Preparing for UPSC Civil Service Exam is the dream of millions of students but not everyone can afford to move out of their home and prepare for the exam in another city. The digitalization of education and the availability of books and resources online for UPSC preparation has also marginalized the need to move from your home for the UPSC CSE exam.
In this article, we would give a comprehensive preparation guide to prepare for the UPSC Civil Service Exam from the comfort of your home.
Let’s move step by step and unlock the strategy for the exam.
Why IAS?
This is the most fundamental question that must hit you when you think of preparing for the exam. Many of the students get attracted to the power and perks of an IAS/IPS officers and start preparing for the exam and their dream to become an IAS officer falls like a house of a card in the slightest tremor in their personal life.
Give serious thought to the above question and find out one strong reason which you can hold even in the toughest of situation. The level of commitment required for the exam is unparalleled and only the one with a burning desire to crack the exam at any cost succeeds.
Once you have cleared your reason to prepare for this exam move on to read the strategy.
Age and Qualification
Candidates must go through the UPSC eligibility criteria. A student in the age bracket of 21 to 32 years as on 1st August of the year of the exam is eligible to appear for the exam. The average age of candidates qualifying the exam is 27 years but students from both the extreme do qualify for the exam. So there is no right age for the exam but preparing in your early twenties gives you an advantage as many other options get unlocked when you prepare for the Civil Service Exam.
The basic minimum requirement for the exam is a graduation degree recognized by the government. You can be a student from a full-time course from universities or a student of a distance learning course. You can be a student with distinction or a student just passed his graduation degree. UPSC makes no distinction between the two. So if you have decided to prepare for the exam just commit yourself and work hard.
Understanding about the exam
Once you know that you are eligible to write the Civil Service Exam. The next thing is to know the pattern and syllabus of the exam. Civil Service Exam is a three-tier exam consisting of Prelims, Mains and Personality tests. Prelims is an objective type exam with two papers, Paper I for GS and Paper II for Aptitude. At present paper II is qualifying and needs to get only 33% marks in this paper. The merit list is decided on the basis of Paper I.
The Mains exam consists of nine papers and is subjective in nature. The papers are four General studies paper, one Essay paper, two papers for the optional subject and two qualifying papers of English and Hindi/ other languages.
For the syllabus, you can refer to the UPSC notification of the previous years. This is the best source for the syllabus of the exam. Go through UPSC syllabus and learn the syllabus by heart. The importance of this exercise you will understand during your preparation.
Resource for the preparation
With the advent of the internet and e-commerce getting the resource for the exam is not a tough task anymore. The tough task is to know about the right source. So let’s talk about the important resource for the exam.
Books
NCERT is the basic book that gives you a solid foundation and overview of the different topics in the UPSC CSE. Read all the books from class Six to Twelve to get a basic idea about all the subjects required as per the syllabus (remember I asked you to learn your syllabus). This will help you when you read the UPSC reference books for each subject and understanding of the issues in the newspaper.
Newspaper
Do not follow multiple newspapers. Start reading The Hindu or The Indian Express. If the newspaper is not available in your hometown, you can also read the newspaper on your computer or mobile so no need to worry.
Digital Resource
If you have good internet connection in your home you can avail of many free initiatives for your preparation .
Coaching
Taking coaching or not can be your personal choice but if you decide to take coaching but do not want to move out of your home, you can get live online classes from the best teachers at your home and get all the advantage that a student preparing from Delhi or other coaching hub has.
Day to Day strategy
For day to day strategy, you need to make a timetable. A reading time of six to eight hours with a break would be sufficient for the exam preparation. Please do not get deviated by anyone saying you need to study 12 to 18 hours for the exam. It is not true. No one can read that much and this is not required. If you can study 6 – 8 hours on an average you can easily qualify the exam in a single attempt.
Considering an eight-hour study plan. Devote one hour daily for newspaper reading, three hours for your GS topics, two hours for the optional subject and two hours for revision.
Make small notes about the topics you read after understanding the topics. This will help you in revision.
Timeline
A general preparation timeline starts from May – June of the previous year from the year you have decided to appear for the exam. Starting from May, You can finish the NCERT books by the end of August and the first reading of your optional subject. After this move on to the reference books for general studies and second reading of your optional subject. You will be through with your study of the static syllabus by the end of December.
From December start writing practice and solving 5 – 10 MCQ daily. You can write previous years' questions for General studies and optional and can also join free writing initiatives for practice and feedback.
From March beginning you need to focus on your prelims exam but continue devoting 2 hours to optional revision. Try to solve one full-length prelims paper on alternate days and revise on the subsequent days.
After your prelims in June, Join a good mock test for GS and optional. Appear for tests, analyze your week and strong area and continue until the last month of the exam. In the last month revise all you have learned so far. This is the phase where you can read for 10 – 12 hours and get ready for the battle. In the last week do not over-read, keep calm you have read whatever is required for the exam just go and write the exam.
Self-Analysis
Self-analysis is the best way to improve. To analyze where you stand in your preparation you must start giving tests. You can avail free tests from various IAS online course preparation sites or can join online mock test series as you are preparing from home. Try to analyze your mistakes and rectify your mistakes by reading and re-reading the concept. This is the mantra to success in this exam.
Personality Development
The last stage of the IAS exam is the personality test and this is the stage where you need to show your interpersonal skills. You should be able to communicate your ideas effectively and clearly. These skills do not come in a single day and you must start developing your personality from the day you start preparing for the exam. Try to engage in debate with friends and senior and analyze if you can put your points clearly or not. If not keep practicing, even you can practice speaking in front of a mirror, it is one of the most effective ways to improve your communication skills.
The second most important thing is to inculcate a hobby so as to present a rounded personality in front of the board.
We hope we have given a comprehensive overview of your preparation for IAS exam from your home. Preparing for IAS exam involves multiple steps, we tried to cover most of the steps to make your journey as smooth as possible.
Read more : Strategy for UPSC Prelims Preparation 2020
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