to be or not to be a civil servant

It is a dilemma ‘to be or not to be’ in every first time candidate's mind, then he/she approaches the so called 'Gurus' of civil service coachings, the so called 'sirs', who makes every student believe that yes they are the only IAS in becoming.

Its true to the core that yes anybody, with what so ever background can become a civil servant.  

But in true sense, as famous ad goes - "DO YOU HAVE IT  IN YOU"

There are  few points that should be noted before appearing in the ring, 

From now , 

Calculate how many days are remaining for the PRELIMS ( i will take an example of MPPSC, scheduled to be held on 24th FEB. 2013).

It come to around 130 days plus. WOW ! “yes I can do it”

Well, lets see, if you are willing to perform the following rituals

First – how much time do you waste. (I am a nobody, whom you should tell)

Second – Are you a working? If yes, then how much are you going to put into – “TIME”.

Third – Ask your self the biggest question, which may appear in front of you in Interview – “WHY” this?

Fourth – Ask your self – How much do you read a newspaper apart from your interests. i.e. apart from the usual front page , the gossips, the sports page, the etc.

Fifth – What are your academic weaknesses. Underline them, in what areas are you weak. Reading, comprehending, retaining, reproducing. Then Mark the topics like history –best sleeping time, geography – ok, Polity- goes beyond me, Economics- I can’t understand  debit and credit so next topic.

If you are reading this then its sure you are looking for the answer , the big answer.

After the disheartening point number 1, now the time to move on to next point, where we will analyze  (ha ha ha, lol), the syllabus.

There will be two papers of 100 questions each of 200 marks.

And as a brilliant student (ask yourself) you are you can score 100% in this given time.

     Let’s see, first paper, topic wise

                                                           i.    General Science and Environment – O.K , easy, I’ve studied science. Ooops I am a commerce / arts students. Nothing matters, you should focus on the basics of all the topics, Phy, Chem, and bio. (botony + Zoology). Then, what are current breakthroughs. Some static questions are always there (if you are serious, you must be having old question papers). Those should be your guidelines. Environment will ask all the relevant questions, usually from current affairs. So next time you see some thing affecting environment – MARK IT.
 

                                                       ii.      Current events of National, International and State wise importance. This you can get from many yearbooks available, or the annuals of many publishers. It depends upon a student, what choice he/she has. You should mark those events which are internationally worthy, a bomb blast killing xy number of people in Baghdad is NOT a news you should be concerned with PRE. You should look into the awards, prize, honour, deaths , works of persons. Then any news which has had a global effect. Nationally, a little depth, for example, your focus should be topic wise concentration, again for example – you should focus on all the acts that have been made recently, what source do they originate from? What are there working conditions etc. Also you should go into pending bills. One thing you should remember that the number of time questions of a topic has appeared in the examination will RAISE its level of difficulty. SO PLEASE PREPARE INDEPTH for say ‘panchayati raj and 73^rd amendment’. State wise similar approach, but in very trivial matters like Mahi canal was expected to be finished by Monsoon this year – is it? What is the area of irrigation, etc. Where is Mahi dam situated. Is it a joint project or not? REMEMBER – ENERGY = DEVELOPMENT, so questions on this field are always expected.

                                                         iii.       HISTORY – (well I had given a breakup on the facebook page, and it is lengthy. So, I’ll make it short. History is made up of parts, SO BREAK THEM and STUDY. Like

1. PRE + PROTO – IVC and earlier.

2. ANCIENT – from VEDIC era to GUPTAN

3. MEDIEVAL – part 1 – Rajput era

4. MEDIEVAL - part 2 – Muslim era, till BSZ II- 1857

5. Modern part 1 – 1757 – 1947

6.Modern part 2 – 1947 – continuing

The most important part is MODERN, first finish that in depth.

iv. Geography (inclusive of M.P) – USE MAPS, of World, different continents, INDIA and Madhya Pradesh. You should start learning by mountains, their heights, series, how they are made?, how old they are? What water divide do they form? Etc. etc. Then what rivers originates from them? Where do they flow? How many rivers it takes to make a large river? Where does that river goes? Plot on Map all the rivulets and the rivers, their origins, ends, the cities on them, the dams and irrigation projects taken. Etc. Then your FOCUS should be on the CENSUS 2011 – most important for this year.

                                            v.     Polity(inclusive of M.P) – it contains complete constitution – SO you should,

1.   First learn all the parts, after writing its brief history of origin.

2.   Then learn all the sub parts.

3.    Then learn BY HEART part 3 and 4, 4-A. ( not omitting 1 and 2)

4. Learn part V – Union with States. i.e. President with Guv. And so on, it will save your time, and make it easy for you to answer the questions asked on comparison.

5. Then you should go thorough entire constitution, all the important articles.

6. Amendments, and cases. Elections, Symbols etc.

7. Current affairs about Women reservation bill, lokpal bill etc.

                                             vi.  Sports – Well easy way out will be in any GK book, You can not prepare sports at a very high level. PLEASE GO IN DEPTH, when learning about Olympics medals, questions go deep, refer old papers.

                                              vii.     Lastly , a new topic has been added into syllabus of first paper has been added- S.C/S.T act (1989) and act of 1955 – Protection of civil rights act

1.Don’t just go out , buy a book on these act and learn them all.

2. Why those were needed, their history, their social implications, reports if any published on the topics is very important. Apart from just the acts.

PAPER II , I will post very soon .

All the best , divide your time ( I know its less). Study smart, Be focused, avoid social interactions ( they deviate). Study and Revise constantly. Plan to end your topics before 15-20 days for revision.