Tips and Tricks for IAS online Training: Crack the UPSC Exam

The highly competitive UPSC Civil Service Exams are known for its extensiveness and unpredictableness which makes it one of the most feared and daunting exams around. Not only is the knowledge to be learned for this exam extensive but so is the answering procedure complicated.

Detailed planning and scheduling are required to start studying at home for the exams. Here are some small tips for every UPSC 2020 aspirant that seem easy but go a long way.

Tips and Tricks To Optimize IAS UPSC Training

Now let’s see how to crack UPSC in a much-planned way.

Research and Schedule

• The first and foremost thing to do is to be aware of the whole process of the exams, exam patterns, and confirmed UPSC syllabus before you figure out how to prepare for your UPSC exam. Make a whole list of things you have to study or practice. Like it’s said ‘Know Thy Enemy’. Knowing and systematically plotting down everything you need will make your future goals clearer.
• Then make a clear schedule and assign small goals to meet every day or every week. You will see that you will be able to properly optimize your time and proceed well if you stick to a proper pattern.
• There is too much to learn so be aware that you will have to dedicate enough time and effort. Be ready to sacrifice a few things and multi-task so that you can give your preparation enough time.

General Knowledge and Current Affairs

• Get into a habit of reading newspapers if you don’t already have it. It is extremely important for a UPSC aspirant to know current affairs and news, not only in the country but around the world.
• Follow and subscribe to good news channels and newspapers. Take annotations of news pieces that seem pretty important so that you can revise them all before the examinations. You should ideally be knowing all the news from the year prior to the year you’re sitting for your exam.
• Also, brush up on general trivia and general knowledge.

Choosing Your Optional Subject

• Choosing your optional subject well is one of the most important things to do as your optional paper consists of 500 marks in your Mains. So it is important to know your strengths and weaknesses well and choose accordingly from the list of subjects provided by the exam committee.
• Many people suggest choosing subjects that are more scoring but that is not a very advisable thing to do. The questions in the paper are generally descriptive types that ask for personal opinions. How you frame your answer and what you say shows how passionate you are about the subject. Choosing a subject that you like will reflect in your answer and automatically fetch you more marks.

Making Notes

• This is one of the most basic things to do. It is imperative to make your own study guides and notes when studying as the syllabus is too vast for your brain to accurately retain all the knowledge after learning it once.
• Making systematic notes makes it easier to visit and revisit topics whenever required and to chalk out the important information that is needed to be retained. The path to saving time and smart learning is the path to cracking UPSC exams.
• Know yourself well. If you are someone that needs proper training and coaching to not only aid your learning process, help you with UPSC learning guides and UPSC study materials but also to push you to study consistently, then please sign up for UPSC coaching and training programs.

Answer Writing Practice

• It is important to practice writing exams as all the answers in the exam are the long descriptive type that needs time and practice to tackle. 
• Practice writing answers for all kinds of topics to be ready with a basic frame of the answer and all the points to make your answer rich in content and also save time during the exam than you would spend if you tried to wing it on spot.
• Answer previous year papers and mock examination questions to better understand patterns of question and predict future questions.
• Frequently assessing yourself shows you how you’re progressing and if all the efforts and the study plan that you came up with is working for you.

Proper Breaks

• Studying all the time 24/7 is also not an advisable thing to do. Taking proper breaks to get back into the zone and to stay positive is very important too.
• Take ample rest and take care of your physical and mental condition as it won’t be performing below your potentials when the important day arrives.
• It is easy to give rise to a negative give-up mentality so make sure to remember your goals and work towards them and not rushing in mindlessly.
• The last stage is a Personality Interview where they assess you on the basis of your diplomatic skills, your communication skills, and your individual personality and behaviour under stress. It would be great if you appeared for it with a refreshed mind and an introspective and retrospective analysis about your strengths and your weaknesses. 

Conclusion

These are just a few tips and tricks that would aid you through the long and arduous journey but it’s worth it. It requires a lot of hard work and sheer intellect to pass this test. Sticking to your dreams and not giving up in between can be difficult but it is important to not give up and persevere.