How can we prepare for IAS exam? 23/08/2019 – Posted in: Blog
Preparing for the IAS exam is not a game of hard work, rather its smart work. One topper in an interview said that she studied 20 hours every day. Well, maybe she suffered from insomnia. Many toppers clear the IAS exam in very first attempt by studying in a proper articulated, well structured and planned study of 7-8 hours every day.
Before taking any step for buying textbooks/ notes and any other study material, first and the most important thing is to read UPSC – IAS exam syllabus thoroughly, at least thrice. The exam syllabus is your bible. You need to stick to the IAS exam syllabus during your preparation.
The next step is to prepare an 8 hours time-table which suits you, as this is your exam, you have to write it. Your time table must follow an integrated approach, which at the beginning covers the Preliminary exam syllabus and later on your mains and optional syllabus. Your time table must cover every topic of the syllabus.
Next, you have to make a good selection of textbooks or study material. Do not copy others; some standards textbooks are good. Now, you have a proper time table and study material in your hand. Next step is to identify your strength and weaknesses, identify the requirements of the UPSC civil services examination and work accordingly.
For preliminary preparation, you need to start from scratch. Start your preparation from very basic NCERTs and later on from standard textbook sources. We provide you a booklist of NCERTs and Standard books, which is a combination of old and new NCERTs, NIOS and other relevant standard textbooks. You need to practice for CSAT (civil services aptitude test) as well, to clear your preliminary level examination.
For mains preparation, answer writing practice is a must. One must start writing an answer with your preliminary level preparation. It will improve your understanding and answer writing skills. With this technique, you will start understanding the keywords and how to attempt an answer in a given time-frame. Submit your answer copies for evaluations; follow the suggestions which are provided to you in your answer copies. Keep on revising your notes holistically.
Note: Do not go for multiple sources. Do not read a topic from 10 books, instead read a topic from a single book 10 times.
Now, it’s time to join the Diligent IAS test series. Make sure you must have gone through at least 40-45 tests (including previous IAS exam papers and test series) before going for the real quest of the preliminary examination. This will help you with the self-assessment and it will also help you to get familiar with the exam format.
The UPSC IAS exam is structured so that a candidate’s efforts, devotion, strategizing, planning and time management, logic, analytical powers, and overall quick thinking are rewarded. In that sense, your life experience also plays an important role in preparation.
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