Examination strategy For IAS Exam
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Examination strategy For IAS Exam


Examination strategy For IAS Exam?

1) What are Civil Services?

2) What is the pattern of Civil Services Exams ?

3) What is the Age Criteria for Civil Services ?

4) What are the Number of attempts for Civil Services?

5) Does the Filling the form make an attempt for Civil Services?

6) What is the Success rate for civil services ?

7) What is the Qualification Criteria for civil services?

8) What is the Exam Pattern for civil services?


Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

-How many Papers(Marks /Pattern )are in Pre exams for Civil Services ?

-What is the Cut Off For Civil services Prelims?

Stage 2: Mains Examination

-How many Papers(Marks /Pattern )are mains exams for Civil Services ?

-What is the Cut Off For Civil services mains?

Stage 3: Personality test (Interviews)

-What is Personality test

-What is the Final Cut Off For Civil services ?





What is the Examination strategy for Civil Services Exams? (How to prepare?)

1 - What are Civil Services ?

-Civil serviceS is the body of government officials who are employed inciviloccupations that are neither political nor judicial.

-Permanent ,Paid ,Skilled .

-Selected on the basis of merit , promoted on the basis of a merit and seniority system ..

2 - What is the Exam pattern of Civil Services Exams ?

The first step towards Civil Services is to familiarize yourself with the pattern of the examination.

3 - What is the Age Criteria for Civil Services ?

-The candidate must have attained theageof 21 years and must not have attained theageof 32 years (for the General category candidate) on 1 August of the year of examination.

-Prescribedage limitsvary with respect to caste reservations. For Other Backward Castes (OBC) the upperage limitis 35 years.

4 - What are the Number of attempts for Civil Services?

-Currently, the number of attempts for IAS exam for general category candidates is set atsixtill32years of age.

-While for those in the OBC category is nine till35years of age and for the SC/ST category is unlimited attempts till37years of age.

5 - Does the Filling the form make an attempt for Civil Services?

-Filling the form doesn’t make an attempt.

6 - What is the Success rate for civil services ?

- 0.1 % to 0.2%

7 - What is the Qualification Criteria for civil services?

-Minimum qualification for UPSC exam: The candidate must hold a degree from Government recognized Universities or possess an equivalent qualification.

8 - What is the Exam Pattern for civil services?

Stage 1: Preliminary Examination

-How many Papers(Marks /Pattern )are in Pre exams for Civil Services ?


There are following 2 papers in pre exam .

Paper I (General Studies)

200 Marks

Duration: Two Hours

Number of Questions: 100,

There are 100 questions to be answered in two hours, each question carries two marks. It means there will be around 80 seconds to answer each question. So speed and accuracy is essential to tackle this examination. While the correct answer will fetch 2 marks, a wrong answer means a loss of 0.66 marks.

The 100 questions can be broadly divided into three categories:

  • Multiple Choice Questions – single response correct
  • Multiple Choice Questions – multiple response correct
  • Multiple Choice Questions – Matching type

Minimum qualifying-

30 marks in paper 1


Paper II (Aptitude)

200 Marks

Duration: Two Hours

Number of Questions: 80

  • Comprehension (1+7+8)…30-32q
  • Interpersonal skills including communication skills3-6 q
  • Logical reasoning and analytical ability3-6q
  • Decision making and problem solving8 q
  • General mental ability15-16q
  • Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level), Data Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level)14-16 q
  • English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
  • Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level. (will be tested through passages from English language only without providing Hindi translation)

-Minimum cut off -70 marks in paper 2.

-Nature of paper I & II - Only Qualifying in nature .

-What is the Cut Off For Civil services Prelims?

The table below mentions the official UPSC Cut-Off 2019 for all the categories:

UPSC Cut Off & - IAS Prelims 2019

Category UPSC Cut Off
General 98
EWS 90
OBC 95.34
SC 82
ST 77.34
PwBD-1 53.34
PwBD-2 44.66
PwBD-3 54.66
PwBD-4 61.34

Candidates should know that cutoff for IAS, IPS and IFS remains the same.

Stage -2… Main Examination – (1750 MARKS)

-How many Papers(Marks /Pattern )are Mains exams for Civil Services ?

The Main Examination will consist of written examination.

The written examination will consist of9 papersof conventional essay type i.e. descriptive in nature.

You have to write answer in QCA.

