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Author: Rohan Samant, IPS
Rohan was selected to the India Police Service in the 2008 list, with an all india rank of 159. He underwent training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad and was allotted the Tamil Nadu cadre and currently works as the ASP undergoing training at Kanchipuram.
The task I have set for myself is to demystify the UPSC examination, for the consumption of the UPSC candidates aspiring towards making it to those corridors of power that the civil services promise. My purpose is to provide mere guidelines for preparation. I must caution the reader, that much of the effort and hard work will have to be put in by him/her. I can only shed some light on the path towards the ultimate goal.
The UPSC preliminary test General Studies paper is distinctly different from most standardised aptitude tests on account of its focus on general knowledge based questions. These questions require application of a strong knowledge base mixed with reasoning and analytical strategies. Mere cramming of information might not yield higher scores. Solving objective-type questions requires both the knowledge of the correct option and the ability to elimination of the wrong options in the UPSC Examination. Thus, it might be possible to arrive at the correct answer, in spite of not knowing it to be such.
Analysis of the last 10 UPSC IAS prelims papers leads to certain insights, which will help in the preparation for the forthcoming exams. Given below are few salient points, which appear to feature in the previous examinations. By no means, should these observations be considered as gospel. They are mere pointers which will aid a candidate in channelising her/his efforts during preparation and thus towards maximising her/his score.
The questions are often not based on a single fact. There is a higher incidence of nested questions, which require you to look at 2 or 3 different facts and choose which all are correct.
