Civil Servant (IAS/PCS)

There are two ways to become IAS officer i.e, by appearing in Civil Service Examination and by appearing in PCS examination conducted by various state Public Sector Commission. PCS officers become IAS after gaining experience and performance. In order to help you few datils on Civil Service Examinations and PCS are givem below:
The Civil Services Examination is a nationwide competitive examination in India conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) for recruitment to various Civil Services of the Government of India, including the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Police Service (IPS) and others services. Eligibility condition for appearing in civil services examination is as follow:
(a)The candidate must hold a PASS BACHELOR'S degree from any of the Universities incorporated by an Act of the Central or State Legislature in India or other educational institutions established by an Act of Parliament or declared to be deemed as a University, under Section-3 of the University Grants Commission Act, 1956, or possess an equivalent qualification.
(b) Candidates who have appeared or intend to appear for the final examination and are awaiting results are also eligible to apply for the Preliminary Examination.
(c)A candidate must have attained the age of 21 years and must not have attained the age of 32 years.
(d)You may refer to UPSC website for other eligibility criterion.
It is conducted in two phases - a preliminary examination consisting of two objective-type papers (general studies and aptitude test), and a main examination consisting of nine papers of conventional (essay) type, followed by a personality test (interview). Out of "NINE" there are two qualifying papers; i) any modern Indian language (300 marks) ii) English (300 marks). The marks of these two papers will not be counted in the merit list of the main examination however, qualifying in these two papers is compulsory. Out of "Seven" Papers there are "Five" compulsory papers and Two Optional papers from the subject of your choice.
Provincial Civil Services, abbreviated as PCS, are actually the civil based administrative services of the State Government. These officers relate to the policy making of the state to which they belong. These officers are also selected through an entrance test conducted by the state based Public Service Commission.
You are advised to look at eligibility criteria of PCS os state in which you are planning to appear.

Hi,
After class 12th, your approach should be to focus on the static areas such as history, geography, polity, environment and general Science. You need to clear your basics regarding these subjects as they form the 60-70% basis of prelims examination. The books you can initially refer are NCERTs of class 6th-10th for Science and environment, and for other mentioned subjects from class 6th-12th.
A lot will also depend on, which course you will opt for your graduation, as a lot of areas would be covered in your higher studies. Moreover, newspaper reading is a must habit which cannot be dispensed with. With new digital mediums available, it is easy to access news and current affairs. In the coming years of your preparation, also try to inculcate how to utilize time and form an opinion on various socio-economic issues happening around us.
For the mains and interview stage, there is a long way and UPSC might make changes in the examination pattern, so that part can be dealt later.
All the best.