TARGET IAS EXAM

Main Examination The written examination will consist of the following papers: Paper-I Section 1 Essay 200 Marks Section 2 English Comprehension & English Précis 100 Marks (Of Matriculation/ Xth standard level) Paper-II General Studies–I 250Marks (Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society) Paper-III General Studies –II 250 Marks (Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations) Paper-IV General Studies –III 250 Marks (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management) Paper-V General Studies –IV 250 Marks (Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude) Paper-VI Optional Subject – Paper 1 250 Marks Paper-VII Optional Subject – Paper 2 250 Marks Sub Total (Written test) 1800 Marks Personality Test 275 Marks. Grand Total 2075 Marks

What is the key to cracking the civil services exams? Civil service aspirants, who attended a seminar on “Civil Services Aptitude Test: 2013” organised by Triumphant Institute of Management Education (TIME) in association with The Hindu here on Sunday, were given tips on the best ways to tackle questions in the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT). Faculty members of TIME and experts enlightened the aspirants on the ways and means to cracking the exams with “how to” write rather than “what to” write in the exams. Several questions from the previous year’s exams were discussed. TIME CSAT Product Coordinator Naba Goswami posed questions to the students and asked them to reflect upon them. Chidanand Vatare, Assistant Commissioner – Revenue, who was the first rank holder in the Karnataka Administrative Service 2012, said that the course material provided by TIME helped him in the exams. Experts taking part in the seminar examined a wide range of questions ranging from logical reas...

Strategy for History Optional, This is a subject where strategising becomes paramount; since the expanse of the syllabus itself appears insurmountable. Since you are preparing for exam purposes here and your primary objective is not, presumably, the 'love of learning' , it becomes important to begin, as I like to put it, backwards. It's best to analyse the question papers spanning at least a decade; questions before that are too simplistic to have a fair chance of appearing in the same form again. So, I would suggest compartmentalising questions based on chronology. That gives us a fairly expansive scale of topics to focus on. Second, when preparing a particular topic from a book or notes, it's important to cover it in entirety-- i.e. think of all possible aspects of a situation that you can be questioned on. Apart from facts, focus on 'whys'-- why civilisations crumbled, how different was their end to another's end. 'How' religious policie...

Many aspirants are asking me how to tackle the most dreaded subject called General Studies(GS) at home on their own. This is how you can do it. I am formally putting it here under the notes of IAS Help... For Prelims GS - Start reading NCERT 8th to 12th in all subjects except English, Hindi, Accountancy and Business Studies. Make notes in less than two months.. and keep reading newspaper(The Hindu only)... for Magazines you can look upto Yojana and kurukshetra- to update your notes with the latest figures This will be all for the prelim examination.. Prelims, in the new pattern of UPSC is not very tough. it could be cleared easily through NCERT and reading newspapers only. How to read newspapers? check the bottom of the article. GS for Main Examination- For main you need to make up a mindset suitable for an IAS. You have to think like an IAS Officer. Not to criticize but to find solutions to the problems.. for that you need to enlarge your knowledge base and s...

To have clear understanding and conceptual clarity, you should always go by the syllabus and should pick up relevant resource for an effective preparation. Be clear, for examination like CSE, no guide-book can replace standard text-books and newspapers from your resource. The rationales to support this statement are; first , format of the guides is kept such which caters to the needs of wide range of aspirants with an aim to attract larger number of buyers. Second , to cover more and more topics, the endeavor of author is to incorporate important aspects of any given topic and at times basic information is left out which is absolutely necessary for a fresher to have conceptual clarity. Third , these guides are published much before the examination notification is published. So, looking at the dynamic nature of many constituents listed in syllabus, how-so-ever the popular book may be, it would be of limited use as for current events and contemporary developments, you need to look at ot...

In absence of any clarity about the proposed changes at Main Examination level, the best strategy is to concentrate on your study-plan and continue preparation till UPSC does not speak about the kind of changes coming in and when these are going to be implemented. Success in Civil Service Examination involves serious planning and long-term approach to prepare effectively. For serious candidates with competitive spirit flowing in veins, the need of the hour is to broaden the horizons and expend the realm of knowledge, see all possibilities instead of narrowing down vision to what is perceived suitable to you. Changes at Main Examination level will come or not, UPSC prefers to remove optional subjects or not, these are future possibilities; but, the recent trends confirm as such you have to make your preparation more efficient and innovative for the future. Looking at the facet of examination and tough competition, at times preparation is associated with taking risks and accepting fai...

Civil Service Examination has always been attracting talented candidates and with recent changes, a lot of higher, professional-degree equipped candidates are getting attracted towards it. In today’s fast paced world, you need clear cut ideas about the task in hand and know-how to execute it in the best possible manner. Civil Service Examination is a different exam-plan where some fresh graduates make it possible in the very first attempt and many post-graduates and higher-studies background aspirants struggle to cross the first hurdle – Prelims. An aspirant’s academic brilliance, performance and educational achievements are worthy that gives you wide knowledge base, recognition, remunerative career, respect etc. but, when you plan to appear in Civil Service Examination, you are on a different turf. Your academic brilliance and achievements are no guarantee for success in Civil Service Examination leave aside lust for IAS post that requires high ranks. UPSC is looking out for shar...