You Are Determined To Join The Prestigious Indian Administrative Services.
As A Career Choice, Your Decision Is Not Surprising; The IAS Provides A Competitive, Challenging Work Environment, Job Security And A Host Of Other Attractive Monetary And Non-Monetary Benefits.
But, First, You Must Crack The Rigorous Selection Process.
This Consists Of A Preliminary Exam, A Main Exam And An Interview Conducted By The Union Public Service Commission; ONLY The Most Intelligent, Capable And Responsible Individuals Make It Through This Gruelling Process.
Mona Pruthi From Haryana, Who Topped The Exam This Year, Offers Her Tips For Success. An Unusual Decision
Mona, Who Is Currently Training With The Indian Revenue Service, Is An M Phil In Literature. She Made An Unusual Decision When She Decided To Give The Exam -- She Did Not Register In A Training Institute That Coaches Students For Competitive Exams
"I Feel You Can Study Better At Home. But You Should Carefully Select The Material You Want To Study," She Says.
I. Focus
You Must Have Clarity Of Thought And The Ability To Stay Focused On Your Studies.
Ii. Good Writing Skills
"You Must Be Able To Write Very Well," She Says.
This Will Help You Present Facts Well And In A Pleasant Manner.
Iii. Try, Try, Try And You Will Succeed
This Was Mona's Third Attempt At The Exam. "My First Attempt Was A Casual One," She Explains. But The Experience Helped Her Understand The Kind Of Questions One Could Expect And How They Must Be Dealt With.
She Did Better On Her Second Attempt And Managed To Enter The Indian Revenue Service.
Iii. Time Management
After A Long, Hard Day At The Revenue Office In Faridabad, Haryana, Where She Was Training, Mona Would Return To Her House In Sector 15. After Spending Some Time On A Cup Of Tea And Chatting With Her Family, Mona Would Study For The Exam.
"One Of The Main Task Before An IAS Officer Is Time Management. I Would Do My Work In The Indian Revenue Service And Then Come Home And Study. I Would Devote Good Number Of Hours Everyday For My Studies. I Think I Have Already Learnt How To Manage My Time," She Smiles.
She Is Now Looking Forward To Training As IAS Officer.
V. My Study Strategy
An M Phil In English Literature, Mona Has Been Constantly Good In Academics; An Added Advantage Was Her Excellent Grasping Power.
She Would Carefully Select Her Books And Literature And, In Cases Of Confusion, Hold Discussions With Her Father, Who Worked In The Indian Judicial Service. "His Judicial Background Helped Me Clarify A Lot Of Things," She Says.
You Must Keep Assessing Your Points Of Strength And Keep On Improving Upon Them, She Explains. Simultaneously, Keep Working On Your Shortcomings And Turn Them To Your Advantage.
Here are some more Time management TipsDon’t promise an unachievable target to yourself. Make short, realistic and accomplishable targets. Like ‘I will finish reading 20 pages in next 2 hrs’ instead of committing ‘I will finish 500 pages book in 2 days’ it’s not the way we are designed to perform.
Don’t make a study plan for more than 12 weeks. See if it works for you, don’t make major changes in it during period small adjustments are fine but that too should not be very frequent.
Don’t make any exhaustive schedule with account of every minute – just make a timeline for accomplishments.
After spending time (say 2 hrs) with an assignment, assess periodically how much value it has added.
Keep a consistent reading (not study just reading) time of 3 hrs a day no matter what happens, don’t fail to use all 180 minutes reading a textbook may be NCERT or other text book. Prefer 7 pm – 10 pm or as per your habit. Don’t take dinner break during this time and also keep cellphones away, world is not gonna end in these 3 hrs.
Three are necessary IAS Preparation other than course – One text book of each subject (strictly one), NCERT Books (old and new), and tests (you don’t need to join any IAS Preparation test series, do it from previously asked papers in IAS Exams).
Tests are not just to check your progress but to give you that extra push to prepare and perform. So, prepare well before each and every test as you are supposed to do for your final exams.
Revise, revise and revise everything you are studying, because unless you will not revise all your study will go waste. Keep a 40:60 ratio of time allotment for new readings and revisions.
Eat healthy food, sleep well (neither less than 6 hours nor more than 8 hours), meditate for at least 15 minutes everyday. Five to six hours of devoted study is enough.
Don’t consume alcohol even occasionally. Minimize and then quit smoking if you does.
Follow a regular routine. Don’t make changes every now and then. Stick to your plan.
Don’t seek advice from everyone you can be the best judge for directing your efforts. Don’t keep asking everyone you meet – the guy who topped, who failed 4 times, who has been teaching for 14 hrs, your aunty, intelligent brother etcetera. Take the charge dude, start making your own model for success.
Always remember that your IAS Preparation is to become topper. If you will aim at just qualifying the exam it will get reflected in your IAS preparation, and naturally you will not give your best.
Focus on optimum time utilization, instead of maximum time consumption.
Don’t keep any backup plan for the case of failure. Don’t even think about it. You are working to succeed. There can not be any backup plan for your ambition either you can achieve it or you can fail to do so. If you will donate some time for your backup plan will become the primary.
