What Makes The UPSC Civil Services Aspirants Win Or Lose?

Civil Services Aspirants: There are quite a few who turn out to be winners when it comes to cracking the UPSC Civil Services Exam. However, the majority fails. What is it that makes the aspirant win or lose?

Civil Services Aspirants: What Are The Winning Traits?

The winning traits are the best decisive factors that count the most when it comes to cracking the Civil Services Exam. It should be noted that the Civil Services Exam comprises three stages. The last, and hence the final stage focuses on a holistic assessment of the complete personality of the interviewee.

Thus, the UPSC Interview is also known as the Personality Test. The point to be driven back home is that it is your personality that comprises the winning traits. Thus, it is your personality that finally helps you clear the Civil Services Exam.

Here are a few Winning Traits that every IAS aspirant should have in order to clear the Civil Services Exam successfully

1. High Curiosity Level

Curiosity is what makes you learn. Besides, the vastness of the UPSC syllabus requires an IAS aspirant to be curious enough to know all the details. Thus, needless to say, a curious candidate not only learns better, but is driven by the desire to learn. And, as a result, it makes his learning speed faster.

In the same vein, a curious student is always the one who comprehends well whatever is being taught in the classroom. And the same applies to the self-study as well. Besides, when you are curious to learn, your interest in the activity is going to be sustained for a longer time than it would have been otherwise.

Almost all would agree that you may move ahead with an activity in a successful manner only if you feel interested to do the same. Thus, it cannot be denied that a prolonged continuation with an activity requires perseverance.

And perseverance requires interest. The interest has its roots in curiosity. So, it is advisable to be curious specifically when you are preparing for the Civil Services Exam. A High Curiosity Level is the first and the foremost winning trait for successfully clearing the CSE.

2. A Balanced Perspective

The perspective does count! That is to say, the manner in which you look at something contributes more to make you successful. The perspective plays a decisive role in helping you win or lose a battle all through the life. The same applies specifically when you are to beat the hardest of the hard competitions, i.e., the Civil Services Exam.

Thus, the perspective that you opt for also reflects how balanced your complete personality is. And the very same perspective(s) mirror your personality to a considerable extent when you write down the answers during the Mains Papers for the CSE.

Wait! There is yet a lot more to the perspective. A balanced perspective(s) or otherwise can make or mar your answers during the Interview. And your performance in the Interview does count to a greater extent than what you have thought of initially. Apart from clearing the CSE, your score in the interview may also help to push your rank higher.

3. An Unprejudiced Mind

Opting for the balanced perspectives helps you stay unprejudiced. It’s an unprejudiced mind that helps transform an aspirant into a successful Civil Servant specifically an IAS officer.

Union Public Service Commission looks for the candidates with unprejudiced minds when it comes to recruiting the Civil Servants. Besides, it is highly important to stay unprejudiced if you have been aiming at joining the Indian Civil Services.

4. A Critical Insight

Only cramming or presenting your answer using all the pros and cons is far from fetching you a score high enough to clear the CSE. Many an aspirants think that just opting for various reasons to support your answer would be enough to score well. But, that is far from being true.

Supporting your answer in a logical manner is highly important. However, you should make it a point to develop a critical insight into the issue or whatsoever is being discussed while you attempt a question.

5. Attitude Matters

Your attitude towards your ambition serves to set the tone for your journey towards achieving the goal. If you aim at joining the Indian Administrative Services, you should opt for an attitude accordingly.

Civil Services Aspirants: Your attitude should balance the attitude of a learner cum administrator.

(a) A Learner’s Attitude

Opting for a learner’s attitude helps you learn well and prepare well for the Civil Services Exam. The point to be noted is that opting for a learner’s attitude helps you learn with a fresh mindset. In other words, your mind should be free of the stereotypes. A stereotyped thinking usually results in some prejudice or another.

If you already have some bias or another concerning anything under the Sun, you would never be able to opt for a balanced perspective, let alone gain a critical insight into what you are going to learn.

As a result, the same drawback(s) would also be reflected in your answers. It would affect your score in the Mains, and also how you answer the questions during the Interview.

Above all, opting for a learner’s attitude helps you learn and prepare as per the unusually long UPSC syllabus. Besides, it also helps you function as a capable Civil Servant (if selected by UPSC, of course) later.

(b) An Administrator’s Attitude

It is the attitude that counts more rather than the knowledge when it comes to running the administration. No wonder, UPSC looks for the candidates with suitable attitude required to function as Civil Servants, specifically administrators. An administrator’s attitude is always helpful when you need to put your knowledge or information gained to practical use.

