As the success stories of this year’s Civil Services exam winners are still appearing in detail in the media, one is exposed to a lot of information regarding the planning and strategies to clear the test. In addition to this, videos and blogs of the winners are available online and most of the toppers are active on social media too. All these are useful for future aspirants, but one needs to be careful while following the tips.

A common confusion that can happen is regarding the selection of optional subject. This year’s first ranker got record marks for his optional subject - mathematics. It is after quite a long gap that someone with mathematics as an optional subject is getting the top rank. This will obviously create a demand for mathematics this year as people may believe it’s a sure-shot to success.

Last month, we came across a woman who came to enquire about coaching for her daughter. As the aspirant was a medicine graduate, the woman told us that medical science would be her optional. Since there are a lot of medicine graduates from Kerala getting into Civil Services, the woman assumed that all of them are taking medical science as optional. In fact, the two IAS officers from Kerala whom she referred to had not taken medicine as their optional subjects.

When we pointed this out, she wanted to know which was the safest optional subject. As the selection of the subject depends on aptitude as well as availability of guidance, we talked about the criteria. But she wasn’t satisfied as we did not provide her a winning tip. There are coaching institutes where the candidates are forced or induced to take the available subjects.

A couple of years ago, an aspirant from Kerala was ridiculed for opting for English Literature, but she managed to get a very good rank with high marks in that subject. Since the optional subjects of the toppers are different every year, one should not blindly follow the trend.

There are people who are vulnerable enough to follow any tip that is shared by a civil servant. We had an aspirant who painted his study room blue as suggested by an officer in order to get good marks! I know another person who even tried to copy the culinary habits of successful candidates! Both of them never cracked the exam for obvious reasons.

Another common mistake that people commit is asking for exam-related tips from very senior officers. The exam pattern underwent a major change in 2013 and the methods of preparation has been revolutionised with the availability of information technology. But many officers still talk about reading certain books that may not be relevant as per current syllabus. I generally suggest the students to ask about the salient features of the service to the senior officers. The exam-related queries can be better answered by candidates who have cleared the exam recently.

The model answers of winning candidates are in high demand and many toppers are more than happy to share the same. This should be done with a bit of discretion as it will be very difficult to change one’s style of writing completely. But trying to incorporate some finer points is always helpful. Even the list of books to be read suggested by each will be different. One has to use discretion here.

Last but not the least, never memorise the answers given by toppers in personality tests as the answers expected from each person is according to their background. In addition to that, every question in the personality test is context specific, which may not get repeated. So, one can read about interview questions and answers just to get a broader idea.

Never expect the winners to share every strategy with you. The family background, educational institutions and support system contribute directly and indirectly to a person’s success, which will be difficult to imitate. In short, one should get inspiration and guidelines from the winners, but imitating them totally could be counterproductive.

(Remya Roshni is a former IPS officer and a trainer for Civil Services aspirants. The views expressed here are personal.)

This article originally appeared on OnManorama.