How To Crack UPSC Exam?

To join prestigious services like IAS, IPS, and IFS, one needs to crack UPSC exam, which involves understanding the CSE exam pattern and strategy. This article will help you with these requirement.

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The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) conducts the Civil Services Examination every year, usually in May. This exam is the only path to prestigious services like the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), and other Group A services.

Before diving into tips to crack the UPSC exam, let’s first understand the exam pattern. Having a clear understanding of the pattern helps you build a strong foundation and create an effective strategy to succeed.

UPSC Exam Pattern

The UPSC Examination 2025 is conducted in three stages to select the right candidates. Understanding these stages can also help candidates prepare better and succeed. Below, we explain each stage in detail.

Preliminary Exam (Prelims): The first stage is an objective test that evaluates your general knowledge and aptitude.
Main Exam (Mains): This stage involves descriptive writing to assess your subject knowledge and analytical abilities.
Interview (Personality Test): The final stage tests your communication skills, confidence, and decision-making abilities.

How to Crack UPSC Exam?

To succeed in the UPSC exam, you need a clear and effective strategy. Here are some key steps to follow:

Read Newspapers Daily
Understand the Syllabus
Participate in Discussions
Practice Answer Writing
Take Mock Tests
Revise Often
Read Magazines like Yojana and Kurukshetra
Choose the Right Optional Subject
Don’t Ignore CSAT
Work on Essay Writing

Key Tips to Succeed in UPSC 2025

Understand the Syllabus: Thoroughly go through the official syllabus to focus on relevant topics.
Follow a Study Plan: Create a timetable to cover all subjects, leaving time for revision.
Stay Updated on Current Affairs: Regularly read newspapers and watch the news to stay informed about national and international events.
Practice Mock Tests: Solve previous years’ question papers and take mock tests to improve speed and accuracy.
Focus on Answer Writing: For Mains, practice writing structured and concise answers to score better.
Work on Communication Skills: For the interview, focus on clear communication and staying confident under pressure.

Importance of Optional and Essay

The main examination is of 1750 marks out of which 1000 marks are for GS paper 1-4 and 500 marks for optional and 250 marks for essay.

Students generally tend to ignore these two major portions of the exam despite of the fact that these are scoring. Optional subjects require in depth study, candidate should study the optional before prelims examination because it will be time taking process be it any subject you choose to go with.

Before choosing the optional, keep in mind that it should align with your interests, the availability of study material, and its scorability.

The essay paper includes 2 parts, Part A and Part B, each containing 5 topics from which 1 topic must be chosen, amounting to 125 marks each. In recent years, a trend has been noticed where both parts now contain philosophical topics. This is different from the previous pattern, where one part had topics from General Studies (GS) and the other part had philosophical topics. Therefore, practicing writing essays on philosophical topics is required to be prepared for any situation in the exam.

Interview Preparation

Preparing for the interview is not the last stage; you must prepare yourself from the start because the interview examines your personality, and it can’t be developed overnight. You will have to work on your skills throughout the entire course of your preparation. It is a gradual process.

Before going for the interview, you must be thorough with the basics relating to your personality, which you mentioned in your Detailed Application Form (DAF), as the interview will mainly revolve around your DAF. To prepare for the interview, the best strategy agreed upon by all the UPSC toppers is to appear for mock interviews and take feedback to make improvements.