Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the civil services examination each year to recruit candidates for more than 20 civil services posts, including IAS, IPS, IRS, and IFS. Owing to the vast and diverse syllabus of the UPSC Civil Services examination, it is considered one of the toughest examinations in India.
Generally, an ideal preparation of
one year is considered to be necessary for candidates to be exam-ready for the
UPSC Civil Services. It is conducted into three stages namely Prelims, Mains,
and Interview. The combined process of all the stages of examination takes
around a year. Hence, a candidate will have to dedicate at least 2 years, even
if he cracks the examination in the first attempt. Keeping this in mind, a
candidate should start his IAS preparation right in the final year of his
graduation.
Step by Step UPSC Civil Services Preparation Tips for Final Year College Students
●
Understand the Examination: The foremost thing before jumping to the IAS preparation
is that you should understand the examination analytically. You need to
thoroughly research and take guidance from fellow UPSC aspirants and teachers.
You should also check the UPSC previous year's paper to know the level of the
questions asked in the examination. Once you get a general idea about the
examination, the next step is to check the syllabus.
● UPSC Syllabus: In the IAS preparation you cannot afford to skip the Civil Services Syllabus. The diverse and vast nature of the UPSC syllabus is already so demanding that you cannot afford to study out of syllabus topics. Moreover, being a beginner, you might end up studying a lot of irrelevant topics in the starting year of your preparation. Hence, check the upsc ias prelims syllabus before making any preparation strategy.
● Mentor: A beginner might get confused and puzzled by the vast syllabus of the UPSC Examination. Ideally, a mentor or an experienced teacher can ward off such confusion. He can provide great guidance in your starting year of preparation for the UPSC Examination. While you can always crack this examination with self-studies, correct guidance can save a lot of your time and effort. Hence, you can take the UPSC IAS GS 2023 Coaching in your final year itself to make your studies more relevant and planned.
●
Complete NCERT:
Once you check your UPSC syllabus and have chosen your study material, the next
step is to make your basics strong. It can be achieved by thoroughly studying
the NCERT books. In the UPSC Examination, if you have a strong command over the
NCERT books, you have already won half of your battle. Moreover, the basics you
will learn from the NCERT Books will help you understand complex topics in your
coaching or during your self-studies.
●
Become Aware: The
UPSC Civil Services Examination tests in-depth knowledge of a candidate by
asking deep questions from the happenings/current events in India and the
world. The weightage of the current affairs questions in the civil services
examination is considerably high. Therefore you should make a habit of
regularly reading a newspaper and even making notes of important events in
India and around the world. Moreover, when you study current affairs, you will
come across various important static information for the UPSC prelims
examination.
●
Notes: Notes play
an important role in memorizing and understanding key topics. During your
course of preparation, you will have to make an important habit of making
notes. Notes are a great asset if written well. If you make dedicated notes of
general studies topics and current events, it will greatly help in revision and
answer writing in your IAS Examination. Moreover, your concise self-written
notes will work as a bible for you in the last few months before the
examination.
If you plan well for the UPSC IAS Examination in the final year of your graduation, you will save 1 precious year of preparation. It will greatly help you in your first attempt of the UPSC Civil Services Examination.