Question : How Many Years To Give To UPSC?

Answer :

About one year of dedicated preparation is enough. But there is more to it that cannot be left unsaid. There is a difference between preparing the syllabus and clearing the Civil Services exams. The entire process of clearing the exam and securing a rank would require about 3-4 years. Hence, it is a time-consuming process.

Consider the following:

Let’s say you want to give the exam in 2019. Then, you should start the preparation about a year before (i.e. in 2018). The whole process of exam prelims-mains-Interview will take about a year, and result will come out earliest by May 2020.

So, if you are a very good candidate and lucky enough to get a service of your choice in first attempt, it will still take 2 years (2018–20) easily. But as per the stats from the aspirants community, on an average, it takes 2-4 attempts to get you your desired rank (<100 for IAS, which is generally the first choice). So, you must be ready to devote such time, if you are really serious of getting into the services.

The process of preparation (assuming you are a complete novice) takes upto 8-10 months for both GS and optional. After that, the exam itself stretches over a year - Prelims in June, Mains in October, Interview in March, and results in May, joining in September.

The entire syllabus can be well prepared in 2 sincere attempts, leaving only keeping track of current affairs for further attempts.

If Civil Services Examination is your aim, then it is better that you create your game plan on how you want to map out your objectives. Supposedly, you also have life goals that you want to achieve alongside Civil Services aim, then it is better to think on how much attempts you want to give. It depends on an individual basis.