Hello,

The eligibility criteria in order to appear for UPSC is passed graduation in any discipline from a recognized university, there is no specific aggregate required in this case, candidates in their final year too are eligible regarding  this, also candidates need to attain 21 years as on 1st August of the appearing year,

when it comes to starting your preparation process for UPSC, firstly get acquainted with the syllabus, take a print out of the same by visiting the official website, and keep it in your study table, go through it on a regular basis, this will enable you to know what to read and what to skip, also make sure to have an integrated way of approach as in recent times there have been instances when the questions in prelims came from the syllabus of the mains,

next, develop the habit of reading newspaper on a daily basis, you can opt for The Hindu, it's the best option, and other than this you can also go for The Indian Express, you can also install the apps regarding this, put  more emphasis on editorial part, it will not only broaden your perspective but help a lot in answer writing, and make sure whatever opinion you form it should be well balanced. You can also make notes of this, it'll be very useful in answer writing.

When it comes to reading books ,start with the basics, that is NCERTs regarding this, which will build your foundation strong ,as you progress, move on to other relevant books as mentioned below;

For Prelims, you can go through the following books:

• History ; NCERT Class XI and XII, India's Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra, For Indian Culture, refer art and culture by Nitin Singhania
• Geography ;NCERT Class VI to XII, GC Leong's Physical Geography, World Atlas
• Economics ;  NCERT Class XI, Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh
• International Relations & Polity ;NCERT XII Political Science with current affairs, Indian Polity by Laxmikanth
• CSAT ;Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Agarwal, M Tyra's Quicker Maths

Coming to Mains Exam, you can refer the following books for four General Studies Paper;

GS I - For History , Class XI NCERT book with India's struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra,India after Independence by Bipan Chandra,History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra. For Geography refer World Geography and Geography of India by Majid Hussain, GC Leong's Physical and Human Geography with NCERT Class XI book.

For GS II - Polity and International Relations , refer Indian Polity by Lamikanth,India's Foreign Policy by Rajiv Sikri

For GS III - For Economics refer Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh, read ARC report along with Economic Survey and Fiscal Budget.

For GS IV - For Ethics refer a book named Lexicon by Niraj Kumar, also you can go through study material of IGNOU.

Also, keep your resources minimal, read one book many a times instead of many a book one time, as you have to retain so much of information so rely on limited yet trustworthy resources and revision is the only key for remembrance.

Writing mains is a huge task, for nine paper it requires immense practice along with knowledge. So, you have to start practicing answer writing in advance, even in a little way, There are many sites which provide questions on daily basis you can avail that. Try to give a holistic viewpoint while answer writing by providing political, economical and social aspect. You can get topper's answer sheet from various sites, try to analyze and study them minutely, you'll get an ideas about what to write, how to express and present viewpoint in organized manner.

Go through previous year question paper which you can access from the official website of UPSC, additionally apply mock papers, and test series which you can get it from any of the sites exclusively dedicated to UPSC preparation, it's highly important to evaluate your performance when you practice previous year papers, and apply mock tests or test series in order to evaluate your performance,  get to know your strength/ weakness, this will also help  in improving your speed, and time management skills.

Hi

If you want to become an IAS officer then  you need to clear UPSC civil services examination. UPSC eligibility criteria is provided below:-

You can check UPSC eligibility  criteria  provided below:-

--------------------) You  must  have  a  bachelor's  degree in any discipline from a  recognised university.

†††† Candidates who are in the final year of their graduation or waiting for the final results are also eligible to apply for UPSC examination and can appear in UPSC prelims examination but yes they need to present proof of their Bachelor's passing certificate before UPSC mains examination.

--------------------) Minimum  age  limit :-  you  need to  be at least  21  years  old   to be  eligible as on 1st of August of the year of filling the form

--------------------) Maximum  age  limit :-  32 years , also there's 3  year  relaxation on upper age limit for  obc and of  5 years  for sc/st category.

-------------------) Attempt limit:- The maximum of times one can appear in UPSC is given below category wise :-

• General/ EWS - 6

• OBC or  General PwD - 9

• SC/ ST - No limit ,   can appear till upper age limit .

For detailed  information related to UPSC eligibility criteria ,  you can visit our page at

https://competition.careers360.com/articles/upsc-ias-eligibility-criteria/amp

With your graduation in arts i. e BA, you are definitely eligible for UPSC civil services examination

You need to give UPSC civil services examination which consists of three stages listed below :-

************* prelims exam :- it is objective paper and is of qualifying nature , so you just  need to at least qualify it to be eligible for mains examination, the score /marks obtained by you in your prelims examination is not added up or used in your final merit. Your prelims exam consist of 2 papers: -

• -) general studies  1

• -) general studies II ( csat )

You get 2 hours for each paper

************* Mains exam. :- it is descriptive /written examination . There are a total of 9 papers  which are listed below:-

• -) compulsory indian language.

• -) english

• -) essay

• -) general studies I

• -) general studies II

• -) general studies III

• -) general studies IV

• -) optional I

• -) optional II

************* *Interview :- After qualifying mains, you have to go through interview round, and it is more of test of your personality rather than knowledge.

------------------------) If you managed to sail through all the three stages  then you can become an IAS officer depending on your rank in UPSC, your category etc

For detailed information check out :-

https://school.careers360.com/articles/how-to-become-an-ias-officer

You can start your preparation for UPSC civil services examination either after your graduation or during your graduation itself with the help of tips available at our page :- https://competition.careers360.com/articles/how-prepare-for-upsc-ias

Regards

ADITYA KUMAR