1. IAS Preparation Strategies

2. General Strategy Well formulated strategy along with optimum time management is the only two ladders for yourdream goal. It's very important to formulate your own strategy as it pays to be yourself. However forthe general guidance to tackle Civil Services examination, here are some of the guidelines which willhelp the aspirant to achieve success. Familiarity with the optional syllabi: Get yourself well informed about the content of the syllabi andthe topics it covers. A thorough familiarity with your optional reduces your mental burden at the firstsight itself. Thorough insight of the question papers: It is the most important part of your strategy as investingyour time skillfully will reap rich dividends. Go through the question papers of past ten years toidentify the pattern and select the topics which are asked very frequently. Simultaneously, identifythose topics which are particularly useful for conventional essay type questions. Once you have clearlydemarcated the topics for the conventional and the objective types, the rest will be an easier task. Athorough insight of the past papers will therefore solve two of your purposes. It would boost yourconfidence level initially as you come to know the standards of the question asked and secondly itguides constantly through your preparation. Selection of books: It is advisable not to go through a lot of books, instead go through one quality bookon each topic which clarifies your basic concept. Standard books not only save your precious time butalso guide you as a perfect teacher. So always rely on standard good books. Also it is advisable tocollect various books on my topics in advance so as to save time for the last minute hassle. Prefer you own notes: It is always advisable to make notes of the related topics. A well crafted notesolves two purposes. On the one hand the aspirant goes through the syllabus once and on the otherhand it is of immense help on the eve of examination. A specific strategy for the general studies: General studies cover everything under the sun. But there isnothing to get panic, a glance over the last years question' paper will make things easier. Broadly wecan categories this topic under the following heads. 3. History: A huge stress is given to modern history and freedom movement. Also emphasis is given to Ancient India.A cursory glance over the medieval history would serve the purpose. Geography: A huge stress is to be given to physical geography and maps related questions. Get yourself well-acquaintedwith maps with the help of a good Atlas. General Science: It covers a major chunk, so be well-versed with the topics of general science from a standardguidebook. Current affairs: Going daily through a standard news paper thoroughly will suffice. General awareness: Any good guide book or year book will be suited for the purpose.Some more important points: As already said, always rely on yourself prepared notes. Go through your short notes rigorously. Prepare out short notes of important topics with relevant points and just before the examination rely solely on it. Always rely on revisions. Take a good sleep on the eve of examination. It is most important for your brilliant performance. Never go through any book on the eve of examination. Don't read any new topic. Don't get engaged with any confusing question or problem as your prior investment (with studies) will only bringdividends to you. Do not loose your confidence. 4. How to Prepare NotesAppearing for any competitive exam requires a lot of preparation. Students should be ready toface this challenge in the best possible way. Though there is no one way of studying, there areways to study more effectively and with less stress and more enjoyment. It is important to knowhow to make use of the sources available to you in the best possible way. It is wise to take a threepronged approach to preparation, reading to learn, making effective notes and able to writeanswers to various kinds of questions.Students are often faced with the daunting task of making voluminous notes. Now the questionarises as to why make notes at all. There are several good reasons, one is that you cannot makenotes without understanding the given topic, since you have to pick out the important points andtry to summarise them. Next is that writing down any information helps you to remember itbetter. Thirdly, it makes a good practice for thinking and writing out essays. Fourth, it will promptyou to revise your work since it does not take a long time to go through a set of well made notes.Lastly, it helps you in your final revision by reminding you of the most important points of eachtopicThe next question is when should one make notes? One should make notes from the verybeginning as soon as you have done your studying when the material is fresh in mind. This helpsto fix it in your memory. It is better to make notes from all possible sources, from what you read,what you hear and from what you do. After making the first brief notes, it can be expanded andorganised properly. You can then keep adding information to it from time to time. One importantthing to remember is to never treat a set of notes as the final version. 5. There are different methods of making notes and one should decide which method suits you the best.There are two types of making notes, one is the LINEAR NOTES and the other PATTERN NOTES. Let us start with Linear notes first, it is a method in which you condense the material you have readusing headings and sub headings and jotting down the most important points. This method worksbest when making notes from a book where the material is already properly organised. But onedisadvantage of this method is that you end up copying a lot of material from the book whichdefeats the very purpose of condensing. The right way to use this method is to use loose sheets of paper instead of an exercise book since itis easier to keep adding information. It is a good idea to leave space on each sheet of paper foradditional information. Another way to make your notes more interesting is to use colors, blockletters, making boxes and highlighting as and when necessary. All this will immediately draw ourattention to the actual contents of our notes and make it more clear and comprehensible. We now come to Pattern Notes. For this we have to begin the topic at the centre of the page. Eachline radiating from it represents a branch of the main idea. Each point is written as briefly as possibleusing a key word or a phrase. It is a better method to adopt because it is more flexible than makingLinear notes. One can add extra information to it at any point without any problem. Secondadvantage is that we can see the whole pattern at one go without actually turning the pages. Thirdlywe can indicate the links between different topics more easily than we can do in a linear method.Another advantage of pattern notes is that it is exceptionally useful when making notes frommemory for revision as you keep jotting down points as and when they occur to you. This makes iteasier to revise for exams and writing out essays as only brief key words are used. Lastly, it is easierto remember as notes is made in a shape format. 6. But this method has some disadvantages as well. If there are too many facts and too much ofinformation, your pattern becomes messy and over crowded. Using key words can remind you ofbasic ideas but when it comes to remembering details, this method cannot be sufficient. Thereforethe most effective way of making good notes from the sources available is to use a combination ofthese two methods. One important thing to remember is that for many subjects your notes willhave to include diagrams and sketch maps. They must be accurate and labelled very clearly. For example while making notes for Science, the general lay out has to follow the one given byyour teacher with as little variation as possible. There are four basic stages which should always bethere, Purpose, Method, Result and Conclusion If there is a description it will have to include adiagram and if it is recorded data, it will require a table or a graph. Whatever method you decide to follow, one thing to remember is to keep your notes handy at alltimes and in a proper file. It is a good idea to use colored flags to demarcate different topics. Withsuch systematic preparation, a student can face the challenge of any competitive exam withconfidence. 7. For more details regarding IAS preparation strategies check the following:http://www.civilserviceindia.com/subject/notes.htmlFor Updated IAS Syllabus 2014 :http://www.jagranjosh.com/ias-syllabus-st-1358321036#sthash.uKNV1kI5.dpbsFor the best IAS coaching centers refer here:IAS academy in chennaiIAS Academy in BangaloreIAS Academy in HyderabadTHANK YOU