TEST PREP- CIVIL SERVICES

Source:- Freshersworld

What is Civil Service Exam?

The Civil Services Examination (CSE) is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) for recruitment to the various Civil Services of the Government of India, including Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and Indian Revenue Service (IRS) among others.

Exams that come under the ambit of UPSC are:

• Indian Administrative Services (IAS)
• Indian Forest Services (IFS)
• Indian Police Services (IPS)

These examinations also help UPSC in recruiting people in sectors such as Medical, Forestry, Civil Services and Engineering.

Why Civil Services?

Those who have a passion to serve nation directly with administrative power opt to go for civil services exam. In spite of selection process being very tough and rate of success very low the charm and significance of this exam doesn't seems to fall down.So if you want to bring a new wave of change in India Civil services is the way.

The administrative services give an immediate sense of participating in the Indian governance

Eligibility

The eligibility norms for the examination are as follows:

Nationality

• For the Indian Administrative Service and the Indian Police Service, a candidate must be a citizen of India.

• For the Indian Foreign Service, a candidate must be one of the following:

o A citizen of India

o a person of Indian origin who has migrated from Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, Zaire, Ethiopia or Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling in India

• For other services, a candidate must be one of the following

o A citizen of Nepal or a subject of Bhutan

Education

All candidates must have a minimum of any of the following educational qualifications:

• A degree from a Central, State or Deemed university

• A degree received through Correspondence Education or Distance Education
• A degree from an Open University
• A qualification recognized by the Government of India as being equivalent to either of the above

The following candidates are also eligible, but have to submit proof of their eligibility from a competent authority at their institute/university at the time of the main examination, failing which they will not be allowed to attend the exam.

• Candidates who have appeared in an examination, the passing of which would render them educationally qualified enough to satisfy any of the above points
• Candidates who have passed the final exam of the MBBS degree but have not yet completed their internship

Age

Prescribed age limits are minimum 21 years and maximum of 30 years as on 1 August of the year of Examination. A candidate who turns 21 on 1 August is eligible whereas a candidate who turns 31 is not.

Upper age limit relaxation is provided to candidates as follows:

• A maximum of three years for OBC candidates

• A maximum of three years in case of Defence Services personnel disabled in operations during hostilities with any foreign country or in a disturbed area and released as a consequence thereof
• A maximum of five years for candidates belonging to a Scheduled Caste or a Scheduled Tribe
• A maximum of five years if a candidate had ordinarily been domiciled in the State of Jammu & Kashmir during the period from 1 January 1980 to 31 December 1989
• A maximum of five years in case of ex-servicemen including Commissioned Officers and ECOs/SSCOs who have rendered at least five years Military Service as on 1 August and have been released on either of the following basis:

o on completion of assignment (including those whose assignment is due to be completed within one year from 1 August) otherwise than by way of dismissal or discharge on account of misconduct or inefficiency

o on account of physical disability attributable to Military Service

o on invalidment

• A maximum of five years in case of ECOs/SSCOs who have completed an initial period of assignment of five years Military Service as on 1 August and whose assignment has been extended beyond five years and in whose case the Ministry of Defence issues a certificate that they can apply for civil employment and that they will be released on three months notice on selection from the date of receipt of offer of appointment.
• A maximum of ten years in case of blind, deaf-mute and orthopaedically handicapped persons

The age relaxation will not be admissible to Ex-Servicemen and Commissioned Officers including ECOs/SSCOs who are released on own request.

Numbers of attempt

The number of Attempts a candidate can give the exam is limited as follows:

• Four attempts for General category candidates and OBC category candidates under the Creamy layer

• Seven attempts for OBC category candidates
• To SCs/STs, there is no limit on the number of attempts.

However these candidates are requested to bear in mind:

An attempt at a Preliminary Examination shall be deemed to be an attempt at the Examination.

1. If a candidate actually appears in any one paper in the Preliminary Examination, he/she shall be deemed to have made an attempt at the Examination.

2. Notwithstanding the disqualification/cancellation of candidature, the fact of appearance of the candidate at the examination will count as an attempt.

3. Candidates just applied but not appeared at the exam is not an attempt.

Test Structure

These are following stages for Test:

• Stage I: Preliminary examination - This is qualifying test held in May/June every year. Notification for this is published in December/January. Results are published in the first half of August.

• The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 450 marks.

The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi.

• Paper 1: General Studies
• Paper 2: One of the optional subjects to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects
• Stage II: Main examination - This is the main test, held in October/November every year. Results are usually published in the second week of March.

Paper 1:

One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper)

Paper 2: English (Qualifying Paper)

Paper 3: Essay

Paper 4 & 5: General Studies

Paper 6,7,8: Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper)

• Stage III: Personality Test (Interview) - It is the final test and is held in April/May every year. Final results are usually announced a few days before the next preliminary examination.

