UPSC Exam Preparation: Prepare yourself before preparing for the exam

Before starting the UPSC Exam Preparation straightaway prepare yourself and make up your mind to face this toughest exam then know about the UPSC, civil services exam, its pattern, syllabus,  notification, eligibility for IAS, exam schedule/timetable and later draft an effective study plan that will lead you nowhere than straight to your destination.

­­­­­­­“Prepare yourself – Make up your mind”, before you start! 

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­Yes, you heard it right, before starting the preparation, “prepare yourself”, this is the first and foremost step towards your success, be stern on your goal and once you take the first step never back down and be prepared to face anything and everything that comes on your way; hence, “make up your mind”.

Ask yourself these questions, how well you are prepared yourself not the study plan but how determinant and committed you are, whether you are strong enough to tackle all the hurdles that you may face during the preparation process, will you be consistent, dedicated and stay motivated through the entire process.

So, prepare yourself to face all the difficulties and pain that may cross your path and to take necessary steps and action when and wherever necessary.

Say this to yourself every day, “Now or Never”, “Do or Die” and stay motivated.

But, remember one thing whatever you want to do it depends on your sole decision don’t let anyone decide for you. It’s your dream, you are the dreamer and it’s you and only you who have to create the path that will lead you to the dream. Be passionate in what you do, pour your heart to that ceaseless desire of getting into the service, if you don’t have that passion then definitely you will get bored in no time.

Keep this in mind before starting your preparation:

• Prepare yourself
• Makeup your mind
• Be determined and committed
• Be sure of what you want
• Stay motivated, passionate, and positive

UPSC Civil Services Exam demands a decent amount of time for preparation along with your determination to crack the exam.

Decide on your goal justly, do it for yourself, don’t take the exam because your parents want you to get into the service or with an intention to have a government job. It should come from your heart and with a burning desire tagging along with the passion that will drive you towards your dream and will make you crack this toughest exam as easy as a piece of cake.

IAS toughest Exam - Breaking the Myth 

Remove the notion from your mind that IAS Exam is one of the toughest exams and it is hard to crack this exam.

There are various reasons why it is regarded as the toughest exam and these reasons are nothing but superstitious. Here are a few reasons why UPSC Exam is known as the hard nut to crack, after reading which you will agree that these reasons are irrational or illusory.

• First and the foremost reason the success rate is less than 1 per cent.
• Every year more than 4 lakh candidates apply for this exam and merely thousand get selected.
• Most of the candidates think or presume that to crack UPSC Civil services IAS Exam one must have studied in reputed institutions or must have scored high in their higher education level. But, in fact, if you see the candidates’ background who made the final list their scores in the education level is mediocre.
• A candidate should mandatorily attend coaching classes from reputed institutions

These are some of the reasons which when looked into deeply are merely illusory.

Also Read | UPSC Exam: The Toughest and Mother of all Exams, not a hard nut to crack!

But the fact is that candidates need not have to come from a reputed institute or be a topper. What they actually need is a die-hard determination and not willing to give up on their dreams and the passion for becoming a part of the civil services. All you need to know is that you need not be a topper to make the top list of the civil services exam and all you need to be is ready to do lots of smart work along with some hard work.

Now, you have made up your mind and prepared yourself to face the battle of UPSC Exam, now the next step towards the examination is to know all about the exam.

Before directly jumping to the preparation, these are important things which a candidate should know and understand about the exam.

Start from the commission, know about the UPSC, the civil services exam, how do they conduct the exams, when do they conduct the exams, UPSC Exam Pattern, UPSC Syllabus, eligibility criteria for IAS, education qualification and much more, which is as given below.

ABOUT UPSC

Union Public Service Commission is India’s central agency or constitutional body accredited to conduct Civil Services Exam [Indian Administrative Service(IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS) and others], Central Armed Police Forces (Assistant Commandant) Examination, Combined Defence Services Examination, Combined Geoscientist and Geologist Examination, Combined Medical Services Examination, Engineering Services Examination, Indian Forest Service Examination, Indian Economic Service/Indian Statistical Service Examination, National Defence Academy Examination, Naval Academy Examination, and Special Class Railway Apprentice.

