Civil Service Exam-How to crack it. Part 1

Hello guys. yesterday,I cracked the Civil Service Exam in my state and to be honest ,I was only a mediocre student. At the starting of this year, I did not think that I could crack this exam as it is one of the toughest exams to crack. I made some points before writing this article. I hope I can at least help my fellow aspirants for the Civil posts.

Any success is just the tip of the iceberg. The part submerged comprises failures,setbacks,learning and what not. Success in the civil services is no different. Being highly unpredictable,the civil service exams are not less than a gamble. But with sincere efforts and dedicated approach,one can sail through this exam. Following are some guidelines which I think is necessary.

Having patience throughout the preparation period.

Reading a limited number of standard books and material and revising them again and again.

Following daily newspapers and a good monthly magazine about the course.

Solving mock test papers for practice.

Solving previous years' question papers.

Peer-to-peer review of answers and essays.

Making daily timetable and sticking to it.

Taking adequate sleep and healthy diet.

Always keeping a positive attitude.

Preparation Plan

The competitive exams are like a marathon,and not a sprint. One needs a huge storehouse of knowledge and a huge reservoir of patience to sail through this exam. There are phases of highs and lows,hopefulness and hopelessness,optimism and pessimism,but one has to always remember the driving motivating factor which propelled one to start preparation. I think,for me, my biggest asset was the realization that a career in Civil Services would offer me a golden chance to serve the society ad "be the change I want to see in the country". After I made up my mind to prepare or the exam,the second most important thing was a right strategy and dedicated mindset. Along with this,there were patience and perseverance,not only during preparation period,but also while taking the exam which itself was a one year process. Along with this,my family had been extremely supportive . Ultimately it was a collective effort of God's blessings, my family's support,guidance of my ex-teachers and my own bit of effort.

My biggest mistake

"To err is human", but learning from one's own mistakes is a trait of wise man.

I too made many mistakes during my preparation period. Due to lack of correct guidance,I had no idea of what books to read,which websites to follow, how to read newspaper properly etc. I spent more than three hours on newspapers initially,which was a mistake. Slowly ,I started filtering out irrelevant information and focused only on relevant news.

Similarly, I followed a lot of magazines,which confused me. Slowly, I focused on only those,which were easy to follow and understand,which were simple. Also for dedicated preparation of subjects,initially,I was confused about the ample sources. Slowly ,I realized that focusing only on quality material was beneficial. The most crucial aspect is to revise multiple times.

after that I gave my theory exam and passed. Later I got a call this morning,for the interview.
Honestly I had very little hope of passing the interview but somehow I did pretty good.
In my next post,I will share about the interview briefly. it was a rude interview ,to test my patience as well.

If you found this post helpful, don't forget to upvote and resteem.
Also let me know,how can I get better at this.