How to apply?

All the UPSC Exams have the same forms. The eligibility criteria and other details may differ from exam to exam. A candidate wishing to appear for more than one exam has to fill an individual form for each examination. UPSC notifies common public about the examinations through Employment News and other leading newspapers every year in the month of December.

Applicants can procure forms and information brochures about UPSC exams from all the leading Post Offices across India. Candidates have to send the properly filled forms along with the acknowledgment card.

Civil Service Exam Preparation

Some quick tips are:

• Planned studies, hard work and inner motivation are the keys to success.
• Strong willpower and faith in God are keys to success.
• Hard work, focused approach and faith in God are stepping-stones to success.
• Hard work, good planning and positive approach.
• Dedication, time management and hard work are secrets of success.
• Self-confidence, planning and systematic study are stepping-stones to success.
• Motivation and confidence are the keys to success.
• Determination, positive attitude - key to success.
• Patience, selection of optionals, hard work and good luck.

HARD WORK:

Remember that there is no substitute to hard work. No one will come and help you. You have to finish the entire course by yourself. Civil Service competition is like a marathon race. For that any competitive examination/even this whole world is a competitive world. The aspirants of civil services are well educated and more than 50 per cent of the candidates are serious ones. One, who has the confidence that he can compete in this examination and succeed, only will appear. UPSC statistics also reveals that around 50% of the total applicants only appear in the Preliminary exam.

There is no short cut to success and hard work never goes unrewarded. There are many ups and downs during the course of preparation. It is the "downs" which need to be tackled more vigorously and skillfully - more so at the emotional and psychological level. Remember these lines - "what you build for years, may be broken down in a single moment - build anyway".

DEDICATION:

Dedication towards your duty always pays in life. Be totally dedicated and focused in your studies. You have to sacrifice something like movies, parties, and entertainments etc at this stage of your life to achieve bigger things. Just work day in and day out and go on and on. As told in the previous topic, one should have dedication towards the goal otherwise it is very difficult to achieve. Select standard study books/preparation of notes, as reading is the only entertainment you should have during this period.

PATIENCE:

As the CSE preparation spans a minimum of one year, right from the Preliminary stage to the interview state, it requires a lot of patience to maintain your tempo. At times you may feel tired and sick of further studying during the course of your preparation. Maintain your cool and patience and so on to break the monotony of studies. Talk to friends and parents. They will provide with you with the much-needed emotional support. Every aspirant tries to top in the first attempt itself. If you don't get through, don't get frustrated. Don't slow down your tempo and at the same time you should keep patience for another year to reap the fruits of success. So one should not lose patience and the tempo throughout the preparation period till success.

SELF-CONFIDENCE:

Your self-confidence can make the difference. If you don't believe in yourself and your capacity to achieve then, no matter how hard you try. You will end up failing. So your self-confidence should be at an all time high - always. You should be in the company of people, who can increase your motivational levels high and can inspire you. Form a group of close friends, who are as determined as you are to make it to the Civil Services Examination. Keep good friends, they are always a source of inspiration and motivation.

FAITH:

Most of the candidates who have passed/cleared/topped the Civil Services add this as a major key to success. Why everyone says this has a reason behind it. The unforeseen reasons are listed below:

Normally, candidates accept a standard formula, of what was once said of Einstein - "Genius is 90 per cent perspiration and 10 per cent inspiration". Some may say that it is 99 per cent hard work and 1 per cent luck. It is like jumping into a well. Whether it is 90 per cent or 99 per cent, one will fall into the well only. What are the factors for the 1- 10 per cent variation varies from person to person.

It often happens that one studies all subjects well enough, except one small topic, as he/she might have thought that the topic is well known to him/her. The question in the examination may appear from that topic itself. The aspirant may not be able to answer the question satisfactorily, but he has only this much under his/her control.

Sometime in Prelims, unknowingly, candidates mark the wrong option though they know the answer. It is a mental mistake. The aspirant should have been more alert. Hence, mental alertness is of essence. This also is a faculty under the candidate's control. In Prelims, if you are in doubt, you are bound to get confused between two similar options. Hence, comprehend the question carefully and do not rule out any option till you have balanced each option carefully in the context of the question.

Coming to Mains, you have nine papers. Leave the language papers as they are of a qualifying nature and are not going to be added on to the scores of the Mains examination. Moreover, language is not something that can be prepared overnight. Just keep reading newspapers and magazines regularly. Other seven papers are going to be different in nature.

Though the key is given by UPSC, it is not sure whether the evaluator will award the same marks for same points to different students.