JAIPUR: In a proud moment for Rajasthan, 21-year-old Mayank Pratap Singh is all set to become the youngest judge in the country after topping the Rajasthan Judicial Service (RJS) 2018 examination. Mayank aced the exam in his very first attempt. The minimum age for appearing in the examination had been reduced from 23 to 21 recently.
The results of the Judicial Service's RJS Main Exam 2018 were declared on Tuesday. Except for the first and 10th place, the remaining spots have all been captured by girls. Mayank got 197 marks while Tanvi Mathur was in second place with 187.5 marks.
Mayank took the exam while he was studying his final year of law at Rajasthan University in Jaipur. He says that while he was certain of being selected, he never expected that he would be the topper.
"I came to know that I could give the exam when the notification of the reduced age limit came out. But I had little time to prepare. So I did not take any coaching and studied on my own. I had studied the subjects related to the course in the exam in college. So during the preparation, I only had to revise them. I could get the first rank because I studied well in college," he said.
The achievement is also special for Mayank because he is the first person in his family to enter the legal field. His father Rajkumar Singh and mother Manju Singh are teachers. Rajkumar said Mayank was a topper since childhood, adding that he never needed to ask his son to study.
"While I was doing law, I thought that the judiciary has a very big role. People have a lot of faith in the judiciary. So my focus and inclination was to join the judicial service," he added.
He recalled that he usually studied for 7-8 hours every day but when needed he would put in up to 12 hours. "There is a lot of stress while studying. To ease this, I used to talk to my mother, father and sister. I also used to play with my little niece whenever I was tired after studying. All of this used to make me feel fresh," Mayank said.
"I have never had an account on Facebook and I also de-activated other social media accounts during the exams. I only logged on to the internet for updates on important judgments of the Supreme Court or High Court," he added.
Offering a few tips for success, Mayank says, "There is no shortcut to success. Whatever your age, don't compromise on hard work. A combination of concentration, dedication and inspiration is the key to success."