- Act V: Retreat Plan
- Allied UPSC exam (IES,IFS,Geologist, SCRA, CDS,CPF etc.)
- State PSC: Pujnab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh etc.
- How to Prepare for State PSC?
- Bank/PSU/SSC type jobs
- Professor type jobs (UGC NET/SLET/JRF etc.)
- Doing PG
- Q1. Should I do PG or not?
- Specialized Professional degrees
- MBA
- Epilogue
Act V: Retreat Plan
You must prepare with a positive attitude that âIâll study hard and Iâll get selectedâ
But at the same time, you should also be prepared for the worst case scenario.
The reasons are following
- Pass or fail, UPSCÂ takes away one year of life. Then youâd think âsince Iâve invested so much time, energy and money, let me given another attempt.â For a serious player, this cycle keeps repeating until he gets selected or he is out of the game because of age/attempt limit.
- If you reach mains/interview stage, youâll earn respect of the fellow players but outside this UPSC game, it means nothing. Nobody will give you job (or hand of his daughter) just because you had cleared prelims or mains.
In short there are no consolation prizes for participating in UPSC. For More elaboration CLICK ME
Career Backup plans usually involve following sectors
- Allied UPSC exams (IES,IFS,Geologist, SCRA, CDS,CPF etc.)
- State Government/ State PSC exams
- Bank /PSU/LIC/ONGC/SSC type jobs
- Professor type jobs (UGC NET/JRF)
- Doing PG/MBA/moving abroad
- Returning to private company job
- Starting your Business
- And it is all easier said than done. You might feel âya Iâll become bank PO or State PSC, whatâs the big deal? Such pappu exams are no match for my caliber!â
- The big deal is, no exam is a pappu exam as long as there are two people competing for one vacancy. And there are always existing serious players from those fields dedicated for a particular exam 24/7. The competition is intense everywhere. So donât take any competitive exam for granted.
- At the same time, you shouldnât be so extremely occupied with backup plans that you canât allot enough time for UPSC preparation,
The purpose of writing this article is
- Because Prevention is better than cure.
- There are good opportunities outside UPSC also. So failure in UPSC =not the end of life or career.
Allied UPSC exam (IES,IFS,Geologist, SCRA, CDS,CPF etc.)
First step: check age, educational eligibility in advance.
E.g. To apply for Indian Economist/Statistical/Geologist/Forest service, one would need to have specialized degrees in certain science/commerce/engineering fields.
Then check old papers: http://www.upsc.gov.in/questionpaper/index.htm#PageTop
GK/GS would remain more or less the same. (for CPF, GS MCQ paper is almost identical to IAS prelims)
For whatever is âdifferentâ consult a serving officer or Government college Professor of that field and seek the booklist-strategy. e.g. Indian Forest Service, theyâve separate set of optional subjects, and youâre unlikely to find any tips on google search.
State PSC: Pujnab, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh etc.
Important notes about these exams
- According to Government rules, 1/3rd of All India services vacancies are to be filled by State Service promotes.
That means, if Maharashtra state cadre has 300 posts for IAS, Then 200 posts will be manned up by Direct IAS officers recruited through UPSC Civil Service exam and 100 will be manned by giving promotion to Deputy Collectors (Maha.Administrative Service) who were recruited via Maharashtra State PSC. These are referred as Nominated/Promotee IAS.Similarly
- DySP (State PSC) => DSP (IPS)
- Deputy Conservator of Forest (DCF) (State Forest Service)=> Conservator of Forest (IFS)
Ofcourse some states may have different nomenclatures and posts, but overall principle is this^.
So being in State service is also good. But at the same time nomination depends on many variables, including your service record, Cadre strength, your own seniority in State Service Batch etc.
- State PSC recruitment are usually not held at regular interval. E.g. If Punjab PSC is held in 2013, there is no guarantee theyâll hold it again in 2014 or 2015. (because it depends on Vacancies and retirements.) So whenever there is notification, go ahead and apply. Donât wait for your UPSC age/attempt to reach at the âend levelâ before executing backup plan.
- State PSC results often get tangled in court stay-orders because of irregularity/corruption allegations etc. So even if State PSC is your backup, also think of a tertiary backup, else you might cross the age limit for other exams.
How to Prepare for State PSC?
The exam structure would remain more or less the same as UPSC. (prelims, mains, interview)Â The difference is in depth and breadth of questions.
