“You
will Become, What you Think About”
Indian Administrative service
(IAS) is the most reputed Job of India. The Officers of this respected Civil
service are recruited through Civil service examination (also called IAS exam)
conducted by UPSC. IAS service though has incomparable power associated with
it, it also brings numerous responsibilities.
Civil services are no bed of roses. For example, An
IAS officer (and also officers of other reputed civil service like IFS, IPS)
has to be diplomatic enough to understand and manage the situations that arise
in the civil services on a regular basis. Thus the UPSC takes full care in
recruitment of the officers that'll manage the steel frame of the country.
There job is to fit the Right man into the Right job
and they are experts in doing it. There are a few qualities that are being
looked for in the candidate during selection process. This is the reason why
the success rate is so low in this exam. Lakhs of students compete every year
for getting into prestigious civil services, but only about less than a
thousand make it.
In order to be successful, a candidate firstly has
to make a right concept in mind about this exam. Success is not very far if
preparation is done on a regular basis. Structurally preparing for every stage
brings the candidate to some milestone in the first attempt itself (or even may
go through). Provided that the new pattern of the IAS exam is likely to give
importance to younger candidates with sharp and agile mind and dedication as
the aptitude factor is the sole criteria now to judge candidates in the prelims
exam.
Consulting any senior and successful candidate,
Reading the toppers testimonials and going through previous IAS exam papers is
always helpful for developing the right concept. It's not necessary to cover
the entire syllabus in the exam, because the expectations of UPSC are not
possible to overcome in real sense. But candidate needs to analyze his
strengths and then to focus upon them to facilitate his success in this exam
rather than trying to prepare everything.
Although The path to the coveted Civil Services is
full of ups and downs and is a highly uneven track to traverse. Before
taking a decision about Civil Services as your career, it is expedient to check
up oneself and remain determined after wards. The first and foremost thing to
decide while aspiring for Civil Services is the judicious choice subjects for
the Prelims and the Mains. This is the most important and first step of your
journey and should be accomplished most carefully as coming things hinge on it
and a wrong decision may prove to be disastrous. Careful analysis of syllabus,
previous years' papers, your calibre, requirement of subject (Visionary,
Numerical, and Theoretical), comfort level with the subject and past trends
should be done. Advice from seniors and fellow candidates should also be
sought. To avoid dithering in choice at later stage, initial deep thinking and
consultations are a must. Having decided the subject, it is advisable to stick
to your choice even if the perception of others about it is not favourable.
For The Beginners:-
“Let no feeling of
discouragement prey upon you, and in the end you are sure to succeed.”
The beginners have varied perceptions about the preparation and a good number of them are not aware of the realities of the same. They begin but on wrong lines, they go astray and meet failures in initial attempts. It takes them a year or years to be conscious of the realities and that too, at the cost of some attempts. Some take attempts without preparation just to gain some experiences because they do not have a good guide to suggest them that attempts are precious and must not be wasted this way. This article has relevance in the above-mentioned context.
PREPARATION
TIPS:-
General Studies:
The GS paper is feared by many at the prelims stage. There is opinion that very difficult questions are asked from wide areas. While
preparing for the GS paper, the first efforts should be to analyse the previous
years' papers and then start preparation. Even while studying, you should keep
looking at past questions. This will help in a focused preparation. In GS, it
is equally important to know what not to study.. Many aspirants orient their
preparation keeping in view those 30 very difficult questions. This can be
counter productive since it is not possible to master all areas in GS and while
trying to remember too many facts, the basic clarity will be lost.
History:
The areas to be covered are the history from ancient to modern period. The
basic understanding can be obtained from below 10th NCERT books. The
focus should be on modern Indian history.
Books:
Begin with ‘Modern India’ by Bipin Chandra,
supplemented by ‘India’s struggle for Independence’ by Bipin Chandra,
Mukherjee, Panikkar. Spectrum’s book on Modern India
For Ancient India, ‘Ancient India’ by R.S. Sharma (a wonderfully concise book where every single word is important) and supplemented sparsely by
‘TheWonder that was India’ by A.L. Basham. For Medieval India, Satish Chandra’s two volumes on Medieval India quite sufficient.
Apart from this, another famous standard text is ‘An Advanced History of India’ by Majumdar, Raychaudhuri and Dutta.
For Ancient India, ‘Ancient India’ by R.S. Sharma (a wonderfully concise book where every single word is important) and supplemented sparsely by
‘TheWonder that was India’ by A.L. Basham. For Medieval India, Satish Chandra’s two volumes on Medieval India quite sufficient.
Apart from this, another famous standard text is ‘An Advanced History of India’ by Majumdar, Raychaudhuri and Dutta.
Polity:
The Constitution and
various related aspects should be done well. Some articles and facts should be
memorised. It is better to prepare this area well since it will be helpful in
mains and inteview.
