Effective revision plan for Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2018

With less than 2 months left to UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2018, the stage has arrived where revision is the most important aspect of preparation process. Because the syllabus is too vast, just preparing for each subject is not enough until and unless you are revising them thoroughly to get good hold on subjects.

Out of many challenges Civil Services aspirants face during the preparation process, one of the key challenges is less time and extensive syllabus that covers each and every aspect of respective subjects. And the best way to tackle this challenge is to have a well-structured and organized revision strategy for Civil Services Exam.

Although, there is no fixed format for revision, as it varies from person to person, but still there are few standard guidelines which one should follow to excel in the Exam.

Do not forget to make revision notes

If you have been making extensive notes of each subject and topic throughout your preparation process, then you are going on the right track. Good job! And if you haven’t made notes until now, so this is the time to correct your mistake.

Read everything whatever you have studied thoroughly, and make notes for last minute quick revision. Although it will take lot of time now, but still, this is an important exercise. Make sure you make short and crisp notes, while keeping in mind the time constraint.

Add a To-Do list in your revision plan

Add daily To-Do list in your revision strategy. Make a plan or a time table consists of the topics and subjects that you need to cover each day. Allocate different time slots based on the importance of each subject. To-Do list will help you keep a good check on what has covered and what needs to be covered within the stipulated time.

Prioritize the topics and subjects for revision

Since, revising the vast syllabus which you have studied is not possible in these last few days, so you are advised to prioritize the topics. Prioritize your topics of each subject based on its importance, complexity and marks allocation, and focus your revision upon those topics.

Spread your revision time through the day

Revising all the topics at once would not be a good idea as different topics may mingle up together in your mind. So the proper way of revision is to allocate different slots in a day to each topic. For example, take 2 topics for revision in a day and allocate 2 hours of revision to each subject.

Enroll in Mock Tests and solve previous year question papers

I don’t really need to explain the importance of mock tests and previous years question papers here. Where previous year question papers help you get fair idea about examination pattern, the mock tests help you assess your preparation level and give an idea of probable questions. Both the exercises help you practice well and prepare for the final quest.

Three Tier Revision Method

Three Tier revision method has become very common amongst IAS aspirants now. If you revise a topic the same day when you study it, you find it easy to revise and grab; while on the other hand if you revise that topics after few days of studying it, it becomes difficult to understand and revise and consume more time.

So Three Tier Revision method suggests that aspirants should first revise the topic on the same day, then after 3 days and then revise the same topic at the end of the week. This way, you will be able to get strong hold on topics and subjects which stay in your memory for longer period.

Make use of technology

Now, when we have the power of technology with us, why completely relying on hard study material? Make good use of technology, which will save your time as well. Since you cannot carry your books everywhere, you can always google the topics which you need to study and get in depth information about them.

This exercise can be best done during your travel time. Although, it should be your regular exercise, because technology makes us well updated; so searching topics on google will help you get updated information in depth. Apart from this, you can always watch videos of successful candidates and other educational videos related to Civil Services Exam.

Practice Quizzes

Quizzes are the best to practice solving answers in stipulated time limit. Many times, revision and study becomes monotonous, where these quizzes help revive the interest level and make preparation even better. It helps you assess your knowledge level, and enhance your speed of opting the right answer. There are many quizzes available on internet for Civil Services Exam that you can opt to boost up your preparation for IAS exam.

Stay updated with Current Affairs

Last, but extremely important, stay updated with current affairs. Do not stop reading Newspaper, editorials and make important notes. At this stage, I would not suggest reading anything new in any other topic, but current affairs need to be studied regularly.

So do revise the current affairs which you have studied and keep reading new current affairs, as this is the dynamic portion of the syllabus which is extremely important.
(The author is the Founder & Director, Chanakya IAS Academy)

By A K Mishra