Before hopping on to the main topic, a few things about day’s events.
I went to inspect Delhi public library in the afternoon with my AAP colleagues. We were shocked to see the dilapidated state of affairs in the library. Library provides a 5 year membership for 20 Rs. only. A small 4 room library had almost 80K books. I was amazed to see the variety and richness of the text. The book racks on both sides of passageway were pulling me magnetically. For some time I felt like staying back in the library and eat all the books placed there. Now Chandna Ji has asked me to prepare a short report on inspection finding. Reading habit is the best refuge in the old age. It opens our thought process and widens our horizons. Especially learning a foreign language opens a whole new culture and civilization to us. Book reading helps in killing the boredom and loneliness of old age provided your eyes remain well functioning by then.
I spent rest of the afternoon in setting my workstation. Typing HTML code after long time and setting up perforce to sync my system with rest of the team reminded me of my days in Citrix. A sense of nostalgia griped me for initial few seconds. A lot of things need to be done on this end.
For past few days, I am starting with some activity then leaving it pending midway. I need to be careful of this habit because leaving halfway leads to feeling of anxiety and guilt (Ziegarnick effect). It does not give a sense of fulfillment. So I need to devote more time to finish the 7 things which are left midway.
Coming to the topic, I had planned in January to compile my experience of Civils preparation. In last 4 years, the focal point of the exam has changed drastically. The paper of UPSC is like Indian Monsoon in recent years. No one can predict the pattern and style of questions. The exam process has become very dynamic. Thus it has become the real test of Individual wit, intelligence, risk taking ability, aptitude, attitude, knowledge, and writing, reading and speaking abilities. Rightly so, it is called mother of all examinations in the country. A candidate faces severe information overload from online and offline sources. Places like Rajinder Nagar in Delhi seem like fair market of UPSC aspirants. The length and breadth of the syllabus is so daunting that many candidates gives up even before reaching their prelims stage. The market is proliferated with bogus coaching institutions. Most of the teachers belong to era of early 2000’s or earlier. Thus they do not understand the true challenges that a new student faces. Most of the time, they end up misguiding or ill-counsel student. The nature, type, source and scope of questions have changed. Existing institutions does not know the real practical difficulties which a student faces in the process because they have never appeared or given the exam in current format.
Earlier it was a knowledge based exam. Now it is application oriented exam. Earlier one who had skills to slog and mug could be assured of his selection but now exam is more analytical. It requires smart preparation. Earlier offline material and coaching material was only source. Now online materials have flooded the smart phones. Earlier selective preparation could have ensured selection. But now it needs a comprehensive preparation and holistic understanding of whole India and the world. Earlier it was an optional centric paper but now it is general studies centric paper. The mention of syllabus is enough in itself to deter non-serious candidates. It covers topics from Indian history including ancient, medieval, modern and post-modern with extra emphasis on culture and diversity, world history, psychology, sociology, public administration, geography, polity, economics, science and technology, international relations, ethics, philosophy etc. The 12th plan document, economic survey, government reports, magazines like World Focus, EPW, Yojana, Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha debates are few important sources of information. And mind you, I am only mentioning the tip of the ice berg. The ranges of topics are as diversified as the Indian and world demographic milieu.
In such a challenging setup, there is no one compiled one point source of information which can help new aspirants in dealing with all the challenges. Thus I intend to write all the practical tips, tricks and challenges I faced during my phase of preparation through this blog. I have framed around 10-20 basic questions and I would write my experience on those issues through this blog. Some information may be available on forums like InsightsonIndia or ForumIAS or Mrunal but advantage here is all the information would be coming from one person’s experience. All of it is authentic, picked up from my diary entries and practical “how to do style” in nature. Over the years, I struggled with my concentration capacity, my sittings, sleeping habits. The blog will describe my thought process and actions in overcoming those problems. I wish I do some justice with the questions. Most of the information is recall based so it may not be 110% correct. Most of the time perception of difficulty level of hurdles and challenges change once we overcome them. I would try my best to guard against those distortions.
There is no one way to crack the civil services exam. Every selection is a story in itself. Getting into civil services is no less than winning an Olympic medal. It requires persistent hard work, and extraordinary dedication. Even in the least case, person should be able to put 12 hours for an entire 12 month period apart from basic skill set of good analytical skills, English abilities and personality characteristics. These skills do not come overnight. Thus, the effort is nearly equal to winning an Olympic gold medal or doing a PHD. And in most of the cases, it is more than that. People may find it hyperbole but try asking some honest civil services aspirant. He would concur with my thought.
These blogs are not holy bible of cracking Civil Services preparation. They are directive in nature. Most of the time, a successful candidate devise their own strategy to crack the exam. Just like Indian Monsoon has not repeated a pattern in last 150 years, UPSC paper is equally unpredictable. Thus a Candidate needs to take risk, think smart, and be choosy and confident during the preparation.
Anyway, I would address one question each day. I would keep my experience description brief and short. However, I cannot discount the possibility of mid-course correction. In between, I may be posting some other pending things. For instance, report on Library, Shiksha Sindhu magazine material or Swachcha Bharat article.
Good night for now. Tomorrow is very busy day and so is the remaining night.
