Can I prepare for the IAS Exam with a full time job?

Clearing the IAS Exam requires almost all of your time. No wonder, the IAS aspirants with full time jobs often feel stressed. Their job is not going to leave them with much of the time to prepare for the Exam! At least, that is what an IAS aspirant with a full time job is worried about most of the time.

However, most of their fears are unfounded. The truth is that it is only a myth that an aspirant with a full time job would not be able to prepare for the IAS Exam. There is always a huge difference in between the myth and the truth.

Even the candidates with all the time at their disposal do not find it easy to prepare well for, let alone clear the IAS Exam. However, the truth is that it is not the quantity, but the quality of the time that really counts.

An IAS aspirant with the entire day at his disposal would not be able to study well, if he is yawning most of the time. But you can, of course, prepare thoroughly, if you put in the quality time of a few hours in the morning, before you leave for the office.

A few tips for the IAS aspirants with full time jobs to prepare for the IAS Exam

Here are a few tips for working professionals to follow in order to prepare for the Civil Services Exam without leaving their job.

1. Online preparation

Online preparation for the IAS Exam often comes to the rescue of the working professionals with the full time jobs. With no availability of the time to attend the coaching classes at a traditional IAS coaching institution, a full time employee finds it easier to prepare online as per his own convenience.

Besides, the online preparation for the IAS Exam also helps you with:

Make an access to the best of the study material available online
Get familiar with various perspectives and concepts relevant for your preparation online
Watch the relevant videos that might help you with your preparation
Solve the Test Series available online

2. Strategize your preparation as per the hours, rather than the days

You are already busy the best part of the day attending to the duties for your full time job. So, you obviously cannot think of preparing the specific topics in a specific number of days.

You do not have days, but hours at your disposal. When you think of preparing for the Exam in hours and not days, you will also have to squeeze your minutes into seconds. Rather, they are already squeezed because of your job.

Time is precious for all of the IAS aspirants. But, in your case, it is even more so, because you have a full time job. Thus, it is advisable to make 100% use of whatever time is available to you.

3. Cut down the travelling time

Though you cannot cut down the time spent in the office, it is possible to cut down the travelling time, at least. It is advisable to work in a nearby office. Or if you are not able to get yourself transferred to a branch of your office that is near your home, it would make more of sense to look for an accommodation near your place of work.

The above arrangement, in case, you are able to implement it, would help you cut down the travelling time to a great extent. Thus, not only you would be getting more of the time to prepare for the Exam, but also be able to conserve your energy. And it would help you focus on the preparation better when you reach home.

4. Avoid studying while you travel

In case, you think that you are making a smart move by studying while you travel, you are highly mistaken. Let alone saving the time, it would only result in tiring the muscles of your eyes. With the fatigued eye muscles, your ability to read is going to be affected in a highly negative manner.

Thus, it would be better that you relax while travelling. It will help you study better when you reach home.

5. Revise frequently

Though you might comprehend whatever you read in one attempt only, you might not be able to retain the same in your memory with as much of success. Besides, you have a busy job schedule as well. So, it definitely makes more of sense to make frequent revisions within brief spans (as there is already paucity of time) to retain whatever you read in your memory for longer than usual spans of time.

6. Do not make comparisons

If you are comparing yourself with your competitions who seem to have all the time in the world available to them, you are only mistaken. Stop making comparisons. What they are having is the quantity of time. And what you can put into the preparation is the quality of time. So, do not make any comparisons, not on the grounds of the availability of the time, at least. Simply focus on your preparation and make it as qualitative as you can!

7. Be selective

UPSC syllabus seems to be as vast as the sky itself. And your job seems to have taken away all the time that was available in the world till eternity! So, there is no scope to behave like a voracious reader who can read whatever books or articles he finds. Make a selective reading. And read the content time and again. And do not forget to revise the same whenever possible. Rather, rather try to find a provision of time to make the revisions. Selective reading would help you finish preparing the UPSC syllabus and also retain in your memory, all the important details and information that you find relevant.

8. Follow a fixed time table

Charting out a time table is, obviously, highly desirable to compensate the lack of time. And what is more desirable that you follow the same! Thus, with all the tips given above, it would not be difficult for you to prepare for the IAS Exam even with a full time job. Make use of the time valuable to you, prepare well and you can crack the Exam.