HOW TO CRACK UPSC EXAM IN FIRST ATTEMPT?

Vignan IAS Academy > HOW TO CRACK UPSC EXAM IN FIRST ATTEMPT?

Having answer and strong reason of “Why I want to become an IAS officer” will make your UPSC journey easier. Vignan IAS Academy is born to give births to India’s upcoming IAS, IPS and other Civil service servants. Vignan IAS have strong Strategic UPSC Study plan and Unique strategy which is helping our each IAS aspirant to get through the Civil Services Exam from many years. This makes students of Vignan IAS Academy to crack their UPSC exams in First attempt.

You may adopt the following to get success in IAS exam.

Choosing the correct UPSC Study Strategy and make use of that according to individual is of great significance to crack the Preliminary stage (First Stage)of this examination.

Why to follow Vignan IAS UPSC Study strategy ?

“Experience makes IAS Academy perfect” slight change in this quote written and agreed by great experienced writers. Through UPSC journey of all our alumni and based on our experience while walking and guiding with them in their journey to get through the Civil Services Exam, Vignan IAS has reached at the point where without any doubt we can say each and every IAS aspirant to follow our UPSC Study plan and strategy to crack UPSC exam in first attempts and at very young age. Always results matters and that is the reason most of the aspirants travel in dream of joining Vignan IAS Academy and Igniting their success to accure UPSC Rank in proper guidance.

UPSC/IAS Exam has 3 stages;

  1. Civil services Preliminary Examination – (Prelims CSAT)
  2. Civil services Mains Examination – (Mains Exam)
  3. Interview or personality test

All three stages demands equal dedication and precise UPSC Study strategy to successfully clear them with a good score. Below are the Best UPSC Strategy Tips and Tricks by Vignan IAS Academy. Though Vignan IAS Academy provides detailed mind-maps and Planned schedules.

Key Tips and Tricks to succeed in UPSC Prelims (Stage 1)

As per the latest UPSC Pattern of UPSC CSE (Prelims-CSAT), the Civil services preliminary examination are characterized into two papers:

  1.   General studies (GS) paper I
  2.   CSAT (Civil services Aptitude Test) paper II

These exams are multiple-choice question based where each paper is of 200 marks, which makes for a total of 400 marks in UPSC prelims. Point to note here is, in these two exams questions carry negative marks. This means that for each incorrect answer, aspirant can lose one-third of the marks. Aspirant will get 2 hours of time to complete the exam.

As we all know individual cannot attempt exams multiple time as based on age criteria number of attempts will be decides. VIA will always inspire aspirant to clear Prelims in the first attempt which will open the lock to clear the UPSC in the first attempt with the following keys.

Key 1: Focus on syllabus

To attempt maximum questions in UPSC exam, aspirant should know which portion they have to focus on while studying, hence syllabus play very important role in UPSC journey. VIA is providing hardcopy of syllabus to each aspirant so that it will be handy and always it will be in front of them, which will save their time as well as it will make them to study important topics.

Key 2: Practice Previous Year question paper

To get a whole idea about the question papers, it necessary for aspirant to go through all the previous year papers, especially from year 2011. VIA will focus on this part by providing and practicing previous year question papers for each subject on regular basis.

Key 3: Give Test Series

“Practice makes the man perfect” correctly said and quoted by the great writers. Before appearing for the UPSC exam, VIA will make sure that every aspirant has gone through number of Test Series conducted and given by VIA team. This old approach is more of an integrated approach, hence VIA thinks this is the best strategy.

The Test Series is planned in such a way that all important portions and reference standard books, along with previous year Question papers are covered too. The benefit of these test series are aspirants will get clarification of the doubts in the lecture and their writing skill will be getting polished.

Vignan IAS Academy Test Series is wound of:

  • Coverage of the portion from the all relevant reference books and NCERT text books
  • Test series will be covering questions from previous year papers
  • Every week Current Affairs test will be conducting

Key 4: Study of NCERT Text books and standard reference books

NCERT textbooks from Class 6 to 12 are essential in UPSC exam Preparation. NCERT are the basic books where aspirant will get basic idea about the topics which will help to understand content from the reference books. Time management plays an important role in all phases, hence aspirant has to complete study from their NCERT books as early as possible and VIA is suggesting in initial three months so that they can switch to standard reference book.

While studying VIA asks aspirant to make handy notes in their own understanding language which will make their revision easier.

