UPSC Exam: Practice & Self-Study is Key To Success

“The more you sweat in peace, the less you bleed in war”

Learning something new is always hard, especially at the beginning when we’re likely to struggle and make mistakes. The reality is the only way to learn something new is to practice.

Benefits of Practice

The deliberate practice helps in memorizing and completing the vast UPSC Syllabus. If you work hard on each topic and repeat it multiple times, you would make fewer mistakes which would help you score well in the examination.

Practicing also help you understand the concepts more clearly and also help improvement in you writing and analytical skills which are required in the UPSC mains examination.

So how to practice deliberately for the Civil Services Examination?

Make goals

First and foremost, you shouldn’t be repeatedly doing what you already know how to do. Determining your weaknesses and focusing on a specific goal will help you to overcome these weaknesses.

Deconstruct the topics

Try deconstructing the topic to its bare essentials and start off with working on one small part of it that you feel is the most troublesome for you. When you achieve your goal of improving it, see how it has impacted your skills regarding the whole topic.

Go outside comfort level

Always go outside your comfort zone and constantly try things that seem beyond your current abilities. This means that most of the times you won’t feel great practicing something because you will need to put a lot of effort into it and it’s generally not enjoyable. For example, the topics of GS-IV seems more uncomfortable to most of the aspirants but it is also high scoring subject. Therefore, you must give a little more effort in this subject is always desirable.

Make mistakes

There is another great thing about stepping out of your comfort zone. And it is making mistakes. When you do the uncomfortable, you are entitled to make a lot of mistakes. Of course failing isn’t the greatest feeling, but after you make a mistake you will later be able to find the way to fix it. If you never make mistakes, you can’t improve.

Find a mentor

Another fundamental part of the practice is that you should always have someone who is more experienced by your side to teach you or point out what you could improve upon. It can be an experienced senior, mentors on the online platforms, or a good coaching like GS Score. GS Score in this regard, provides the complete package that is required for the preparation. Its multi-dimensional products many of which are available as free can be a game changer for the aspirants.

Also, courses, blogs and books come in handy when it comes to getting advice from the more experienced people.

Self-study

Coaching can beneficial in placing you in the right direction, but at the end of the day it is only self-study which matters more to get you closer to success. The nature of the paper is becoming more complex every year and one needs to apply mind and develop better analytical skills. This is possible only through self-study. Making own notes relevant to the topics is the best way to prepare for this exam which also helps evaluate yourself better. You must test yourself through mock tests, daily quiz, etc. which are available on the GS Score website.

Summary

To sum up, practice is what makes you better. You can be wildly talented and gifted, but without practice you would achieve nothing. And every person that isn’t as talented, but works harder — will outwork you. Also, remember that not only quantity, but the quality of the practice is important. Therefore, always try to prepare smartly which would help in manage time efficiently.

Preparing the civil services examination is nothing less than going to a war where hundreds of thousands of aspirants appear every year for a few hundred seats. Increasing cutoffs and complexity in questions aggravate the situation further. Therefore, practicing hard enough with or with coaching is the utmost need to succeed in this exam.