www.IASPlanner.

com

CIVIL SERVICES EXAMIANTION

The very fact that a big share of every year's top posts in the civil services exams are bagged by
professionals from various streams, shows that the IAS is still the dream job for many. There are
many candidates who opt for the bureaucracy because of its sheer versatility, scope, depth and
variety. The eminence, prestige, vitality and authority of the Indian bureaucracy have barely waned.

The Services
The Civil Services Examination (CSE) offers the widest range of jobs in our country and is
conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). Most popular among them are
Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) ,
Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Customs & Central Excise Services, etc. along with the
other central services. Recruitment is made in the following services through Civil Services
Exam
1. Indian Administrative Service ( IAS )
2. Indian Foreign Service( IFS )
3. Indian Police Service ( IPS )

GROUP–A SERVICES
4. Indian P & T Accounts & Finance Service
5. Indian Audit & Accounts Service
6. Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise)
7. Indian Defence Accounts Service
8. Indian Revenue Service (I.T)
9. Indian Ordnance Factories Service Group –A (Asst. manager, Non-technical)
10. Indian Postal Service
11. Indian Civil Accounts Service
12. Indian Railway Traffic Service
13. Indian Railway Account Service
14. Indian Railway Personnel Service
15. Posts of Assistant Security Officer, Group-A in Railway Protection Force
16. Indian Defence Estates Service
17. Indian Information Service(Junior Grade)
18. Indian Trade Service

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

19. Indian Corporate Law Service

GROUP – B SERVICES
20. Armed Forces, Headquarters Civil Service,(Section Officer’s Grade)
21. Delhi and Andaman & Nicobar Islands Civil Service, Group B
22. Delhi and Andaman & Nicobar Islands Police Service
23. Pondicherry Civil Service
24. Pondicherry Civil Service

Recruitment
The recruitment to these services is made through the UPSC on the basis of the annual
civil service competitive exam. IAS, IPS is considered as All India Services while others services
recruited through this civil services exam is known as Central Services. The officers of the All
India Services are recruited and trained by the federal Union Government (“the Centre”) and
serve in the various State Government(“the States”) as well as Centre (which is why the IRS is a
“central service” instead of an All India Service as they work only in the Central Government).
Officers are organized into cadres, derived from the states they are allotted to work in for as
long as they continue to be a member of the respective Service.

Training
All new entrants called probationers (IAS, IPS, IRS etc.) first undergo a 4-month Foundation Course (common
to all officers recruited through CSE) at Lal Bhadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie. After
the completion of the foundation course, the probationers are sent to their respective institutes for professional
training, while the IAS probationers continue to stay at the Academy for their professional training. The
probationers of the Indian Foreign Service are trained at Delhi. After completing the foundation the probationers of
the Police Service are trained at Sardar Vallavbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. The probationers of
the Indian Revenue Service are trained at National Academy of Direct Taxes (NADT), Nagpur for the officers of
IRS (IT) and at National Academy of Customs, Excise and Narcotics (NACEN), Faridabad for the officers of IRS
(C&CE).

OFFICIAL Notification
Procedure of Examination
The complete examination procedure is being conducted by the Union Public Service
Commission. The examination consists of three tier: Preliminary, Mains and Personality Test.
Preliminary exam is followed by the Main (Written) Examination and a personal Interview. Final
ranking has been made on the basis of performance in the Mains exam and personal Interview.
The candidates are then allotted to various services on the basis of their ranks and the
preferences expressed by them.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Academic Eligibility
• A degree of any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State
Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament
or declared to be a Deemed University under the UGC Act, 1956, or an equivalent
qualification.
• Candidates who have appeared or intend to appear for the qualifying examination and are
awaiting results are also eligible to appear for the Preliminary Examination. All such
candidates who qualify to appear for the Civil Services Main Examination must produce
proof of having passed the said examination along with their application for the Main
Examination.
• The UPSC may in exceptional cases treat a candidate without the requisite qualification
as an eligible candidate if he / she has passed an examination conducted by other
standard institutions that justifies his / her admission in the opinion of the Commission.
• Candidates with professional and technical qualifications recognized by the Government
as equivalent to professional and technical degrees.
• Candidates who have passed the final year of MBBS or any Medical Examination but are
yet to complete the internship can also appear for the Main Examination. However they
must submit along with their Main Examination application, a certificate from the
concerned authority of the University / Institution that they have passed the final
professional medical examination. At the Interview stage they must then produce a
certificate from a competent authority that they have completed (including internship) all
the requirements for the award of the Medical Degree

