The Civil Services examination is tough. No Indian needs that explained to them. Every year over 5 lakh applications are received for just a few hundred vacancies. But just in case any of us forgot how gruelling the exam is, here’s a little reminder.

Ira Singhal , the woman who overcame so much hardship to top the examination scored 53.43%.

Facebook/IraSinghal

She topped the nation with 53%. Let that sink in.

It just gives you a real sense of how tough and strict the examination used to select India’s top bureaucrats is.

For the curious, here’s a table of the top three, with their respective marks and percentages.

Numbers from NDTV

If there ever were any doubts about tough the selection criteria to become a bureaucrat in India really was, well, this goes a long way in erasing them. Kudos to all those who took the exam. For those interested in the results, you can check them out here .

Featured image: 123rf