Crack UPSC IAS Exam Without Coaching: Toppers Success Story About How to Prepare For UPSC IAS Exam

How to Crack UPSC IAS Exam in First Attempt Without Coaching: Toppers Success Story About How to Prepare For IAS Exam at Home

Crack UPSC IAS Exam Without Coaching: Many of the students have a dream of cracking the UPSC Civil Services Exam in the very first attempt. It is really possible with an optimized mix of dedication and hard work. Here we going to share about how to crack the UPSC IAS exam in first attempt without coaching with the right strategy and approach. Also, we discussed the success story of IAS toppers who cracked the UPSC Civil Services Exam in his first attempt. By following this article, you can get some clear knowledge about how to prepare for the IAS exam during graduation/ after graduation/ after 12th/ with job/ at home for beginners in Hindi/ Tamil without coaching.

What is UPSC IAS?

Every year, The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has conducted the Civil Services examination for recruitment to the Indian Administrative Services (IAS) and other allied services like Indian Police Services (IPS) and Indian Forest Services (IFS) and etc. Among most aspirants, IAS is the most Preferred and desirable services. The UPSC IAS exam has two stages -1. Preliminary, 2. Main. Applicants who clear both Preliminary & main exam will have to appear for a personal interview. If they clear this interview, then they are allotted for the services as per their merit ranks and offered IAS training.

Organized By: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)

Examination Name: Civil Services Examination

Exam Level: Graduate

Exam Stages: Preliminary, Mains and Personality Test/ Personal Interview

Official Site: www.upsc.gov.in

Tips to crack the UPSC IAS exam without coaching?

By following some key factors, aspirants can easily crack the IAS exam in the 1st attempt without coaching.

Be Time Limit

Make a perfect and proper schedule and follow it without any fail. Make a daily, weekly, and monthly targets and try to complete the target with integrity. This way will create positivity things in your mind and motivated to do more and more.

Have Some Hobby

Being a civil servant is not only about preparing for the exam, clearing the preliminary & main paper, and joining the services. It's all about who you are, what is your personality, and how do you plan for yourself and how do you project your ideas. If you have some hobbies, follow it. Otherwise, develop a hobby like reading, singing, writing, dancing, or anything else.

Read a book out of course each month.

By reading the books out of course in each month, you will know the innovative ways of projecting any ideas. It helps your writing skills, reading knowledge, as well as grooming your personality.

Cover each book at least thrice.

We recommended following the NCERTs class 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 (Part I/ Part II) book as well as follow some other books which are related to UPSC civil services exam syllabus. You have to cover each and every book at least thrice.

Reading Newspapers

Should have a habit of reading newspapers daily like Hindu/ Indian Express and make notes thereafter.

Keep in touch with your education

You have to recall the graduation subject domain and follow the latest updates in it. Day to day, there are a lot of updates and new things have arrived in the modern world. So make you as more updatable. Follow some magazine, current affairs booklet, or anything to improve your knowledge.

Positive Mind

The main thing to crack the civil services exams is always to look for the positive side and make mind fresh. If you have any negative manner or negative things, then a creative way to turn the negative into a positive.

Check online videos and online app to boost your preparation

Should watch online news videos or any other videos which are useful for UPSC IAS exam. Also, install some recommended preparation apps and go through it. 

Know about the UPSC IAS Eligibility Criteria

Before going to know how to crack the UPSC IAS exam in the 1st attempt without coaching, you should know some important details which are discussed here.

Take mock test

Not only preparation is to help you to crack the IAS exam, but you also have to do the practice. By doing the mock test daily with the help of the last 10 years UPSC IAS question papers, you feel the improvement in your performance.

IAS Exam Age Limit & Attempts:

For the General category, they have 6 attempts till completion of 32 years.
For OBC, should clear the exam within 9 attempts till completion of 35 years.
For SC/ ST category, there is no limit of attempts till completion of 37 years.

Educational Qualification:

All aspirants must complete a graduate degree in any discipline from any recognized university. Final year students can also apply for UPSC Civil Services Exam.

Check UPSC Civil Services Exam Pattern

UPSC Civil Services exam is conducted in 3 stages: 1. Prelims, 2. Mains and 3. Interview. UPSC Civil Services Prelims includes 2 papers from General Studies of 200 marks each. On the basis of performance in the Prelims stage, aspirants will be shortlisted for the Mains exam. If you crack the main exam, then you will call for the final stage Personal interview.

