The candidate summoned for the UPSC interview will be interviewed by panel members who will have a record of the candidate’s career before them. The candidate will be asked questions on matters of general interest. A candidate must have good knowledge about various aspects of his/her life. He/she must be able to answer questions related to
- Educational background
- Work Experience
- Reasons for choosing civil service
- Optional Subject
- Preference of services
- District and State he/she belongs to
The questions on the optional subject in the UPSC interview are related to the theory or contemporary issues based on your optional subject. The Interview is not intended to test the intellectual ability of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Therefore, a reasonable ‘awareness’ of your optional subject would suffice at the time of the UPSC interview. So, it is better to revise one’s optional subject before the interview.
Is it Necessary to Revise the Optional for Interview?
It is difficult to go through the entire optional before the interview, as the candidate should prepare for the various aspects of the interview and the upcoming prelims examination. It should be kept in mind that the questions on the optional subject asked in the interview are very basic like
- Why did you choose a particular optional subject?
- Why didn’t you pick your graduation subject as your optional?
- Current affairs related optional subject
So, to make the preparation of optional subject for the UPSC interview easier, the candidates can follow the below basic exercises
Go through the optional subject’s dictionary
Questions may be asked on the technical things pertaining to your optional subject that a common man is expected to understand. So it is advised to go through the terminologies and words that a common man is expected to know.
Go through the Current events related to Optional Subject
Search for some keywords related to your optional subject on Google new. Make notes on the topics related to your optional subject. This helps you understand the current issues related to the optional subject and will have a positive impact in the interview if you are able to discuss these issues in detail.
Discuss the Optional Topics with Subject Experts or Friends
Discussing the optional topics with subject experts or friends will help in easy articulation free flow while answering in the UPSC interview. This exercise will make the candidate more comfortable answering the questions verbally.
The revision of optional topics before the interview is important but the candidate must understand that intention of the UPSC interview is to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate but not to test his/her knowledge. If you do not know the answer to optional questions, it will not impact much on the UPSC interview because there are many other segments to cover. If the candidate doesn’t know the answer, He/she can say that “I do not know that and I will try to know more about this”.
To know more about the Types of Questions Asked in the UPSC Interview, the candidates can read the linked article.
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