Other Eligibility Conditions

Nationality
• Only Indian nationals are eligible for IAS and IPS.
• For other services a candidate can be either of the following:
(i) A citizen of India,
(ii) A subject of Nepal,
(iii) A subject of Bhutan,
(iv) A Tibetan refugee who came over to India before January 1, 1962 with the intention
of permanently settling in India, or
(v) A person of Indian origin who has migrated from Burma, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi,
Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, Vietnam, Zaire or Zambia
with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Candidates belonging to either categories of (ii)., (iii)., (iv). or (v). must produce an eligibility
certificate issued by the Government of India. Those who belong to either of (ii)., (iii). or (iv).
categories are not eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).
Age Limit
• A candidate must have attained 21 years and not be over 32 years on August 1 of the
year of examination.
• The upper age limit is relaxed in specific cases as mentioned below:

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

a. up to a maximum of 5 years if the candidate belongs to SC/ST.

b. up to a maximum of 3 years if the candidate belongs to Other Backward Classes.
c. up to a maximum of 5 years if the candidate had been domiciled in Jammu &
Kashmir during the period between January 1, 1980 and December 31, 1989.
d. up to a maximum of 3 years in the case of Defence Services personnel disabled
during hostilities with foreign countries or in a disturbed area and consequently
released.
e. up to a maximum of 5 years in the case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned
Officers and ECOs / SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as
on August 1 of the year of examination and have been released:
• on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be
completed within one year from August 1 of the year of examination) otherwise than
by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency, or
• on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service, or
• on invalidment.
f. up to a maximum of 5 years in the case of ECOs / SSCOs who have completed an
initial period of assignment (5 years Military Service) as on August 1 of the year of
examination and whose assignment has been extended beyond 5 years. Such
candidates will have to provide a certificate from the Ministry of Defence stating that
they can apply for civil employment and they will be released on a notice of 3 months,
upon selection, from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
g. up to a maximum of 10 years in the case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically
handicapped candidates.
The date of birth accepted by the Commission is that entered in the Matriculation or
Secondary School Leaving Certificate or in a certificate recognised by an Indian University as
equivalent to Matriculation or in an extract from a Register of Matriculates maintained by a
University, which extract must be certified by the proper authority of the University or in the
Higher Secondary or an equivalent examination certificate. These certificates are required to be
submitted only at the time of applying for the Civil Services (Main) Examination. No other
document relating to age like horoscopes, affidavits, birth extracts from Municipal Corporation,
service records and the like will be accepted. The expression Matriculation/Secondary
Examination Certificate in this part of the instruction includes the alternative certificates
mentioned above.

Number of Attempts
Every candidate appearing at the examination who is otherwise eligible, shall be permitted
six attempts at the examination. Provided that this restriction on the number of attempts will
not apply in the case of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes candidates who are otherwise
eligible. Provided further that the number of attempts permissible to candidates belonging to
Other Backward Classes, who are otherwise eligible shall be seven. The relaxation will be
available to the candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such
candidates. Provided further that a physically handicapped will get as many attempts as are
available to other non-physically handicapped candidates of his or her community, subject to
the condition that a physically handicapped candidate belonging to the General Category shall

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

be eligible for seven attempts. The relaxation will be available to the physically handicapped
candidates who are eligible to avail of reservation applicable to such candidates.

No. of Attempts
Category Upper Age Limit
Allowed

General 32 Years 06 Attempts

Other Backwards Castes 32 Years with relaxation of

09 Attempts
(OBC) 03 years = 35 years

Scheduled Caste/Scheduled 32 Years with relaxation of

Till the Upper Age limit
Tribe (SC/ST) 05 Years = 37 years

For the General and

Physically disabled OBC Candidates= 09
32 years with relaxation of attempts
candidates (Blind, Deaf-
10 years = 42 years
Mute, Orthopedic) For SC/ST Candidates =
Unlimited till age limit

General = 37 years, OBC =

Up to the Upper Age
Jammu & Kashmir Domicile 40 Years, SC/ST = 42 Years,
limit
PH = 50 years

Disabled servicemen disabled General= 37 years OBC = 38 Up to the Upper Age

from duty Years SC/ST = 40 Years limit

Note:—
• An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the
Examination.
• If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she
shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.
• Notwithstanding the disqualification cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of
the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Restrictions on Applying for the Examination

A candidate who is appointed to the Indian Administrative Service or the Indian Foreign
Service on the results of an earlier examination and continues to be a member of that service
will not be eligible to compete at this examination.