Mode of the Exam: Pen and Paper based

Exam Language: Hindi and English

Type of Questions: Multiple Choice & Objective Type (MCQs)

UPSC IAS Prelims syllabus

General Studies 1: 
Number of Questions: 200 Questions
Marks: 200
Duration: 2 Hrs

General Studies 2: 
Number of Questions: 200 Questions
Marks: 200
Duration: 2 Hrs

UPSC IAS Mains syllabus

Paper A: Indian Language
Number of Questions: 300 Questions
Marks: 300
Duration: 3 Hrs

Paper B: English
Number of Questions: 300 Questions
Marks: 300
Duration: 3 Hrs

Paper 1: Essay
Number of Questions: 250 Questions
Marks: 250
Duration: 3 Hrs

Paper 2 to 5: General Studies
Number of Questions: 250 Questions
Marks: 250
Duration: 3 Hrs

Paper 6 and 7: Optional Subject
Number of Questions: 250 Questions
Marks: 250
Duration: 3 Hrs

Final Stage: Personal Interview/ Personality Test
Marks: 275
Duration: 3 Hrs

Marking Scheme: As per the UPSC Civil Services examination process, one marks will be given to aspirants for each correct answer. One-third of the marks allotted for each question will be reduced for every incorrect response. However, no marks will be deducted if a question is left or unattempted by aspirants.

Prelims + Mains = 1750 Marks

Personal Interview = 275 Marks

Total Marks = 2025 Marks

Topics prepared for UPSC IAS Exam: 

To crack UPSC in 1st attempt, you should have more knowledge in general studies which hold the questions from Comprehension, Interpersonal Skills, Current events of national and international importance, General Science, Logical reasoning, General mental ability, Basic numeracy, Decision making and problem-solving, 

Indian Heritage and Culture, Geography of the World and Society, History, Technology, Ethics, Aptitude, and Integrity, History of India and Indian National Movement, Economic, and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Demographics, Poverty, Inclusion, Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India, Political System, Public Policy, Panchayati Raj, Rights Issues.

IAS toppers story without coaching

The Union Public Service Commission's (UPSC) Civil Services Exam has some interesting figures. Not only does it have the lowest success rates, but one in 10 candidates can hope to win this difficult examination. At the age of 22, Priyank Kishore (AIR 274) is one of those who crack the Civil Services Exam in his 1st attempt in 2018 without coaching.

When asked what inspired him to take up the UPSC Civil Services Examination, he answers, "I drew inspiration from my father who is Deputy Superintendent Police (DSP), Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. I would say the seeds were sown by him."

Priyank said about the mistakes he made during the time of preparation, "One of the mistakes I was made in essay preparation. While I did attempt essays before the examination, I did not join any test series or coaching for it specifically."

Priyank Kishore goes on to speak about the limited space candidates get in their question-cum-answer sheet and how to approach that. "Given that I usually write in a large font, the space that is provided in the answer booklet was a challenge, to begin with. I found it difficult to write 150 words in the allotted space," shares Priyank. Through rigorous practice, he was able to match approximately 135 to 140 words in the answer.

Each candidate has their own way of writing answers, Priyank shared his methodology of answering in bullet-in points. "I ensured that the introduction and the conclusion were written in paragraph format. The body of the answer I put down in bullet-in points. This helped me keep track of what I was writing and also made it easy for the examiner to go through."

He also says that in case a candidate felt that there is not enough content for a given question, they should avoid the bullet-in points format.

Sharing his views on aspirants who have taken repeated attempts, he says, "If you have made 3 serious attempts, then you should take a break and work on your career and then come back and take the exam with greater stability and renewable energy. Else, take a step back and analyze where you have been going wrong."

Priyank Kishore chose Accountancy and Commerce as his optional subject as these were completed during his graduation and post-graduation.

Be note of these pointers and best of luck for your preparations!

Help Desk:

Union Public Service Commission,
Dholpur House,
Shahjahan Road, New Delhi
Phone: 011-23098543/ 23385271/ 23098591/ 23381125

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - about how to crack UPSC IAS exam in first attempt without coaching:

Q1: What is the salary of an IAS Officer?

Answer: The basic pay is Rs. 56,100/-. Also, they provide allowances like DA, HRA, and TA.

Q2: What is the best newspaper/ book for preparing for UPSC IAS?

Answer: To qualify UPSC IAS exams aspirants to have to read all standard books, NCERTs and the Hindu and Indian Express newspapers. 

Q3:  How many marks are required to clear the first stage - prelims?

Answer: The marks required to clear the Civil Services prelims exam is not pre-defined. For the general category, the cut-off ranges between 100 to 125 marks. For paper 2, the minimum cut-off marks are 33%. 

Q4: Who has secured the highest marks in UPSC Ever?

Answer: The highest marks in the UPSC IAS exam were secured by Anudeep Durishetty in 2017. He scored a total of 1126 marks (55.60%) out of 2025 marks.

Q5: If aspirants have applied for the IAS Prelims Examination but have not appeared at any paper in the Civil Services (P) Exam will it be counted as an attempt?

Answer: No. An attempt is counted only if an aspirant has appeared in at least one paper in Civil Services (Prelims) Examination.

NOTE: We also provide the past ten years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020) model question papers in our examcore.in site. By going through the appropriate link, you can easily collect the UPSC IAS question papers.