Nature of the Exam

Before anyone starts playing a game, he would like to know the rules of the game and that is sportsmanship. Similarly in any competitive exam, understanding the nature of the exam is very critical. The preparation will be more focused when you know exactly what the Examination expects rather demands from you. Remember at every stage of your preparation that this examination is relative. You only need to be better than the other aspirants to get a final place in the merit list.

The nature of the exam can be analysed through the following ways:

 A thorough perusal of Notification and carefully understanding the requirements from it.

 A thorough analysis of the previous year’s papers and the recent trends.

 Discussing elaborately with teachers, successful candidates and seniors.

There is lot of hype around the IAS exam. A fresh aspirant comes with the idea that he has to do some hi-funda preparation and be like a scholar in the subjects. He starts his preparation on a high note and works hard in the beginning. For each topic he tries to do maximum and best preparation. In the process, he reads all the textbooks and the coaching material available in the market. Some spend 2-3 days on each topic and prepare 10-15 pages of notes. Gradually, he feels exhausted and the momentum slows down. Due to this approach, he is not able to complete the syllabus. So, he goes for a selective study as the exam nears. Now the pressure becomes unbearable, as on one hand he has not completed the syllabus and on the other hand he prepared so much notes for each topic that revision becomes impossible within a short time. People have a funny idea that Civil Services can be cleared only in multiple attempts. So, the aspirant starts succumbing to pressure and convinces himself that it is only his first attempt and, therefore he can prepare better next time.

Though the exam demands hardwork from the aspirant, it should be “intelligent hardwork” and not just hardwork. This exam is all about the basics with lot of clarity. The exam can be written well when the preparation is simple and the aspirant is very strong in basics with clarity.

Since the competition is relative, your answers in the examination should not only be correct but also different with a touch of creativity. The creativity and innovation is not something that you will get in the textbooks. They have to be developed on your own. It requires lot of thinking and observation. By innovation in answers what is meant is –
 Catchy introduction
 Diagrams
 Graphs
 Flow charts
 Maps
 Case studies
 Contemporary touch and applicability
 Catchy conclusion.

Basics with clarity will come when there is lot of questioning while studying. The topic has to be studied in a logical manner. Suppose you are studying a topic on Inflation. Think logically as a layman, then you should get the following sequence of questions

 What is inflation
 Why should there be inflation, i.e., causes
 So what if there is inflation, i.e., impact
 If impact is negative, then naturally we should be doing something to reduce it, so what steps were taken and what happened
 If still inflation is there, then what’s wrong with the steps taken
 How to control inflation, any suggestions by experts and recent
developments.

You can add innovations like a simple graph showing how the inflation has been in recent times and also a flow diagram about the impact of inflation.

In this manner, the basics in the topic can be covered with clarity. And the topic should be remembered in this logical structured way for the exam. It should be understood that once you have done the topic in this comprehensive method through logical questioning, the preparation is over for that topic. You need not go through any journals or hi-funda textbooks for becoming an expert in the topic. This much of basics with clarity are sufficient for the exam. And, this is what humanly possible in view of the huge syllabus.

The following points should be kept in mind while doing preparation:

 The focus should be on gaining basic clarity in each topic, which will come only through lot of logical questioning.
- More time should be spent on thinking about the topic and making innovations, rather than on reading too many study material.
 The previous papers should be thoroughly analyzed to understand the expectations of the examiner.
 The preparation should be focused and all the hard work should be channelised in the right direction.

*COURTESY : HOW TO CRACK CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION written by RANKERS*