Preparation Mantra for Civil Services Exams

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Preparation Mantra for UPSC Civil Services Exam

The UPSC syllabus is so vast that aspirants are often confused about where to begin. In this confusion, they end up not preparing properly for the IAS exam and losing a precious attempt in the process. This article gives you a study approach for UPSC civil services. This approach is in fact, useful for any exam like SSC, Bank PO, any other competitive exam or even school and university exams.

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Steps to Follow To Achieve

The first step in this approach is to go through the syllabus, in this case, the UPSC syllabus. It must be read from the start to the end so that you can understand the depth and range of topics to be covered.
The second step is to go through the previous year UPSC question papers. Then, you must establish the link between the syllabus and the questions asked. In the UPSC exam, it is a good link. Most of the questions asked are from the UPSC syllabus including the current affairs based ones. So, in your preparation, you must focus on the UPSC syllabus well. Get the UPSC Previous Years’ Question Papers in the linked article.
The next step is to make a booklist. This list should contain the subject-wise list of books and other sources like magazines, etc. that you must buy or borrow for your IAS preparation.
In this step, you must prepare a study plan. Now that you know the syllabus and the books to be read, you will have an idea about what to learn and how much. You must have in your plan details like what topics to learn in what dates.
In this step, you will start making your own notes or borrow notes from elsewhere. You should consolidate all the notes that you have and also continue studying by making notes.
As you study for the IAS exam, you must also revise periodically. Only proper revision ensures that you remember what you have studied. Because of the huge volume of material to study, you must read them repeatedly so that you can recall everything you learnt.
This is the final step and it is the most important. It is not enough if you simply read and revise everything. The UPSC exam, with its immense competition, mandates that you practice mock tests for both the prelims and the mains exams. Only practising mock tests can give you a feel of the exam. This will help you deal with the time factor during the exam.