Competitive Exam
- PC : Linked In
With lakhs of aspirants appearing for a limited number of seats, competitive exams are more becoming tough with each passing day.
Most of the students score high marks in board exams but fail to crack the competitive exam.
Do you know the reason?
Well, the reason is they don't write answers in the correct way. To crack a competitive exam, the student should have excellent writing skills.
Let us a look at the type of UPSC questions and how to answer them.
Key points to remember before writing answers
Word count
There is as such no way to count each and every word of the answer. Thus, the examiners generally do it on the basis of estimation. Try to write the answer within 300 words.
Quality
Candidates should keep track of the usage of words and at the same time the quality of the answer. Try to practice writing answers. Time is the most important fact in the competitive exam.
Facts
Check your facts and figures twice before submitting the answer script. At times you think something and write something else and get few less marks.
Quotes
Try to start answer related with the question. It gives a good impact to the examiner.
Format
The proper format as follows:
Introduction – Try to hook of the examiner through your introduction.
Body – Give the facts and figures for better explanation.
Conclusion – It gives examiner an impression that he candidate knows the topic well.
Answer what is asked
Always be specific and to the point. Answer what is asked. Marks will be allotted for answering what is asked and not what you know.
Style
Ask your teacher or expert who has cleared competitive exams. Try to acquire the art of writing correct answers from them.
Justify
Here you have to argue in favour of and write favourable comments as far as reasonably possible. Write about the possible scenario or impact of the event in question.
Critical analysis
The answer should have a proper analysis of the topic. The analysis should be step by step and coherent.
Mock paper
Solve mock test paper as much as you can. Aptitude is the most essential part of the most government, engineering and other competitive examinations and one can only excel by regularly practicing and working on the weaker sections.
Strategy
Different students have different backgrounds. Design your exam preparation strategy accordingly.
Current Affairs
Current Affairs plays a major role in all stages of UPSC Preparation. In Prelims, roughly 30% to 40% questions every year are asked based on current issues, according to Quora.
In order to fare well in the civil services exam, candidates do need to remember a lot of facts pertaining to current affairs. Finally, the key to a good memory is having faith in one’s memory skills and being positive about it.
The best way to improve your current affairs is to read the newspaper every day.
The answer should contain an introduction, body and a conclusion. Put your ideas and knowledge in a simple way so that the examiner understands it quickly.
Two important factors decide the good outcome of your answer: one, understanding the question completely. Second, sticking to the word limit.
Type of question
The civil services main exam consists of the descriptive type of questions. It focuses on testing the candidate on various levels. The time limit for the essay paper is 3 hrs without a word limit.
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.
Mains exam question
Mains exam is conducted to check candidate’s speed, consistency and clarity of thought and these can be acquired easily through writing practice.
What is a competitive exam?
Competitive exams are considered as an integral part for the entry into elite institutions to get an admission.
When there is more number of students and limited numbers of seats, admission tests are the solution for selecting deserving students for the specific course.
These exams are exams conducted for entry into government jobs such as UPSC exam.
Under the Constitution, one of the functions of the Commission is to conduct examinations for appointment to Civil Services/Posts of the Union. It conducts their examinations spread over 42 regular centres throughout the country. The Civil Services examination is a single and combined examination for recruitment to Indian Administrative Services (IAS), Indian Police Service (IPS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS) and the other higher Central Services (i.e. group A and group B).
Quotes from toppers
“I never thought that Civil Service Examinations is a very tough exam, is very time-consuming. Patience, focus, discipline and family support, I suppose worked in my favour,” says Tina Dabi, IAS topper.
“I studied NCERT books and coaching material carefully. I also appeared for several mock tests,” Kalpana Kumari, NEET 2018 topper. In NEET entrance exam, Kalpana secured 99.99 percentile with 691 marks of 720.
“I want to be an IAS officer. I want to do something for the benefit of physically challenged people,” Ira Singhal.
“First of all, I did not take any coaching for GS papers or for that matter my optional. But, I did join a test series for my optional Sociology at Nice IAS which helped me a lot and gave mock interviews at diff institutes,” Anu Kumari.
