One of the most frequently asked questions is How to prepare for IAS? UPSC conducts the Civil Services Examination (CSE) to recruit suitable candidates for IAS, IPS, IFS, and other allied services. Lakhs of aspirants apply for the exam, yet only a few achieve the feat. So, what brings about the difference, you ask! Well, it’s the UPSC preparation strategy! Most aspirants wonder, “How to prepare for UPSC” or “How to crack UPSC exam in the first attempt” or “How to prepare for IAS”! In this article, we have tried to answer this question in an extremely comprehensive way. We’ve also included the subject-wise UPSC Preparation strategy for your benefit!
Stages of UPSC Exam:
As you may already know, the UPSC Civil Services examination has three stages, namely, Prelims, Mains, and Interview.
- UPSC Preliminary Examination: The UPSC Civil Services Prelims consists of two exams namely General Studies-I and General Studies-II (CSAT).
- UPSC Personality Test or Interview: The UPSC Personality Test is the final round in the scheme of the UPSC Examination. The final result is declared after the Interview on the basis of the cumulative score of the UPSC Main Exam and Interview.
- UPSC Personality Test or Interview:The UPSC Personality Test is the final round in the scheme of the UPSC Examination. The final result is declared after the Interview on the basis of the cumulative score of the UPSC Main Exam and Interview.
Most UPSC aspirants find themselves at sea while preparing a comprehensive UPSC preparation strategy. Hence, to help you out, we have compiled this UPSC Preparation Guide. It includes everything you need to know about “How to Prepare for IAS Exam”. It also includes a 12-month-plan for UPSC Preparation along with a detailed guide on how to choose the UPSC optional and how to practice answer-writing for Main Examination.
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Step 1: Know the exam well
Before preparing for any exam, it is important to know the nitty-gritty of the exam well enough.
- Read through the notification of the UPSC exam carefully in order to acquaint yourself with the exam syllabus, exam pattern, exam timeline, and eligibility criteria.
- Once you’re through that, pick up the previous year papers and skim through them to get an understanding of what is actually asked in the exam.
- If you give a dedicated amount of time to do this exercise, you will save a considerable amount of time through your preparation journey!
- Alternatively, you can glance through the articles on our website to get comprehensive information about what the exam is! At this time, you should also start reading the newspaper.
Step 2: Strengthen your foundation
No matter what your background is, you need to understand the basics of the core subjects of the UPSC syllabus.
- Hence, refer to NCERTs, they can be downloaded from the official website of NCERT for free.
- Read them at least twice before making notes, and then read our NCERT compilations.
- You can get the NCERT compilations on our Telegram Forum (cl_civils) for free. Prepare your notes alongside these compilations in order to save time
Step 3: Upgrade Your Knowledge with standard books
Once you have read all the NCERTs, it’s time to expand your knowledge by reading the standard books.
- You can get the entire booklist for UPSC preparation in the linked article.
- Read the books at least twice and then make your handwritten notes to be used for answer-writing practice at the later stage!
- You can also watch video lectures on our YouTube channel for important topics to supplement your knowledge.
Step 4: Practice Answer Writing + Revision
Answer-writing practice and revision play an important role in the entire scheme of UPSC preparation, especially for the UPSC Mains Exam.
- Once you have completed a subject from the NCERT as well as standard books, then you can start practicing answer-writing.
- Before that, it will be a futile exercise as you will have to depend on books for the content of the answer.
- At this stage, it is also important to incorporate consistent revision. You should keep your weekends free for a dedicated revision of whatever new you’ve learned during the week.
Step 5: Mock-Test Based Learning Approach
Two months before the prelims exam, you should incorporate a mock test-based learning approach. It will give you an exam feel. Once you get acclimatized, it will reduce exam-time stress.
- Sit for an actual exam-like mock test at the same time and then analyze your performance.
- Check your weak areas and brush up on the concepts that you may have missed.
- It will not only help you in anxiety management during the actual exam but will also prepare you extremely well for the exam