{"id":9255,"date":"2017-02-27T11:26:34","date_gmt":"2017-02-27T11:26:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oliveboard.in\/blog\/?p=9255"},"modified":"2017-09-21T10:57:24","modified_gmt":"2017-09-21T10:57:24","slug":"upsc-cse-civil-services-exam-topper-ips-preparation-strategy-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oliveboard.in\/blog\/upsc-cse-civil-services-exam-topper-ips-preparation-strategy-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"An IPS Officer’s Strategy To Crack UPSC CSE"},"content":{"rendered":"

IPS Officer’s Strategy To Crack UPSC CSE<\/h3>\n

My name is Rishav Kumar Jha. I am from Bihar. My father is a professor and my mother is a teacher. I have two siblings and both are working in private sector. I got AIR 162 in Civil Services 2015 and I got IPS, borne on Jharkhand cadre.<\/span><\/p>\n

I did my graduation in Electrical & Electronics engineering from NIT Karnataka, Surathkal in 2014 with 6.7 CGPA (it\u2019s bad, I know). I didn\u2019t sit for on-campus placements because I was pretty sure about what I wanted to do right from my 1st<\/sup> year in college and also knew I was really bad at engineering and so I didn\u2019t want to make fun of myself by sitting for placements and then get rejected. I had always been in awe of Civil Services<\/strong>, and I always wanted to do something which could change as many lives as possible. Also, my father was always a motivating factor for me and he started pushing me to sit for Civil Services<\/strong> since the time I didn\u2019t even know the full-form of UPSC<\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I started the basic preparation for Civil Services<\/strong> since my third year in college to get a feel of what I was supposed to do to get through the Civil Services Exam<\/strong>. After I passed out of my college in May 2014, I stayed home for 3 months and appeared for Prelims in August. Although I missed the prelims cut-off by a whisker, I consider that attempt as a successful one as I got a glimpse of what was to come ahead and also because the tight deadline pushed me to study like a maniac during those three months and I managed to finish the basics within a short span of time. Then I moved to Delhi and joined a popular coaching centre for my optional subject<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

I chose to opt for Maithili as my optional subject<\/strong> (why I chose it as an optional and how to choose an optional<\/strong> is a topic I might touch in another article<\/em>). I didn\u2019t join any coaching for General Studies<\/strong> and I only took test series for Mains answer writing. I would like to point out here (at the cost of diverting from the topic) that the environment in coaching centres has deteriorated drastically and it is highly advisable to stay away from negative people who come to Delhi on 5-year or 7-year plans and end up wasting their youth and their parents\u2019 hard-earned money for nothing, if you choose to stay there. I took prelims in August 2015, Mains in December and interview in March 2016. I got my final result on May 10, 2016 and left the serene environment of the coaching for good.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will start here with my Strategy for Clearing UPSC CSE Prelims<\/strong>. I had scored 148 out of 200 in General Studies<\/strong> and 165 in CSAT<\/strong> in prelims 2015, which was quite a good score and more than what I had expected before taking the papers. How to clear Mains and Interview is a topic for another day.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before starting, I would like to make one thing very clear here. Clearing UPSC Civil Services Exam<\/strong> has infinite number of possible ways. Every successful candidate has his\/her own unique path to success in this exam. Let\u2019s compare it with any other exam, say JEE (because I am familiar with this only being an engineering student). Almost 99% of students study H.C.Verma for Physics and it is a tried and tested formula for success. But it\u2019s not the case in Civil Services<\/strong>. There are hundreds of sources, both good and bad. You have to chart your own plan according to your strengths and weaknesses<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Firstly, I will mention the resources I used during the preparation for prelims:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
TOPIC<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\nRESOURCES<\/strong><\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Aptitude for Paper 2(CSAT)<\/span><\/td>\nThis paper has been made qualifying since 2015. So one needs to score just 66 out of 200. For those even mildly comfortable with Maths and English, this paper shouldn\u2019t be a problem at all. For others, CSAT manual by McGraw Hill can be sufficient. However, I would advice everyone to get some practice through a few mock tests.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Current Affairs<\/span><\/td>\nGK Today current affairs, The Hindu, Vision monthly booklets, PIB, Official ministry websites<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 History<\/span><\/td>\na)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Ancient- GS manual by McGraw hill<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
b)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Medieval- GS manual by McGraw hill<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
c)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Modern- GS manual by McGraw hill, India\u2019s struggle for independence by Bipin Chandra<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
d)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Art and culture- Nitin Singhaniya notes, CCRT<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Geography<\/span><\/td>\nNCERT books for 11th<\/sup> and 12th<\/sup> (total 4) and Goh Cheng Leong (for concept clarity)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Economic and social development<\/span><\/td>\nIndian Economy by Ramesh Singh, Mrunal for basics, RBI website, The Hindu<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Indian Polity and governance<\/span><\/td>\nM. Laxmikanth (it may be taken as the bible for polity from the prelims perspective; you don\u2019t need to study anything else for this segment.)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Environment and ecology<\/span><\/td>\nShankar IAS book<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 General Science<\/span><\/td>\nGS manual by McGraw hill, Official websites of ministries for topics like defence, space, nuclear energy etc.<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

I will now mention the strategies I used before the Prelims exam. Choose whatever suits you best and discard the rest. Since preparing for UPSC Civil Services Exam<\/strong> has inculcated into me a habit of writing everything in points, I will use the same format here as well.<\/span><\/p>\n