Basic facts to remember before appearing for Civil Service Exam
The right approach to prepare for IAS is that one should begin the preparation of Mains before or at least concurrent with Prelims. We all know that Prelims is only a screening test, but what matters is your performance in Mains, and final outcome of your efforts depend on that. Therefore, you should start the preparation for the examination about a year in advance and consider appearing in the Prelims only when you have complete control over the Mains’ subject matter.
Those with a professional degree in science, usually tend to ignore the preparation of GS and mainly concentrate on their optional subjects. This attitude is a gamble because you are not sure about the level of preparation of other applicants. What can create problem for the students is studying completely different subjects like Economy (for the science background aspirants), Science & Technology (for the social science background aspirants) and Statistical Analysis. If you have thoroughly prepared economy for your Prelims/screening, preparing it for the mains should not be a hard task. The things which have to be kept in mind are: One has to practice statistical analysis meticulously with the help of previous years’ solved questions given in guides and also the NCERT’s Statistical Analysis. Secondly, it is important to read a good national daily regularly, India Yearbook (Publication Division) relevant NCERT books and a good magazine like Competition Success Review, for the purpose. Essay writing – Those who have a natural flair for writing should be definitely at an advantage. Writing an essay is a unique art and requires talent but if you can’t write that way, you will have to invest some time in practicing. One has to seriously consider the issue of writing, mainly because things asked in the form of essay are the ones that you generally prepare for your GS where you limit your preparation up to 250 words.
As far as the compulsory language paper(s) is (are) concerned, which is (are) of qualifying nature only, it is advisable that if you are apprehensive about the language papers, better forget about preparing for these exams. Or you can join any coaching institutes/ colleges in India which helps students prepare them for enterance exam One should judiciously decide the two optional(s) as they form a major part of the score. The ones, who live in the major centers of Civil Services-related activities, generally do not come across any major problem in finalising their optionals but others, living in smaller towns or people who are not exposed to such environment, have problems.
For students who are post-graduate in any subject or have a professional degree, the first optional is the one that they have pursued for the last few years. But, for normal graduates the choice of first optional too, is equally challenging. Most of the candidates, who are not able to decide about the optionals, are hugely influenced by the interviews, given by the successful candidates that appeared earlier, in various magazines. If your decisions are abided by this idea, at times it can land you in the no man’s land.
While selecting an optional, it is advisable that you consider the following issues:
(a) The Syllabus: Does it look comprehensible at the first glance?
(b) Content: Check whether the relevant books/study-material is easily available or not.
(c) Interest: After going through some of the literature, introspect whether it has been able to generate interest in you. (d) Expertise: Find out if any specialist of the subject is available or approachable, the one that you can help in solving your problems and answering your queries.
(e) Success rate: What has been the scoring pattern so far and the success-rate of the subject – this you can come to know from any reputed coaching institute or from some of the magazines too.
(f) Friends’ advice: Do consider friend’s advice, particularly of those who have not made into the list of successful aspirants of the previous years because they will tell you where they went wrong. For Succeeding in an IAS exam, there is no standard formula. The thumb rule is that you realise your real capacities and abilities and chalk out your own strategy. And as we all know that there is no shortcut to success, so make sure that you put in all the effort.
Leave a Reply