Blocking two years of one’s life for complete and dedicated preparation, restricting use of smartphone, minimising human interaction, and keeping targets for studying. These were some of the tips senior IAS officer and Secretary to Government of Karnataka Manivannan P. gave on “How to face UPSC”.
Though a few brilliant candidates clear the UPSC in a single attempt, others take five to six attempts. But, Mr Manivannan, while participating in The Hindu EducationPlus Career Counselling Digital Conclave on Sunday, said two years of dedicated study is required for an “average, intelligent and committed” person to clear the exams due to the vast syllabus involved.
“From the moment you decide to give a sincere attempt to clear UPSC, you will have to reserve two years completely for the purpose. You can’t have two or three goals like winning a tennis tournament or getting selected for the cricket team. Do not do anything else apart from focussing on UPSC,” he advised the aspirants while pointing out that they will be pitted against candidates who are “extremely brilliant, committed, sincere and hard-working”.
Cautioning the aspirants about the use of smartphone, Mr. Manivannan said engagement on social media is an extremely time-consuming exercise that distracts the mind. The limited benefits accruing from use of mobile phone is highly disproportionate to the amount of time spent, he said.
He instead advocated use of a desktop computer with Internet for attending webinar and other beneficial purposes. But, if one has to use the smartphone, it has to be used sparingly after deleting all the messaging apps. “If you want to focus on UPSC, you have to ensure that you will not allow your mind to be distracted by the smartphone,” he warned.
However confident a candidate is about clearing the exams, there will always be a lingering doubt in his mind about failure in the attempt. Hence, he said it is advisable to have a Plan B outside civil services. This, he said was necessary to ensure that the worry and stress building up over the scepticism does not impact the preparation for UPSC exam. Mr. Manivannan also fielded questions ranging from the best subjects to be studied for UPSC to who his inspiration was.
The IAS officer said the best subjects should be identified by the candidate based on the subjects they liked. For, a candidate will be interested and master only subjects they liked and have a natural preference for.
To a question from a member of the audience on his inspiration, Mr. Manivannan said his inspiration has been the faceless little girl, who is forced to work either at home or elsewhere, but longs to go to school even after 73 years of freedom. He is motivated to do more thinking about that girl.
The gold sponsors for the event are Insights IAS, Cambridge Institute of Technology and Hindustan Group of Institutions, Chennai, while the silver sponsors are East West, Acharya Bangalore B School, The Institute of Company Secretaries of India and Shaheen Group of Institutions.
