In this article we will see that how a beginner can start UPSC preparations Almost everywhere on the internet i always see the question that "HOW TO START UPSC PREPARATIONS ?" so i decided to answer this question in todays blog so lets get started:-
So first we look at what UPSC stands for ?
The Union Public Service Commission commonly abbreviated as UPSC, is India's premier central recruiting agency. It is responsible for appointments to and examinations for All India services and group A & group B of Central services. While Department of Personnel and Training is the central personnel agency in India.
Eligibility criteria for UPSC ?
i) UPSC Eligibility - Academic
The candidate must hold a PASS BACHELOR'S degree from 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 deemed as a University, under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.
Candidates who have appeared or intend to appear for the final examination and are awaiting results are also eligible to apply for the Preliminary Examination.
All such candidates who qualify the Prelims examination must produce a proof of Pass Bachelor Degree to appear for the Civil Services Main Examination. This Degree has to be attached with their application for the Main Examinations.
The UPSC may in exceptional cases treat a candidate without the foregoing requisite qualification as an eligible candidate if he / she have passed an examination conducted by other institutions, the standard of which justifies his / her admission in the opinion of the Commission. The criteria may apply to candidates having bachelor's degree from any reputed foreign university for example Oxford, Cambridge, and Harvard etc.
Candidates with professional and technical bachelor's degrees that are recognised by the Government are also eligible to apply example MBBS, BE etc.
Candidates who have passed the final year of MBBS but are yet to complete the internship can also appear for the Main Examination. However, they must submit a certificate from the concerned authority of the University / Institution that they have passed the final professional medical examination along with their Main Examination application. At the Interview stage they must produce a certificate from a competent authority that they have completed (including internship) and all the requirements for the award of the Medical Degree
ii) UPSC Age limit
A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years on 1st August of the year of examination if he is a general category student / aspirant. The upper age limit for IAS as well as all services prescribed above is relaxed for OBC, SC, ST and other categories of aspirants.
iii) Number of Attempts within Age Limit
The UPSC has raised the upper age limit and number of attempts of applicants of the Civil Service Examination with effect from 2015. The upper age limit will be 32 years for the unreserved (general) category with 6 attempts. It will be 35 years for OBC candidates with 9 attempts; and will be 37 years for SC/ST candidates with unlimited number of attempts. For physically handicapped candidates the age limit is 42, 45 and 47 years for General, OBC and SC/ST category respectively while the number of attempts is 9 for General and OBC and unlimited for SC/SC category.
v) Restrictions Relaxed on applying for the IAS exam:
The candidates who are appointed to other services barring the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Foreign Service (IFS) on the results of an earlier examination are eligible to take this examination again.
vi) Other Eligibility Criteria:
Nationality:
The candidate must be a citizen of India to be eligible for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Indian Police Service (IPS), for other services, a candidate must be either:
a citizen of India,
or a subject of Nepal,
or a subject of Bhutan,
or a Tibetan refugee who came over to India before 1st January, 1962 with the intention of permanently settling in India,
or a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Burma, Sri Lanka, East African countries of Kenya, Uganda, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia and Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India.
Provided that a candidate belonging to categories (c), (d), (e) and (f) shall be a person in whose favour a certificate of eligibility has been issued by the Government of India.
Provided further that candidates belonging to categories (c), (d) (e) and (f) above will not be eligible for appointment to the Indian Foreign Service
Note: A candidate in whose case a certificate of eligibility is necessary is eligible to take the examination but the offer of appointment may be given to only those candidates who have submitted the necessary eligibility certificate issued to him/her by the Government of India.
Note: The Candidates applying for the Civil Service Examination should ensure that they fulfil all eligibility conditions and criteria for admission to examination. Their admission to all the stages of the examination will be purely provisional subject to satisfying the prescribed eligibility conditions. Mere issue of admission certificate to the candidate will not imply that his/her candidature has been finally cleared by the UPSC. UPSC take up verification of eligibility conditions with reference to original documents only after the candidate has qualified for Interview/ Personality Test.
How To Start Preparation ?