Also, Read | Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) – Every Aspirant should know & Examinations conducted by Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

UPSC NOTIFICATION

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­UPSC releases notifications of all important events of examinations in prior. It is important to go through the notification, as, for civil services examination the tentative calendar is announced a year prior through the online notifications, which is available up-to-date on our website as well as can refer the UPSC official website. The UPSC Online notification is up-to-date where candidates can find all the recent updates released by the commission like Civil Services Exam Calendar, UPSC Exam Results, UPSC in News, and PDF Downloads.

Below given is the timeline of the civil services exam schedule:

UPSC ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: AGE and NUMBER OF ATTEMPTS

Eligibility for IAS is as given below and candidates who are willing to apply for the exam should make sure that they meet all the eligibility criteria.

Academic Qualification for UPSC Civil Services Exam

*However one should submit the proof of eligibility from a proficient authority of their university/institution during the UPSC Mains Examination, failing which the candidate may not be allowed to take the exam.

Nationality

UPSC EXAM PATTERN 

UPSC Civil Services Exam is conducted in three stages and they are:

Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

Stage 2: Mains Examination

Stage 3: Personality Test/Interview Round

The UPSC Exam Pattern for Civil Services IAS Prelims is as follows:

The UPSC Civil Services IAS Prelims Exam is of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) type comprising of 2 Papers, General Studies (GS) Paper 1 and General Studies (CSAT) Paper 2 (which is qualifying in nature).

The UPSC Exam Pattern of the Civil Services IAS Mains is as follows:

The UPSC Civil Services IAS Mains Exam is a written examination comprising of 9 Papers. Paper A and Paper B is qualifying in nature. While, the other papers which are considered for ranking are General Studies Paper I, Paper-II, Paper-III, Paper IV, Essay Paper V, Optional Subject Paper VI and Paper VII. The candidates can select the medium of writing the UPSC Civil Services IAS Mains Exam in Hindi or English. The final ranking of the candidates is based on the marks obtained in the Mains Exam and Personality Test/Interview.

Below given is the UPSC Civil Services IAS Mains Exam Pattern

List of Optional Subjects

Optional Subjects: The candidates have to select one subject as optional from the below-given list:

List of Indian Languages

Note:

• The Indian Languages included are as per the 8th Schedule of the Indian Constitution
• The candidates who qualify in the Mains Exam and Personality Test/ Interview will be selected based on the merit ranking taking into account the marks scored in the UPSC IAS Mains Exam and Interview.

Personality Test/Interview

The Personality Test/Interview round will be on the aspects of logical and reasoning than the subject knowledge. This round is kind of a discussion round to assess the personality traits of a candidate and questions will be asked the candidates on his/her hobbies, the Current Affairs, General Knowledge, Politics, Economics, Situation Questions, and etc.

UPSC SYLLABUS 

To know in detail about UPSC Syllabus, click on the link.

IAS EXAM PREPARATION

Now, you know completely about the UPSC Exam, its pattern, schedule, eligibility criteria, and syllabus, let’s get started with the actual preparation for the IAS Exam.

Before starting the preparation, know the three rules of success in IAS Exam.

• Smart Study
• Notes Making (Writing Practice)
• Daily Revision

Smart Study

Most of the aspirants think studying more books will make them able to crack IAS Exam but it is one of the biggest mistakes what many candidates do, which finally burden them and lead to confusion.

It is advised to the aspirants especially for the beginners don’t go for many books instead choose a few good books as studying many books is waste of time and catastrophe.

Choose a few books or reference sources that provide sufficient knowledge or information that is required to cover the UPSC Syllabus. 

Notes Making

IAS aspirants may ask “why notes making is necessary and how important is it in the preparation.

