IAS preparation at home - All you need to know

If you want to start preparing for IAS i.e. UPSC civil services examination, you can either go for self-studies or you can also take up classroom training to crack the exam. The classroom coaching program is sometimes fairly expensive and this may not be suitable for all.but, there’s an alternative.You can study for the civil services exam at home with some help from online coaching and books. There are tons of videos available for free on YouTube that can help you with the preparations.

UPSC CSE exam pattern and Eligibility

The test has three phases — prelims, that usually happens in June, Mains — happens in Septemberand the final interview rounds that are usually conducted from from January to April.

The prelims exam is qualifying in nature and consists of two papers i.e. General studies and CSAT. The mains exams consist of 9 different exams including the two optional subject papers and two language papers. The interview is a personality assessment test.

You need to a graduate in any subject to be eligible for the exam.

You can prepare for civil services at home by spending less money as compared to classroom coaching. Here’s a checklist to follow while you start the preparation for CSE at home:

• Follow a proper systematic approach, with relevant books targeting specific levels. Also, you can refer to magazines and online articles.

• Once you have prepared a certain part of your syllabus, you can also start taking up the mock tests to get an idea of the exam pattern. The test based approach will help you evaluate yourself better.

• The self-preparation will cost you between 5,000 to 10,000 in order to buy essential books and magazines for the preparation.
• For the prelims examination, you can start the preparation with a particular section such as history, geography or current affairs.
• While for the next phase of the examination, you can study the additional subjects including international affairs, polity, economy, etc.

The exam is taken by over 10 lakh aspirants every year and the application fee is set at ₹100. For the female candidates,there’s not application fee..

You should be an Indian national and a graduate in any subject to appear for the exam. For the general category, the age bracket to appear for the exam is 21 to 32 years. You get six attempts to clear the examination. For other backward classes, the age limit os 35 years and the maximum number of attempts are set at 9. For an SC/ST candidate, there are unlimited attempts available and the age limit is 37 years.