Complete Preparation Strategy for UPSC Civil Services Exam – Expert Tips and Tricks (Must Read for UPSC Aspirant)

UPSC - the most difficult exam in the country, with a 0.2% success rate. The success rate might scare students, but dreams of becoming an IAS, IPS, or other officer are higher. Every year millions of students start preparing to sit in prestigious examinations, but not all reach their final destination. To Clear, UPSC requires determination, discipline, and extremely hard work over the years. Many students quit during preparation, some quit after trying for a preliminary exam for years, and some reach the interview stage. However, only selected candidates overcome all obstacles and clear the interview stage.

All these obstacles and the journey to becoming an officer begin with preparation. If your approach to preparation is right, you can achieve your goal. Preparation for UPSC is the hardest part that aspirants have to cover to reach their final destination. Therefore, when an aspirant starts their preparation, the first question is ” How to begin,” though there are different things you can do. However, you need to be smart in your preparation and focus on a few tips and tricks that help you get organized with preparation.

Also check: Detailed Course Structure-First IAS

To begin with, there are three preparation ways you can approach that will give you direction.

• First, Join the Coaching institute

  Joining the UPSC coaching institutes is a critical part of your journey. UPSC has a vast syllabus and exam levels ; you will have doubts and feel clueless sometimes. Therefore, coaching institutes will help you meet mentors and like-minded students. Join the best UPSC coaching in India based on your preference and requirements. There are a few reasons why you need to join coaching:

  Organized and disciplined preparation: joining a coaching institute will help you stay organized and disciplined with your preparation. The classes, preparation, study material, and test series will work in a sequence at the coaching institute. So, you can learn at levels and clear your doubts. Environment: Coaching Institutes will offer a certain atmosphere for learning. With group study and preparation, you will not feel isolated. Mentors: You will get your own mentors to help you provide the right guidance for your studies. Thus, whenever you feel demotivated and need assistance, you will have your teachers.

  Joining coaching centers is beneficial, but sometimes students tend to get distracted. Therefore, it’s important for students not to get away with other activities. If you are from Delhi, there is some best UPSC coaching in Delhi that you can try for your preparation.

• Second, Self-Study

  Self-Study is an indispensable part of UPSC preparation. Some students thrive in self-study due to their habits or way of working that way. The self-study provides you with an approach where you can focus more on one aspect without distraction. When you study a subject yourself, you understand and perceive it better. Every student has their own way to study and prepare notes to remember things. With self-study, aspirants can work according to their preference, space, timing, and structure. You just need an understanding of the full syllabus, knowledge of different test series, and organize yourself.

  However, in self-study, it’s highly challenging to remain focused without any organized learning environment. Moreover, if you have doubts, you might get stuck in one place. Though it’s good to resolve doubts yourself, it will take time. Self-study has its own benefits and drawbacks in UPSC study and exam preparation.

• Third, a Combination of Coaching institute and Self-Study

  A combination of self-study and coaching institutes is the best way to prepare for the UPSC exam. You eliminate the drawbacks of both and take advantage of their benefits. You can spend time in self-study and resolve doubts at coaching insurance. Your study material and preparation will be moving in a sequence in a more organized and disciplined way. In addition, you get a learning environment and like-minded people, so you will not feel isolated from your studies. There are a few benefits of using this way of UPSC exam preparation:

  Smart study: It’s a fact that coaching institutes can provide you with guidance, but they cannot make a lazy and procrastinating student clear the UPSC exam. It needs hard work and self-practice, so students need to work smarter. After joining a coaching institute, make an organized study system for yourself, and learn tips and tricks to prepare for UPSC.

  Resources: From the best UPSC coaching in Delhi, you are likely to receive organized study material and test series. You can use this study material for coaching as well as a self-study to prepare effectively.

  Preparation level:With a coaching test series and self-study, you will know where you stand and how much improvement you need in preparation.

After you know which path you want to follow, then you can proceed with preparation. Let’s find out some effective tips and tricks to prepare for UPSC:

• Learn everything about the UPSC examination and exams

  First things first, you need to understand everything about the UPSC exam. From different exams to syllabus and every aspect, you need to know the structure of the exam. It will help you prepare for your exam with a better understanding and strategy. Here is a brief of the UPSC exam:

  UPSC examination takes place in three different stages- Preliminary, Mains, and Interview. Preliminary is an objective exam while mains is written. Candidates who can clear the Preliminary exam can move to the mains, and those who clear the mains can move to the interview stage. All in all, to reach the next stage, it’s important to clear the previous stage. The preliminary exam is further categorized into two Papers – Paper I and Paper II.