Minimum qualifying

Subject to 10% marks in each of seven papers..Essay, GS1,2,3,4..optional paper 1 &2

Breakup of questions-

Paper-1) Essay write two essays choosing one from each of the following sections A & B in about 1000-1200 words each (125x 2 =250)

Paper-2) GS-1Total 20 questions . Question 1to 10 in.. 150 words . Question 11to 20 in ….250 words.

Paper-3) GS-2- Total 20 questions . Question 1to 10 in 150 words . Question 11to 20 in 250 words.

Paper-4) GS- 3- .. Total 20 questions . Question 1to 10 in 150 words . Question 11to 20 in 250 words.

Paper-5) GS- 4- Total 12 questions divided in …..part A & B .

-Part A) has …6 questions with subparts Each has to be answered in 150 words .

-Part B) has 6 questions with subparts Each has to be answered in 250 words .

Optionals-

8 questions in 2 sections..A & B….questions 1& 5 are compulsory out of remaining choose any 3q.

-What is the Cut Off For Civil services mains?

Category 2018 2017 2016 2015 2014
General 774 809 787 676 678
OBC 732 770 745 630 631
SC 719 756 739 622 631
ST 719 749 730 617 619

Stage -3… Personality Test ( Interviews)-

-What is Personality test for Civil Services ?

-The main aim of taking personality test is to know the overall personality of the candidate and traits of the candidate like their confidence, honesty, intellectual, integrity, understanding ground realities and depth of understanding of various concepts.

-What is the Final Cut Off For Civil services ?

-What is Personality test for Civil Services ?

-The main aim of taking personality test is to know the overall personality of the candidate and traits of the candidate like their confidence, honesty, intellectual, integrity, understanding ground realities and depth of understanding of various concepts.

-What is the Final Cut Off For Civil services ?

3- What is the Examination Strategy for IAS Exam ? (How to prepare?)

IAS Exam is not just about hard work. It’s a combination of both hard work and smart work.

1- Go Through Previous Year Papers-(Examination strategy)

Going through the last five year papers (at least 5 years) will familiarize you with the kind of questions asked in the examination.

2-Subject Wise Preparation Strategy.. -(Examination strategy)

History/Indian Culture/ Geography/Polity/ Economy/Science & Technology/Environment/Current Affairs…

3-Standard books on each topic which deals with the basic concepts. -(Examination strategy)

4-Make a Combination of..

Reading - Knowledge

Writing - Precise

Debating -Ready man(Prompt replier)

5-Mind your Answer writing: -(Examination strategy)

Since Mains examination is all about answer writing, so try to practice writing as much as you can. you must practice how to write answers in the limited space ( ) given in the answer sheet, which will be provided to you during the Mains exams.

-Remember 3W’s..What, When, Why, Where.

-Skelton… make a Skelton before answer writing.

-Impact- Social, Political, Economical, Cultural.

You must see to it that your answer should not exceed the word count or spill over the box given as you may be penalized for any such lapses.

6- Mind your hand writing --(Examination strategy)

While practicing you must be careful handwriting , spellings and grammar .

7-Attend classes daily -(Examination strategy)

8-Read; focus on Central Ideas, Key words.. -(Examination strategy)

9-Write at least 1 answer a day.. -(Examination strategy)

7-Solve previous year papers.. -(Examination strategy)

8-Quality Self study 6-10 a day.. -(Examination strategy)

9-Dedicated leisure ½ hours a day.. -(Examination strategy)

10-Least use of social media.. -(Examination strategy)

11- Exercise 1/ 2 to 1 hr a day.. -(Examination strategy)

12-Sleep 6-8 hours a day….-(Examination strategy)]

Unique IAS provides the following for you –-(Examination strategy)

1-Committed & Dedicated On line /offline courses for MPPSC.

2- Well Framed Modules With Systematic Subject Sequence ForTimely Completion Of Syllabus.

3- One to One Attention for Growth of Individual.

4- Advance yearly schedule & 100+ tests

5- Answer Writing Practice in MPPSC AnswerSheet Format for MPPSC.

6-Dedicated Blogs on Current Issues.

7- Dedicated U-tube videos For UPSC & PSC.

Previous achievements of Unique IAS-

-We are the Most experienced IAS/MPPSC coaching in central India over a span of 30 years.

-Our students are the pride holders of 3 times 1st Rank in MP and CG in State civil services for the post of Deputy Collector.

-Our students are the pride holders of ..All India 3rd, 7th, 23rd, 35th,43 rd , 51th, 55 th , 91st and 99 th …..etc Ranks in IAS exam,

-We have received Dainik bhaskar teaching excellence award 2019 from Sh. Shivraj singh Chauhan ( chief minister of MP)