Self Preparation for IAS

For an exam that can give you an envied career for life, the prepartions have to be massive. Your IAS Preparations have to be dedicated, and half hearted attempts will get you nowhere. With lakhs of students competing for around 900 posts, its a tough cookie to crack. If you think that its like any exam that you have cleared so far, beware, it simply isn't. The IAS exam is like no other in scale and approach and therefore your preprations have to be very different and very wide based. Just knowledge of a subject will get you nowhere. It has to be combined with a jack-of-all-subjects kind of approach.

The preparation of Civil Services examination is one of the most grueling tasks. It is spread to almost 365 days. The candidates after writing the Prelims have wait for a month or so to know the results. Those who qualify get about three months to write the main exams. The result of the main exams comes after three months. The qualified students get about a month to appear for the interview/ personality test. The final merit list is announced after a month of the interview. So it's a long haul. So a good planning and sound strategy is essential for qualifying the Civil Services exam.

In this scenario self preparation for IAS becomes very tough. SO if you are planning to do self study, understand teh exam well. We have given you a lot many links below to get to know the exam very well. Once you have done that things should be more clear. Usually teh point of going to a coaching center is to find other people to study and compete with. But if you feel you prefer solitary preparations you are most likely right. SO follow your heart and do not waste time and energy in going to a coaching center.

We hope you will indeed take your IAS Preparations very seriously. The first step towards that is obviously the choice of subjects. Do choose them wisely.

Tips For IAS Preparation

Choosing Optional Subject

The new shift in Civil Services Main examination has not resolved the dilemma of choosing the optional subject. The candidates keep on asking what subject they may take as optional in order to score more marks. The first step towards that is obviously the choice of subjects. Do choose them wisely. The popular choices among candidates are; Public Administration, Sociology, Geography, History, Political Science and Philosophy. More than 80% of the Civil Service aspirants opt for these subjects. This is because all these subjects overlap with general studies and students find them convenient to handle. Among them Public Administration is the most popular choice among the students.

Numbers Game

The Civil Services aspirants should know the number game in this competition. Just take the statistics of 2012. There were about 5, 36,506, candidates applied for the prelims exam in 2012, out of which 2, 71,422 candidates actually wrote the test. Out of that about 13,092 candidates qualified for writing the Civil Services Main exam. Of which 2,674 candidates were selected for the personality test. Finally, 998 candidates found place in the merit list.

Importance of Prelims

All this intends to say that preparing for the Prelims is equally important as preparing for the mains examination. The preparation of both has to be done simultaneously because the two Prelim papers overlap with the mains GS papers.
Notwithstanding the facts, a minimum of 90 days has to be given exclusively for the preparation of the Prelim examination. This because qualifying Prelims is must to write the Civil Services mains examination.

IAS Exam Preparation

The Indian Administrative Services is an important government service for a country because it works for the perfect functioning of administration, law and order. However becoming an IAS officer is not so easy. Every year many IAS aspirants compete for close to 1000 vacancies, making it one of the toughest exams to crack. But with the right approach and strategy, any aspirant can crack the examination in his/her first attempt. It is highly essential for aspirants to know and understand the requirements of the examination such as the UPSC syllabus, pattern, eligibility criteria, application procedure and other such significant details before preparations.

The UPSC consists of three stages namely, the Preliminary Exam, the Mains Exam, and the Personality Test/Interview. A detailed preparation and a long term strategy is needed to clear the UPSC exam. Depending upon the individual capability, a candidate may clear the exam in few months of preparation or may require several attempts to make it to the selection list. But, the fundamental quality is to have a focused approach, strong commitment and determination.

• Get set for the IAS Exam
• Focus on Prelims
• Mains Exam Explained
• Shooting for the Interview

IAS Preparation books for beginners

1. IAS Book Center
2. Suggested Books for CS Exam
3. Download Free NCERT Books
4. IAS Preparation Material
   • History notes
   • Management notes
   • Sociology notes
   • Political Science
   • Anthropology notes
   • General Studies notes
   • Law notes
   • Biotechnology notes
5. History Tuition
6. Civil Service News
7. IAS Alerts
8. Notes on Current Affairs
   • International Current Affairs & Events
   • Indian Current Affairs News
   • Science & Technology News
9. - E Magazine
10. E- Books
    • Model Essays
    • Union Budget 2017-18
    • History Notes
    • GS Question Bank
11. IAS exam question Papers
12. Prelims Online Model test
13. Articles/ Essays on Current Affairs
14. Essay contest
15. Poll Question
16. IAS Discussion Forum
17. Study Together
    • Bangalore IAS Group
    • Chennai IAS Group
    • Kolkata IAS Group
    • Hubli IAS Group
18. Best IAS Coaching centers in India
19. Earn with us
20. Scholarship
21. Newsletter
22. IAS VIDEOS