Tips to start IAS Preparation at Home
The following tips are given to start IAS preparation:
1: Make a time table
First of all, get the UPSC 2019 schedule (you can download the same from our notifications segment), print it out and stick it on the wall of your room. Mark the dates in red and then chart out a preparation schedule. For this, you have to go through the UPSC syllabus in detail and then prepare a timetable accordingly. You can start with the preparation for both the prelims and the mains together. When you make an IAS time table, you should write down everything. That is, how many hours you should study every day (depending on whether you are working or not), how many hours you should spend on the weekends, after how many days you can take a day’s break, etc. You should also be able to chalk out how much of the syllabus you can cover within a stipulated time. For example, you could say, ‘I will cover ancient history for prelims this week’, and so on. After making a study plan, you should stick to it. Otherwise, there would be no point!
2: Keep a tab on Current Affairs
This is one of the most important segments of the IAS syllabus. In the civil services exam, most questions asked in both the prelims and the mains exams are directly linked to current affairs. Even the questions that are subject-related (such as those from history, geography, economy, etc.) would be linked to any current event/happening that affected the nation or world politically, socially, or in any other manner. Your best bet to be on top of the current affairs segment for the IAS exam is to read the daily newspaper. Experts recommend ‘The Hindu’ as the ideal newspaper for IAS preparation. In case you don’t know how to go about extracting the exam-worthy news from the newspapers, you can watch the BYJU’S video news analysis which we put up on our channel on YouTube every day. These video lectures will give you a detailed analysis of the daily news important for the IAS exam. You will also be given model UPSC prelims and mains questions.
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3: Solve sample UPSC question papers
In the UPSC exam, the competition is intense. You need to perform to your very best if you are to get a good rank in the exam. For this, merely covering the syllabus is not enough. You have to get sufficient exam practice. This holds good for both the prelims and the mains. In the prelims, although the papers are objective in nature (only MCQs), there is negative marking for incorrect answers. This makes the exam tricky. Also, you will need to develop a good speed if you are to finish the papers. The only way to learn how to work around the negative marking to your advantage and to increase your answering speed is by practicing model question papers. Even for the mains exam, where you will be writing descriptive answers, speed is the key. You will have to up your writing speed while being able to give well-explained, crisp and neat answers. Your answers ought to be well-thought out, organised, give what is precisely asked, presented neatly and also substantiated with facts and figures if need be. Achieving all this takes answer writing practice. So, you should enrol for a good prelims and mains test series which would not only give you adequate practice, but also give you the right feedback on your answers so that you can make the necessary course correction.
4: Choose your optional subject wisely
They say we are the choices we make. The same goes true for your optional subject as well! The optional subject accounts for 500 marks in the mains exam and can typically make or break your IAS dream. So, take care to choose a subject that you are comfortable with. In fact, there are certain factors to be taken onto consideration before fixing on an optional. You can learn all about selecting the right optional from the video lecture which we have posted below:
5: Don’t worry, just do what it takes
Preparing for the UPSC exam is not a small task. Sometimes, you can feel bogged down by the enormity of the exam (and the syllabus). But don’t lose hope. It is extremely important for you to be positive throughout the journey. Remember the path could be laden with thorns but the fruit is always sweet. Just stick it out till you make it. It is worth it!
UPSC Syllabus.......
Here, you will find a complete list of subjects for the Civil Services Examination conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) The Civil Services Examination is widely considered as one of the toughest and the most prestigious examinations conducted in India. To understand the exam, one needs to understand the syllabus. This helps eliminate wasteful efforts like reading unnecessary topics leading to a loss of time, and keeps one strictly aligned to the expectations of the UPSC from day one.
The UPSC prescribes a common syllabus pattern for services such as the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign Service, Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Service (Customs and Central Excise) to name a few. The Civil service exam is conducted in three phases:
Phase 1: Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination (Objective Type)
Phase 2: Civil Services (Mains) Examination (Descriptive Type)
Phase 3: Personal Interview (Personality Test)
PHASE 1: CIVIL SERVICES (PRELIMINARY) EXAMINATION
The Preliminary Examination is composed of two components:
1) General Studies
2) Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) PAPER SUBJECTS TOTAL MARKS DURATION
1 General Studies (GS) 200 2 hours (9:30 AM to 11:30 AM)
2 CSAT 200 2 hours (2:30 PM to 4:30 PM)
• Broadly, the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination consists of two papers of objective type, each of 200 marks (hence totalling 400 marks) and of two hours duration. To qualify for the Civil Services Mains, a candidate must attempt and clear both the papers.
• To clear GS-1 Paper candidate must clear the cut-off mark declared by the UPSC and in CSAT paper, the candidate must score at least 33% of 200 i.e. 66 marks.
