optional paper

From picking the right optional subjects for Mains to planning your preparation strategy, IFS officer Saurabh Kumar shares crucial tips to help you crack UPSC CSE and IFS

Kajal Jawla and Ankit Kumar, IAS and IFS officers respectively, share tips on how to pick the right optional paper and making an effective study schedule.

IPS Akash Tomar cracked the UPSC CSE in his first attempt and secured an AIR of 138. He shares important tips on optional subjects, preparation and exam strategy.

Sonal attempted the paper for the first time in 2006 but could not make it to the interview round. When she wrote the paper again in 2007, she cleared it with a rank of 13.

When her previous attempt in the Civil Service Examination yielded a 99 rank and secured her an Indian Police Services post, Namrata again sat for the exam in 2018, scored an All India Rank of 12 to get her dream job of the Indian Administrative Services.

For the General Studies Paper Khan relied heavily on two newspapers –The Hindu and The Indian Express. “Normally, aspirants make notes of various news items in notebooks but I made notes on sheets of paper.”

“What kept me going with each attempt was the incremental success which I got with each exam I attempted. With that conviction I kept preparing,” he says.

His first attempt at the Civil Service Examination was a month after he graduated in 2017. While Akshat could not clear the attempt, he says it was a great learning experience for him.