13 Reasons why most of the aspirants fail in Civil Service Examination
Around five lakh candidates appear for Civil Service Examination, but, only a thousand of them get selected in the interview. All the aspirants give their 100 percent, but still, they are unable to make through this venture. Those who fail have certain things in common, and the mistakes done by one is also repeated by others. Here are the 13 reasons which lead to failure:
#1. Absence of Strategy
Anything initiated without a plan leads us nowhere. When an aspirant starts its preparation without a strategy, he will have no road map which will show him which paper is to be covered in how many days, how many topics are to be covered in a certain time period, when to give mock tests, when to write answers, and other like stuff. There is no direction to the preparation, and thus he is unable to wrap up everything before the exams, and he fails.
#2. Reading Each and Everything
Aspirants try to cover and grasp everything that they encounter, but at the same time, the UPSC directs them to stick to the syllabus. The syllabus is itself very vast and going for topics and news that are irrelevant wastes the limited and precious time of an aspirant have. Wandering outside the syllabus leads to failure. There is "N" number of study material available in the market, and the aspirant hears the other and buys it. This leads to the hoarding of unnecessary study materials and ignorance of unnecessary syllabus as prescribed by the UPSC.
#3. Not Solving Previous Year Question Paper
Previous year question papers are very important for any exam, and UPSC also plays a vital role. They give an idea about the pattern of the paper, the types of questions asked by the UPSC, the structure of allocation of marks, etc. There are some questions which get repeated as the static portion cannot be changed. When we solve the previous year question paper, we find those questions which are being repeated. Past year question papers also help us to manage our time in an effective manner. Ignoring them is a huge mistake.
#4. Relying on Coaching
Coaching is important, but self-study plays a very crucial role in both the success and failure of any aspirant. The strength of a coaching institution is around 80 to 100 students and even beyond that, but the fact is, not sitting their clears the exam. Those aspirants who rely a lot on coaching institutions and do not make an effort to understand things on their own, do some research work on a given topic, make their notes, and find creative techniques of memorizing things fail the exam.
Even attending all the classes and seminars held in coaching institutions will waste your time and energy. Coaching classes are supplementary to your studies. It is important for knowing that your preparation is going in the correct direction.
#5. Wasting too much time on Social Media
With technological advancement, the aspirants have come together and share news, questions, doubts, etc. with each other on platforms like Quora, WhatsApp groups, telegram, Instagram, etc. They are beneficial to some extent, but soon the aspirant gets into the web where he is answering all the questions, replying to every comment, and posting doubts frequently. This wastes a lot of time and energy. The aspirant becomes more inclined towards these applications and forgets his primary task, i.e., preparing for UPSC.
#6. Wrong Optional Subject
Optional subject is the game-changer. Wrong optional subject will lead to failure. Nowadays, aspirants go for those optional subjects which are selected by a majority of the aspirants, or we can say popular and are said to be easy. A subject can be easy for one and difficult for another.
A subject may appear easy and interesting when reading for the first time. But when we dig it, it becomes difficult for us to understand. Those who choose optional subject without an in-depth study of the same, lose interest in the subject soon and waste a lot of time on it.
#7. Preparing for many Exams
Sometimes we think that as the course of two or more competitive exams is similar, so, we can give all of them together and we might succeed in any one of them. But, this is the biggest blunder which aspirants do. The course might look similar, but, every exam follows its unique pattern and going for everything will not let our mind to focus on one, and it will lead to failure in all.
#8. Ignoring Revision
Revision is very important, and one can never skip it. The syllabus is vast, and remembering everything is not possible. Revising the same time, again and again, is more fruitful than going for a completely new one.
Revision clears the concept and makes a person more accurate about that subject. He has everything about a topic arranged in points, diagrams, if any, tables, etc. in his mind.
#9. Not Arranging Proper Notes
Self-prepared notes and arranging the same systematically saves time and makes preparation easy. Aspirants face the problem when their notes are kept in a haphazard manner. Half of them are lost when they are required to be studied. Finding notes consumes a lot of time and energy.
Even during mains, aspirants do not get much time between two papers. When the notes are not kept at a proper place and form, then it will lead to failure.
#10. Ignoring Qualifying Papers
Qualifying papers are equally important as the aspirant is required to clear them with minimum marks. We keep on skipping such papers while putting all our efforts into other papers, but when the result is out, it turns out that we failed because we were unable to reach the minimum marks requirement of qualifying paper.
#11. Fear of Giving Mocks and Test Series
Now, everything does not depend on how much knowledge one has as he needs to be conceptually clear, has a better understanding, can properly arrange his time during the paper, and how much speed he has. Those who ignore mocks and test series go blank when they read the question paper. They waste too much of time in understanding question and has doubts regarding the correct answer. This situation makes aspirant lose hope in that paper soon.
#12. Following Every Advice
Several sources provide free advice to the aspirants. Even the toppers give their advice, but not everything in the market is worth considering. Those who go for every advice and keep on changing their schedules and strategies end up doing nothing. They get confused and fail to accomplish the desired results.
#13. Lack of Confidence
A little nervousness is expected, but a complete lack of confidence will lead to failure. Even when an aspirant is well equipped with all the facts and content of any answer, he will waste a lot of time thinking about the same.
Lack of confidence ruins our preparation. Fear of failure is always on our mind, and it will never lead to quality learning.
These are a few common mistakes that aspirants do, which leads to failure. Make sure you consider them as a lesson and do not repeat when you start your preparation.
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