ONLINE
Candidates may apply online using the website http://www.upsconline.nic.in
• Detailed instructions for filling up online applications are available on the above
mentioned website.
• Candidates will be required to complete the Online Application Form containing two
stages viz. Part-I and Part-II as per the instructions available in the above mentioned site
through drop down menus.
• The candidates applying Online are required to pay a reduced fee of Rs. 50/- (Rupees
Fifty only) (excepting Female/SC/ST/PH candidates who are exempted from payment of
fee) either by remitting the money in any branch of SBI by cash, or by using net banking
facility of SBI or by using any Visa/ Master Credit/Debit Card.
• Before starting filling up of online application, a candidate must have his photograph and
signature duly scanned in the .png or .jpg format in such a manner that each file size
should not exceed 40KB each.

Scheme of Civil Services Examination

Preliminary Examination
(A) Preliminary Examination | Multiple Choice Questions
The preliminary exam is the first stage of the whole examination process. The very nature
of the exam is to screen to select to the next level of exam that is mains. It is seen over the
approximately five lakh candidates appear for the Prelims but only less than fifteen thousand
made it to the Mains. The introduction of the Preliminary Examination was introduced to weed
out non-serious candidates and select those who are deserving.
Preliminary Examination is an objective type (four alternatives for every question) exercise
meant to serve as a screening test/qualifying paper only. The exam consists of two objective
type papers. Which carry a maximum of 400 marks.

In the changed pattern, CSAT 2011 or Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2011 onward it
carries 400 marks and 180 questions have been asked. Out of this:
• Paper 1. 100 questions based on General Knowledge were asked, each carrying two
marks and,

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

• Paper 2. 80 questions based on Aptitude Test were asked.

Except for Question Nos. 73 to 80 in the General Studies Paper II, all the questions both
papers had negative marking. For each wrong answer, 1/3 mark were deducted from the total
scores of the candidate. Trend nowadays has shifted more towards current issues, hence a
thorough awareness of recent events/happenings is mandatory.
• The paper-II of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam will be qualifying in nature
from 2015.
• The General studies-II (CSAT) is the civil services (Preliminary) Examination will remain a
qualifying paper with a minimum qualifying mark fixed at 33%.
Before 2011

Papers No. of Questions Marks Duration

I. General Studies 150 150 2 Hours
II. Optional Subjects 120 300 2 Hours
Total 270 450
After 2011
Papers No. of Marks Duration
Questions
I. Paper 1 100 200 2 Hours
II. Paper 2 80 200 2 Hours
Total 180 400
Those who passed the Preliminary examination are only eligible for the next stage of the
examination. The Preliminary exam consists of 400 marks but the marks obtained in this level
examination by the candidates will not be counted for determining their place in the final order
of merit.

Negative Marking for Wrong Answers

Negative marking in the Prelims examination was introduced in 2007 with the idea to
select eligible candidate for the further stages. Also to filter out candidates who get selected on
the basis of smart guesses and luck. Negative marking make paper more complex but its good
and suits for the genuine and meritorious candidates. In the Negative marking there is Penalty
for wrong answers marked by the candidate in the Objective type Question Papers. Except
some of the questions where the Negative Marking will be built in the form of different marks
being awarded to most appropriate and not so appropriate answer for such questions.
• There are four alternatives for the answers to every question. For each question for which
a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one third (0.33) of the marks assigned
to that question will be deducted as penalty.
• If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong answer even if
one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be same penalty as above
for that question.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

• If a question is left blank i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no penalty
for that question.

Road Map for Civil Services preliminary Examination

Paper I : General Studies

The preparation strategy for Paper I involves various things among good knowledge base,
extensive reading, thorough practice, regular test are important one.

Syllabus of Paper I
Marks : 200 Duration : Two hours
1. Current events of national and international importance.
2. History of India and Indian National Movement.
3. Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and
the World.
4. Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj,
Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
5. Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion,
Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
6. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change
7. General Science.
Sticking to the syllabus is good, but certain new trends have been emerging in the
examination. So we should go beyond the given syllabus. It is challenging but not impossible. It
always helps to understand the trend in this changing scenario. Go through previous years’
questions again-and-again and identify the areas from where most of the questions are being
asked. It is wise to stress on those subjects, which are common for Main Examination. The
areas to be taken care are Modern India, Polity, Indian Economy, Geography, Current Events
and General Science. We can bifurcate whole General Studies into :
• Conventional topics.
• Current affairs based.

