“Before anything else, preparation is the key to success.” – Alexander Graham Bell

The final round of the UPSC civil services is the UPSC Personality Test (better known as the UPSC board interview). Here, candidates who have cleared the IAS mains exam with the required cut-off will face the UPSC board and be subject to an interview. The panel will assess a candidate on his/her personality traits, strength of character, mental toughness, general awareness, administrative abilities, etc. Even the most confident of candidates have faltered in front of the much-experienced and rather daunting board. Just like in the written examinations, preparation is the key when it comes to cracking the IAS interview. While preparing for the UPSC personality test, there is no standard reference as such. This is where UPSC interview transcripts come into the picture. These transcripts contain the conversations that the board members had with the interviewees/IAS candidates. BYJU’S has compiled interview transcripts from various sources all of which are authentic, for your benefit.

Benefits of reading UPSC Interview Transcripts

• They provide an insight into the general flow of the conversation in the IAS interviews.
• They give you an indication of the kind of questions asked by the board members.
• They also give you a hint as to how to answer them. You can take inspiration from successful candidates and how they effectively answered the questions.
• This is pretty much the only ‘source’ for your UPSC interview preparation. (apart from your general awareness)
• They provide a good source of practice. You can ask your friends or family to role-play as board members and enact an interview. Rehearsing will help you groom yourselves for facing the actual board.
• It is known that the interviewers might sometimes ask tricky and uncomfortable questions to the candidates. Going through transcripts will familiarise you with these awkward situations.

So, reading interview transcripts is highly recommended as it can take your interview preparation to a notch above the rest.

UPSC Interview Transcripts

For more on how to prepare and face the UPSC interview, click on the link below:

10 Golden Tips to Top in the UPSC Civil Services Examination Interview

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