IAS preparation common mistakes - pravinnath/upscpreparationguide GitHub Wiki

10 Common Mistakes you commit during UPSC Preparation.

Civil service examination is the toughest examination in our country. UPSC conducts the examination yearly. So right from the beginning, one has to avoid the mistakes which are commonly done during preparation.

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Lakh of candidates appears for the Civil services examination which is conducted by UPSC every year. There are three stages in Civil services examination. The first one is preliminary examination which if a screening test, the second one is mains and finally the interview.

A goal without a plan is just a wish.” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Time mismanagement Time is a vital factor in UPSC preparation many people around us who spend their time in wild activities and they achieve very little because they are not concentrating on the right things. Civil service aspirant should use their time effectively. There should be detailed timetable. This does not mean one should spend 24 hours in studies. Carve the time for mental exercise, reading, amusing activities etc. candidate should use social media in a constructive manner.

“The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it–Shoppenhauer”

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Don’t say no to revision Civil service aspirants are not supposed to say no to revision. Some students may be busy in the studies without revision at the periodic intervals. Finally ends up with tension, poor performance, and failure. This aspect should not be ignored. Along with revision, develop a habit of making sticky notes on highlighted points. There is no substitute for revision.

“The more you leave out, the more you highlight what you leave in.” ― Henry Green

Choosing wrong optional Earlier there were two optional subjects, but now as per the new syllabus, there is one optional. So what does the best optional for IAS examination means? A best scoring optional? Most popular optional? Easy optional? The optional for which one ‘best’ coaching is available? Subject with some previous base in graduation or post-graduation?

Choose a subject which you like to study and explore. Aspirants should choose optional based on their liking for the subject. You can choose a subject, which you have already studied in school or college, as it will be easier for you to complete and score good marks. Aspirants should not go with mark trends, it might have proved advantageous for some aspirants, but you have to do justice with your favour and preferences.

“Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.” –Steve Jobs

Say yes to mock test Mock exams are important because they give a candidate a chance to improve their knowledge, decrease their mistakes and built self- confidence. The mock test helps to reveal the weak spots for you to strengthen. It will tell you, where are the gaps in your knowledge? which revision areas do you need to improve on? The feedback you will get from your mock exam papers will shine a light on where your revision strengths lie and where you could spend more time studying

Poor Newspaper reading strategy Reading the whole newspaper for 2-3 hours should not be the strategy of a UPSC aspirant. The newspaper contains both relevant and irrelevant news which is not required for Civil services examination. One can undoubtedly avoid sports news, Film gossip columns etc. Be selective in reading and spend maximum 1 hour.

“The newspaper is a greater treasure to the people than uncounted millions of gold.”- Henry Ward Beecher

Ignoring previous year papers Previous year question papers are the unavoidable part of UPSC preparation. Solving UPSC previous year paper will help to know the pattern and nature of questions. This also enables the candidate to find the repeated questions. Revising previous year question paper will also help in the preparation of UPSC main examination. Ignoring previous year paper can pave the way to failure.

“Exams test your memory, life tests your learning; others will test your patience.” ― Fennel Hudson

Selective sources of books UPSC examination is all about checking candidate’s basic knowledge, his/ her opinion, and common sense. It is not about you deep knowledge in subjects. Many of the candidates have a habit of purchasing a lot of books related to the subject topic and transforming their room into a library. Choose relevant sources and stick with it.

“A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.”

― Henry Miller

Constructive group study Generating own views and perception is very important in the civil service main examination. If you have an enthusiastic peer group those who are preparing for UPSC it is highly recommended to do group study and some intellectual discussions. While studying in a group, it helps one to understand the topic more precisely and easily. It also helps to gather different opinions, counter opinion, different perceptive etc.

“It does not matter where you go and what you study, what matters most is what you share with yourself and the world.”― Santosh Kalwar

Mugging up media conclusions This is an examination where candidates mug up the data from the all possible sources available to them. They are not interested in checking the authencity of information. The information available in different sources, especially in Medias, should be analyzed properly with government site and realities. Most of the times they ‘impose ideas’ which they concluded from politicians loose talk should not help in UPSC examination. Only a detailed educated analysis based on socio-economic- cultural spheres enable one to create a sensible opinion which UPSC expects from candidates.

“Memory is not wisdom; idiots can by rote repeat volumes. Yet what is wisdom without memory? -Martin Farquhar Tupper”

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Lack of focus and observation UPSC examination is a long journey. It needs perseverance, hard work, patience, observation and focus. During preparation, candidates experience great stress and depression. Apart from studies one has to be vigil about what is happening around him/ her. In this age of the Internet, smartphones, the social media, the problem is even bigger. If the candidate is not sure about his/her goals, they will end up someplace else. To achieve the goal on has to be focused on his/ her goal. Be focused on your goals.

“To acquire knowledge, one must study;but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.”― Marilyn Vos Savant