The first and most important thing to decide while aspiring for Civil Services exam is the judicious choice of subjects for the Mains examination. The selection of subjects should be done most carefully. It is suggested that you should opt/choose those subjects which could give you maximum marks and you have most interest in.

Normally students have the advantage of selecting one of the optional, which they are familiar with, or have at least studied till graduate level. If you are not comfortable with that subject, you should not select that subject as an optional subject in the mains exam.
For example, you studied Geography in the graduation but you have more interest in the Political Science, then you should opt for the latter as your Mains optional.

The civil services mains exam consists of descriptive type of questions. It focusses on testing the candidate on various levels. The time limit for the essay paper is 3 hours without a word limit, but for the optional paper, there are questions with specific word limit like 250 words in optional subjects and 250 words, 150 words and 20 words in general studies. The candidate then has to prepare himself to answer all types of questions.

The most important thing to be kept in mind is the time constraint. Therefore it becomes necessary to answer these questions quickly and effectively and in minimum words.

After a detailed analysis one should decide the subject for the first optional. One can get some feedback/advice from seniors and fellow students who are well versed in the subject. Students should analyse the syllabus and previous years question papers also.

Preparation:
Always go for a planned and systematic study. Work out your own study schedules in a manner suited to your style and stick to it.
One should read a leading daily regularly and also a magazine that will give an insight into the writing skills and observe how facts are presented clearly and succinctly. Also watch news & current affairs programmes on a good TV channel.
The latest trend has been a shift towards the current issues; hence a thorough awareness of recent happenings is mandatory. In-depth knowledge of such events is most important, as the questions will test the knowledge of details of any given event/happening.

Cover the entire syllabus
First one should cover the entire syllabus and then one month preceding the Mains, practice with the help of question papers of previous years. Try to attempt question papers of previous years Optional and General studies papers. This will expose your weaknesses and give you an idea about the extent of your preparation.

Study Time Limit
Some people say that they used to read 18-20 hours. It is humanly impossible. Each person knows one's own capacity, so one should prepare the time table accordingly and follow the same for the whole period of preparation. One should be dedicated and have faith in one's own capabilities and in the Almighty. You know yourself better than anyone else. Quality of hours put in is more important than quantity of hours.

To save time during revision, aspirants may mark/highlight important points during their first or second reading. The aim of the first reading is to reduce the study material to half by eliminating unnecessary points. The second reading is to make it more concise, so that you can revise the entire syllabus within two days before the examination.
Information from any source of relevance to your goal should be welcomed, as long as it is from a standard source.

Benefits of Group Discussion:
In the Civil Services Main Exam, Group Discussion is very important. It is a mutual gain of knowledge for all the participating members. When you study a particular topic, you develop your own views and own understanding on the topic. In a Group Discussion more than one brain thinks and gives their views and opinions on the topic. Thus, you can benefit yourself with different angles to think and consider on the same topic and incorporate all these points while writing answers in the exam.

1. In a Group Discussion there is fair possibility that you improve your communication skills.

2. Group Discussion enables a participating candidate to think in divergent directions to generate more points and a good presentation of the topic in the group.

3. In a group when you present your points you would think and consider all possible points on the topic and thus you improve your thinking process also.

4. In the Group Discussion you should have enough analytical ability to analyse the topic and the points and then present them in front of others for discussion.

5. Group Discussions should be polite and friendly. There should not be any attitude of hard competition, as it will not bring the desired benefit for the participating members.

Role of Coaching Institute’s Test Series:
Test Series for the Civil Services Main Examination are organized by various institutes. You can directly enroll yourself to the coaching institutes or else you can go through the question papers that the institutes set for the test series. The questions are set according to the UPSC standard. Hence they can be of good help for your preparation. After you cover the UPSC Mains’ syllabus you need to revise the subjects and topics thoroughly. Try revising as many times as possible.
The coaching institutes provide you with standard model and sample questions formed by the subject experts especially for the Main exam. Your answers written in the Test Series of the coaching institutes will be evaluated by the experts again. Your mistakes and loopholes in writing will be pointed out by them and you can improve your writing accordingly.

At home, you generally do not have much scope to compare and evaluate your answers as you get to see only your answers. After putting your hard work in writing the answers, you will not find mistakes in your writings. And in the Test Series your answers will be compared with lots of other candidates’ and thus actually your good points and bad points will be pointed out.

Coaching institutes are not mandatory but if you want to join the institutes you should know all about that from the previous year genuine enrolled competitors of particular institutes, because most of the institutes are established for business purpose and they forget after taking fee from the students that they should sacrifice for the students motive. But in case you cannot afford attending a coaching institute you can any time prepare for the exam at home on your own.

Remember, on daily basis
1. Read your textbooks thoroughly and regularly.

2. Read one national newspaper regularly according to your interest and also read one national competitive examination magazine and news magazine.