  The Mains exam has 9 different papers. Out of all stages, mains can be exhausting and highly affect the overall score for the final rank. All 9 papers in mains are merit-based except language exams. Aspirants have to give papers on their optional subjects. Optional subjects can be different for all; it depends on students to choose good optional subjects for better rankings and clearing the mains stage. As an aspirant, the first thing you need to do is understand the syllabus and these stages in detail to know about the exam better.

• Previous year exam papers

  One of the best ways to know the level of examination and understand how much preparation you need is to use the previous year’s exam papers. Check out the UPSC exam papers of the last 10 years, beginning with preliminary, followed by mains. It will give you a clear idea of the level of aspirants they are looking for. Over the last 10 years, UPSC has made few changes in the examination, but the approach is similar.

  With the previous year’s exam question papersprevious year’s exam question papers, you will understand the difficulty level. You can identify the exam’s trends and patterns and recognize the examination’s important subjects. From difficulty level to question type, analysis of previous year’s question papers can tell you a lot about the UPSC examination.

  In addition, you practice with the previous year’s question papers and get a self-assessment about your preparation. Try to solve a paper without having a look at the answer sheet. Check out the results to know where you stand, how much preparation you need, and which section is your weak point. Moreover, previous year’s question papers are important throughout your preparation. Have a look at the question paper every few months and solve it to know your preparation level.

• Prepare and strictly follow a timetable

  Time-table is highly critical in your preparation; preparing for UPSC needs a strict schedule and discipline. You have to put hard work into every aspect of UPSC civil services exam preparation. So, it’s important to create a timetable that will help you form a schedule and routine. Many students do not take care of their relaxation time in a timetable, while some focus more on leisure activities than preparation. In both cases, you will end up quitting or reducing your preparation; either you will get bored with too much study or get distracted with too many leisure activities.

  Therefore, it’s important to have a balance of things in your timetable. Create a timetable that will allow you enough time for self-study coaching and leisure time to relax. This way, you will achieve your goals better, but one of the critical aspects here is consistency. When you make a timetable, it’s easy to follow for a few days as humans are enthusiastic and like to try things.

  However, as time passes, when you have no motivation, you will procrastinate; that’s where the problem comes in. Therefore, no matter what, try to stick with your timetable. In addition, make sure you create your own timetable and do not copy from the internet. You understand your habits and environment better, so create a realistic timetable accordingly.

• Relax your mind but do not get distracted

  When preparing for UPSC, students become extremists; they are either too strict with their schedule or lenient with preparation. UPSC can be hard, it might take a toll on your physical and mental health, so it’s important to relax your mind from time to time. Take a break, go on a walk, talk to your friends, call your family, etc. Choose activities that are more relaxing and calm your mind rather than exhausting and distracting.

  In recent times, the influence of social media has increased, so when students need free time, they use social media. Social media platforms are distracting; you will not know when you spent your 1 hour of preparation on social media. Though there are student forums and groups of UPSC on social media, if you can control yourself, social media can also benefit you.

  Therefore, relax your mind with different activities in between your day to keep your mind sane and your body healthy. However, make sure you don’t get distracted by the activities and relax enough to get back to studying for better preparation. It will help you keep a balance of things and make your preparation more effective than before.

• Develop a Habit of Reading

  Reading habits are beneficial with or without preparation for UPSC, but if you are preparing for exams, it’s essential to develop reading habits. Current affairs play an important role in the UPSC exam syllabus, and learning different current affairs like regular subjects will make it difficult for you. Moreover, it would become more monotonous and boring. Reading will help you with current affairs as well as regular subjects.

  To understand different incidents in our history, there are interesting novels available. Reading these novels and developing the habit of reading the newspaper every day will help you prepare for exams in a better way. The best part is that you will not feel bored with newspaper reading or article reading on current affairs. It would keep you intrigued about the incidents.

  Every day, take out 10-15 minutes of your day in the early morning or evening and read the newspaper to understand what’s happening around the world. In addition, you can write a summary of an incident to develop the habit of essay writing. You can buy ebooks or traditional novels to read and improve your current affairs, knowledge, and English.

• Select your Optional carefully

  Out of all exams and subjects in the syllabus, optional is the only part that aspirants can choose themselves. Moreover, the optional subject is considered in merit calculations, which means if you choose the right subject, you can increase your chances of merit.

  For any aspirant, obtaining higher marks in optional has more scope than general studies. When you are considering an optional subject, there are a few things that you need to know. First, make sure the subject you are choosing has a chance of high scores; high-scoring subjects are better to work on. Second, check out the subjects you are good in; if someone is choosing an A subject doesn’t mean you will score higher in the same. Select a subject that you find easier and have the ability to learn better.

