3 Common Mistakes to Avoid if Your are Self - Studying

There are many mistakes one can commit while committing to self-study while preparing for UPSC Civil Service Exams. The mistakes would not be intentional but they simply would not be the right way of handling preparation while tackling a complex exam like UPSC Civil Service Exams. Some of the common mistakes which can be easily avoided but must be avoided at any cost are given below.

Aspirants would find this topic very helpful while preparing for the IAS Exam.

Not Preparing a Time Table & Notes

Right from the start a candidate must have a good understanding of the topics that one has to cover, to have any semblance of clearing the dreaded UPSC Civil Service Exam. Hence absorb the syllabus, try to understand which are the topics you are comfortable with, the topics you can cover in a considerable amount of time with hard work and the topics that you have no idea about and are very difficult. Once you understand the above, make a time table with short term, medium term and long term goals. Your short term goals would be your weekly targets, medium term goals should be monthly targets and long term goals could be 3 months or 6 months targets. These goals can be achieved only if you make a clear cut time table with the topics that you would want to cover and the time frame to cover them so that all targets could be achieved in a stipulated time frame. Once you get into action mode of implementing your time table always make sure that you make notes of the topics that you cover. Always remember the syllabus is akin to the ocean, at the very end of the preparation, when you are approaching exams, one cannot go through an ocean of materials. It is at this juncture your easily accessible hand made notes of topics will be your savior.

Disciplined Habits – Right Food, Adequate Sleep, Exercise

Eat lots of vegetables and fruits, try avoiding junk food to the greatest extent possible. Brain will function at optimum levels only if you have a healthy body. Do not study or eat at odd hours. It will go against your body clock. Eat the right food at the right time. Make sure that you have adequate sleep, because preparation for the UPSC Civil Service Exam involves a lot of stress and strain on your mind and body. Hence it is crucial that you recharge your mind and body by giving yourself adequate sleep. During the course of the day, make sure you allot time for exercise, extensive research has proved exercise will help you in increasing the productivity of your brain and keep you in good health, which is an essential prerequisite for battling the toughest exam.

Also Read | Importance of good health for cracking UPSC civil services exam preparation

Solving Previous Year Question Papers and Practicing Regular Mock Tests 

It is extremely important to solve previous year question papers to understand the direction in which you need to take your preparation. One will get an idea about the nature of questions asked for a particular topic and how one needs to link different topics to develop the ability to answer questions in the IAS exam. Taking regular mock tests will help you assess your preparation with other candidates.

Candidates should go through the links provided below to do the self-study for UPSC exam even better-

The above details would help candidates prepare for UPSC 2021.

Related Links