Common Practices to Follow for IAS Prelims Exam

To crack the country’s toughest examination, you need not be intelligent and studious. Throughout the examination process for UPSC, examine the general knowledge, aptitude, ethics and communication skill. If you are ready to mould yourself with a proper guidance, you can crack the exam easily by preparing from home. The Civil Services Preliminary examination is all set to begin in just a few days, conducted by UPSC - Union Public Service Communication. It is believed to be the first step to test oneself through the toughest stage of an IAS selection.

There are two segments of the UPSC exam paper. That is paper 1 comprises of questions regarding General Studies and Paper 2 is the Aptitude Test. Each paper carries two hundred marks each. Only a few candidates will be able to clear the prelims due to lack of right approach and less availability of seats. Let's have a look at some of the tips that help to crack Civil Services Prelims Exam.

Exam Pattern Knowledge

The first and the foremost step towards systematic preparation of Civil Service Exam is to get familiarized with the exam pattern. As mentioned earlier, there are 2 papers in Prelims. Paper 1 comprises of 100 Questions and Paper 2 comprises of 80 questions with time duration of 2 hours.

Along with exam pattern, the candidates must also be familiar with UPSC Syllabus so that it prevents them from covering irrelevant topics.

Preparation of General Studies

The general studies for IAS Exam comprise of several subjects and hence the candidate must master this paper in order to reach the destination (Mains). Speed and Accuracy is one of the key tools that are required to tackle this examination. Each question carries two marks. Since there is negative marking, students should think twice before answering.

Reference to the Previous Year Papers

Refer last 5 years question papers as it would give an outline of the questions that will appear in an examination. The candidates should note that UPSC will never repeat its questions hence never mug up those questions.

Follow the Recommended Books

Choosing a right study material and a recommended book also plays an important role in the preparation of the UPSC Exam. For each subject, there are specific writer books that students refer nowadays. Some of the basic geography and history could be referred from the NCERT Books for class 9th, 10th etc.  The NCERT Books are written by experts and also gives a clear cut idea of each topic.

Daily News Reading and Current Affairs

UPSC asks various questions that are related to current affairs. Hence, it is important to keep track of current affairs. Learners can go through newspapers like Hindu, Times of India etc. so that they are up to date with daily news and current affairs. One must focus on events, places and people while reading the newspapers. This also helps to build up the vocabulary of the candidates.

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