There has been a sea change in the category of people appearing at the civil services examination in the last 5 years. About a decade ago, only candidates who had planned for a career in the civil services since their college were appearing at the examination full time i.e., they use to devote their complete attention to the examination and have had 24 hours at their disposal. Since 2005, many candidates who are already employed with more than two years experience or appearing at the examination. Today, a bulk of the candidates who appear at the Civil services examination are aged 24 and above, have responsible and stable jobs. Most of them are in well paying jobs and have a bright career ahead, because of which they do not find it feasible to resign their jobs and devote their attention to the examination. Yet, many of them would like to appear at the examination. Here are excellent ready made tips for these type of candidates.
Every working professional who is aspiring for the civil services examination and is preparing in the limited time available is confronted with three dilemmas :
1) I have too many jobs to be attended to and I am not able to find time to study.
2) I want to study but some how I am not able to get the will power to sit down with my books and study.
3) In the time available I am not able to collect the proper information. I have so much information which I am sure I will not be able to remember.
1) I have too many works to be attended to and I am not able to find time to study : Every individual has many issues to attend to. Working professionals after the age of 25 have many responsibilities apart from work. ( for example : Taking care of parents, family, etc.) All of them complain that they are not able to prioritize their time properly.
For example, let us take a B.Tech. graduate who is working and has the usual responsibilities and is intending to appear at the Civil Services examination. The candidate is finding it difficult to prioritize his time along with the responsibilities that he has discharge at home. His dilemma can be solved as follows:
i) Important but not urgent : Topics like Mental Ability would fall under this category. They are important but not urgent because he has a background in sciences having done his M.P.C. in Intermediate and B.Tech. in graduation. They are important from the exam perspective but not urgent. He can tackle these topics just before the exam if necessary.
ii) Urgent and Important : Any Article that appears in the newspaper on which questions can be asked would come under this category. If you forget to take a copy of the article and paste in your file you will find that the news paper would get lost in no time and you will be not able to retrieve it. Hence this task is urgent. Similarly, developments in Economy would fall under this category.
iii) Not important not urgent : Under this category would fall the optional for the Mains that you have been preparing for the last few months. As you will be writing the Mains only if you clear the Prelims they would fall under the category not important and not urgent for the present.
iv) Urgent but not important : This can relate to any household work like paying electricity bills etc. which all of us have to do. These have to be done but they can be delegated to someone else as they are urgent but not important.
If you are able to use the above model you can prioritize your time. Ask yourself: When will I deal with things that are important, but not urgent ? When will I take time to deal with important tasks before the become urgent etc. You need to implement the strategy with increased will power and self discipline to achieve success in Civil Services Exam.
Another method of organizing your time would be to make a list of every thing that you want to get done today. Began with the subject at the top of the list, continue only when you have completed it. When a task has been completed cross it off the list.
Remember : Better late than never, but never late is better.