3. Watch TV news regularly with conscious mind.

4. Follow debates on good TV channels.

5. You should be alert to learn new things every day. Keep an open mind to learn what is happening around you.

Having balanced approach towards Optional
There are many students who are unable to score more than 300 marks in first optional but easily they can score more than 300 marks in second optional.
This is because way of approach for study differs. Student might know concepts but might be unable to use them where it is required.

Skills for presenting answer
What one writes during these three hours makes one topper and another a failure. Here, how much you studied doesn’t matter, but rather how you are using your knowledge to write particular answer.

Many times we hear students saying they have done their exams very well, Question paper was very easy and all that stuff. But still they are unable to clear mains. Why? When question paper is given they never try to read full question. If they come across the words they know they start writing answers. This way they might have written wrong answers also.

First, study questions properly and understand what has been asked. Then think what is to be written as it's answer. Write up to the point answers.
Don’t repeat the paragraphs.
If graphs, pie-charts, flow charts etc are required draw them to make examiner know what you have written.
Always follow the word-limit because you won't get extra marks for extra words,rather it might turn counter productive.

Current Affairs strategy
In the Civil Services Main exam, Current Affairs plays a crucial role. In the Current Affairs section all types of questions can be asked. Candidates need to answer these questions to the point, analytically and logically.
To update your current affairs, you can read any of the national daily newspapers and some standard monthly magazines which are available for the Civil Services exams. Nowadays internet has become a good source of current affairs information.
You need to keep a track of the latest developments of national significant issues like the debate on Lokpal Bill, Civil Society, and Corruption etc. You should write a critical angle of the topic if there is any, to prove that you have full understanding on the same.
And finally conclude the answer with a nice conclusion.

General Studies Preparation strategy
General Studies first paper contains national affairs, social issues, geographical issues etc and in General Studies second paper international affairs, economics, science and technology, statistics etc. All these topics are related to current affairs. The students having stronghold on current affairs are able to score more than 300 marks in General Studies. Current Affairs also play leading role in optionals. Some of the optionals like Public Administration, Political Science, Science, Geography and Sociology require to know current trends.

Two marker questions importance:
Write only 20 words. Small things make great things happen. That means, too marker questions are very important to score more than 300 marks in General Studies.
Usually students think, it’s only two marks, they can write them without any strategy. But when you really sit for writing you will understand how much difficult are those. To write these questions you must evolve good strategy. While reading newspaper you may come across some personalities, places and terms try to write on them about in 20 words. Keep on practicing. If answer is written up to the mark you can get full marks. If you ask any topper, he always says that he gave importance to two markers.
To make yourself different from others, prepare your own strategy in order to study these two marks questions. Go through previous years questions and try to write yourself for those questions. While reading any newspaper, magazine or book, note down the important points and write on those topics.
In exam hall, write up to the point. This can come only by practice. Questions will be from Indian polity, economies, history, culture, science and technology, geographical concepts and personalities. While studying, make different note on different topics thus it helps to revise properly.

Selective Study
When students, who are preparing for examination, see the vast syllabus, they find themselves in confusing state. Selective study is what makes candidates comfortable.
First study whole syllabus completely. You should check previous years question papers and study the topics thoroughly. This helps to decide on which topics are frequently questions are asked and on which topic analytical questions are coming, on which topic short questions are coming and so on. Most of the toppers follow strategy of being selective.

Important Points
*. Learn entire subject thoroughly.

*. Read NCERT books very carefully.

*. Study India yearbook published by Publication Division.

*. Read one national newspaper and a magazine thoroughly.

*. Watch TV news when TV channels give an overall news/views scenario on their prime time slots.

*. Listening to morning news bulletins/analysis of All India Radio is a must.

*. Follow one competitive examination magazine regularly.

*. Discussions on current affairs on standard TV channel should be followed by a student to learn "how the arguments take place and how arguments are built up".

*. Discuss things/news items with your friends and family members.

*. Normally four questions from the syllabus are asked which areof PG level if the subject is from the Arts or Science stream.

*. If you complete your one optional at the college level itself,it will be easy for you to crack the Civil Services in the first attempt itself.

*. For subjects like Mathematics and Statistics and Geography maps etc, practice is very important. One should also practice other subjects and should not treat the same examination, as an “experience gathering” exercise to get a chance for writing mains is a great thing, which one may not get again.

*. For developing the writing skills,one should keep writing model answers while preparing for the Mains examination.

*. Develop and follow your own style of writing. Try not to be repetitive and maintain a flow inthe style of your writing.

*. Sequential and systematic style of answering comes after a lot of practice and analysis of standard answers.

*. Revision of subjects is very important because “anything you could not revise prior to the examination is as good as not having prepared at all”.

*. Write it legibly as it will simplify the evaluator’s task and he can read the answers easily.

*. Highlight/underline the important points, which you feel, are important.

*. If the question needs answer in point form, give it a bullet format.

*. Keep sufficient space between two lines.

*. Try to maintain uniformity in your write-ups throughout the paper.