Key 5: Up-to-date with Daily Current Affairs

Vignan IAS has dedicated team who is mainly focusing on daily current affairs, as current affair plays very important role in UPSC. Vignan IAS team publishes Daily Current Affairs through various fragments which will includes,

  • Daily analyses of important Viewpoints from various Newspapers such as “The Hindu”.
  • Monthly magazine of daily current affairs will be available online as well as offline.
  • Multiple choice based question papers will be prepared for the current affairs.

Key 6: Attention to Paper-2 (CSAT)

From past few years you can say from 2015, the difficulty level of Paper-2 in Prelims Exam has been increased gradually. In this paper aspirant need to get minimum cut-off of 33%. Side-lining of this paper can affect badly. Though individual needs to score 66 marks out of 200, aspirant have to work delicately on this. Solving previous year question paper and giving test series conducted by Vignan IAS will help to get through this paper.

Key 7: Before study count result

Aspirants are going to invest their Time, Efforts and Study Material. If aspirants are able to count or see their result before starting study then defiantly they will get path to walk towards. Always think in a business mind way, whatever you are investing you should compensate that by your result.

UPSC Mains & Interview (Stage 2 & 3)

Let us talk about Civil services Mains examination,

After clearing Prelims with the good score, aspirant has to face new challenge called Civil services main examination which decides aspirants future whether they are going to serve the nation or not.

Keys will remain the same for mail examination as well, just need to rotate in a correct direction,

  • Go through the entire syllabus once again for all four General Studies Papers
  • Study the important topics which has been demanded in syllabus from the suggested standard reference book by VIA
  • Minimum 2 times and maximum 3 times revision from single source will be more beneficial, do not mess up with multiple sources which will result in lack of time and unclear topics.
  • Read and analyse daily current affairs thoroughly on a daily basis given by VIA
  • VIA will make sure that aspirant is writing at least 2 questions on General Studies everyday
  • VIA will help aspirant to choose their Optional Subject based on their area of interest and knowledge. Also VIA approach will help aspirant to complete optional papers before the month of December or January
  • Essay writing is one of the crucial part of mains examination. Writing an Essay is common but writing an Essay as UPSC aspirant is different. With the help of VIA essay expert faculty aspirant will write one essay once in a week on various general topics.
  • No matter in which phase you have reached in UPSC journey, do not forget to revise what you have studied on daily basis.

Interview stage will come after successful completion of prelims and mains examination. VIA has experienced faculty and guests whose experience is going to help Nation’s upcoming IAS officer. VIA will help aspirant from scratch say from creating Resume till giving mock interviews. Retired IAS officers will be visiting to share their experience and few interview tips to aspirant which will help to clear their interviews.    

Let us now explore practical tips to crack the UPSC civil service exam in your first attempt:

  • Start at the correct time

VIA has total 14 months of study plan which will make aspirant to start one year in advance if clearing CSE in the first attempt is your goal. One year is considerable time to design a proper study plan and walk through it.

  • Clearly understand the UPSC syllabus

Before staring study your basic regarding UPSC should be clear. Clear understanding of syllabus and basic terminologies will help to study further.

  • Understand the paper pattern

Dig out previous years question papers. You will get enough idea about paper pattern in terms of frequent topics and question style. Concentrate on preparation based on the previous year’s pattern.

  • Stick to minimal number of books

As mentioned earlier for prelims as well as mains stick to one good resource. Avoid getting mixed up with multiple books for one subject.

  • Analyse Daily Current affairs

You must thoroughly read “The Hindu” newspaper daily. Follow Current affairs provided by VIA and   make notes on current affairs daily.

Stick to the Study Plan

We know this sounds cliché but its correct approach. You must stick to your study plan throughout the whole year as you did on the first day. You determination should be same from first till last day.

No matter what, end up sticking to your schedule as per plan every day. Fixed hours every day, repeatedly is the right way to approach and follow through your plan.

  • Don’t forget to revise

Prelims are a fact-based paper. After reading vast syllabus, it is obvious to lose track of knowledge gained earlier. Revision is a best practice to keep all the things in mind in a fresh way.

  • Practice well for Aptitude test

Aptitude requires best practice and time management. You can give aptitude on Comprehension, logical reasoning, mental ability in a proper way if you have well practiced for the same. Besides just reading up on Paper I, prepare equally well for Paper II as well.

  • Do not miss Test Series and Mock tests

Answering previous year’s question papers give a clear insight into the type of questions asked in the UPSC CSE, and also helps in valuation of your own level of preparation.

You can follow VIA mock tests and test series which will available online and offline. Take these and the guidance offered by our faculty to shape your answer writing skill.