Alexander Fleming accidently discovered Penicillin in a petri dish. Was it all luck involved in this significant discovery? Or was it as Coehlo says, “When you want something the entire universe conspires to help you achieve it”?

The gospel’s truth is that no one can clear the UPSC CSE with mere stroke of luck.  This three stage examination process involves 2 papers of 2 hours each in the prelims stage, 9 papers of 3 hours each in the mains stage and an average 30 to 45 minutes interview. Do you believe that anyone can clear these three stages by mere luck?

If you believe so, then trust me friends you are not only lying to yourself but also playing with your future as you are on the wrong path. And believe it, if someone says he/she became an IAS on the basis of luck, then that luck was created by them through ingredients of hard work/ smart work, focus/determination and consistency/ perseverance.

IMPORTANCE OF HARD WORK/ SMART WORK

The following figure illustrates how a person gets lucky with hard work:

Hard work means putting in a lot of time and effort doing a certain amount of work. Hard work aims at the quantity. Smart work aims at achieving goals with quality.

 

A Summary of few easy-to-implement tips to study smart for UPSC Exam:

Learn in multiple ways

Read multiple subjects in one day

Avoid multitasking

Take handwritten notes

Learn by association

Revise periodically

Simplify the information

Practice tests

Know what to filter

Read textbooks effectively

Don’t cram, understand

Read important information out loud

Reward yourself

Take a break and make those breaks happening but in a way that one gets back to preparation with double the zeal and enthusiasm.

The only thing that overcomes HARD LUCK is HARD WORK. HARD WORK puts you in a position where GOOD LUCK finds you. So, do Hard work to move up the ladder, however, you should keep the smartness in line with it, in order to move to the right place on the ladder.

IMPORTANCE OF CONSISTENCY

Being regular and persistent in whatever one is doing is the basic definition of being consistent. FOR CIVIL SERVICES PREPARATION IT ENTAILS: following a proper plan and schedule, making notes from the standard books and newspapers regularly, practising answer writing daily, solving test papers or giving test series at regular intervals, Devoting adequate time to each phase of the exam as well as to the GS papers and optional papers, writing essays at regular intervals.

Being consistent instills traits like discipline, confidence. It helps in completing the syllabus on time and aspirant can get enough time for revision. An aspirant who is consistent with the above mentioned tasks will not come under undue pressure in real exam conditions and he/she will be able to better time management.

To achieve success in any phase of life, be it civil services exam or elsewhere, luck that comes is a consequence of hard work, focus and perseverance. In case of civil services preparation, still many would feel that luck does play a role in things that are not in their control. They may get a less rewarding interview panel or the mood of the evaluator of the exam may not be conducive. This is all wrong. Every deserving candidate who does well in those 30-45 minutes of interview will always get good marks irrespective of the panel. Further, marks in mains are not awarded based on psychological state of the evaluator but on the basis of the answer written. UPSC has inbuilt mechanism to take care of such things. Also, remember if you write good answers don’t you think they will act as a catalyst to cheer up the mood of a mentally fatigued examiner? Similarly, at prelims level do you think luck can ensure that one gets 50 questions net correct in an exam which is considered mother of all examinations? Answer is a clear cut NO.

 

So, dear aspirants remember that there is no substitute for HARD/ SMART WORK, DETERMINATION and PERSEVERNCE/ CONSISTENCY in this exam.

HAPPY LEARNING!!!