Approach & Strategy

Civil Services examination is considered one of the most glorified and prestigious exam of India. Every year lakhs of aspirants appear for the exam with the dream to be a part of these dignified services and contribute to the nation. On the other hand, vacancies for civil services range between 800-1100 per year which makes this exam competitive enough to crack. There is a flood of information on internet and in the market which makes things complicated. One should have right strategy to clear the exam. For the convenience of the aspirant, Eternal IAS brings you a systematic approach & strategy to crack the exam.

Problems faced by the aspirants

How to begin?
What should be the approach?
What & How about the study material?
How to make notes?
How should I practice?
How to get revised?
Last minute strategy.
Role of guidance & Mentorship.

Problem solving approach (Possible way out)

UPSC organizes this exam in well defined manner. Syllabus has already given by the UPSC for the exam. This exam is not an entrance exam for the higher studies. It selects you for the services and posts directly. So the first step towards the preparation is to know about the requirement of the exam. This exam requires skills to fulfill the responsibility of the services. So you should remember that proper interpretation and analysis is required not merely information and memory. It is advised to focus more on analysis then mugging up facts only. Go through syllabus many times to get memorized. UPSC generally requires multidimensional approach so try to interlink topics mentioned in the syllabus.

Well begun is half done

The approach

There is a classic formula – Simpler &Smaller. Follow this religiously. Try to make proper timetable of a day to week. You need to have an integrated approach to crack the exam. So everyday prepare yourself for the exam as a whole. Follow syllabus and prepare at the fullest. Cover all the aspect of the exam on daily basis.

As mentioned earlier that this exam requires overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding rather than merely range of their information and memory. So you should be very selective and particular while choosing material for the exam. As far as the basic material concern you can begin with NCERT books ( 9th to 12th) of social sciences and 9th-10th books of General Science. Along with this Tamilnadu NCERT books are quite useful for History subject. Economic Survey, Ministerial reports, India Year book, Govt. websites provide productive materials. For current affairs, Newspapers( The Hindu, Indian Express), Daily News Analysis, Monthly Current compilations , RajyaSabha TV are better resources. There are plentiful reference books are available to the market but these books should be utilize under proper guidance.

Study Material

Notes

While preparing notes, you should remember that notes should not be the second copy of text books or downloaded materials. It should be crisp, concise, Well updated and handy. Use flow charts, diagrams, catchy themes in notes making. It should not be bulky enough to get revised. It is advisable to get help by mentors.

Previous years question papers are better resource to get practiced. Practice everyday of the questions objective and descriptive both. For Preliminary exam try to solve objective questions on daily basis on current affairs and topic wise in different themes. For Main exam purpose, answer writing practice is quite important. Write answers on current issues and themes of the syllabus. Try to write in multidimensional approach under the proper guidance. Make your SWOT analysis. Mock Test series are quite useful which provides you opportunity to identify your mistakes and get command on the syllabus.

Practice – Practice - Practice

Revision

Revision is the most important part of the whole preparation. You should have proper strategy and time table of revision. Generally once in a week is better strategy to get revised. For revision, make important points and revise in terms of questions.