UPSC Preparation Tips for Working Professionals

Are you a working professional and want to prepare for the UPSC exam? Do you want to become an IAS officer? If yes, then you are at the right place. We have come up with “UPSC Preparation Tips for Working Professionals.” You will get the answers to all your questions.

UPSC is an excellent examination, including many government services like the IAS, IPS, IFS, etc. Many people decide that they want to become an IAS, IPS, or any other officer from the very beginning. 

Some people don’t have a childhood dream of becoming an officer, but after completing their primary studies and graduation, they get determined by these UPSC exams. 

There is no problem in getting determined later in life. You can still go after these exams and clear them on the very first attempt.

UPSC Preparation Tips for Working Professionals

1. Never Quit Your Job

Quitting a job is not a wise option because you’ll probably finance yourself and don’t have to depend on anyone else while preparing. 

Secondly, you’ve got a job as a security if you couldn’t clear the exam for some reason you still have a job with you.

Quitting should never be an option.

2 Selecting the Right Time for Preparation

The time given for prelims preparation is about 9 – 10 months, so try to build a strong foundation in core subjects such as political science, economics, history, etc. 

In the first six months, do all things mentioned above and simultaneously keep studying for the mains paper as it would cover a vast UPSC syllabus.

3. Decide your Study Hours

At least keep 5 to 6 hours of study regularly as you have to focus on three things: general studies, current affairs, and optional subjects. 

The time should be managed so that the study hours should remain undisturbed even if they are not left with enough time. This is one of the most important UPSC preparation tips for working professionals.

4. Shut down your Social Accounts

Social media can somehow deviate your mind and drive you away from your path. Apps like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat are most viewed and recognised worldwide.

Try to make use of these app in the right way for gaining information. YouTube can be used to see how to crack interviews in UPSC and how to read the newspaper for UPSC.

Benefits for Working Professionals in UPSC exams

1. Limited Time

Since working professionals have got less time for preparation, this can benefit UPSC preparation. This will make them read-only useful topics and have a precise knowledge of only what is needed. 

Rather than studying from various sources. Many students also do not make it up to the top because of reading too many things.

Read More: IAS Eligibility Criteria

2. Working Security

As I said above, job security is a plus point in the UPSC. There is no need to worry about their livelihood, fallbacks, and time. 

What if they don’t get through the exams? What will they do in future? This thought does not go with the working professionals.

3. Boost in Confidence

The confidence in the working class is much more than the other competitors; this is mainly due to experienced work in their profession and the hard work they have to do while preparing for the exam.

4. Financial Support

First of all, there is no financial pressure on working professionals to earn and manage their expenses side by side. They can also invest in IAS coaching, which many students see as a luxury. 

Through hard work, time management, precise strategy, proper preparations and guidance, any professional can make a breakthrough in the UPSC exam.

Benefits of joining an IAS coaching institute.

First of all, preparing alone without any guidance and support might be tough to crack the UPSC exams, especially for working professionals as they’ve got less time in their hands.

The best thing to solve this issue is by joining the best IAS institute. With their advanced facilities and teaching techniques, these institutes are well efficient to make your journey to become an IAS officer much easier.

1. Online and Offline Facilities 

The institutions provide both online and offline facilities for UPSC preparation. So it depends upon you whether you want to go with the online or the offline mode of conducting classes. 

The online mode is much easier as it saves time of travelling to the institution and then studying there, as you have very little time for studying.

2. Recorded Lectures

This is one of the best online facilities that coaching institutions are providing nowadays. If somehow you miss a class or other, then you can study from the recorded lectures. 

The lectures are provided for all seven days. So that you can even repeat a class in case you don’t understand concepts. This is one of the major benefit for the working professional.

3. Duration Courses

Professional workers can get admitted to courses offered by these institutes and select the duration for entire preparations. 

Which can be around a year or two. Generally, a duration of two years is preferable as they can study along while doing the job.

Read More: NCERT Books for UPSC Preparation

4. Study Material

Another advantage of taking these courses is to get a quality of study material. These courses provide you with high-quality study material so that you don’t need to refer to any other sources. 

This study material is more than enough to prepare for the exam. These notes and material are written and checked well in advance by the teaching faculties themselves.

5. Group Studying

While attending these classes, you can be friends with fellow students studying there and prepare with them. You can get help in any concept you find difficult or help them indeed to clear theirs.

Studying in groups makes the syllabus easier and interesting to cover. Ultimately you end up learning new things. 

6. Revisions

Revision should be done daily on whatever topic you’ve studied. These institutes also help you revise your daily topics so that you can continue learning at your own pace.

7. Tests 

Weekly tests are taken on various subjects; it entirely depends upon the course you have selected. Well, the test is based on all three formats of UPSC exams. 

Preliminary, mains and the interview. This can also be claimed as another plus point in applying for IAS Coaching.

8. Flexibility for Attending the Test

You are free to attend the test at any time suitable to you, as you are a working man it is challenging to manage time to appear for papers and tests. So it becomes much easier to attend the online exams held weekly. 

Now let’s talk about some inspirational stories of people who had cleared the UPSC exams, even when they were doing their jobs.

Success stories 

1. Ms. Pujya Priyadarshni

AIR 11 CSE 2018

The lady here is a B com graduate hailing from Delhi University; she then completed her master’s in public administration from Columbia University, USA. She was preparing for the UPSC exams side by side while working. 

She first worked with a multinational accountant company PricewaterhouseCoopers and then worked in the Reliance Foundation. She managed to clear the UPSC exam in the 3rd attempt itself.

2. Mr. GSS Praveen Chand

AIR 64 CSE 2018

Hailing from IIT, Patna, Mr Praveen Chand holds a degree in electrical engineering. When he was preparing for the UPSC exams, he worked as Tech lead in a software company. He had cleared the exam on the second attempt and was selected as an IIS officer. 

He had a total of 3 attempts in the UPSC exam. The optional subject taken up by Mr Praveen Chand was mathematics.

Read More: Life of IAS Officer

3. Mr. Raushan Kumar

AIR 114 CSE 2018

Mr Raushan Kumar cracked the exam in 5 attempts. He is a professional mechanical engineer and was working with JSW steel Ltd for almost 10 years. 

While working, he prepared for the UPSC exams side by side and finally pursued his dream of joining the civil services. He selected sociology as an optional subject.

4. Mr. Siddhartha Nahar

AIR 182 CSE 2018

He holds a degree in petroleum engineering and is a native of Rajasthan; he served as a procurement officer in Gujarat State Petronet Limited ( GSPL) 

For 2 years, He did not aspire to join civil services until he saw the MD of GSPL. The post he was holding motivated MR Siddhartha Nahar. 

He started preparing for the UPSC exams and cracked it on the 3rd attempt; at that time, he was managing a small educational business selling software tutorials to various client’s living in the USA and Australia. His optional subject was philosophy. 

5. Mr. R Vaithinathan

AIR 37 CSE 2015

He created the CSE exam in the fourth attempt while practising as a doctor in Delhi hospital. His parents were against his thought of preparing for the exam and changing his track of medicinal practice. 

He was also a gold medalist in medicine, and still, he stood on to his thought of joining civil services and nailed it. His optional subject was sociology. 

Conclusion

Here were some fantastic stories of people clearing UPSC exams, even when they worked and did not have enough time to prepare. They became a huge inspiration to others and have achieved success in their life. 

I hope you like the article -“UPSC Preparation Tips for Working Professionals” and wish you all the best to go after the UPSC and other government exams.