuity eventually became one of his biggest strengths.
Government Job, Time Pressure, and Smart Preparation
Around the same period, Pramod secured a government position as ACIO-II/EXE under the Intelligence Bureau framework and later joined the Bureau of Immigration at Hyderabad Airport (RGIA).
Balancing a demanding government job alongside UPSC preparation was extremely challenging.
Unlike full-time aspirants, he simply did not have the luxury of writing endless mock tests or studying uninterrupted for long hours. Instead of complaining about limitations, he adapted his strategy.
Since he lacked sufficient time for regular full-length mocks, he developed a method he called “power writing.” Under this technique, he would pick a question and force himself to brainstorm and write key points within just two minutes.
The purpose was not perfection.
The purpose was to keep the mind exam-oriented, analytical, and fast under pressure.
Even small, consistent efforts eventually accumulated into meaningful preparation.
The Most Difficult Personal Phase
Then came the phase that changed everything.
Just 13 days before the 2025 Preliminary Examination, Pramod’s mother was diagnosed with leukemia.
The emotional impact on the family was immense.
Even after writing the examination, he spent nearly a week in the hospital alongside his mother during treatment. Yet amid all this pain, one thing deeply stayed with him — his mother never cried while speaking to him on the phone.
No matter how difficult her condition became, she constantly tried to sound emotionally strong so that her son would not lose confidence during preparation.
For Pramod, that silent strength became unforgettable.
He often says that his mother’s faith in him made him believe he could move mountains.
At some point, UPSC preparation stopped being merely about career aspirations. It became emotionally tied to responsibility, gratitude, and the desire to justify the sacrifices silently made by his parents.
Navigating the Unpredictables: Building a Safety Net
Pramod has shared this message to the UPSC Aspirant Community through La Excellence IAS:
“The UPSC journey often gets rougher with each attempt due to uncontrollable financial, familial, or personal hurdles. To avoid the crushing pressure of multiple attempts, I highly recommend writing other government exams casually early on to gauge the competition. If UPSC takes time, use the gap between Mains and the Interview to target backup exams like RBI Grade B, NABARD, or SEBI, depending on your strengths. But here is the crucial rule: only join a job if your core UPSC preparation is mostly complete and you just need to revise. Trying to prepare for the Civil Services from scratch while working is incredibly tough.”
“You Are Preparing for Nine Papers”
One of the most defining moments of his journey came during the UPSC Mains Essay paper of 2025.
After writing the first essay, Pramod came out of the examination hall devastated. He strongly believed he had spoiled the structure and flow of the essay completely.
Emotionally disturbed, and expressed disappointment. Fortunately his father has come during the exams time to support him.
At that moment, his father gave him advice that would remain permanently etched in his memory.
He told him:
“You are preparing for nine papers. If you mentally give up after one paper, you are being unfair to the remaining eight papers.”
That one sentence instantly changed Pramod’s mental state.
He regained composure and continued writing the remaining papers with complete focus. Ironically, the same Essay paper he thought had gone badly later rewarded him with 98 marks — a very respectable score in UPSC Mains.
The experience taught him an important lesson: during UPSC, aspirants often misjudge their own performance under pressure. Emotional stability inside the examination cycle matters enormously.
His Mains Strategy and Answer Writing Approach
By 2025, Pramod had significantly refined his Mains strategy.
Unlike in 2023, he ensured that he attempted all 20 questions in every paper.
His approach to time management was highly systematic. Instead of answering questions sequentially, he first attempted Questions 11–20, which are 15-mark questions carrying higher weightage. Later, he moved to Questions 1–10.
However, he also understood that the final answers written in the examination hall usually suffer in quality due to fatigue and shortage of time. To address this, the moment he received the paper, he would immediately brainstorm Questions 9 and 10 because those eventually became the last answers he wrote.
This helped him maintain answer quality till the very end of the paper.
Pramod also emphasizes that every UPSC paper contains uncertain or “bouncer” questions. According to him, aspirants should not panic over such questions because isolated difficult questions rarely decide rank independently. If the overall paper remains good, performance remains safe.
Good handwriting also became an added advantage for him.
The Role of Peer Group and Collective Preparation
Pramod repeatedly emphasizes the importance of having the right peer group during UPSC preparation.
One of the major influences in his journey was Bhaswata Saikia (2 time IPS, 1 time IFoS), who consistently guided him through different phases of Prelims, Mains, and Interview preparation.
During his preparation in Delhi, Pramod stayed alongside highly serious aspirants including Mukul Jindal (also cleared UPSC CSE 2025 with 243 rank), who shared the same Mathematics Optional.
Their Telegram-based preparation ecosystem became extremely disciplined. Members solved questions together daily, discussed strategies, maintained accountability, and regularly practiced Mathematics Optional problems through time-blocked sessions.
Several members of this peer group eventually secured UPSC ranks themselves, including Pramod Yadav AIR 220, Deepika Pandey AIR 686, Sourabh Ranjan AIR 537 and Praful Manav AIR 108 IFoS. He is certain that the rest of his peer group of 25 members will definitely get good ranks in UPSC CSE 2026
For Pramod, this reinforced a crucial insight: the quality of one’s peer group silently shapes discipline, emotional stability, and consistency during preparation.
