UPSC Civil Services is a known exam that takes place in India for aspirant candidates. This is a prestigious exam that requires a lot of preparation. With over lakhs of candidates taking part in the exams every year throughout the country, it is not possible for anyone to crack the exam without proper preparation. This is probably one of the reasons why only a few of them are able to crack the exam and fulfill the demands of an IAS. With the vast, unpredictable syllabus of this exam, which can still be attained, the most daunting thing is the unpredictable nature of the exam.
In this article, we will sort out the exam-related tips by offering some of the information associated with preparation. You must know that there is no such thing as only bookworms are the ones to crack the exams, as it is more vast than it.
Everything about the candidates will be judged. Not only will you be academically best, but also you need to have a great personality to sustain and secure a career. Only with proper guidance and academic knowledge will you be able to move ahead with your dreams.
So, without any further ado, let us now have a look at the UPSC preparation that you need to take.
1. Prepare Yourself
Now that you have started preparing yourself for the UPSC from home, you should stay aware that you have to work extra hard for it. The journey isn’t going to be easy, so make sure you have the ability to deal with it.
Mental and physical preparation for the candidates is absolutely necessary. Keep your goals set and manage the time accordingly. This ensures effective use of your time and effort.
Have a proper understanding of the exam pattern for UPSC. This will help you to prepare accordingly for the IAS exam. You must know that there are three stages for the exam. This includes Prelims, Mains and then the interview.
2. Create A Timetable That You Will Follow
In order to spend a life with the tag of an IAS officer, you first need to be disciplined and organized. Therefore, make sure you have created a timetable and you are following it.
The timetable you are creating must be comfortable for you to follow. This will help you to stick to the timetable and keep working.
The reason is to create a timetable as it makes the preparation easy and creates a better aspect for you. This way, you will be able to meet the deadlines and complete the syllabus within it.
3. Have Knowledge Of The UPSC Syllabus:
Now that you have planned for the preparation, the very first thing you need is to know the syllabus. Once you have known the syllabus, you can prepare accordingly.
UPSC provides a syllabus for the Civil Services, both for prelims and mains, which you need to follow to improve your chances of scoring high. So, if you still don’t know much about the syllabus, this will probably be very helpful for you.
Syllabus of Prelims:
GS (Prelims Paper I)
- Indian History and The Indian National Movement
- Current affairs, both National and International
- World and national Geography
- Indian Constitutional and Political Knowledge
- Social and Economic Development
- General issues on Biodiversity, Climate Change. And Environment Ecology
- General Science
CSAT (Prelims Paper-II)
- Interpersonal skills
- Analytical ability and logical reasoning
- Comprehension
- Problem-solving and decision-making
- General ability
- Basic numeracy ( generally include class X level questions)
Syllabus for Mains:
This is the 2nd Phase of the UPSC exams. Candidates can only be able to qualify thus after successfully passing the prelims examination.
In the Mains, candidates are mainly checked by their academic talent and their ability to answer in a time-bound way.
4. Keep An Eye On The Current Affairs By Reading Newspapers:
If you are going to sit for the UPSC IAS exam, you must keep reading the newspaper as one of the most common activities.
In case you need to keep an eye on the newspapers and the current matters, you might miss out on the daily news. This way, you might need help to clear the exam.
All the questions that are included in the civil services are, in some way or the other, related to current affairs. Therefore, make sure you are following the news items on a daily basis.
5. Make Sure You Are Effectively Choosing The Optional:
You must be sure by now that the optional subjects hold 500 marks in the UPSC examination. Therefore, while you are choosing the subject, you must be efficient in choosing.
Make sure you are keeping in mind the pros and cons associated with the subject and if you are efficient in delivering your best.
While you are choosing the optional, you must keep the following things in your mind.
- Are you interested in the subject
- Prior knowledge of it
- Is coaching available for the subject?
- The study materials are easily available
6. Follow the NCERTs:
You must know that the NCERT textbooks can save you and help you to make the preparations. The textbooks from Class 6 to 12 play an essential role in the overall examination.
Studying these textbooks can help acquire knowledge of the basic theories and concepts. Even if you follow the previous year’s question papers, you can find the questions are directly asked from the NCERT textbooks.
7. Make A Note:
It is always a good practice to keep making notes while you are preparing for the UPSC examination. Just because of the vastness of the syllabus, notes can become helpful in keeping track of everything.
Either you can keep separate notebooks, or you can make sections for different subjects. Keep adding notes for the syllabus you are covering, and this way, you can keep track.
8. Male A Habit Of Writing The Answers:
You must know that the IAS main exam is more descriptive. Since the candidates are chosen through their communicative, analytical and critical abilities, you have to describe the answers.
Writing is a great way to think in a conceptualized manner and shows your thoughts, views and perceptions. Therefore, when you start practicing writing answers in a short manner, the ability to describe properly can become a lot helpful in the exam process.
9. Solving Previous Years Paper:
If you want to have a look at the syllabus at once, you can probably take a look at the previous year’s UPSC exam papers. This will help you to get an in-depth understanding of the questions and their patterns.
Don’t forget to solve the papers and take down the time you are taking to solve these papers.
10. Essential Government Resources:
You know that IAS works for the Indian Government, and therefore, you need to stay abreast with the news. Make sure you follow the government source or website to acquire relevant information. The more you read about the government news, the easier it becomes. Remember, even in the interview, you might be asked about it.
11. Take A Series Of Mock Tests:
Self-assessment is one of the most beneficial ways to prepare for such an exam. This helps the civil aspirants to realize and learn from their mistakes. You can shape accordingly and identify the strengths and weaknesses. Later, make sure you are paying attention to the weakness to gradually build it up and strengths as well to be able to crack this exam. Mock test series can help you build yourself and a strong foundation for the exam.
Keep revisions a major part of your preparation. No doubt it is vast, so revise each subject accordingly. Keep a note and track of the subject and make timely revisions.
Bottom Line: There is no doubt that preparing for the UPSC IAS exam is probably one of the toughest ones, but hopefully, this will help. Here, we have offered a complete knowledge of the UPSC IAS Exam preparation.
So start preparing to fulfill your dreams.
