Coaching for Civil Services Examination: Is it necessary?

Disclaimer: While aspirants might have come here reading the tag ‘Tips for Civil Services Examination’, I must candidly declare that there are actually no objective tips for this examination as such. I believe that every successful candidate has his/her own style of studying depending upon his/her background, strengths and weaknesses. However a proper guidance always helps and it is my endeavor in this blog to share my experiences and both what I did and what I think should be or should not be done.

The biggest dilemma that one faces during the preparation of Civil Services Examination is, whether one should join any coaching center or not and if yes, then which one. I prepared in Delhi, which is literally the largest hub of civil services aspirants with places like Karol Bagh, Old Rajendra Nagar and Mukherjee Nagar being dotted with uncountable coaching centers. I would say most of these institutions are commercial business centers. None of the coaching center may satisfy completely and some may be a complete waste of time and money.

For those who do join coaching classes

But still coaching has some of its benefits. These benefits however need to be reaped consciously and cannot just be earned by joining a class. One of the biggest benefits that I felt is that the coaching institutes help a candidate get a grand picture of the syllabus of UPSC examination. For example typically any good coaching institution will complete the whole Indian polity in around 15-20 classroom sessions, i.e. around 40 hours. At the end of this period, one will have a good understanding of basics like Fundamental Rights and Duties and DPSPs, or working and constitution of Union and State Legislatures etc. As they say that the monster lies in details, if someone with no acquaintance with our Constitution picks up a book like PM Bakhshi (constitution ad verbatim) or Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity, he/she may spend more than a fortnight and not understand much. So a macro picture of the syllabus is always helpful to begin with. So for a candidate, especially with science/engineering background like I had, with no prior knowledge of what is what of syllabus of UPSC, coaching institutions act as good starters.

Another benefit that I felt that coaching provides is to keep one on her toes. Normally coaching institutions have very intensive programme wherein almost whole of the syllabus is covered in 4-6 months. Also those institutes which also take periodical tests help serious candidates to evaluate themselves and take timely corrective measures, leaving almost no time to waste (as one has to timely prepare for tests). Then one also may meet other serious aspirants with whom a productive group can be formed for discussing current issues and other problems. However, one must also be very cautious of useless endless debates, just for the sake of debating, and unnecessary negative discussions. Also one must not lose heart on seeing a very active participant in class who seems to know everything already and has lots of doubts to ask in and after class. Such candidates may not be the best ones to copy (slow and steady wins the race). Also it is important to keep revising what is being taught in the class (since you have spent the money and would like to get most out of it). However once the class notes have been prepared well, one may move on to other (bigger and better) sources. Also one can skip the classes of portions that one feels very confident of (for example I usually skipped the basic sciences classes), but otherwise I would suggest to attend all classes as skipping classes is a very bad and dangerous habit (given the massive portions of syllabus covered in a single class).

Now coming to some pitfalls that one needs to be very careful of. Some of these may seem too petty to read, but I stress that they are nevertheless important (at least according to me). One I have already mentioned is skipping too many classes unnecessarily. The preparation phase being an extremely painful one, one often feels too demotivated to attend class. Then of course there are friends to distract, or some treats or trips being planned elsewhere. One might think, “I will get the notes Xeroxed later”. But most of the times one never finds that time or good notes later and then there remains a gaping hole in the preparation that becomes a weak point forever. This is especially true, because number of topics covered in a single class are many. Often a thought may also come, “Oh, that teacher is going to teach the same old boring thing, I may rather skip the class and study on my own”. It’s a noble notion, but my experience (and my friends’) says that one often ends up sleeping or wasting time during that time. So it’s better to attend classes by keeping the motivation level high.

Next comes the tendency of considering coaching class as all in all. One may often feel that since coaching institutes have promised to complete the syllabus, attending classes is sufficient. So rest of the time may be wasted. But coaching classes are only a small portion of the preparation and not at all sufficient in themselves. Self-study forms the core of the preparation and has to be taken seriously. So planning the time along with classes is very important so that not lot of time is spent in travelling, eating at tea stalls etc. I again repeat, coaching can only hold your hand, but the steps have to be taken by you yourself. Even UPSC is increasingly modifying its questions that CAN NOT be answered only by what is being taught in coaching classes. (It is a stated policy of UPSC to discourage the culture of coaching). Had the class study been enough, all students in that coaching would have cleared the examination.

But is coaching necessary?

For those who do not join coaching classes

Attending coaching classes is neither sufficient not necessary. Every year a number of candidates crack the exam without attending any coaching class at all. After the pattern change in 2013, the relevance of coaching classes has been exaggerated, but I personally feel it has become rather irrelevant. With only one optional to take care of, which can be the graduation subject of candidate, and GS syllabus becoming so vast that it is not in capacity of a single coaching institute to do justice with it, self-study is sufficient. The NCERTs (both old and new) which form an important part of study material have been written in exceptionally coherent and easy language. Also they are short and can be completed in very small period of time. Then internet has some really good websites (like mrunal.org) which can be referred to for guidance. Though I do not promote piracy, but (since it is completely safe in legal terms) one can buy the class notes and printed notes of good coaching institutes from Old Rajendra Nagar or Ber Sarai in Delhi and use them to begin with. But only good handwritten notes must be purchased that are at least complete.

I will try to put up links of blogs/websites of any such successful candidates who have cleared this exam without attending coaching as they will be able to give a first-hand experience.

Finally coming to the question of which coaching institution to join. Though most of the people already in preparation mode in Delhi would know but for those still unaware, Vajiram and Ravi (Rajendra Nagar), ALS (Mukherjee Nagar and Munirka) and Synergy (Karol Bagh) are well known names in this business. But I am not advertising (was not paid) for these. I joined ALS classes in South Delhi as it was nearer and saved me travelling time and was satisfied with results since I was completely a novice as far as GS was concerned. I only took coaching before the pattern change (for my attempt in 2012, in which I could not make it to final list despite appearing for interview) and decided to resort to self-study after the pattern change. I found ALS especially good for International Relations, Economics and Essay strategy.

I will post my strategy for GS, Optional, Essay and Interview in later posts. I hope the above post was useful.