The Loss That Changed Everything
After clearing Mains, Pramod became eligible for the UPSC Personality Test.
For a brief period, life finally seemed hopeful again. His mother had also been discharged from the hospital, and the family believed her health was improving.
But during a second medical consultation, doctors informed them that the cancer had relapsed.
Chemotherapy restarted immediately.
Then, on January 5, 2026, his mother passed away.
One memory from those final days remained permanently etched in Pramod’s heart.
During treatment, his mother reportedly requested the doctors to somehow help her live until February 9, 2026 — the date of Pramod’s UPSC interview — because she wanted to see her son walk into the interview hall.
It was not merely emotional attachment.
It was the final expression of a mother’s faith in her child.
The Interview Day:
Despite carrying unimaginable grief, Pramod left for Delhi on January 12, 2026, to continue preparing for the Personality Test.
On February 9, the day of the interview, his father travelled to Delhi to support him.
Since childhood, Pramod had one tradition before every important examination or journey — he would touch the feet of both his parents and seek blessings.
But this time, he could touch only his father’s feet.
That moment emotionally shattered both of them.
His father reportedly broke down in tears, overwhelmed by the absence of the one person who had always stood beside them during every important milestone.
For Pramod too, the moment became unbearable.
Somewhere within himself, he silently resolved that if he failed again, his father and grandmother would once again have to go through enormous emotional suffering. He decided that this attempt had to become the turning point.
Even while waiting outside the UPSC interview room, memories of his mother overwhelmed him — her affection, her care, her voice, the small gestures that now existed only in memory.
Unable to control his emotions, he burst into tears.
Fortunately, before his turn there was a tea break. He quietly washed his face, calmed himself down, regained composure, and walked into the interview room with renewed strength.
The UPSC Personality Test:
Pramod’s interview board was chaired by Ms.Sujata Chaturvedi.
The discussion covered national current affairs, Droupadi Murmu, educational institutions like IITs, how IIT culture could be demystified, Andhra Pradesh–Telangana bifurcation, whether Uttar Pradesh should be divided administratively, electric vehicles, critical minerals, and geopolitical conflicts emerging around mineral resources.
Despite the emotional turbulence surrounding his life, Pramod remained composed throughout the interaction and performed strongly.
He eventually secured around 182 marks in the Personality Test — an excellent interview score.
The Role of La Excellence IAS:
Pramod also credits the Interview Guidance Program at La Excellence IAS Academy for helping him during the interview phase.
According to him, Sudheer Sir personally mentored him through one-to-one interview interactions and preparation sessions. Since Sudheer Sir himself had appeared for multiple UPSC interviews, his practical insights regarding board dynamics, communication style, emotional composure, and personality presentation became extremely valuable for Pramod.
During a phase where emotional stability itself had become difficult, that mentorship provided him clarity and confidence. Speaking about Pramod, Sudheer sir told that Pramod burst into tears during the mock interview which was held immediately after his mother’s demise .
Today Pramod got AIR 640 in UPSC 2025 as his mother prayed. But she is not with us to celebrate his achievement. Here is an emotional note written by Pramod for his mother:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CgGvjf6kI8gLfb9uTKOuByJ57OuE2gaVm-lGKD5TkrM/edit?usp=sharing
Beyond UPSC: The Human Side of Pramod
Outside academics and preparation, Pramod has always maintained interests that helped him stay mentally balanced.
He enjoys thriller and spy films, particularly from world cinema (Avid watcher of movies , webseries – in super hero genre, also likes to write scripts for movies as well ) . He also deeply followed cricket, although he jokingly says India’s defeat to Australia in the 2023 World Cup final emotionally reduced his interest in the sport.
He enjoys strength training, chess, and Chess960 — hobbies that interestingly mirror qualities visible in his preparation journey itself: patience, strategic thinking, adaptability, and composure under pressure.
At Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, he also actively participated in cultural and extracurricular activities, including organizing Ugadi celebrations showcasing Telugu culture.
He additionally received commendation certificates and recognition for work connected with fast-track immigration awareness promotion and solar panel efficiency projects.
For Pramod, diving back into code after time away has been a refreshing experience that rolls back the years. His enthusiasm hasn’t gone unnoticed, as he recently received a well-deserved shout-out from his Batch Incharge for his Technical work of building a GUI interface for BOI Hyderabad.
A Journey Beyond Marks and Ranks:
Ultimately, Pramod’s story reminds us that UPSC preparation is rarely linear.
Sometimes you miss Prelims by 0.66 marks.
Sometimes a wrong key can change the outcome of an entire year.
Sometimes you prepare while balancing a government job.
Sometimes life places grief and responsibility alongside ambition.
Yet people continue. Pramod continued.
Not because the journey became easy, but because somewhere between family, discipline, responsibility, and emotional pain, he found reasons stronger than failure itself.
And perhaps that is what makes his journey truly unforgettable.
https://hyderabadmail.com/upsc-civil-services-result-2025-anuj-agnihotri-topper
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