What is IAS?
IAS is the short form of Indian Administrative Service. It is one of the prestigious services among the 24 services like IPS, IFS etc for the which the UPSC conduct Civil Services Examination (CSE) for selecting the candidates. An officer selected into the IAS gets exposure in very diverse roles like the collector, commissioner, head of public sector units, chief secretary, cabinet secretary etc. Not only the experience and challenges, but also the scope of making positive changes in the life of millions in India makes IAS a unique career choice.
How to become an IAS officer?
Even though the exam to be undertaken is popularly known as ‘IAS exam’, it is officially called UPSC Civil Services Exam. The UPSC CSE consists of 3 stages – Prelims, Mains, and Interview. Getting into IAS is not easy considering the competition involved, but not impossible for a candidate with right attitude and approach.
Civil Services Examination(CSE)
UPSC (Union Public Service Commission) is the government agency responsible for selecting the right candidates for this service. Every year only around 1000 candidates is selected for all the 24 services combined. The number of candidates who applied for IAS exam in 2016 was nearly 11.36 lakh, out of which around 6.5 lakh candidates appeared on the exam day.
This exam is widely considered as the toughest exam in the world, considering the exam duration (extends 1 year), depth of the syllabus and the competition involved. The first stage of the exam – Preliminary (objective) – is usually conducted in August, while the second stage, Mains (written), is conducted in December. Those who clear Mains will have to face interview/personality test during April-May period. The final result usually comes in June.
How to clear Civil Services Exam?
To clear IAS exam, aspirants are advised to have a long-term strategy. Though most of the serious candidates start preparation 9-12 months before the exam date, there are candidates who successfully achieve top ranks with only a few months of dedicated study. So what matters is not the duration of the preparation, but the quality of the same.
A disciplined and focused mind with a passion for learning and reading is the basic trait of all successful candidates. The IAS exam is more a test of the analytic and presentation skills along with knowledge gained by the candidate rather than a test which checks candidate’s mathematical or verbal skills. To clear IAS, we feel two entities as essential:
- Right guidance – for prelims and mains.
- Right study materials and books.
Our humble attempt to provide aspirants with these two basic entities giving stress to self-study.
IAS Exam Eligibility Criteria
The minimum age to appear for IAS Exam is 21 years. Upper age limit for General category is 32 years, for OBC is 35 years and for SC/ST is 37 years.
Number of attempts permissible for a general category candidate in UPSC CSE is 6, for OBC is 9 and for SC/ST is unlimited.
The educational qualification needed to appear in UPSC CSE is graduation in any subject.
Whether classroom IAS coaching is necessary?
Classroom IAS coaching is adopted by many students for guidance and study materials though it is not a must to clear IAS exam. Now websites provide guidance outside the classroom coaching and free online IAS study materials for those who can’t afford it due to time/financial constraints. If the aspirant is dedicated and is properly guided, self-study is enough to clear UPSC CSE.
Books needed for Civil Services Exams
Links about the recommended books needed for civil service exams are given in this post. You may click on the links to buy books online.
If you have more questions, please go through article on Frequently Asked Questions(FAQs) about UPSC Civil Services Exam. Wish you all the best!
Listen Youngsters 