Cracking Civil Services Along With a Full Time Job

Each year lakhs of aspirants think of preparing for Civil Services examination and each year aspirants get perplexed thinking about the following carefully worded line –

“Job ke sath kaha hopaega IAS ka exam. Samaj nahi araha ki exam du ya Naukri Karu.”

At the outset, let me tell you that Civil Services can be cracked along with a full-time job. Sure, you’ll have to be more disciplined, more focused and definitely more determined. But it is possible. 

The fact that Civil Services preparation is strenuous, makes a lot of aspirants opt out of jobs to invest time on CSE 100%. Now that is ok but for aspirants who don’t want to leave their secure jobs, there is nothing to worry. All you need to do is stay methodical and have a damn good strategy.

3 Important Points to Consider for Working CSE Aspirants

ROUTINE

You have got to prepare a plan (a time table/schedule) and stick to it. This way you’ll save precious time and will get the work done at the earliest. Without a plan, not only frustration get the better of you but also you’ll exhaust yourself.

TIME INVESTMENT

Being a working professional, your time during weekdays will be limited. Nevertheless, you still have to devote 4 hours daily – 2 before office in the morning and 2 after office during evenings. On weekends and holidays, you will have to invest maximum time.

RESOURCES

Compile all the resources beforehand and then begin preparation. If you don’t have good resources in your city, ask a good bookseller to get them for you from Delhi. They do that easily. Personally, I will not suggest coaching to working professionals. A study by yourself. That is what I did. It saved my time and I had a much better grip of the Syllabus. Do enroll in test series but that can wait for later.

10 Tasks Expected Out of Working CSE Aspirants

1. Read the Hindu daily and make notes so as to have a ready in hand repository once the exam draws closer.
2. Read and make notes on at least one important event daily – national or international. An event that you know will be important from CSE point of view.
3. Relate the current affairs that you have been reading with your General Studies syllabus because that is exactly how UPSC frames questions.
4. Alternate subjects from General Studies. For instance keep 2 days for Geography of India, 2 for history so on and so forth. This way you will be able to complete all the subjects within 2 weeks.
5. Lay special emphasis on International Relations andEnvironment. Damn important seeing the recent trends.
6. Once a week, read the India Year Book Make this book your bible.
7. Once a week read a magazine like Yojana and Kurukshetra. It’ll be very useful.
8. Devote some time (even if its 1 hour) towards Mains preparation. This is very important. Keep a track of syllabus from NCERT books.
9. Devote time to optional preparation at least twice a week.
10. Invest time on Sundays exclusively for revision. Weekly revisions of previously learned aspects are essential.

Remember that Civil Services preparation is about hard work and smart work both. Avail the best of your time and make your attempt count. Best wishes.