How to Prepare for UPSC from Home without coaching classes | Prepare for IAS from Home

How to Prepare for UPSC from Home without coaching classes | Prepare for IAS from Home | How to start UPSC Preparation from Zero Level | Self Preparation for IAS | Important things to know about UPSC Exam

What is your age and qualification?

This is very important to know because IAS preparation should be started at the right time, neither too early nor too late. Mostly candidates who pass the civil services examination in the age group of 23-28 years. Surely you can start preparing for IAS exam before and after this age group. But when you start IAS preparation, say, 15 years (in school) can be very early. When you are in the final year of graduation, generally, 20-22 years you start preparing for IAS.

Know the basics of IAS exam

Before you start preparing for UPSC exam, you should also get some important information related to the Civil Services Examination.

What is IAS Exam?

IAS Exam Qualification and Syllabus

After knowing the basics of IAS Exam, you will realize that IAS Preparation For Prelims and Main Examination, an integrated approach is required. The only thing is the preparation method is different. For Prelims you will need to give a large amount of information but do not need to go in depth. The syllabus is well defined and you should cover all the aspects of the main exam as the main exam is descriptive or written.

Get the right books for IAS Exam

When you are planning to prepare for IAS from your home then you are not currently enrolling for some coaching classes, which is just fine because IAS exam can be cleared without coaching.

But for IAS you have to find books with these recommendations. Read these books at least twice, read the most important chapters repeatedly to get the most out of these IAS books for the first time and second time from the cover. Of course, if you can get into the books once again before prelims or mains then this is an added boost as your memory will be correct before the exam. You should also know which NCERT to study for the IAS exam.

Read the right newspapers and magazines

If you do not already know this, then Current Affairs and General Awareness are very important topics for the premium and you can expect at least 30-40 current affairs and general awareness questions in Paper 1 (General Studies).

So How do you cover these topics when you start your IAS preparation?

Read at least one newspaper daily and one good current affairs magazine. You can read The Indian Express or The Hindu are good sources of both current affairs and good editorials that will help you in your prelims and GS Main papers. Learn to read a newspaper for IAS. You are also suggested that when you start UPSC preparations from your home, you should read a reliable magazine like Pratiyogita Darpan (available in English and Hindi).

Create a schedule and follow it

When you are starting IAS preparation from your home, there is always a danger of falling into the comfort zone and being satisfied. This is why you need to prepare a 10–12 month preparation plan for how you will cover the entire General Studies course so that it helps with prelims and the accompanying main. The next thing is to divide your time into two parts i.e. into paper 1 and paper 2. Because, Paper 2 of the prelims is only qualified in scope, you can dedicate more time for the preparation of Paper 1 (General Studies). If you are preparing for full time then I would suggest you to dedicate 7 hours daily for Paper 1 and 2-3 hours for Paper 2 for Paper 1. In Paper 1, you should spend 30-60 minutes reading newspapers and current affairs. You should devote the rest of your time to cover various topics like History, Geography, Polity etc.

Test your preparation

Even if you are preparing for the IAS exam from the comfort of your home, you should drill into your mind the fact that your preparation cannot be completed until you test your preparation. This is important if you are starting your IAS preparation from your home without any coaching. Identify your weak and strong areas and work on those weak areas.

Our wishes are with you...Prepare well for your exams...

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