How can you clear IAS Examination with one year of smart preparation?
IAS examination is often considered to be one examination where destiny has a large role to play. We have heard toppers talking about cracking the examination, after repetitive attempts, in their last attempt, whereas we are also aware of some who have cleared the IAS in the first attempt itself. Well, destiny is not in our hands, but our efforts are definitely within our domain. The syllabus for the IAS exam is huge and if smart techniques are not applied for preparation, then it would be difficult to crack it, ever! One needs to prepare a proper study plan and stick to it with strong determination and dedication. But, at the same time, it should also be noted that if efforts are not channelized proper;y without a plan, then all the determination and dedication would go in vain.
Educrat IAS enlists below a detailed strategy for IAS preparation in one year, which is smart and realistic:
- Know your syllabus and understand the question pattern: The first month should be completely devoted to reading and re-reading the syllabus and linking at least five years’ IAS question papers to the syllabus. The IAS exam demands you to have a fair knowledge of everything, be it polity, economics, history, science, and technology or the environment. But it never expects to write a thesis on anything! Hence, sitting with all the books and starting from the first page with the goal of completing the entire book, for each of the subjects, will land you nowhere. Neither will you be able to complete reading the books nor will you become an IAS officer. Knowing the syllabus and the question pattern will enable you to limit your study, and save time for revision, which is more important than learning new topics.
- Read the basic NCERT books: Conceptual clarity is the tool which will help you ace the IAS exam. The selected texts followed at Educrat IAS, are all standard NCERT books, which provide explanation of topics in the simplest form possible. (to get a good idea of the standard books for IAS preparation read our blog: https://educratias.com/syllabus/). These books should be thoroughly read once and the important portions and the terms should be marked/highlighted. Second reading onwards, the student should only focus on revising the highlighted portions and strictly avoid reading the lessons, completely at length.
- Mock Tests: After completing each topic go back to the past years question papers and try solving the related questions from that particular chapter. Remember one thing, by the time you sit for the Prelims exam, you should have solved at least 1000 MCQs. The prelims question paper is the first hurdle that you will cross and you will not be able to do so just by memorizing and revising your lessons. Solve as much questions as you can. Make it a routine, to at least some 10 questions per day. Same technique should be followed for the mains exam also. Each questions in the mains paper should be completed within 200-250 words. Apart from writing, presentation also counts in the mains question and all such factors together decide the merit of the candidate in the final result. Answer writing is an art, which caters to the demand of the question in the most informative manner to the examiner and there should be no unnecessary points; otherwise marks will be deducted.
- Newspaper Notes: Read the newspaper daily and update your notes (read our blog: to know more about the art of making newspaper notes). Link the conventional subjects with the newspaper articles and this will save your time and result in a holistic coverage of the syllabus.
Most importantly, prepare a daily routine and stick to it. There is no hard and fast rule that you should lock yourself up in a room and study for 12 hours in a day, forget to sleep, forget to eat, or anything like that. Having a stress-free mind and staying fit are equally important.
Our Director Sir often says: Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!