  Some subjects overlap in general studies, essays, or interviews. It would be easier for you to prepare one subject for two papers than two subjects separately. The length of the subject is another important part you need to think about. Some optional subjects are lengthy, while some have a limited syllabus. Therefore, compare all these factors when choosing an optional subject. It can make a huge difference in your scores and ranking.

• Make Notes

  Making notes for your preparation is important for every aspirant. You cannot learn everything again and again. Moreover, you only need to go through some text to recall or revise something. Important incidents, dates, or anything that you feel is important in your preparation should be listed in brief. You need to make your own notes; however, you understand concepts, recall incidents, etc.

  Some students copy notes or download notes online, no doubt it’s easy to download your notes online, but it’s always beneficial to make your own for many reasons. For starters, you will learn as you write; when you write something, it’s easy to memorize. Secondly, when you write your own notes, you will know what is written and where, and you can be more organized with your material. Moreover, you can understand short forms better when you form yourself; you will not have to rely on someone else. Therefore, make sure you make your own notes for briefing and revision about yourself.

  Make notes about every subject, and separate important and most likely questions in different folders. So, when revising before a mock test or the exam, you have to go through these notes quickly to recall everything.

• Balance between Coaching and self-study

  During your UPSC exam preparation, it’s very important to make a balance between your coaching and self-study. The best UPSC coaching in India will proceed in a sequence of subjects. It’s not necessary that you will follow these sequences; not all students can learn and understand things quickly. So, you will have a different approach to self-studies. There will be chances most of the time when you have yet to study a particular subject or incident, but your batchmate is done with that part.

  Similarly, what is going on in your coaching institutes might be different from what is going on in your studies. In such situations, students get confused and disheartened. However, you don’t need to; create a balance between self-study and coaching. Follow your self-study routine like always, a lot of one or two hours for things you learn in coaching every day so that you will know in the next class. You can participate and have discussions, clear your doubts about the same. Return from your classes and follow the same routine; this way, you will be able to focus on a subject for enough time. Also, you can relate to your class subjects and not feel isolated or left behind in your classes.

• Regular Mock tests

  Mock Tests or test series in a UPSC coaching institute are an important part of preparation. UPSC exam preparation can be lengthy; with so much learning, you will only understand where you stand if you give mock tests. After completing the syllabus for every subject, you can buy independent test series for preparation. The best UPSC coaching in Delhi will offer you their test series where you can learn where you stand among your batchmates. You can also opt for some independent national-level test series to know how much you need to work on your preparation, your strong sections, and your weak points.

  Test series are available online and offline papers, subject-wise or in different ways. You can check out these test series and buy the ones you feel are good for you. Independent test series will only be beneficial if you are able to ace your coaching test series. If you feel you need more exposure, then spend it on a test series. However, ensure you do not go overboard with test series and research properly before buying. Previous year exam papers are also good to test your preparation.

• Participate in GD/PI, class discussions, and student forums

  The interview is the last stage, where candidates are tested for their personalities. Many aspirants reach the interview stage but fail to cross this stage. This section is critical to proving you deserve your place in training for becoming an officer. To prepare for this section, you need to work on your personality. Interviews will be difficult if you only focus on your studies and do not brush your personality. That’s where most students go wrong.

  Therefore, at the beginning of your preparation, regularly participate in class discussions, GD/PI at your coaching, and discuss with batchmates. Explore things around you and meet new people; it will refresh your mind and give you a new outlook on life. Watch different interviews, and learn about different facts and interesting incidents in the country. You can watch documentaries on different aspects and topics of our society to expand your ideas and explore more things.

  In addition, you can become part of online groups or forums on platforms where like-minded people share their insights on preparation. Talk about your queries, and resolve their queries; this interaction will not only refresh your study schedule but might also help you learn new things.

Also Read: Get Free UPSC Study Materials

Conclusion:

UPSC is not an easy task at all, but you do not have to get scared about its preparation. Often students take loads of preparation and end up disturbing their mental peace and preparation. UPSC might be difficult, but it’s not impossible if you are determined enough. There is tons of information available on the internet about everything- Syllabus, preparation, notes, and coaching institute. Rather than following all, stick to one approach that is the best way to prepare more than strategizing.

These three approaches and different tips to ensure better preparation can help you. The tips are listed to give you a glimpse of how it should be. However, preparation will be different for every aspirant, depending on their requirements and circumstances. Therefore, you only need to get a basic idea and follow a single approach rather than changing your way every now and then.