• Further, the General Studies (GS) paper consists of 100 questions, while the CSAT paper consists of 80 questions. Both papers have negative marks for wrong answers marked to the tune of 1/3rd of the total marks assigned to that question.
• To further illustrate this, each correctly answered GS question will be awarded 2 marks. So, 0.66 marks would be deducted from the total for every question that is wrongly marked.
• Similarly, in the CSAT paper, since we have 80 questions for 200 marks, correctly answered CSAT question would attract 2.5 marks each, while every wrongly marked question would attract a penalty of 0.833 for each such wrong answer, which will be deducted from the total.
• Questions that are not attempted will not attract any negative marks. The two papers of the IAS prelims are discussed in detail below:
- General Studies (GS) The General Studies test is the first paper of the preliminary examination. This test is intended to test the general awareness of a candidate in a wide range of subjects that are included in the syllabus: Syllabus for GS
• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc. UPSC SYLLABUS 2019
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation
• General Science 2) Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) This test is intended to assess the aptitude of the candidate in solving ‘Reasoning and other aptitude topics that are included in the syllabus: Syllabus for CSAT
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision-making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level) PHASE 2: CIVIL SERVICES (MAINS) EXAMINATION
• The Mains examination constitutes the 2nd phase of the Civil Services Examination. Only after successfully qualifying in the prelims exam would the candidates be allowed to write the IAS Mains.
• The Mains exam tests the candidate’s academic talent in depth and his/her ability to present his/her understanding according to the requirements of the question in a time bound manner.
• The UPSC Mains exam consists of 9 papers, in which two are qualifying papers of 300 marks each.
• The two qualifying papers are: 1. Any Indian Language 2. English Language Paper The papers on Essay, General Studies and Optional Subject of only those candidates who attain 25% marks in each of the language papers as a minimum qualifying standard in these qualifying papers, will be taken cognizance for evaluation. In case a candidate does not qualify in these language papers, then the marks obtained by such candidates in other papers will not be considered or counted. Structure of the language papers:
The types of questions asked are –
1. Essay – 100 marks
2. Reading comprehension – 60 marks
3. Precis Writing – 60 marks
4. Translation: • English to compulsory language (e.g. Hindi) – 20 marks
• Compulsory language to English – 20 marks
5. Grammar and basic language usage – 40 marks
The rest of the seven papers can be written in any of the languages mentioned under the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India or in English. Let us look at these papers:
PAPER SUBJECTS TOTAL MARKS
1 ESSAY (can be written in the medium of the candidate’s choice)250
2 GENERAL STUDIES – I (Indian Heritage & Culture, History & Geography of the World & Society) 200
3 GENERAL STUDIES – II (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice & International Relations)
4 GENERAL STUDIES – III (Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Security & Disaster Management)
5 GENERAL STUDIES – IV (Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude)
6 Optional Subject – Paper I LIST OF OPTIONAL SUBJECTS GIVEN BELOW A candidate can also take up literature of language as an optional subject 250
7 Optional Subject – Paper II 250
Please check the detailed UPSC Mains General Studies Syllabus here. Candidates may choose any one of the ‘Optional Subjects’ from the list of subjects given below:
Optional Subjects Literature of Language
Agriculture Assamese
Animal Husbandry & Veterinary Science Bengali
Anthropology
Bodo Botany Dogri
Chemistry Gujarati
Civil Engineering Hindi
Commerce & Accountancy Kannada
Economics Kashmiri
Electrical Engineering Konkani
Geography Maithili
Geology Malayalam
History Manipuri
Law Marathi
Management Nepali
Mathematics Odia
Mechanical Engineering Punjabi
Medical Science Sanskrit
Philosophy Santhali
Physics Sindhi
Political Science & International Relations Tamil
Psychology Telugu
Public Administration English
Sociology Urdu
Statistics Zoology
Please check the detailed UPSC Optional Syllabus here.
PHASE 3: INTERVIEW/PERSONALITY TEST
The Interview test will be of 275 marks and the total marks for written examination is 1750. This sums up to a Grand Total of 2025 Marks based on which the final merit list will be prepared. Candidates who qualify the UPSC Mains Exam will be called for the ‘Personality Test/Interview’. These candidates will be interviewed by a Board appointed by the UPSC. The objective of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in the civil services by a board of competent and unbiased observers. The interview is more of purposive conversation intended to explore the mental qualities and analytical ability of the candidate
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