Can anyone clear UPSC civil services exam with 6 months of preparation?
YES. Quite
possible.
However, there are
certain conditions involved, in making the best out of such a short period of
time -
1. Your basics must be
sufficiently well developed when you start preparing. It is difficult to start
absolutely from scratch, with no knowledge whatsoever in any of the subjects of
preparation, and then do everything in 6 months.
2. You must know
exactly what to do in the 6 months of preparation. The booklist, strategy,
priorities, and everything else must be crystal clear in your mind from Day 1.
You cannot afford to waste days and weeks in taking people’s advice on how/what
to do.
3. You have to
minimise your own mistakes. And, more important is to learn from mistakes made
by others. After reading hundreds of toppers interviews before commencing
preparation, I had learnt that neglecting answer writing is the costliest
mistake that aspirants make in their 1st attempt. So I made it a point not to
commit this mistake myself.
4. You need to have
well developed taste of reading history, geography, economy, international
relations, etc. This is because 6 months is too small a duration of time to
build your taste in these subjects and then start preparing from a competitive
exam’s point of view. This ‘taste’ will be the crucial thing that will sustain
your attention in preparation for long periods of time.
5. You need to have a
sky-high confidence level about clearing the exam. This is the kind of
confidence that you never have to reveal to anyone. It just stays resolutely in
your mind. You simply “believe” that nothing can stop you from clearing the
exam. To a certain extent, you have to be stubborn and arrogant about it.
The situation is
very much like being a bowler and defending 6 runs in the last over of a T20
match. Your margin of error is absolutely zero, and you HAVE to bowl 6 of your
best deliveries. Likewise, for UPSC preparation too, you need to put your best
foot forward for the entire duration.
0 Comments