Conventional Topics
It is composed of:
1. Indian History : History is a vital component for the Civil services exam.
The NCERT books (Class XI and XII) are good enough for the purpose.
You can refer following books
• Ancient India , NCERT Class XI
• Medieval India , NCERT Class XI

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

• Modern India , NCERT Class XII

• NBT (National Book Trust) it cover certain parts on India’s Struggle for Independence.
• India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra

2. Geography
For Indian Geography
• Physical Geography of India, NCERT Class XI
• Land and People, NCERT Class XI

For World Geography

• General Studies Manual by TMH or Spectrum Publications.
• Physical and Human Geography by G. C. Leong
• Atlas (Oxford and Orient Longmon)
Geography must be studied with the help of ATLAS, it will help you to understand the
Geography better. While reading newspaper always keep a Atlas with you as more and more
questions are getting location oriented e.g. instead of asking the venue of APEC meet they
might ask you to locate the place on world map.

3. Indian Polity and Constitution

The Indian Polity by Lakshmikanth and NCERT books are sufficient.
Also refer, DD Basu. Read it also cover to cover.

4. Indian Economy
Candidates are required to know about some basic terminology of economics like repo rate,
reverse repo, CRR, SLR etc. Indain Economy by Dutt & Sundaram is good book for the Indian
Economy it can be read. The book by Uma kapilais also a good one. Economic Survey and
Budget should be followed with comprehensively.

5. Government Policies and Programmes

Make notes on the policies that you come across in the newspapers. But this will not be
exhaustive. Use India yearbook published by the Publications division for an exhaustive
approach.

6. Science and Technology

Over the year this section has emerged as an important element of the General Studies Paper. It has as many as
7-8 questions in all. The very aim of the question paper is to test the candidates awareness of the development in this
field though questions were on the traditional areas science as well. If you look into the trend of previous year’s
questions you will find that candidate should give special emphasis on of biotechnology, space technology,
information technology and electronics.
General Science basically include-Physics, Chemistry, and Biology. Among these Biology contains more
weightage. The syllabus broadly covers Human Anatomy and Physiography. In Physics and Chemistry, basic

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

concepts related to combustion, optics, energy, nuclear physics, basic chemicals etc. are asked. In Physics,
almost all the questions might be application oriented. Thus, understanding of basic principles
is very important. Ares like Newton’s laws, heat, sound, optics etc. are important. In
Chemistry, important minerals and their ores, etc. are important from prelims point of view.
Maximum questions will be pertaining to chemicals which are of economic significance. Thus
characteristic of different compound like plaster of paris, bleaching powder, etc are also
important. Biology, in general, has important section in science.
Science and Technology are another major area. This generally include the application
parts of the science as space technologies, IT, electronics, biotechnology, nuclear science,
defence etc. recent trends showed that this part is growing significance.

7. General Knowledge and Current Affairs

General Knowledge
India Year Book is important for the prelims and for mains as well. Manorama Year book
and other such year book is also helpful.
Current Affairs
Current affairs of one calendar year is sufficient. I recommend The Hindu and Frontilne. The Hindu
has less unwanted news and has a balanced perspective on issues and is pro people. You shouldn’t be an
ultra leftist or a right-wing hawk. Newspaper is best to prepare for Current Affairs and General knowledge. One
has to follow at least one newspaper to keep abreast of National and International developments. It will keep your
current affairs up-to-date.

Newspaper could become guide and to broaden your General Knowledge. Every day we find
lots of new things in the newspaper just whenever you come across something these new in the
newspaper google it up and make a note on it. Newspaper reading should be done on a daily
basis without any gap until the interview is over.

Suggested Reading
• The Hindu News paper
• Frontline Magazine
• Yojana Magazine

PAPER II : APTITUDE TEST

CSAT has came into effect from Civil Services Exam, 2011. The General Studies - II (CSAT) in the civil
(Preliminiary) Examination will remain a qualifying paper with minimum qualifying mark fixed at 33%.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Syllebus of PAPER II
1. Comprehension
2. Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
3. Logical reasoning and analytical ability
4. Decision-making and problem solving
5. General mental ability
6. Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level),
7. Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. - Class X level)
8. English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
Total Marks 200
Note
• A Hindi equivalent / translation will be available for the initial six tested areas, while the
seventh area , English Language Comprehension skills, will be available exclusively in
English language, indicating a need of understanding of English language in prospective
IAS officers as English is the Lingua Franca of our country.
• The duration of the paper will be of two hours.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.

