THE SMART STUDY!

There is a reason why UPSC Civil Services is called the mother of all exams! 

What makes this exam difficult is following factors:

1. Candidates: this exam attracts one of the best minds of our country spanning across all the fields sitting together and writing same papers.
2. Competition: According to news reports the number of candidates registered for UPSC Prelims 2016 were approximately 11.36 lakh and around 5 lakh candidates appeared in the examination.
3. Elimination: with each passing stage, UPSC filters out candidates and hence the difficulty level increases.
4. Subjectivity: there is no escaping route to the fact that this exam has lot of subjectivity and hence one can never be sure of the performance.
5. Seats: ultimately the whole fight is for around 1000 seats of which IAS (the dream of many) is merely 180
6. Syllabus: there is nothing under the Sun which is not part of this exam. You name it and you have to study it

Keeping these points in mind, I have come to conclusion that often aspirants commit following mistakes:

1. High reliance on coaching study.
2. Collection of irrelevant study materials, notes, magazines, etc
3. Lack of understanding of their strength and weakness.
4. Lack of practice and more emphasis on passive reading
5. Little awareness about the demand of the exam.

It is in this regard SMART STUDY plays important role. Let me highlight with example.

Go through following images for instance:

Now a reader can notice following things:

1. In 2015 attempt my weakest points were: Essay (95), Ethics (87) and Optional (181). These were the black holes which pulled me down and made me lose the battle by 30 marks.
2. Finally in my 2016 attempt, I worked upon my weak areas, viz, Essay (145), Ethics (117) and Optional (285)

Moral of the Story:

One not only need to work hard but also smart!! I think UPSC is a journey in which one has to continuously evolve with time and master over one’s weakness. Once you do that, UPSC will acknowledge you..All the very best !