Civil service IAS exam preparation: How to select a coaching institute

‘Mr Sasi, an engineer from Maharashtra decided that he would crack civil service this time. So he resigned his job at Infosys and packed his bags to delhi. He joined an institute that advertised itself as the bestest ever coaching institute which produced loads of civil service toppers every year. Mr Sasi was given loads of material from which no question came. Mr Sasi failed miserably. Now he is jobless and helpless. ‘ This is the story of many aspirants who jump to start the civil service preparation and waste their precious time as well as life.

The students need to understand the coaching institutes and how they work deeply if they are to select the best institute. You can see in advertisements these statements: 5 above 20 rankers from X institute, 20 winners from y institute etc. How does this work?

There are number of techniques the coaching instituted do to achieve this success rate. A prominent method is ‘free mock exam method’. Here the coaching institute conducts mock exams for free. They would collect the role number, photo and a sign during the process. When the results come, the institutes check these role numbers. In case he clears, suddenly the whole credit for his victory is taken by the institute. Marvellous right!.

Another method is ‘following the student’. The student after getting petrified by the classes might have left for another good institute. But the first institute where he/she enrolled too takes the credit. The reality is that he would never have made it if he continued there.

These days another popular method is "Catching the probables". The coaching institute would offer free travel accommodation for the those who qualify for interviews. They would also provide mock interview sessions. When the results come, surely there would be some successful candidates. The credit of all these success naturally goes to the coaching institute. In fact  the institute would have neither trained nor given any substantial benefit to the student, but will show off that they got 'big result'.There would be sufficient PR acts (felicitations, talks, tv shows) to show "How the institute created magic". The students would flock in queues to these institutes just like fleas getting attracted to candles; to end up burnt and ruined. Next year same act repeats.

This does not mean that all coaching institutes are fraud. But you need to keep these things in mind when you see an ads. This will enable you to cross check the facts and separate it from the fiction many coaching institutes weave around them.

I would continue the topic in part 2 about the coaching institutes.

(*Mr Sasi is our imaginary newbie civil service aspirant and Mr Arnie the guy who cleared civils)

Are old question papers useful?

Referring old questions are important key to solving future papers. The upsc question papers should be analysed to understand the following areas-

Style of questions

Areas/coverage

Depth of subject

The above three areas will help analyse each question paper. In the recent years the questions aren’t asked directly. The application of things learned is expected from candidate. The coverage of syllabus is another thing to keep in mind. In earlier years there was an expected line of asking questions in civil service exams. Certain areas were always asked, while certain areas weren’t. In previous years GS papers the tennis cup winners were one of the most frequently asked question. Now the upsc wants to remove the predictability from the exam. So you can always expect new patterns and style. The aspirant should also note the depth of knowledge being expected. This is especially true with regard to the optional. If you see last years psychology paper or pub ad(geeks who wrote the paper say the question paper was greek!) , you will easily understand that.

There are few points aspirants that can be handy in exam:

1.       Dont panic seeing questions. Always expect some twist and turns. The twist and turns you see is experienced by all the students who take exam. Chillax and handle the questions well.

2.       There is no ideal answer. Many students waste time searching for a complete perfect answer for previous years question papers. The questions usually focus on some areas and not on any particular matter specifically. 

3.       Form an opinion. There are many areas where your opinion matters. Eg: Nuclear power or energy production etc. Here you should have an opinion of which are good and bad. And what stand you will take when asked. Here too there isn’t an ideal answer.

I feel that aspirants should review questions of last few years. There are students who refer question from times of forefathers and exclaim “OMG....UPSC asked thissss??”. That is pretty useless job.UPSC may have asked since that topic was relevant at that time. Lot of water has flown through the Ganges since then. The pattern, areas, and importance of a subject have changed. Looking papers which are very old doesn’t serve much purpose.  The new trends and ways are to be understood.