Can you pass the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination after only six months of study? What should your plan of action be for the UPSC CSE Prelims?

‘SMS’ Approach to clear the UPSC CSE Exam

Every year about a million aspirants register themselves for the most prestigious exam of the country, UPSC coaching institute but only 1000 or so (only 0.001%) make it to the final list. But there are some who make it to this 0.001% not once but thrice and even more. Ever wondered why these aspirants crack the exam so many times while a few struggle to clear the prelims after so many years??? This article tries to answer this question by giving the right approach to clear the CSE exam.

SMS Approach:

1. S : Study Materials
2. M: Mocks
3. S: Strategy

Study Material to clear the exam:

If one thinks that he/she needs to read HUNDREDS of books, browse TENS of websites and prepare notes from FIVE newspapers and TEN magazines each day to clear IAS, THIS IS WRONG.The exaggerated actions are neither practical nor necessary to clear CSE.
Even if an imaginary person does all what is stated above, there is still chance that he/she not clear Prelims/Mains. So what matters is not the quantity of materials one had gone through, but the quality of learning and revision done.

Decoding the Sources:

Importance of Mocks to clear the exam:

Mocks are nothing but practice/trials that one takes before the final battle. Indian Cricket Team was criticized for not taking practice matches in their tour of South Africa in 2019. What is more shocking is that they repeated the same mistake in the tour of England. And the final result in both the cases is known to all…

There are a lot of benefits of taking mocks…

• They help in overcoming the fear psychosisand enable one not to panic in the exam hall. They help in understanding the nuances of the exam.
• Many aspirants do not have the practice for sitting for 3hours at a stretch and that too for two times a day and for 5 days in a week.
• They help in making management strategyfor the real exam eg: how much time to be devoted for each question.
• They help in knowing ones’ strengths and weaknesses, doing self-analytics.
• Mocks help in preparing topics which have not been covered. They provide extra vital information.
• They help in developing speed, refining the thought process. THEY HELP IN HONING ONE’S ATTITUDE AND THINKING PROCESS.
• Mocks help one to face the tremendous competition by honing their skills to achieve considerably high and safe score of atleast 120+.
• They help one to tackle uncertainties, boost exam preparedness and improve ones’ score and rank.
• Mocks help one to gain a real time experience of facing esteemed panel of experts and learn the art to excel under critical analysis and review of the experts.

Smart Study to clear the exam:

Few easy-to-implement tips to study smart for UPSC Exam:

• Learn in multiple ways
• Read multiple subjects in one day
• Avoid multitasking
• Take handwritten notes
• Learn by association
• Revise periodically
• Simplify the information
• Practice tests
• Know what to filter
• Read textbooks effectively
• Don’t cram, understand
• Read important information out loud
• Reward yourself
• Take a break and make those breaks happening but in a way that one gets back to preparation with double the zeal and enthusiasm.

A person who is able to manage other spheres of his life efficiently without losing his disciplined routine is a suitable candidate for CSE.

HAPPY LEARNING