Eight Things you must know before preparing for UPSC exam

Eight Things you must know before preparing for UPSC exam

Eight Things you must know before preparing for UPSC exam

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is India’s major regulating body which conducts a
number of competitive exams to fill invarious civil service vacancies for the government of India.
Civil Services Exams (CSE) or popularly known as IAS (Indian Administrative Service) conducts
exam in two phases and they are UPSC prelims and UPSC Mains. The prelims exam comprises
of objective type questions, while the questions asked in Mains need descriptive and essay
type answering. Before appearing in UPSC 2016 exams, a candidate needs to know key 8
things.

> Know the UPSC Exam Dates

As per UPSC guidelines, exam dates are subject to change, so an aspirant should keep an eye
on the new dates as it may be changed in the new notification released by the UPSC.

>Why IAS? / PI quotient

Before stepping into the preparation of one of the most competitive exams in nation, an
aspirant must get scoped out his/her PI (personal interview) quotient. During personality test,
your candidature would be measured against your performance. Once you get your PI quotient
evaluated, you would have clearer mindset throughout your preparation.

>The subsets of IAS

The IPS, IRS, IFS fall under the aegis of the IAS exam and the cutoff to get recruited in the
services mentioned above is decided after the conduction of the exam. A good understanding
of what your target is, will streamline your preparation and keep you focused better.
IPS­ Indian Police Service
IRS­ Indian Revenue Service
IFS­ Indian Foreign Service

>How do you think you can contribute?

Before a candidate set about preparation for civil services examination, he must ask honest
questions with him/her like where is that you can prove your caliber and what changes can
you bring about as being an IAS officer places you with the nation’s finest. Once you have
answer for such questions, you will have plan which need not to be monumental but should be
cogent enough to set you apart from other aspirants. Apparent answers to such questions will
give you an edge over all the other applicants in the interview session.

>Yes! IAS preparation is incredibly demanding

It is not an exaggerated fact that IAS is the nation’s most competitive exam and calls for
intensive practice and preparation.There is no definite answer for the most commonly asked
questionslike how many hours an IAS aspirant need to put in every day.It will differ from
person to person so let us look at it from general perspective.

>Time Required:

Experts believe that aggressive preparation for 10-12 months is a must. Four out of every ten
Indians (21-32 years) want to become an IAS officer and competition is so intense that only 5%
of that massive number actually gets through. You should not be amazed because a slow and
delayed preparation is equivalent to no preparation if you are preparing for civil services
examination. An aspirant must map out an effective strategy and decide ideal number of
hours required to implement that strategy.
An aspirant should also understand that preparation for civil services examination calls for
qualitative and not quantitative preparation. It is about completion of your short term target.
Ideally you should target two subjects every day. Most of the top rankers have started
preparing for exams right from their school days as most of the questions are asked mostly of
6 th to 12 th standard books. So preparing notes and devoting 10-12 hours before a year of exam
is believed to be sufficient.
Aspirants should stave off mugging for long hours and must take short breaks in between – it
immensely steps up the productivity. Needless to say, that the right books, the right coaching
and the right motivation is of paramount importance to crack the exam.

>Outline the syllabus and Design your preparation

If you have ever studied biology, then would definitely be familiar with a word “catabolism”.
It is a process in which original components are broken down into their by-products. You can
do the same with your IAS syllabus. Find out the topics you are good at and the topics you
would need help in. Do it for all the subjects. You can employ the strategy for all the subjects
then the bulk

>Objectifying the syllabus

Most of the IAS aspirants get discouraged seeing the bulk of IAS syllabus. No doubt the
syllabus is huge but it is not so that you have to start studying everything fresh instead
already you are attuned to most of the basic concepts and have studied them before. If you
divide the subjects the subjects into manageable chunks, then impossible looking tasks will
become easier for you.

>Enjoy your preparation

Unarguably, UPSC preparation is a lengthy process, but the moment you start enjoying your
preparation, all the unwarranted stress and anxiety associated with the preparation will
vanish. Civil services examination aspirants tend to give up their hobbies but pursuing hobbies
will make your preparation more fun. Pursuing hobbies help you avoid getting fagged out and
keep you calm and compose even during tense moments.

Chanakya IAS Academy