UPSC Civil Services Prelims exam is common for both Civil Services and Indian Forest Services.

How to start

STEP 1:

Understand the exam structure thoroughly to plan according to your weakness and strengths, so that whenever you read you get a glimpse of syllabus and its relevance with what you are reading. So here it is

Paper 1 – General studies

Exam Structure

100 MCQ, 2 marks each = 200 Marks total

Penalty – 0.66 for every wrong answer

Duration – 2 hours

Syllabus

• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World
• Indian Polity and Governance-Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization
• General Science

Paper 2 – Aptitude

Exam Structure

80 MCQ, 2.5 marks each = 200 Marks total

Penalty: -0.83 for wrong answers

Duration: -2 hours

It is a qualifying paper and only 33% (67 marks) passing marks have to be scored.

From the time this paper has been made qualifying, the difficulty level is somewhat higher than the previous year questions. There are no direct questions in the comprehension part, some analytical ability will help you solve this questions. This ability can be acquired through practising and practising alone. Solving previous year questions will help you analyse your week areas and work according to your strength and weakness. And then attempting various mock tests with a proper time will make you improving.

Also understand that this paper is only qualifying so make sure to give it an appropriate time without compromising on general studies paper.

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude etc.) (Class X level)
• Data Interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. (Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level)

STEP 2:

It is always better to observe the previous year question papers of UPSC prelim, as to understand about the extent of syllabus and questions to save unnecessary wastage of time. Here is the analysis.

Tables showing the UPSC cut-off marks of prelim examination from 2011 to 2016

Year	Gen	OBC	SC	ST	PH1	PH2	PH3
2014*	205	204	182	174	167	113	115
2015	107.3	106	94	91.34	90.66	76.66	40
2016	116	110.7	99.34	96	75.34	72.66	40

STEP 3:

Start with the NCERT textbooks syllabus and topic wise, NCERT books are interactive and very basic in nature which makes you understand a topic better with a holistic view. Also many questions can directly be solved only on the basis of NCERT. For example,

2017 Prelim questions

Q. Democracy’s superior virtue lies in the fact that it calls into activity

1. The intelligence and character of ordinary men and women.
2. The methods for strengthening executive leadership.
3. A superior individual with dynamism and vision.
4. A band of dedicated party workers.

Source: NEW NCERT Class 8, Social and Political Life, Chapter 3, page 32

“The take-off point for a democracy is the idea of consent, i.e. the desire, approval and participation of people. It is the decision of people that creates a democratic government and decides about its functioning.”

So, since democracy requires voters’ decision making- hence intelligence and character are called in.

Q. Out of the following statements, choose the one that brings out the principle underlying the Cabinet form of Government:

1. An arrangement for minimizing the criticism against the Government whose responsibilities are complex and hard to carry out to the satisfaction of all.
2. A mechanism for speeding up the activities of the Government whose responsibilities are increasing day by day.
3. A mechanism of parliamentary democracy for ensuring collective responsibility of the Government to the people.
4. D. A device for strengthening the hands of the head of the Government whose hold over the people is in a state of declineA band of dedicated party workers.

Source: NCERT Class 9: Democratic Politics: Chapter 5: Working of the institutions, page 87

“Since it is not practical for all ministers to meet regularly and discuss everything, hence the decisions are taken in Cabinet meetings. That is why parliamentary democracy in most countries is often known as the Cabinet form of government.”

For Paper 1

For Paper 2

From the time this paper has been made qualifying, the difficulty level is somewhat higher than the previous year questions. There are no direct questions in the comprehension part, some analytical ability will help you solve this questions. This ability can be acquired through practising and practising alone. Solving previous year questions will help you analyse your week areas and work according to your strength and weakness. And then attempting various mock tests with a proper time will make you improving.

Also understand that this paper is qualifying so make sure to give it an appropriate time without compromising on general studies paper.