Civil Servant (IAS/PCS) exams

IAS is the short form of Indian Administrative Service. It is one of the prestigious services among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc for the which the UPSC conduct Civil Services Examination (CSE) for selecting the candidates. An officer selected into the Indian Administrative Service gets exposure in very diverse roles like the collector, commissioner, head of public sector units, chief secretary, cabinet secretary etc. Not only the experience and challenges but also the scope of making positive changes in the life of millions in India makes IAS a unique career choice.
How to become an IAS officer?
Even though the exam to be undertaken is popularly known as IAS exam, it is officially called UPSC Civil Services Exam. The UPSC CSE consists of 3 stages Prelims, Mains, and Interview. Getting into Indian Administrative Service is not easy considering the competition involved.
UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is the government agency responsible for selecting the right candidates for this service. Every year only around 1000 candidates are selected for all the 24 services combined. The number of candidates who applied for UPSC Civil Service Exam was about 9 lakh in 2015, out of which around 4.5 lakh candidates appeared on the exam day.

1. Be to be creative. when you will write an essay or when you will answer descriptive question try to show your creativity. whatever you will write in the paper write intelligently.
2. Choose the subject for civil service main examination according to your stream of study. in which subject you have good knowledge choose only that subject. first read the syllabus of each paper then choose the paper according to your knowledge.
3. Do not be tensed at the time of examination. if the question is tough then it is tough for everyone. so you should not worry about you. whatever you will know just answer them.
4. Try to be prepare for English language paper. to do good in this paper you must have good knowledge in English. So, you must be prepare very well for the English subject.

1. Try to be creative. when you will write an essay or when you will answer descriptive question try to show your creativity. whatever you will write in the paper write intelligently.
2. Choose the subject for civil service main examination according to your stream of study. in which subject you have good knowledge choose only that subject. first read the syllabus of each paper then choose the paper according to your knowledge.
3. Do not be tensed at the time of examination. if the question is tough then it is tough for everyone. so you should not worry about you. whatever you will know just answer them.
4. Try to be prepare for English language paper. to do good in this paper you must have good knowledge in English. So, you must be prepare very well for the English subject.

1. Ancient History: Ancient India by RS Sharma (Old NCERT) has good coverage of UPSC IAS Prelims syllabus and you will find a number of questions that has been directly asked from this book.
2. Medieval History: History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra (Old NCERT) is more relevant in this section because it has good coverage of topics of Medieval History of India.
3. Modern History: A Brief History of Modern India by Spectrum as well as Concise History of Modern India by Sujata Menon have good coverage of the Modern History syllabus for IAS Prelims Exam.
4. Indian Culture: For this section, the aspirant should go through the book Facets of Indian Culture by Spectrum and also through the website of Centre for Cultural Resources and Training.
Economy
For the basic concepts and terminologies of economics NCERT books are enough for IAS Preparation. It is essential to reach the Macroeconomics Class 12th textbook by NCERT because it covers the basic terminologies of an economy which are quite helpful for understanding the growth and development of a country.

Here are few revision tips that can indeed help students notch up success in the examination:
1. Revise at least twice before exam:
Map out your studies in a way so that adequate time is left for revision. It is equally important that no topic should be skipped while revising. Revise everything.
2. Basics have to be strong:
Having a strong command over the basics is better than just knowing the entire subject. Numerous questions are asked from subjects like current affairs, Indian history, Geography, Indian Polity, Ecology, Biodiversity and Environment, hence they should be prepared in detail.
Candidates tend to ignore prelims because the questions are objective in nature, but the questions are tricky and each question aims to check the knowledge of students in depth, and therefore, equal importance has to be given to the preliminary examination.
3. Solve mock test papers:
Solving previous years' question papers zeroes out chances of errors in the examination and increases accuracy and speed. It provides the opportunity to get the hang of time management and have a clear idea of the paper. Accordingly, you can decide which section has to be attempted first.
4. Prepare notes:
Notes help to revise concepts quickly when a candidate wrestles with time; so, it is advisable to prepare notes especially on topics which are tough for you. Making notes help you remember things in a better way.
5. Get familiarise with syllabus:
Getting well attuned to the syllabus is the first step to set about systematic preparation. It provides the right direction to your preparation and helps you stave off covering irrelevant topics.
6. Selection of books:
Most of the candidates get perplexed referring to countless books available in the market. Make your basics strong with NCERT books and count on standard book to farther go through relevant topics.