It should be noted that a good attitude can really work wonders. With a logical attitude, a candidate can put the knowledge to an excellently practical use. Moreover, he can even make logically convincing efforts to gain more of knowledge and/or information, if so required.

But with all the knowledge under the Sun and an inapt attitude, no candidate would be able to think in a manner a good administrator should. Needless to say, the same would be reflected in his answers both in writing (Mains, CSE) as well as while replying verbally (Interview, CSE).

6. How Far Do You Understand Yourself?

It implies your understanding of your own self should be an excellent one. You should be able to make a thorough assessment of your own weaknesses, apart from the strengths. But, it’s a great irony that many an IAS aspirants begin to follow the preparation strategies employed by the CSE Toppers.

Well, it’s ok to allow yourself to be guided by the Toppers. But, do keep in mind that they have designed their winning strategies as per their own preparation requirements. However, every IAS aspirant, being a unique individual, is liable to have some of his requirements.

It is only logically convincing to say that you should chart out your winning strategy to prepare for the IAS Exam as per your own weaknesses and strengths. Doing so would help you prepare successfully for the Civil Services Exam rather than blindly imitating a Topper.

7. Do You Bond With People With Ease?

It is highly important to bond with the people for it is them only that you would be administrating provided you join the Indian Administrative Services. However, it should be kept in mind that you should be bonding with the people in a manner so that you may discuss the issues at hand to gain the required knowledge and information in order to find justifiably practical solutions to the problems whenever there are any.

Losing Traits

The losing traits, if present in your personality, may prove to be highly detrimental when it comes to clearing the Civil Services Exam. You might be having all the winning traits. But, at times, even a single losing trait may ruin the probability of your clearing the Civil Services Exam to a great extent. It is advisable to overcome all the losing traits (in case, if one or more of them are present) to optimize the probability of your clearing the Civil Services Exam and scoring high, thus beating the competition successfully.

Here are a few Losing Traits that every IAS aspirant should do his best to overcome to clear the Civil Services Exam successfully

1. Herd Mentality

If you think and behave in the manner the masses do, how can you expect yourself to administrate the society even if you are selected by UPSC to join IAS? Further, thinking like the crowd does, does not imply, even in the least that it is going to equip you to be innovative enough in order to find practical solutions to eradicate or even alleviate any of the problems faced by the society.

2. Being gullible

Most of the IAS aspirants are gullible. They are easily influenced by what their peers say. No wonder, they are always ready to fall a prey to the rumours. As a result, they even fall a prey to the peer pressure.

It often results in opting for an IAS coaching institution in a careless manner. A number of the IAS aspirants regret the choice later. Besides, many opt for the same medium of instruction and even the Optional subject as their friends do. It only helps in multiplying their losing traits further.

3. Being Prejudiced

With a prejudiced mind, nobody can think in a logically convincing manner. Thus, the prejudiced mindset gets automatically reflected during writing the answers when you face the Civil Services Exam. Needless to say, it proves to be a great drawback.

4. Arrogance

result, he cannot undertake any activity in a successful manner, let alone his preparing for the CSE as a competent candidate should. Thus, it is in the best interests of all, specifically the IAS aspirants to put the arrogance aside and prepare for the civil Services Exam in a sincere manner.

Civil Services Aspirants: Conclusion

Union Public Service Commission is known for being an impartial body who recruits the Civil Servants only after being thoroughly sure of their caliber. Their knowledge as well as the complete personality is assessed thoroughly, nay scrutinized during the Civil Services Exam.

The first two stages, i.e., the Prelims and the Mains thoroughly test the knowledge of the candidates. And the last stage, i.e., the Interview makes an assessment of the Interviewee’s personality. Thus, CSE is an exam that opts for a holistic approach assessing both the knowledge and the personality in order to find whether the selected candidates would be able to do justice to their job or not.

Relevant Articles to Read:

Top 10 Tips for Students to Prepare for IAS Exam while in College
Add life to Your Motivation while Making Efforts in Clearing the UPSC Exam
The Powers, and Responsibilities of the IAS Officers in Civil Services
5 Reasons to Join Elite IAS Classes for IAS Preparation
How to Choose Optional Subject for UPSC? A Detailed Guide
Coaching Centers Role in the Context of IAS Exam Preparation
How Online Coaching helps in your UPSC journey?
Beginning From The Scratch, How To Prepare For The IAS Exam?
How IAS Coaching can be a Big Source of Motivation for You During UPSC Preparation?
Common Issues Faced By the IAS Aspirants While Preparing for the IAS Exam
IAS Exam Preparation Schedule For Working Professionals
The Powers, and Responsibilities of the IAS Officers in Civil Services

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