Hello,

You have already completed your graduation, hence as per the eligibility criteria of UPSC you can appear for the exam ,now coming to your second query whether coaching is necessary or not is more of an individual choice, there have been examples if many successful candidates who have qualified the exam without coaching irrespective of the fact that they are working or not, hence this is something you have to decide, the most important factor about qualifying UPSC in terms of self study is discipline as you'll be required to cover such extensive syllabus, hence it's important to be aware of every little details.

UPSC Civil Service Exam consists of three stages-Preliminary,
Mains,Interview

Preliminary consists of 200 Marks for each paper. It consists of GS Paper-I consists of the following topic such as History of India and Indian national movement, Indian and World geography, Economic and social development- sustainable development, poverty,inclusion demographics, social sector initiatives etc,Indian polity and governance-constitution,political system,Current Events nationally and Internationally, General Science,General Issues on environmental ecology,biodiversity and climate change. you just need to score the required cut offs against your category.

And then we have qualifying CSAT(you need to score 33%) which includes topics such as basic numeracy, comprehension, logical reasoning and analytical ability, general mental ability, decision making and problem solving, interpersonal skills including communication skills. Both consists of 200 marks, MCQs based. Prelims is mcq based, but still it requires knowledge coupled with speed in order to ace it, it's numbers are not added in the final list,


Coming to Mains it's more of a subjective type, one needs to write answer for Four General Studies Paper such as
GS-I includes Indian Heritage and Culture,History and Geography of the World and Society,
GS-II includes Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International Relations,
GS-III includes Technology, Economic Development, Bio-Diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management,
GS-IV includes Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude
Two Optionals, One Essay, two language paper, there are total nine papers here. 250 marks for each paper, total is 1750 marks followed by Personality Test of 275 marks.


The preparation and planning more or less remains the same for every aspirant preparing for UPSC Civil Service Exam, you can go through the following steps;


The first and most important step towards preparation is to be well acquainted with UPSC Syllabus , learn it by heart, that's the most crucial step to crack this exam, to know what to read and what to skip. In addition to this, never ever make a differentiation between prelims and mains, because nowadays what's happening is even in prelims, UPSC frame questions based on Mains syllabus, So, the first towards preparation shall be an integrated approach for both, that is Preliminary and Mains.

Make a timetable,set targets on a daily,weekly and monthly basis,that's the only way to complete this extensive syllabus.

Another equally important part is to start reading any newspaper like The Hindu, or Indian Express on a regular basis to be updated as well as gaining knowledge which shall be highly useful to you in future exam preparation part. Put a more emphasis on editorial part with news of international and national importance, economy,science and and technology etc, 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 basics, for each subject, you can do with NCERTs for this. This will build your foundation strong,as you progress, move on to other relevant books as mentioned below;

For Prelims, refer 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.

Keep resources minimal always, read one book many a times instead of many a book one time

Start practicing answer writing in advance, even in a little way, Writing mains is a huge task, for nine paper it requires immense practice along with knowledge. 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.

Go through previous year question paper which you can get from the official website of UPSC,in addition apply mock papers, and test series which you can get it from any of the sites exclusively dedicated to UPSC, it will help you to evaluate your performance on regular basis.

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