1. How to prepare for this Exam? How to Study
2. Strong Determination
3. Time management,
4. Excuses, Excuses
5. Jealousy & Hatred
6. Failure in Prelims / Mains / Interview
7. For History people
8. While writing Essay remember

[Quote Book 2010] For Civil Service Aspirants- Time Management, Study tips, Failure and more

How to prepare for this Exam? How to Study

It’s a funny thing, the more I practice the luckier I get.
Arnold Palmer

that means more revision and test-papers you do, you’ve more chances of cracking prelims.

If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I’d spend six sharpening my ax.
Abraham Lincoln

that means more test papers & revision before prelims!

Do what you can with what you have where you are.
Theodore Roosevelt

its not necessary to go to Delhi for coaching and It is ABSOLUTELY unncessary have Vajiram’s Notes – original or xerox :D.

Do not confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse keeps moving but
does not make any progress.

Alfred A. Montapert

means try to understand what you’re reading instead of just flipping the pages or cramming it down. because

Knowledge becomes wisdom only after it has been put to practical use.
Unknown

you can never solve Mental ability questions in prelims by cramming down probability formulas.
you’ve to actually practice some sums.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.
Eleanor Roosevelt

In the beginning you might feel like You’ll never remember a thing in History or learn any economy or locate any geographical place, and will think about skipping the topics but only after rounds of revisions You gain strength, courage, and confidence.

Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.
Michael Jordan

that means if you can’t understand what is capital account convertability or Centre-state tax list then atleast try to know a few basic things about it rather than completly skipping the topic.

Do not wait for extrordinary circumstances to do good;
try to use ordinary situations.
Jean Paul Richter

this is for those who think they’ll finish all revision /syllabus right before one week of exam, when they’re under full stress & ‘mood.’

Don’t be afraid to give your best to what seemingly are small jobs. Every time you conquer one it makes you that much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.
Dale Carnegie

that means try to clear the basic concepts first.
you can’t ‘explain the impact of Revenue administration in British India on present inter-state disparity & migration’ unless you understand the basic things about Ryotwari/Mahalwari/Jamindaari subsystems of
Revenue administration in British times.

Strong Determination

Once I was attending a Seminar of K.Siddhartha (the Ensable coaching sir of Geography ),
so, he asked the audience What’s the most important thing for success in Civil service Exam?
I had stood up and answered that “it is Strong determination”, some other guy stood up & said its ‘Positive thinking’ & many other gave different answers ..but then he said everyone is wrong!
His gave the answer ‘Attitude’ or something but I still believe its Strong determination. :D so,

Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there.
Josh Billings

today you think you should give GRE and goto America, tomorrow you think you should give IELTS and go to UK / Australia and on third day you decide to give UPSC, fourth day thinking about CAT and so on — won’t take you anywhere- Decide now what you want to be in your life, and stick to the plan.
(its good to have backup plans but the backup plans shouldn’t be allowed to suck you into becoming lazy and careless regarding your primary objective.)

There will be people who care for you and want you to switch to something safer and more predictable like they’ll say don’t give this exam, instead do MBA or go to America like my cousin is doing etc.
tell them…

You see things and say ‘Why?’;
but I dream things that never were and I say ‘Why not?’ ”.
George Bernard Shaw

When you’re studying in a group / going to coaching classes, there will be negative thinkers who’ll try to sink you down in their own negative pessimistic attitude towards UPSC (we’ll never make it- its a matter of luck etc. ) Tell them

Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

A good idea will keep you awake during the morning, but a great idea will keep you awake during the night.
Marilyn Vos Savant

like joining the civil service!

Time management,

this is important, because many candidates, once determine to give this exam,
but then waste tonnes of their Hours ‘Daydreaming’ about what they’ll do once they become and IAS/IPS officer.

Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have,
and only you can determine how it will be spent.
Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.
Carl Sandburg

means don’t let other people waste your time via chain sms/email/orkut scraps!

If you can’t sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying.
Dale Carnegie

Footprints on the sands of time are never made by sitting down.
Unknown

The future depends on what we do in the present.
Mahatma Gandhi

A loser seldom lives in the present, but instead destroys the present by focusing on past memories or future expectations.
Muriel James

Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It’s perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we’ve learned something from yesterday.
John Wayne

He who seeks rest finds boredom… He who seeks work finds rest.
Unknown

Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.
Dale Carnegie

Excuses, Excuses

like when you get low marks in test series / fail in prelims and make excuses for your faulty preparation & blame it on everything else other than yourself.

An excuse is worse and more terrible than a lie; for an excuse is a lie guarded.
Alexander Pope

Because
Niney-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.
George W. Carver

Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.
Satchel Paige

Jealousy & Hatred

if you’re going to coaching classes, you’re most like to encounter someone who knows more than you,
someone who scroes more marks than you in the test series.
or sometimes you might fail in any stage of exam, while someone you know, gets selected in UPSC
so on that event, you must not lose your temper-keep in mind that

If you envy successful people, you create a negative force field of attraction that repels you from ever doing the things that you need to do to be successful. If you admire successful people, you create a positive force field of attraction that draws you toward becoming more and more like the kinds of people that you want to be like.
Brian Tracy

When you are content to be simply yourself and
don’t compare or compete, everybody will respect you.
Lao-Tzu

Every artist was first an amateur.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

so If you don’t know when Babur came to India / when was 1st Carnatic/ Maratha war fought- like your friends do, then don’t worry. Find the answer.
they all didnot know it at some point in their life.

Did you ever see an unhappy horse? Did you ever see bird that had the blues? One reason why birds and horses are not unhappy is because they are not trying to impress other birds and horses.
Dale Carnegie

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
- Eleanor Roosevelt

So don’t feel inferior is some random dude scores more marks than you do @ the coaching classes’ test series. :D

Don’t worry over what other people are thinking about you.
They’re too busy worrying over what you are thinking about them.
Unknown

Failure in Prelims / Mains / Interview

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

That means, if you fail in prelim / mains, modify your strategy. otherwise

If you keep on doing what you’ve always done,
you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.
W.L. Bateman

Many people don’t crack this exam on first trial, so If you can’t make it, don’t fall in into depression trap because

If you believe that feeling bad or worrying long enough will change
a past or future event, then you are residing on another planet with
a different reality system.
Unknown

Failure will never overtake me if my determination to succeed is strong enough.
Og Mandino

Remember that failure is an event, not a person.
Unknown

If something is wrong, fix it if you can. But train yourself not to worry.
Worry never fixes anything.
Mary Hemingway

For History people

An age is called Dark Age, not because the light fails to shine,
but because people refuse to see it.
James Michener

While writing Essay remember

Don’t criticize what you don’t understand, son. You never walked in that man’s shoes.
Elvis Presley

Have the courage to act instead of react.
Earlene Larson Jenks

and Finally

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
Mark Twain

now is the right time to decide the career path. once your age above 30 years, it’ll be hard to change careers or do anything about your life. so Tie the laces and start running right NOW.