There are some fundamental mistakes that many serious aspirants make. And no, we’re not talking about ignoring daily current affairs, not writing answers, or attempting tests.
Based on our interaction with 2500 aspirants in the past two months who have not been able to clear this exam after multiple attempts, there are five deadly mistakes for an UPSC aspirant.
1. Ignoring or failing to understand what UPSC expects from you.
UPSC through this exam has to maintain the merit in the Indian administration. For that, they are constantly evolving w.r.t. the exam process – questions and the manner in which they ask questions. Just go through the last three years’ UPSC Prelims question papers and you will realize it yourself.
Just knowing the syllabus and sources is not enough. Neither is it about finishing the syllabus only. It has to be done in a certain manner. Only when you know what UPSC wants you can make an effort in that direction. Fill Samanvaya form below to discuss the expectations of UPSC and more.
2. Not having a workable strategy
Internet and youtube are flooded with IAS toppers’ strategy. While it worked for the toppers, what will work for you is a strategy that is based on your situation (UPSC experience, education, background, etc.), your learning style, the time you have, consideration for your job commitments, etc.
In short, your strategy has to be unique. Just for you. Moreover, it has to be organic and adaptable. Else it won’t work. Let us help make one for you or improve your strategy. (Just fill in the Samanvaya form)
3. No mechanism to identify your mistakes
Even if you’ve taken multiple attempts you are bound to make some mistakes, much more for UPSC beginners. These are inevitable. And this makes it essential for you to put up a mechanism to find out and highlight those mistakes in your preparation on a regular basis.
Eg. Finished Modern History (or any subject), only to realize after a month that you don’t seem to remember a thing or solve a UPSC level MCQ. This realization that you’re doing it wrong should have come to you on the first or second day itself. You could’ve saved your precious time, efforts and attempt.
Discussing your approach with mentors is one of them. Don’t have a mentor? Yes, you have one at Civilsdaily. Fill in this Samanvaya form.
Civilsdaily’s Samanvaya: free 1-to-1 mentorship session
Fill the Samanvaya form for a free on-call mentorship session. We’ll call you within 24 hours.
Civilsdaily Samanvaya 1-On-1 Mentorship Form
4. Inability to rectify your mistakes
Maybe due to inertia or ignorance or fear of change, most of the aspirants are not able to rectify their mistakes.
Eg. Even after finishing Laxmikant for Polity a couple of times you can’t understand why you are scoring miserably low marks in Polity pre-mocks. Or, not able to improve your mains answers.
Only those who are able to rectify their mistakes on a frequent basis are able to clear this exam. What issues with your preparation you feel are difficult to resolve? Fill Samanvaya and let us help you resolve them.
5. Integrate these learnings in your preparation
After you have developed the awareness of the mistakes and what should be done, you must integrate it asap with your preparation. The required unlearning and re-learning must take on a regular basis.
Eg. You were scoring less in answer writing and realized that it was due to either missing out on the demand of the question or not giving examples to support your arguments. Don’t stall the process of improvement. Do it asap.
Instead of regressing or stopping, you should always be moving forward, closing the loops of progress, and returning to the most effective path.
Whatever be the stage of your IAS exam preparation, these mistakes must be avoided at all costs and nipped-in-the-bud.
More than 10.5 lakh applied, but only 796 are going to clear UPSC IAS 2020. It is going to be much more challenging in 2021 and 2022.
It is not just about walking. It is about walking in the right direction. If you don’t have these above issues sorted you are bound to make more mistakes.
Fill the Samanvaya form given above to discuss your strategy and issues that you are facing.
Why mentorship?
See, broadly six factors determine your success in cracking this prestigious IAS exam and the most important being understanding the expectations of UPSC and according to that planning and strategizing; other being, Learning – Knowledge and information; Analyzing – making linkages, connections, etc.; Executing and utilizing information; and Constant course correction – because mistakes are inevitable, need to rectify them asap.
These are the areas where most of the aspirants fail to create a balance. Where are you facing an issue?
To address the problems in your preparation, guidance and mentorship are the first steps. And here comes our three tiered mentorship.
Our 3 tier mentoring:
1. First step starts with this Samanvaya call: Once you fill in the form, our senior mentors will have a 1-to-1 detailed discussion (on-call) with you to understand your prep level, working/ study constraints, current strategies, and create a step by step plan for next week, next month and so on.
2. You are given access to our invite-only chat platform, Habitat where you can connect with mentors, ask your daily doubts, discuss your test-prep questions and have real-time live sessions on news and op-eds, and find your optional groups.
3. The third and the most personalized tier is the dedicated 1 on 1 mentor allotment who stays with you through the course of your UPSC preparation – always-on chat and on scheduled calls to help you assess, evaluate, and chart the next milestone of your IAS 2021/2022 journey.
Who are you?
- Working Junta? If you are preparing for IAS 2021/2022 and working simultaneously, we can help you strategize and decipher the IAS exam and design a timetable that fits right in your hectic schedule.
- First-time prep? If you are in the last year of college or thinking of dropping a year and preparing for IAS 2021/2022 full time, we’ll help you pick the right books and craft a practical & personal strategy.
- Have appeared before? and weren’t successful. We’ll help you identify your mistakes, rectify them for the necessary course correction. Let this be your final and successful attempt.
You just have to take 5 minutes out and fill this form: Samanvaya For IAS 2021/2022
Talk to senior mentors from Civilsdaily: Fill Samanvaya form for IAS 2021 and IAS 2022. Once done, we will call you within 24 hours or so.
