I'm an Agricultural student studying in second year.I want to become an IAS officer.Now, I don't have basic knowledge for preparation.How to start my preparation.What to study.If I start my preparation now, will I secure IAS seat after my fourth year in BSc Agriculture?

Dear, Applicant

Don't worry, you can start preparing from today itself. To become an IAS officer you need to crack UPSC Prelims that is objective type and stage 2 of UPSC main exam which is objectives and subjective type followed by an interview.

To prepare for this exam follow this few steps

1.> Previous years questions papers and mock test.

By solving them you will get a hang of how to answere such exams and boost your confidence.

2.>  Choose a few good books for IAS Preparation.

Knowledge is the key so read alot of good books that offer valuable information with explanation. Refer to NCERT BOOKS they are very much helpful.

History Of Modern India (History) by: Bipan Chandra

India’s Struggle For Independence (History) by : Bipan Chandra

India’s Ancient Past (History) by : R.S. Sharma

History Of Medieval India (History) by: Satish Chandra

A New Look at Modern Indian History by: BL Grover

The Wonder That Was India (Culture) by: A.L. Bhasham

Indian Art and Culture (Culture) by :Nitin Singhania

Our Parliament by : Subash Kashyap

Geography of India (Geography) by: Majid Husain

Oxford School Atlas (Geography) by : Oxford

Science and Technology by: TMH

CSAT Book Cracking the CSAT Paper-2 by: Arihant

Certificate Physical and Human Geography (Geography) Goh Cheng Leong

Indian Polity for Civil Services Examinations (Polity) by: M. Laxmikanth

Indian Economy (Economy) by: Ramesh Singh

Environmental Studies: From Crisis to Cure (Environment) by: Rajagopalan

A History of Modern World by: Ranjan Chakravarti

Environment for Civil Services Prelims and Main (Environment) by: Khuller

Facets of Indian Culture by: Spectrum

Indian Constitution by: PM Bakshi

Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning by: R. S. Aggarwal

You could refer the books I mention above for knowledge.

Exam : ISA Prelims

paper is of 200 marks and carries a total of 400 marks.

Papers are objective type with multiple-choice questions.

Negative marking : One-third of the mark for wrong answer.

The duration is 2 hours.

Language is English or Hindi

IAS Mains

There is a total of 9 papers for this

7 merit based papers of 250 marks each and 2 qualifying language papers of 300 marks each.

The minimum cut off marks is 33% in general studies paper I and Paper II, after clearing those yo will be definitely called for the IAS Mains 2020 exam.

The questions for Mains exam will be descriptive in nature and you will have to answer minimum  25% score in the remaining papers.