Books:
Started with DD Basu . Then “Perspectives On Indian Constitution” edited by Subhash Kashyap.
Indian Constitution At Work (NCERT Class XI textbook in political science, newer syllabus)
Politics in India since Independence( NCERT Class XII textbook in political science, newer syllabus)
Democracy in India: Issues and Challenges (NCERT Class XIIth textbook in Political science, older syllabus)
Democratic politics (NCERT Class Xth, newer syllabus)
Indian Constitution At Work (NCERT Class XI textbook in political science, newer syllabus)
Politics in India since Independence( NCERT Class XII textbook in political science, newer syllabus)
Democracy in India: Issues and Challenges (NCERT Class XIIth textbook in Political science, older syllabus)
Democratic politics (NCERT Class Xth, newer syllabus)
Economy:
The basic concepts are being asked along with current affairs based questions.
The basic clarity can be obtained from the standard books. The current affairs
can be studied from Economic Survey and the newspapers.
Books:
Books:
Indian Economy Special Issue by Pratiyogita
Darpan especially for prelims.
For reference- Indian Economy by Mishra and Puri.
For reference- Indian Economy by Mishra and Puri.
Sciences:
Some times the questions are asked very difficult that even science graduates
cannot answer. But the preparation should be in such a way that all the basic
questions can be done correctly. The questions are also asked in applications
orientation.
Books:
NCERT
What, Why & how books by CSIR.
What, Why & how books by CSIR.
Monthly Magzines
Pritiyogita Darpan (PD), Competition wizard and Civil services times
Pritiyogita Darpan (PD), Competition wizard and Civil services times
Mental Ability:
Do lots of practise from previous years papers. The preparation can also be
made from some standard guide like the TMH Publications.The speed and accuracy
should be practised.
Current affairs:
This has become a very important component. The preparation should be
continuous from the sources given in mains strategy. The notes should be
focused on the factual aspects that come in the news. Many questions are asked
from this area, so prepare thoroughly. The efforts will be useful for all
stages of the exam. It should become a part of your daily routine.
General
Knowledge:
Quite a few questions are asked from this area. Some difficult questions are
also asked. Do not spend too much time in memorising unnecessary facts. You
should have a broad awareness about various fields. At the same time, focus
more on areas which have been asked in the past.
Books:
India Year
Book - This is important for the prelims and also for some mains two mark
questions. But do not read every thing given in the book, be logical and
concentrate on the basics which can be asked in the exam. You should prepare
notes on the various terms that are given in the book. Do not focus too much on
unnecessary facts given in the book.
Manaroma Year book - This book should also be taken as reference. For the GS prelims, If you want a compilation of all material at one point then
can refer some standard guide like TMH. But do not ignore the NCERT and other
books since they give better clarity.
HOW TO PREPARE NOTES:-
Basically
notes making is very good for revision and for self preparing students. But
some some aspirents have some problems to make proper notes. There are two
types of making notes for upsc exams which are very useful.
Linear
Notes
Let
us start with Linear notes first, it is a method in which you condense the
material you have read using headings and sub headings and jotting down the
most important points. This method works best when making notes from a book
where the material is already properly organized. But one disadvantage of this
method is that you end up copying a lot of material from the book which defeats
the very purpose of condensing.
The right way to use this method is to use loose sheets of paper instead of an
exercise book since it is easier to keep adding information. It is a good idea
to leave space on each sheet of paper for additional information. Another way
to make your notes more interesting is to use colors, block letters, making
boxes and highlighting as and when necessary. All this will immediately draw
our attention to the actual contents of our notes and make it more clear and
comprehensible.
Pattern Notes:
We
now come to Pattern Notes. For this we have to begin the topic at the centre of
the page. Each line radiating from it represents a branch of the main idea.
Each point is written as briefly as possible using a key word or a phrase. It
is a better method to adopt because it is more flexible than making Linear
notes. One can add extra information to it at any point without any problem.
Second advantage is that we can see the whole pattern at one go without
actually turning the pages. Thirdly we can indicate the links between different
topics more easily than we can do in a linear method. Another advantage of
pattern notes is that it is exceptionally useful when making notes from memory
for revision as you keep jotting down points as and when they occur to you. This
makes it easier to revise for exams and writing out essays as only brief key
words are used. Lastly, it is easier to remember as notes is made in a shape
format.
*IMPORTANT MAGAZINES AND NEWSPAPERS:-
1. COMPETITION SUCCESS REVIEW
2. PRATIYOGITA DARPAN
3. COMPITION WIZARD
4. CRONICAL
5.INDIA TODAY
6. THE HINDU
“If at first you don't succeed, try, try again.
Then quit. No use being a damn fool about it.”
‘BEST OF LUCK’