I went to inspect Delhi public library in the afternoon with my AAP colleagues. We were shocked to see the dilapidated state of affairs in the library. Library provides a 5 year membership for 20 Rs. only. A small 4 room library had almost 80K books. I was amazed to see the variety and richness of the text. The book racks on both sides of passageway were pulling me magnetically. For some time I felt like staying back in the library and eat all the books placed there. Now Chandna Ji has asked me to prepare a short report on inspection finding. Reading habit is the best refuge in the old age. It opens our thought process and widens our horizons. Especially learning a foreign language opens a whole new culture and civilization to us. Book reading helps in killing the boredom and loneliness of old age provided your eyes remain well functioning by then.
I spent rest of the afternoon in setting my workstation. Typing HTML code after long time and setting up perforce to sync my system with rest of the team reminded me of my days in Citrix. A sense of nostalgia griped me for initial few seconds. A lot of things need to be done on this end.
For past few days, I am starting with some activity then leaving it pending midway. I need to be careful of this habit because leaving halfway leads to feeling of anxiety and guilt (Ziegarnick effect). It does not give a sense of fulfillment. So I need to devote more time to finish the 7 things which are left midway.
Coming to the topic, I had planned in January to compile my experience of Civils preparation. In last 4 years, the focal point of the exam has changed drastically. The paper of UPSC is like Indian Monsoon in recent years. No one can predict the pattern and style of questions. The exam process has become very dynamic. Thus it has become the real test of Individual wit, intelligence, risk taking ability, aptitude, attitude, knowledge, and writing, reading and speaking abilities. Rightly so, it is called mother of all examinations in the country. A candidate faces severe information overload from online and offline sources. Places like Rajinder Nagar in Delhi seem like fair market of UPSC aspirants. The length and breadth of the syllabus is so daunting that many candidates gives up even before reaching their prelims stage. The market is proliferated with bogus coaching institutions. Most of the teachers belong to era of early 2000’s or earlier. Thus they do not understand the true challenges that a new student faces. Most of the time, they end up misguiding or ill-counsel student. The nature, type, source and scope of questions have changed. Existing institutions does not know the real practical difficulties which a student faces in the process because they have never appeared or given the exam in current format.
Earlier it was a knowledge based exam. Now it is application oriented exam. Earlier one who had skills to slog and mug could be assured of his selection but now exam is more analytical. It requires smart preparation. Earlier offline material and coaching material was only source. Now online materials have flooded the smart phones. Earlier selective preparation could have ensured selection. But now it needs a comprehensive preparation and holistic understanding of whole India and the world. Earlier it was an optional centric paper but now it is general studies centric paper. The mention of syllabus is enough in itself to deter non-serious candidates. It covers topics from Indian history including ancient, medieval, modern and post-modern with extra emphasis on culture and diversity, world history, psychology, sociology, public administration, geography, polity, economics, science and technology, international relations, ethics, philosophy etc. The 12th plan document, economic survey, government reports, magazines like World Focus, EPW, Yojana, Rajya Sabha/Lok Sabha debates are few important sources of information. And mind you, I am only mentioning the tip of the ice berg. The ranges of topics are as diversified as the Indian and world demographic milieu.
In such a challenging setup, there is no one compiled one point source of information which can help new aspirants in dealing with all the challenges. Thus I intend to write all the practical tips, tricks and challenges I faced during my phase of preparation through this blog. I have framed around 10-20 basic questions and I would write my experience on those issues through this blog. Some information may be available on forums like InsightsonIndia or ForumIAS or Mrunal but advantage here is all the information would be coming from one person’s experience. All of it is authentic, picked up from my diary entries and practical “how to do style” in nature. Over the years, I struggled with my concentration capacity, my sittings, sleeping habits. The blog will describe my thought process and actions in overcoming those problems. I wish I do some justice with the questions. Most of the information is recall based so it may not be 110% correct. Most of the time perception of difficulty level of hurdles and challenges change once we overcome them. I would try my best to guard against those distortions.
There is no one way to crack the civil services exam. Every selection is a story in itself. Getting into civil services is no less than winning an Olympic medal. It requires persistent hard work, and extraordinary dedication. Even in the least case, person should be able to put 12 hours for an entire 12 month period apart from basic skill set of good analytical skills, English abilities and personality characteristics. These skills do not come overnight. Thus, the effort is nearly equal to winning an Olympic gold medal or doing a PHD. And in most of the cases, it is more than that. People may find it hyperbole but try asking some honest civil services aspirant. He would concur with my thought.
These blogs are not holy bible of cracking Civil Services preparation. They are directive in nature. Most of the time, a successful candidate devise their own strategy to crack the exam. Just like Indian Monsoon has not repeated a pattern in last 150 years, UPSC paper is equally unpredictable. Thus a Candidate needs to take risk, think smart, and be choosy and confident during the preparation.
Anyway, I would address one question each day. I would keep my experience description brief and short. However, I cannot discount the possibility of mid-course correction. In between, I may be posting some other pending things. For instance, report on Library, Shiksha Sindhu magazine material or Swachcha Bharat article.
Good night for now. Tomorrow is very busy day and so is the remaining night.
Alert everybody! The inspector raaj is back ...of course in the good sense.... with AAP at the helm, guess Delhites would soon see sprucing up of the dilapidated libraries....
ReplyDeleteSuch voracity for books that you wanted to eat em up...its always great to hear people being greedy about books...
Lucid explanation about the changing dynamics of the civil services exam... looking forward to learn from your experiences specially the concentration, sittings and sleep part....