Thorough understanding of basics key to crack civil services exam

The UPSC exam for civil services such as Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and Indian Police Service (IPS) IAS is conducted in three phases — a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (general studies and aptitude test), a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type and a personality test (interview). 

 “Aspirants must treat this exam like any other and the best time to start the preparation is when they are in the final year of the college. They must understand that they  need to improve the fundamental knowledge of the subjects. Secondly, it is very important to improve your general knowledge. The best way is to read newspapers from top to bootom from page one to the last every day and be aware of the current affairs,” says Ganesa Subramanian, founder of  Ganesh IAS Academy. 

Many Coaching institutes start the training with the NCERT school books with which the aspirants will literally go back to school to understand the basics in a better way. However, the most intimidating part of the interview process is the interview. 

“They usually start with asking the hobby of the candidate and then go on to question about the subjects they chose,” says Ganesa Subramanian. Very few candidates crack the exam in the first attempt  and the failure could be disheartening. 

Twenty seven year-old M Arunmozhi gave her first exam in 2013 and finally cracked the exam in 2016. “I live in Ramanathapuram district. I couldn’t even clear the prelims in my first attempt. Next year, I joined a coaching institute in Chennai and attended classes during weekends,” says Arunmozhi, “I read all the success stories of the previous years’ toppers  and they all have succeeded after a series of failures. 

They never gave up and so did I. I am a homemaker and I would finish my household chores early morning and prepare for the exams between 9.30 and 12. 30. Then I would spend two hours each after lunch and dinner,” she adds. Other successful candidates too swear by the efficiency of consistency and the importance of reading the papers every day