Road Map for Paper–II

Paper second contained only 80 questions but indeed it was a lengthy paper as it was fully loaded with
comprehension passages. Comprehensions (bilingual) had 9 questions and English comprehension had 6 questions
which almost one-third the paper. Comprehension, quantitative aptitude and reasoning were the dominant section of
the question paper.

1. Comprehension
It is bilingual, Hindi and English both, daily newspaper reading could keep you in safe. The
paper also gave importance to testing English language skills. A comprehension exercise
consists of a passage upon which questions are set to test to candidate’s ability to understand
the content of the given text and infer information and meaning from it.
Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level (last item in the
Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from English language only without
providing Hindi translation thereof in the question paper.
For doing best in comprehension one should keep few points in mind while attempting
this. Firstly, read the passage thoroughly and carefully, if the meaning of the passage is not
clear in very first reading then quickly go through the passage again. English Language
Comprehension is a major concern for hindi medium candidates they should take it seriously,
a basic english grammar such as High School English Grammar & Composition by Wren and
Martin could be useful. This section tests a candidate’s understanding of the language that a
candidate uses.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

2. Interpersonal Skills
Interpersonal skills is people skills the ability to work with and get on with other people.
Questions reflecting the ability to understand and manage the dynamics of social interaction
can be tested such as Fill in the Blanks, Analogy, Synonyms, Antonyms, Jumbled Paragraphs,
Single word substitutions, Meaning Equivalence of sentences, etc.

3. Logical Reasoning and Analytical Ability

Verbal and nonverbal Reasoning by R S Agarwal and General Mental Ability Section of
Tata McGraw Hill Guide have good parts in this section. Solve the Verbal & Non-Verbal
Reasoning questions that come out in monthly magazines.

4. Decision Making and Problem Solving

This section measures a candidate’s ability to take a decision based on given conditions
and information. The questions asked in this section had no penalty for wrong answer. All
questions are purely application based.
There are books available in the market but as far as I am concern this books won’t help in
your preparation, this section have to develop by yourself. Search Techniques of Decision
making and Techniques of Problem Solving in Google.

5. General Mental Ability

Questions can be based on Coding, Ages, Relations, Venn diagrams, sets, dices, direction
sense, abstract figure, etc. General Mental Ability can test for Verbal and Non-Verbal
Reasoning skills. Your aim should be to solve maximum questions with high accuracy. Then
try to focus more and more on practicing the paper rather than merely studying.

6. Basic Numeracy
This section is to check numerical proficiency of a candidate involves solving simple
numerical problems. Number System, Average, Percentage, Ratio and Proportion, Profit and
Loss, Time and Work, Time and Distance are the important topics.

7. Data Interpretation

Data interpretation has charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. Don’t just solve
questions, solve them quickly, and keep track of them time you take to solve a question. For
this section you must go thoroughly, Quantitative Aptitude by R S Agarwal and Quicker Maths
(Magical Book Series) by M. Tyra.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Strategy FOR Civil Services Exam

Before going into the preparation of the Civil Services Exam assess your potential,
interests, circumstances, time resources & financial sustainability so that you can reach a
firm, determined & practicable decision. It doesn’t matter here at all you need not to have a
splendid academic background besides you only need clear determination and firm belief that
you can go through all the way.

Selection of Optional Subjects

Under the scheme of examination aspirants need to select one optional subject in the
Mains Written examination. If you are not comfortable with the subject, you should not select
the subject as an optional. In my opinion optional subject should be chosen on the basis of
own interest in that subject and performance of subject in previous few years as scoring
pattern, candidate got qualified from that optional etc. Availability of study material in that
optional will also taken into account. Any optional subject may be evaluated on the basis of a
number of parameters. These parameters are: some optional are considered scoring while
others are preferred for their relevancy, relevant in either the General Studies paper or in the
essay. Some candidates are chosen optional for their comparatively short, clearly defined
syllabus. Availability and access of good and study material is yet another consideration.
However, it is believes that the primary criteria should not be the nature of the subject or
whether it is comprehended as scoring or not. Student interest in the subject should be given
predominant importance. It should be correctly understood that any optional can be scoring if
the student approaches it strategically and systematically.

Selection of Medium of Exam

You should chose your medium that suits you best and you can express your views better than other medium.
Availability of standard books & study material in that medium should also be taken into account before choosing
the medium. Aspirants should keep in mind that medium plays key role in the final selection, and with the new
syllabus it proved.

