Musings of a former UPSC aspirant.

My dear friends,

Lakhs of aspirants chase the dream to be an IAS but they find themselves lost somewhere in crowd. IAS exam is known for its notoriously vast syllabus, long term preparation, constant changes, and definitely the stress it builds.
The anxiety to get that competitive edge through coaching centres has muted the aspirants into blindly accepting coaching centres perception about the exam and the smothering of pedagogical imagination.

My purpose here is about simplifying success. Success here is not about trying to overcome the expectations of UPSC. That is not possible in real sense, but what is required to be done is analyzing the intensity of competition among the aspirants and then planning to get one step ahead from them. Well formulated strategy along with optimum time management are the two ladders for your dream goal.

Therefore, I had requested few of my friends who had scored exceptionally well in their optionals to give a write up, a platform to link the ideas of budding IAS aspirants with those who have already proven their worth by getting good ranks in the Civil Services Examination. All of them, despite their busy schedules, have kindly penned down their thoughts regarding their approach along with booklist and effective Strategy to the aspirants.
My request to those who are preparing for civil services is to exact strategy and approach to the exam which were the main reason behind success of those of us who had made it to top.

My sincere thanks to,
Gitanjali Brandon,IFS
Harshika Singh ,IAS
Surabhi Malik,IAS
Pawan Kadyan,IAS
Ajay Singh Tomer,IAS
Rajanvir Singh Kapur,IAS
Nitesh Patil,IAS
Rahul Singh,IPS
Ravi Ranjan Kumar,IPS
Shivam Teotia,DANICS
Rahul Aggarwal,DANICS
Shreyas Hosur, IRAS
Aparna Mudiam,ICLS
With respect to interface, if u have any genuine doubts, u can catch me at http://www.facebook.com/suhas.shivanna.9 .
My best wishes to all of u,

Regards,
Suhas Shivanna, IAS

IAS preparation- tips for beginners

Internet has been full of articles which deal with the practical aspects of the exam. But the reality is that basic and underlying facets of the exam has been seldom discussed, leaving beginners bewildered. Hence this article.

Timeline of an IAS aspirant is usually on these lines.

Initial perception about the exam -> Begin on wrong lane-> go astray-> meet failure( lose attempts) ->gain experience ->introspect -> become conscious of realities -> clear the exam or go elsewhere .

Hence all beginners have this question how to begin. Based on my experience, i would like to give following advice to beginners.

Firstly buy the syllabus copy. Study it and  understand the exam. After doing all these you come to know all about the examination, the subjects, the nature of questions and of course what you have to study. This way you take the first step in the direction of preparation which is very significant.

While choosing the optional, u ll have to understand that  any subject in itself is not scoring. It is the student who makes any subject scoring. If the same answer written by two or more students, one may get more marks than others due to systematic presentation and writing answer strictly according to question. If you present general view of the analytical questions then definitely you will not get good marks. Ask  yourself the question as to whether the subject interests u, does it help in GS paper, does both optional papers have common syllabus, are u familiar  with the subject.

Study the previous years questions and essence of preparation is to practice writing answers. Get it evaluated frm ur seniors or teachers.

Preparation does not mean attending coaching classes, studying large amount of studying materials and finishing the syllabus. It has to be ‘meaningful’ preparation.

Image credit- sujatha.

UPSC interview tips

It is the interview which will propel you into a decent rank and service. Following is my advice on interview preparation based on my two bits of interview experience.

The ‘BASIS’of our interview preparation - Our mains application form. Though we may be able to answer many of the questions in the interview, its imperative that we demonstrate whatever is on DAF to be right.

  

You should be thorough with all the relevant words you have jotted down in your DAF. For example, your house address is

  

            Suhas, Jayaprakash Nagar, Bangalore.

Here, Jayaprakash is a keyword. Questions wrt emergency, personality of JPN can b asked.  Some of the questions are predetermined by them. They refer frm their notebooks or a piece of   paper. U need to b quick witted and perceptive to answer such questions.