- First buy class 7 to 12 History, Social Science, Geography textbooks of particular State Education Board.
- Also buy guides and digests for Class 10 and 12.
- Thatâll help you gather the GK/GS specific to that state.
- Also buy some (bogus) readymade book/ coaching material meant for giving you information of particular state, its history, geography, culture etc.
Second task is to get the old papers to check out the trend.
- If available on internet, download them
- If old papersets are available in market then go ahead buy it.
- if not available then file R.T.IÂ and ask them to provide it in CD/DVD format. (because papercopy cost will be high)
in papersets youâve to see following
- Topicwise breakup (usually, though not always, State PSC are mostly History-Geograpy-Trivial Current GK type MCQs)
- Question style. Is it like 90s stuff -dates, names and numbers or do they test your understanding and intelligence.
- Then prepare accordingly. Booklist remains more or less the same as you had for UPSCÂ exam but what differs is how you look at the topics.
- For the mains, State PSC usually have direct static type of questions. So just mugup everything and practice answer-writing for static questions asked in previous State PSC/UPSC exams.
- For History etc. (optionals) consult the Government university papers of State.
- Also use newspaper for current affairs related to the State. (but I assume youâd already be doing it part of your âprofile based interview questionsâ for UPSC.)
Bank/PSU/SSC type jobs
They usually have two phases: MCQs and interview
MCQ test usually has four segments
- GK
- Maths
- Reasoning
- English
While GK will not give you much trouble, Aptitude part (Maths,Reasoning) will require heavy efforts and Data interpretation requires quick-calculation.
RS Agarwalâs book on Verbal and Non-Verbal reasoning
(+Sarvesh Kumar) should save the day.
Professor type jobs (UGC NET/SLET/JRF etc.)
- These ones require Post Graduation (or 4 year BE/MBBS type course). So first get the idea on age/educational requirements.
- Then youâve to face MCQ questions on GS,comprehension, particular (optional) subject.
- If you donât have a Post graduation degree, what to do? Simple enroll to any IGNOU program and get distant education degree (MA/MBA/MCA/MSW whatever suits you.)
- But enroll as early as possible. Why? It takes two years to complete PG course from IGNOU (even if youâve Public Administration/socio optional, and you have the brains to clear IGNOUâs two yearsâ exam in one dayâŚstill youâll need to wait for two years to get the final degree).
- They also have launched some âon-demand exam thingâ. But the webportal wasnât properly working, the last time I tried. You might want to look into that part too.
Doing PG
Post graduation degrees are of following types
- One that has not much value in market (IGNOU except for Professor type jobs)
- Specialized Professional Degrees (Government vs Self financed college)
- MBA
Q1. Should I do PG or not?
- In India weâve a problem of academic inflation. Every tom, dick and harry has got a PG degree, so if you donât have a stupid paper certificate in your file, then it creates problem while looking for private co. jobs.
- In certain places, weightage is given to PG degree (CAT/IIM, UGC, specialized recruitment for certain jobs via UPSC and State PSC eg. Food Commissioner or Social welfare officer)
- Same goes for matrimonial ads hahaha.
My advice: there is no harm in going for first type of degree (IGNOU)
Reasons are following
- Fee is cheap (around 8000.)
- Their degree is legit for various Government jobs
- You can get first class without any effort. Atmost 15 days of preparation is sufficient (because they repeat questions from last five years papers) and they give booklets. Thus you can enroll for the program even while preparing for UPSC, Bank, CAT or State PSC or anything else.
- You donât need to attend college.
Ofcourse such degrees donât have much value in market but then, at this investment (Rs.8k and 15 days) we canât complaint! Good to add one more certificate in the file (because of the academic inflation).
Infact this is highly recommended for CAT aspirants whoâre not getting interview call for IIMs, because their profile score is low.
Coming to the second type of degrees
Specialized Professional degrees
Can be of two types:
- M.E., M.S., M.Tech etc. from a reputed college recognized by UGC/AICTE.
- Degree has vocational value but not recognized for Government jobs. (e.g. doing M.Sc Clinical research from self-financed college that doesnât have AICTE approval. )
Even if you cross age/attempt limit of UPSC or State PSC, there are always some specialized recruitment conducted for certain Government jobs later on, where youâll be eligible. But then theyâd ask for work experience and PG. So ideally one should go to a course recognized by UGC/AICTE because then it is automatically recognized for Government jobs.
