The wrong ways that you need to avoid to succeed in IAS Exams

Numerous individuals in India aspire to be an IAS (Indian Administrative Service) officer, yet only very few succeed. The competition levels in the UPSC is so enormous that 99.9% of candidates get bombed in it! Although the exam is tough, more often than not, the mistakes committed by the candidates lead them to failures. 

The ratio between the candidates who appeared for this exam and those who cleared it raises the question of why the success rate is so less. When some applicants succeed in the first try, then why others couldn’t break it after two to three attempts as well. Herein, let’s try and find an answer:

The reasons for failures of IAS candidates in UPSC Exams:

About 0.1% of applicants succeed in this very tough and prestigious examination. That doesn’t imply that this 0.1 % of candidates have some exceptional abilities. However, they are more astute and different from those applicants who couldn’t manage to pass the exam. 

In competitive examinations like UPSC, or Bank, applicants commit errors. On several occasions, candidates of IAS recognize their faults and don’t commit them again. What’s more, mostly commit another mistake to address the first. You will be amazed to realize that these mix-up or the reasons behind disappointment in the UPSC test are generally usual. 

So, let’s now briefly take a look at the mistakes to avoid for succeeding in IPS exams: 

Don’t have wrong assumptions about the syllabus:

If this is your first-time application for an IPS exam and you feel that the Prelims syllabus isn’t that troublesome, then you are leaving in dreams! The IAS prelims syllabus is unending. If you are postponing your preparation after you have had a look at the curriculum, you won’t succeed in the Preliminary exam of UPSC.

A typical slip-up is choosing the optional subject wrongly:  

Numerous IAS candidates pick an inappropriate topic as optional. They continue their attempt to mugging it up. However, if the subject is not of your interest, then all the endeavors you put will be futile. The majority of the applicants follow an unusual method to pick their optional subjects for the main exam. They choose their optional subjects as the subjects’ of the toppers’ of the earlier years.’ Or on the other hand, they observe at the statics and select one from them, which is most well known. This guesswork will never lead you to success. Select only those optional papers which interest you to succeed in the IAS examination. Go through the NCERT books for getting a clear comprehension of the subject and afterward proceed to the more advanced books. 

No conception about the subjects:

Books, for the most part, encompass an IAS test hopeful. All the notable distributer in the nation discharges their best books with the latest information in it. But to peruse all these most recent books, usually, the students neglect to look over their necessary abilities. IAS wannabes need to comprehend that this test isn’t only about the erudite information. It is also a test of your methodology. The expositions of the Mains examination are about how you are conceptually clear with the subject. 

The NCERT BOOKS: How important are they? 

The NCERT books are essential to have your conception clear about the subject. However, several applicants overlook these books and offer inclination to different books by some notable writers. These various books upgrade your insight, but only the NCERT books will build your subject’s base. These books ought not to be the Mains preparation material for preparing for the IAS; however, indeed, it must be part of your study material. 

No revise: 

The IAS syllabus is immense. That’s the reason; the majority of the candidates continue reading for it till the last moment. They don’t revise what they have studied until now because they are always looking to learn something new. This is why most failures in this exam happen. If you continue to learn new things and don’t do a revision of the earlier chapters, you will never know your loopholes. Regardless of how little your errors are in the test, they will have bigger effects, and to revise is the best way to discover the slip-up and address those. 

Absence of Guidance and proper plans: 

The competition in IAS exams is too high, and hence your plan to prepare for such an exam is very crucial. The absence of a proper plan is a significant reason why many candidates fail. Numerous understudies make a subject progressively hard for them. They concentrate on that subject only and henceforth fail to get a good score on the other subjects. Some candidates build-up a plan but don’t adhere to it. Therefore they couldn’t succeed in this examination. Making a timetable only isn’t all about planning; however, with regards to the IAS test, it ought to resemble building-up a plan of preparing the selected topics inside a stipulated time. Hence, ensure you are making and adhering to it. 

Lack of Mock test or a series of tests:

There are numerous series of tests available online for very nominal charges, most of them are free. These tests will test your knowledge. Here you will discover your shortcomings and qualities. The other and most significant advantage of these practice tests is that they will be assisting you in managing time. 

Attempting fewer questions:

Most candidates end-up trying much lesser questions that they ideally should be doing. Candidates should have an insight into the cut off score. For scoring high, always attempt a higher number of questions, for instance, 85 pr more, and obviously with a high accuracy rate.

Guesswork and being careless:

Always avoid answering randomly with guesswork. Remember, negative marking can cost you dearly. Try and always answer with your sense logic.   

Not making use of the 3-2-1-0 Elimination method:

The concept here is to tackle the Prelims question paper of UPSC in four phases – upheld by the number of answer options you’re ready to dispose of. Don’t simply start discovering questions at a stretch from one to hundred for those you already have the answers, instead utilize various rounds to take out inappropriate ones.

Lacking in passion:

Find out whether you really have the motivation to succeed in this exam; otherwise, you won’t succeed (that’s the case with most things in life!). Things like popularity, money, comfort that accompanies IAS, but make sure you have the passion for succeeding in this exam, then surely you can achieve all these. 

Not making notes: 

A typical propensity in the candidates for IAS, they are fond of reading and feature the significant points. They abstain from a lot of writing for saving time, and at the time of the exam, when they should be writing long papers, they fail to do so within the stipulated time, and consequently, the result doesn’t go their way. Making notes can help the IAS applicants in two different ways; it assists them in improving their writing speed, and what they’re writing is simple to recall for quite a while and simple for revision at the last minute of the assessment. One should build up the propensity for making notes for achieving success in the IAS examination.

Investing huge time understanding newspapers and not covering current affairs:  

Reading newspapers is a significant part of preparing for IPS, yet it ought to be done accurately. Applicants need to sort out the topics and take less time to cover significant points. They ought to preferably spend an hour for it max. 

If this is troublesome, it is smarter to follow a day by day news investigation that, as of now, sift through the meaningful content and presents it in the best way. 

Also, candidates should never ignore current affairs while reading the newspapers. They (current affairs) are a significant part of the UPSC question papers, and the large part of questions depends on these recent developments. 

Some essential techniques while taking the Mains examination: 

  • The first point is, you need to be thinking about the way of presenting your answers. The objective should be that your answer sheet is not the same as the others. A few of the methods or achievement mantras the same number of individuals state is available your answers conveniently, for example, the introduction, format of the answer, underlining, utilizing two hues for composing features than the points in such manner. 
  • Secondly, your answer will be to-the-point with the question. Try not to answer what your knowledge about the question is. Your response should be what exactly is asked in the question. It is the place many candidates turn out badly. 
  • Thirdly, use graphs, diagrams (flow charts), present your answer conveniently and precisely as per the question. This is a significant way of succeeding in the main examination.

Conclusion:

The last yet most significant point is to stay calm during your examination! Since that is the place, the vast majority of us feel tense and commit the errors. So it is significant right from the Prelims state to the Mains state until the stage of interview. In each step, keeping Calmness is significant.

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