Master the Art of Handling and Cracking the Civil Services Exam

Karthik Gurunathan Iyer, all-India rank (AIR) 7 in the civil services examination, 2010, says he followed an integrated approach while preparing for the exams. He was tackling the mains (political science and history) even while studying for the preliminary exams (for which his optional was political science). Early groundwork can help as the anxiety before the declaration of the prelims can cloud your mind in those last few precious months.

“You should have a good grasp of core topics, instead of starting new ones by this time,” says Iyer, 22, a BSc (physics) from Pune’s Fergusson College, now pursuing his MA in political science (previous) from the Indira Gandhi National Open University (he used the study material from his current course for the prelim preparation).  

Another finalist, Arindam Dakua, rank 32, suggests, “Put equal stress on GS, first optional as well as second optional.” However, he emphasises that by August (when just a few months are left for the mains), candidates should get a good grip on the optional subject if they are not too familiar with it.

“Concentrate on the second optional if you have not studied it at the bachelor’s level. You should be thorough with it by the time the preliminary result is out, says Dakua, who is working towards his PhD in political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), Delhi. Dakua chose political science and philosophy as his optionals. In previous attempts he had political science with geography, the latter not on his subject combination after Class 10. He changed the optional pair and successfully changed the outcome too. Incidentally, the political thought aspect of his BA and MA programmes covered 30-40% of the UPSC’s philosophy optional syllabus, he says.  

For her optional papers, Shuchita Kishore, AIR 39 and a PhD (English candidate at JNU), took a cue from previous years’ papers to zero in on frequently asked questions. Kishore, who had political science as an optional in the prelims and political science and English literature in the mains, advises candidates to make a chart and write down ‘Paper I, Section A’ in the left column. Against it, make columns for the previous 10 years (2001, 2002 and so on). In each year’s column, check from which topics the questions were asked in Section A in the exam and put it down on the chart. “This gives you a fair idea of the important topics. Study these thoroughly and do this exercise for all sections of all the papers. This chart should be with you when you study,” she advises.

 “Also, in English, finish all recommended texts. Read book critiques by Indian critics in journals like Biblio. Be very clear about post-colonial writing in the syllabus and about issues like feminism,” Kishore adds.  
Source: HT Horizons