Importance of General Studies

General Studies is one of the subjects which have major contribution in the whole
examination, in the Prelims there is one whole Paper of General Studies and in the Mains it
has its contribution. In the Essay & Interview stage this helps a lot. So General Studies should
be prepared in well.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

The Mantra to Crack Civil Services Exam

Hard Work
Hard work has no any substitute. Civil service competition is the best example of hard
work. If you work hard you will get through if not you won’t make it the first huddle i.e. Prelims
exam. The examination that you are preparing for is like a marathon race.
Hard work can be termed as one of the pre-requisite for every sphere in life and in the Civil
services exam it is indispensable.

Dedication
Remember dedication towards our own duty always pays in life. During you course of your
preparation you have to sacrifice many of your favorites like movies, parties, and
entertainments etc. Without dedication it is impossible to achieve what you want to be.

Patience
The whole process of exam requires patience. During your preparation at many times you
may feel tired and jaded but it is the time when you have to keep you going. The Civil service
exam in one way is the psychometric test for the aspirants it is test for their patience also. In
all to keep going when the going is hard and slow - that is patience.

Self-Confidence
One should always keep one’s self confidence at the high level, yes everyone agrees that one can never be
always self motivated and could lose temper, at this time you need to keep motivated it dosen’t matter by which
means.

Faith in Luck
Most of the aspirants who have cleared the Civil Services examination add faith in God as
a major key to their success. Still, we should remember that there is no substitute to hard
work. Faith in God will keep you going.

Time Management
Time management is important not just in writing the exam, but also while preparing for
it. It is advisable to break up long study sessions into a few compact ones with more breaks to
refresh oneself. For example, two four-hour sessions prove to be more beneficial than one long
eight-hour stretch. Some students prefer to study in short bursts of two hours, with 15-minute
breaks in between.
Ultimately it is up to the individual to find his or her own unique time management
strategy. It is also possible to use “free time” effectively. Thus, time spent commuting, or
relaxing can also be used to refresh concepts or read different, if not completely unrelated,
books. However, it is important to “switch-off” for at least some time in a day.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Writing Skills
Writing skills are perhaps the most essential requirement in the main examination
sections of the UPSC exam. As the exam is also a test of an individual’s analytical and
interpretative ability, clear, coherent and well-written answers in simple, effective English (or
Hindi) are essential.

Examination Tactics
Tactics take different shapes and forms in different situation. The very nature of Civil
services exam the tactics must be applied at every level of preparation and it should be focus
on greater and intensive coverage. Civil Services examination syllabus has a vast area of
syllabus one is expected to know various disciplines at the same time like history, polity,
geography, economy, science apart from other curriculum. However, one need not to be master
on each disciplines only basics of each of the disciplines is needed. Hence, here the full
examination tactics will help you out.

Use of Internet
Most of the aspirants has their own means of Information tools, those who don’t have can
access through it from Internet Café. It is an ever-bulging ocean of information. All the
important information is available on the Internet.
Addresses of Some Useful Websites:
1. http://www.pib.nic.in - For government current press notes
2. http://www.upsc.gov.in - For all official information regarding the exam at any stage.
3. http://www.persmin.nic.in - Useful after selection
4. http://www.ncert.nic.in/textbooks/testing/Index.htm - To download all NCERT
5. www.goidirectory.nic.in - It connects to official websites of all Ministries and
departments.
6. www.meaindia.nic.in - External Affairs Ministry website useful for India-World relations
7. www.indiacode.nic.in - Constitution of India, Central Acts, Supreme Court, etc.
8. www.indiabudget.nic.in - For latest budget and Economic Survey
9. http://publicationsdivision.nic.in - For latest India Year Book

Strategy for Freshers

For the freshers, firstly try to understand the whole exam and the very nature of the exam,
keep yourself ready with the preparation, believe strongly in yourself that you will clear the
exam in the first attempt itself and never will compromise at any stage and if required at any
time will work harder than ever before, the preparation should be started at least one year
ahead of your first attempt, do not take your attempt unless you are confident of qualifying for
the it all the way. Make your first attempt as your best one.

www.IASPlanner.com
 www.IASPlanner.com

Role of Coaching Institute

Although Coaching institutes are expensive and self-study is pivotal, Coaching has many
advantages, it helps to understand the nature of exam quickly, sometimes reduces the efforts
and focused more in the subject, provides environment for the competition, regular classes
gives the insight about the competition, many postal courses help in the preparation etc.

www.IASPlanner.com