Note making is important and plays a significant role during revision as well as enhancing your writing skills.

Notes making is required for all books, which includes newspaper reading as well. It is recommended to students to make crispy notes with points for all the books particularly for NCERT Books and Newspaper (current affairs).

 Besides, what we write down is saved the most in our memory than what we read

Daily revision

If you don’t revise then whatever you read is equal to not studying, as whatever we study for one time, we tend to forget the most, hence revision is important as it will help to remember the most from whatever has been studied.

So, read, re-read, revise and recall. Make sure whatever you study, you revise once before you wind-up your day.

How to start your preparation for IAS Exam?

The Initial Stage

For UPSC Civil Services Exam it is always advised to candidates to start preparing a year ahead like the UPSC releases the exam schedule a year before.

If you are a candidate preparing for UPSC 2017 IAS Exam then you should start your preparation from January of the previous year (2016) at least from June of 2016.

Always start your preparation with NCERT Books and make a habit of reading the newspaper every day and don’t forget to make notes simultaneously. In the initial stage do not burden yourself as the process continues you will get used to it and feel at ease.

It is recommended to make an effective study plan and stick to it strictly.

Newspaper Reading for UPSC Current Affairs

As a beginner, one should understand the importance of current affairs role in the UPSC Exam and its weightage both in prelims and mains question paper.

This section is the important and major part where most of the candidates feel it hard to cover as the current affairs have no defined syllabus and it includes major news i.e., the happenings in and around the globe. Moreover, in the mains exam, the questions are not directly picked from the newspaper instead it is correlated with the UPSC Syllabus, and this is where most of the students find it difficult as one cannot even expect what kind of questions may be asked by the commission. Hence, UPSC current affairs require a candidate to approach the current events in wide and various aspects along with correlating with the syllabus.

Which newspaper to read?

Conventionally, The Hindu is referred as the major newspaper in the preparation of current affairs for IAS Exam; along with this other major newspapers are also recommended like The Indian Express, Economic Times and others if you feel you can manage time. But, it is recommended do not spend more than an hour or two in newspaper reading.

In “The Hindu” give importance to the Editorial Column, as it is important both for the mains and interview point of view. And, make sure to make notes on the important news while reading the newspaper.

How to prepare for CSAT General Studies Paper-II for IAS Prelims Exam?

For CSAT Paper II, which is qualifying in nature one need not stress too much or burden themselves in the preparation, candidates can start preparing for the CSAT 2 or 3 months before the prelims exam

As the syllabus covers reading comprehension, logical reasoning, interpretations, and etc., which, one would have covered while in school and college.

Middle Stage

This is the stage where a candidate needs a laborious study with determination and being honest with them. This is the period of time where candidates can cover all the portion of prelims including mains along with optional subjects. Lots of answer writing practice is recommended at this time. This stage may prolong for 8 to 9 months i.e., from March till November. Make sure to revise whatever is studied. Generally, once the prelims exam is over, candidates tend to forget newspaper reading and for three months around the prelims they don’t read the newspaper and miss out a lot on current affairs, which probably will be important for Mains Exam. Hence, it is recommended to read the newspaper regularly, don’t keep any backlogs and make sure to draw important points of it and make notes on the same. Candidates should also refer anyone monthly magazine like PIB, Yojana, or refer any government websites for government schemes, bills and act.

Final stage

After, all the intelligent hard work, you have reached the final stage where you have covered all areas of the syllabus and it is time to inspect your preparation. Introspect your preparation, find out your weaknesses and work on it to overcome them.

Now, after preparing yourself and making up your mind and knowing about the UPSC Exam, it’s time to take the challenge and defeat the UPSC Exam.

Whether you are appearing for UPSC 2017-18 or 2018 or preparing to take the exam in the future, this article will help all the beginners to distinguish themselves and know all about the UPSC Exam, pattern, syllabus, eligibility for IAS, preparation tips and more.