Shruti Sharma is an Indian woman who secured AIR 1 in the 2021 UPSC CSE examination on her second attempt scoring 1105 out of 2025.Born into a family of engineers and doctors, Shruti is the only member of her family who pursued her graduation in Arts and studied History. Her great grandfather, Dayaswaroop Sharma, as well as her grandfather, Devendra Dutt Sharma, were well-known doctors in their native village. Additionally, her paternal uncle, Yagya Dutt, and cousin sister are also doctors. Meanwhile, her mother was an engineering student.Sharma was pursuing postgraduation at JNU when she came across Jamia Millia Islamias Residential Coaching Academy (RCA), a well-known institution for the preparation of the Civil Services Examination via her father. She appeared for its entrance test for the first time in 2019. A technical issue led her to give the prelims in Hindi during her first attempt. Therefore, she failed the mains by only 1 mark. She recalled the issues faced by her in the first attempt at an interview and said, This is my second attempt. Due to some issues with the medium of instruction, I had to take my mains examination in Hindi. I missed my interview call by one mark..During her school days, she was a member of the student executive, and she was appointed as the secretary of cultural affairs. She spent her school days organising events.At college, she actively participated in various types of debates like parliamentary debate, conventional debate, and turn quote style of debating.While stating her reasons to pursue a career in Civil Services during her Mock Interview, Shruti Sharma said, I believe I have had a certain privileged background, therefore, I always wanted to do something in which I could give back to society in some waySecondly, I believe that on a personal level the diversity and the scope that these services provide can be an avenue for great personal growth and an avenue for learning a lot..She is an enthusiastic lover of world cinema and has watched a wide variety of cinema including Iranian films and the films of Hong Kong.She attributed her success in topping UPSC Civil Services Examination to Jamia Millia Islamia Residential Coaching Academy (RCA), where she prepared for the exam.Her optional in the UPSC exam was History.Sarveshwar Dayal Saxena and Dushyant Kumar are her favourite poets.