- When it comes to second category (professional degree, not recognized by UGC/AICTE) be extremely careful in course selection.
- Many mushroom courses and institutes have popped up recently. For one or two years there is good demand (because new MNCs would have come and very few people had the degree in particular field), but then self financed institutes popup in every nook and corner=over saturation of labor force = you canât get decent placement. (e.g. M.Pharm and Airhostess in Gujarat.)
- Such courses drain away two years of your life, 2-8 lakhs out of your pocket +hardly upward career/salary movement +calculate the house-rent, electricity bill, LPG connection, child-education in big city…..
- Ofcourse glass is both half full and half empty. There will be some people with high caliber who rise on the top, in particular field, even when there is over-saturation of labour force. But do your own research on future career prospects, before investing time and money in such courses, don’t blindly follow crowds and advertisements.
MBA
How to prepare for CAT, explained here Click ME, same should also help for other exam SNAP, CMAT, MAT etc. with slight modifications.
Problem: Although the courageous shall prevail, but journey is not easy. All your past follies start haunting you. Even if you get decent score in CAT, still your low score in 10-12-Graduation-PG, No extra curricular, low work xp, âŚEverything Is given weightage before calling you for interview and giving final admission. (IIM Calcutta exception). And MBA is no panacea for every problem. It depends
- If the institute is highly reputed, then all well and good.
- But If youâre already 28-30 years old (after UPSC adventures), there is not much point in getting admission in some half*** MBA college and wasting 2 more years + 10 lakh rupees. (donot go by average placement packages. they don’t tell your the correct picture.)
And yes glass is both half full and half empty.
Epilogue
- Notesmaking + Revision = time tested formula for success in UPSC exam.
- With hard work (and good luck), Success = possible irrespective of coaching/no-coaching/job/no-job/first-attempt/last-attempt/English/Non-english
- BUT Never put all eggs in one basket.
This conclude the Five part series of âWar on UPSCâ. Here are the links to all articles, in case you missed any:
Kindly update the RAS Mains preparation Strategy as per new syallabus.
Sir
Can i prepare for civil service exam even after getting job in army?
HI MRUNAL,
I HAVE APPLIED FOR BIHAR STATE PCS, am not able to get the syllabus or which paper is optional..
some site shows 3 compulsory paper some gives list of various papers to choose with.
am new player in the business.
please provide syllabys for bpsc.
thanks
Hello sir,I have masters in history and curently pursueing M.A in sociology and I have also give IAS interview once…i can easily do ssc cgl but I dont want to..should I do it?
( in continuation with previous comment ) Sir i still have one attempt left with me…I donot want to go for ssc the syallbus is irritating..please guide
How i became an Ips officer.
Hi sir… i have given my first attempt in upsc this year and couldnt get through prelims…i want to keep CAT as my other option…plzz let me know if it is fine to prepare for both the papers
sir iam a 2nd year B TECH -CIVIL STUDENT I WANT TO PREPARE IAS
Sir, I’m preparing at home. but here is not available any source e.g. newspaper, magazine & other thing. now, what can i do?
dear,sir please answer me a question related state psc
in state psc how many seats for other state candidates.
is it 80:20
Sir,I have arts background plz tell me other than upsc,bank and teaching which field I can join after my MA
Did great help.
Keep it up !!
Sir,, mai hindi medium se ias exam dena chahta hu,,,but me middle class family se hu,,mere parents kehte he ki mai exam pass nhi kr paunga,,wo mujhe coaching nhi kra skte,,but mere frnd ne murnal.org ke bare me btaya ki yha se onln prepare kr skte h,,sir mujhe apki help chahiye..sir aap jo khenge mai wo krunga ,,plz hlp me,,bs me ias bn,na chahta hu
I am going to B.tech this year please tell me what diffrent can be happen with me other than BA OR BSC student
Sir, I’m doing b.sc and its last year of my graduation. I want to beat i.a.s exam , bt i am confused ,is there any need to to p.g (m.sc ,m.b.a etc) to clear my exam . Is there any extra effect specially in interview?????
Sir,i have completed my m.sc. in chemistry, i am appearing in i a s exam with chemistry in mains,but, i cant undesrtand that for state level exam ,which subject will be easy with chemistry as one subject . please guide me i m little confuse to choose second subject for uppsc exam.please guide me……thanks sir.
same here .. even am preparing for upsc but thinking of cat as an option.. can i prepare both .. because am in my graduation doing ba economics