 If there is something unusual or remarkable in ur biodata, it b the focus of attention. For example, if u r a state level hockey player.

Questions are asked from the current happenings. Make sure you read the newspaper of the day as well as all the newspapers from 3-4 days prior to the interview.  The order in which your roll number appears on that list will be the order in which you will be called for interview. So b prepared mentally to phase your stay at UPSC.

Keep all your certificates, snaps, originals, forms etc ready on the day of interview.

Be brief and bang in your answers. Be polite, officerlike while dealing with questions. Dont b fidgety.Greet everyone b4 u sit. When you sit, try and sit comfortably. Keep a  smiling face and try to relax. The more you are relaxed, better the answers.

Thank every one and leave when u finish.

My IAS interview

Board: KK paul( The "toughest" board)
time: 4.25 to 5pm last candidate

KK Paul sir
1.Your name?
2.Your number?
3.Roll no.?
4.So, where are you from?
5.What is the etymology of your place.?
6.Is it right to name the place after mythologic figures?
7.What is the meaning of name of your college?
8.What do think about Allahabad court verdict recently on press?
9.Was Mr Katju right to oppose it?
10. Do you know Taliban. What is the meaning of its name.Who started it?
11. How did it come to power?
12.Who were the warlords of Afghanistan?
13.What is d difference between tree cover and forest cover,,? What r their percentage in India.?
14. Name few states which have more than 80% forests?

Member 1:
1. RTE and recent SC judgement?
2. Do you support judicial activism.?
3. I am asking your opinion. Stick to it.
4. So only social interventions.?
5.What is form of the government in Switzerland?
6.How is British constitution different from ours?
7. When is presidential elctions in India and USA scheduled?

Member 2:
1. Who are Jarawas.?
2. How are tribes different from us genetically?
3. and culturally.?
4. and socially?
5. KK paul sir, intervenes Do you know Sentinelese?
6. Should we integrate them.?
7.What will u do>?
8.So you are from Karnataka. Have you heard of Udupi?
9. What is it famous for.?
10. Thats all right. but what abt philosophy?
11.right, who gave dvaita philosophy?


member 3:
1.Do you know any Jesuit missionary who worked for Tribals.?
2.Can you name another one.?
3.and?
4.and?
5.But i have someone else in mind. Ok, what is sustainable development?
6.Are tiger census accurate>?
7.Is radiocollaring of tigers used any where.?
8. Can u use your electronics background in conservation of Tigers.?
9.Is tiger conservation really important. So many ppl are dying of hunger.Money can be diverted to hunger schemes.?

member 4:
1.I have heard Bangalore is very expensive.?
2. So is it only because of IT?
3. Are you saying IT is bad for bangalore? who are being affected?
4.What will u do to ease it?
5. You are a bangalore corporator. and i am an IPL organiser. i want u to convince me to give you atleast 500 free tickets for a match.
6. Are you comfortable with elctronics and communication questions/
7.ok why is VHF used in communication?
8.Is HF better than VHF?
9.Are you sure>?

attend one mock atleast... it helps...Have faith in Union Public Service Commission, they are fair.. best wishes

How do u answer IAS interview qns..?
There's no worse feeling than when interviewer asks you a question to which you don't know the answer.Say u dont know..
The best way to handle this dreaded debacle is to go into the interview prepared with ur biodata form (DAF). Familiarize yourself with a few common difficult questions which is obvious frm ur form and arm yourself with answers prepared ahead of time.

here is a model question and answer wrt my profile.(My hobbies included wildlife conservation)

"You are chief forest officer at Nagarhole. CM of Karnataka wants to cross the Nagarhole park after 8 pm. What will you do ?"

Though there are series of state highways which encircle RGNP, there are none which pass within the precincts of the park.
It is more of an issue in neighbouring Bandipur National Park where National Highway 212 ( NH-212 ) passes through. There is restriction on movement of vehicles between 9 P.M to 6 A.M.
I would consult my senior for his advice. There are norms to allow transit for official duty and for absolute necessities, which i will relent. Private visit or night safari would be big no.

