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Preparing for UPSC Civil Service Examinations? IAS officer Srushti Jayant Deshmukh shares a list of must-read books and crucial tips to help aspirants ace Prelims.

Pooja Elangbam, an IAS Officer who cleared the UPSC CSE examination without attending any coaching classes shares what worked for her.

With the UPSC CSE 2020 Prelims examination round the corner, we spoke to AIR 8, Abhishek Saraf to help aspirants revise better.

“Try and stay focussed only on the prelims at this point. While it may be very tempting to pick up and study your optional subject as well, do not do that," says IAS Officer Naveen Kumar Chandra.

“It is imperative that the book is read cover to cover for the first 2-3 times. The nature of the book is such that if an aspirant reads it logically, one will be better placed while later memorising important aspects of the book.”

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.”

While the preparation progresses smoothly, Sonalika suggests changing the strategy three months before the prelims—applying the factual aspects of the basic subjects and revising current affairs. She shares how time seemed to fly for her after the prelims.

The first attempt in 2010 was one without any preparation. Recounting that experience, he says, “I felt bad that I had lost one precious attempt that way. At that time, we had only four attempts to clear the examination.”

He says that utilising weekends and all other incidental holidays will be helpful. He adds, “These are the golden hours for preparation and aspirants must utilise these days fully to cover the entire week’s syllabus.”

Emphasising how important it is to manage time well, Rema says, “Being aware of how much time you have will save you from wasting crucial time and have an undivided focus on what needs to be read.”