Bang on and brief...


regards...

Choosing optionals for civil services

How to choose optionals for civil services exam..? The optionals u choose decides ur fate of ur exam thereby ur life.. If ur in the threshold of taking either Anthropology or Pub AD as ur optioanl, then this post is directed to u..

Anthro is easier, but requires lot of work... syllabus is quite huge... since this was my 1st attempt, it was impossible for me to complete d syllabus.. so i left abt 30% of d portions keeping in mind d previous papers and choice of qns in d paper... strategy worked out , i had to leave only 15 marks in each ppr and i scored abt 350... advantage abt anthro is that u dont require coaching, direct qns, very less from North india opt for it,so less competition, u can write d answers u hav prepared, very scoring, disadv is huge syllabus, u ll hav to prepare short notes to revise, diagrams etc... so ur hard work helps..ideally u should complete d syllabus...scored abt 350..

pub ad is diff ball game... since i had very little to prepare, i did only first 4 chapters frm paper 1 very well, did polity and read 2nd arc reports extensively and brushed with rest of d topics.. and i could comfortably attend all qns cos it was a general paper,. ur score in pub ad depends upon ur performance in those 3 hrs more than ur extensive reading.. u ll have to read, analyse each questions, frame structure,think and answer.. i i did pretty decently scoring abt 330...advantage abt pub ad is that u can prep in very less time 1-2 months, lot of materials available, coaching ; crash courses, test series r available., u can manipulate d syllabus keeping in mid d current happenings.. but there is lot of competition, and ur 6hrs of xam decides ur fate.. also it helped me in my essay which i scored 120...

one thing i can say is that these 2 optionals form perfect foil to each other...

also ppl tend to complicate d exam.. so i suggest keep it simple, get selected,,,while others wonder what went wrong in their extensive preparation..

Public Administration for IAS

Pub ad study plan.


1)Read minimum books and use ur General Studies knowledge in pub ad. It is not possible to knw each and everything on a given topic…u can only remember limited number of facts and events…
so it is better to focus on a few things and go thru them thoroughly and change the wordings/ presentation acc to the Q but state the facts that u knw…
2)I always wrote introduction and conclusion in para form and the body in points.
3) u have to link both paper 1 and 2. Also while preparing u can try to relate the topics beforehand…there r many topics such as financial admin which r in paper 1 as well as paper 2. u have to include facts abt india always in both paper 1 and 2 answers.
4) answer-writing is very imp for pub ad…and good answers r possible only after u practice again and again…

Source.
1) Prasad and Prasad -all the 18 thinkers…except for marx
2) public policy models described in nicholas henry( and i had made notes for evolution of PA frm this book also i guess... )
3) i went only thru arc 2 reports(recommendations summary) - 30 points for every report .
4) Earlier we cud have safely depended on books…but now, the kind of Qs being asked…esp in pub ad makes it absolutely necessary to go thru other sources like newspapers, internet, etc
most of the content in the 2011 exam pub ad was frm newspapers and current events rather than the books…eg lokpal, community policing etc...so the actual working, examples, etc need to b taken frm the newspapers and the theoretical base frm books… internet is certainly the best source for paper 2..esp Wikipedia,ministry websites..eg. for city mgmt- min of urban dev website
5) Polity – Lakshmikanth cover to cover.. covers theoretical base of paper 2..also u can quote articles here and there
6) Good classnotes- to cover rest of d topics like central secretariat,admin law,boards etc

How much should u write..? it depends upon the quality of ur answers and not quantity... attempting less marks with quality answers( for eg., 280 marks on 300) is much better than attempting all with avg ones... but there is a threshold level for leaving marks too. u cant leave above 30-40 marks in a optional paper..


Also there is no fixed strategy as such.. it may work or it may not..Pub ad is more abt luck i guess..In Union Public Service Commission, there is a very fine line between underestimating and overestimating ourselves!!!