Friday, March 19, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
INTERVIEW TIPS
The Kothari Committee of the UPSC, has listed the qualities that should be rated in the interview as, ''clarity of expression, grasp of narrative and argument, reasoning ability, appreciation of different points of view, awareness and concern for socio-economic problems, ranges and depth of interests and personal attributes relevant to interaction with people.''
The Interview for the civil services examination also known as the Personality Test is exactly that. It is aimed at assessing the candidate’s personality, whether he is suitable to be a competent administrator or not. The candidate is tested not only for his/her intelligence but also for his/her overall personality development, his/her attentiveness, balance of judgement and qualities of honesty, integrity and leadership. Therefore preparation for the Interview requires proper planning.
The selectors look out for some attributes in the candidate and decide whether he/she is suited for a career in civil services or not. For this,the candidate should have a positive attitude, should have an alert mind with quick reflexes, should be free from any sort of prejudice, should be good at making quick decisions and should have the ability to act under stress and to handle difficult situations.
Preparation for the Interview is a continuous process. This involves a wide reading of books, journals, magazines and at least two newspapers. One should try to improve his/her conversational skills with the right pronunciation. The candidate should be prepared to answer questions on his background, hobbies and extra curricular activities. It is a good idea to discuss current affairs and recent issues with friends. One good way of rehearsing possible questions would be to have mock interviews and discussion groups. The candidate should make a self analysis of his strengths and weaknesses and make a conscious effort to play on his strengths.
Some useful tips for a successful interview at UPSC are:
- To have a positive body language
- To have a good personal turnout and ensuring the right posture
- To answer questions clearly and confidently
- Try to remain calm and composed even when faced with provocative questions
- Try not getting into long winded explanations and answer to the point.
Things To Be Avoided at the UPSC Interview
- Avoid the expression, 'I am sorry.'
- Avoid conversational cliches, like: 'as you know', 'that's correct', 'of course', 'indeed', 'obviously', etc.
- Avoid technical jargon. However, if a member continues to probe you in any technical field, you can use technical expressions.
- Maintain a cheerful disposition. Now and then you can appear serious; but most of the time keep smiling or look cheerful and composed. One caution here: if the board laughs, you should only smile. It is only when you maintain some amount of distance that the board begins to wonder about the depth of your personality.
- Do not give long introductions. Come straight to the heart of the matter.
- Show human concern whenever possible in your answers.
- You should be logically consistent and analyse things rationally while talking. You are supposed to defend what you say, but with due respect to the views of the board. Stop trying to defend an answer if it becomes difficult to do so logically and fairly.
- Do not make hasty or sweeping generalisations.
Types of questions asked at the UPSC interview.
- Relating to your name. Any famous personality who has a similar or same name or surname.
- Your career choice. Why you want to opt for the civilservices.
- Your Hobbies. Why you pursue such a hobby or questions related to your hobby. So reasearch well on your hobby.
- Hot topics of recent days like the Bird Flu and Tamiflu, Office of Profit, Sahara airlines deal and the growing airlines,Terror attacks in India, India US Nuclear deal, Commonwealth games, Saurav Ganguly etc.Keep reading and watching the news. If the recent headlines have something to do with your subject then specially revise those portions. For example if you are a veterinary doctor, Bird flu may go on to other animal diseases that can infect men. If you are an MBBS, then you might be asked about human to human spread of epidemics or any other epidemics and precautions etc. You may even be asked about the influence of MNC or drug manufacturers responsible for the spread of fear etc. If you are from an economy background, the same topic will veer towards the economic implications of the Bird flu.
- How you are going to use your specific knowledge(like if you are a doctor, lawyer, engineer etc) in the services.
- Situational questions. Like If you were the collector/SP of Varanasi, what would you do after the Bomb Blast?
- Choice of services. The order of your choice of services can raise questions too.
- About your institution and related.If you have studies at IIM you may be asked about the rising salaries, if from IGNOU then even about Indira Gandhi and so on.
- From your form. You must go through the form you have filled because most questions will arise from there. If you have changed subjects, mentioned anything out of the way, watch out for questions on them. Interviewers take cue from the form you have filled.
Some actual questions asked of UPSC candidates.
- Don't you think you can serve your country better by remaining a doctor and treating poor patients? Why do you want to be a civil servant?"
It would be best to answer this question very practically rather than emotionally saying you want to serve the country, because even a doctor serves the people. A doctor from Kerala was asked this Question and her reply was - "Because I want to treat the primary malady that afflicts our country, that creates so many poor in India. As a doctor I can treat only secondary maladies." She even came up with exact statistics and suggestions on a rubber plantation for poverty alleviation indicating that she had spent considerable time and thoughts on her future plans. She was awarded a score of 85 per cent. - "What are the problems faced by wheat cultivators in your state?" an M.Sc. (Agriculture) student from Palanpur was once asked. "The problem is not so much to do with agronomy but with the lack of a seed bank in Palanpur," came the reply and the candidate walked away with an 80 per cent score.
- "Is there a law in physics, which is relevant to administration?" a law graduate was prompted. "Yes. Newton's third law of motion: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction." He scored a cool 80 per cent.
The above questions can give you an idea of how relevant questions are asked from your subjects even as they are not directly from the syllabus.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Over View of Civil Services Examinations
CS (Preliminary)
| (A) Tentative Schedule | |
| (i) Notification of Examination | November/December of previous year |
| (ii) Conduct of Examination | May |
| (B) Age - limits: | 21-30 years as on 1st August of the year of Examination. |
| Certain categories of persons as specified in the Commission's Notice as published in Employment News/Rozgar Samachar are eligible for age relaxation. |
| (C) Educational Qualification |
| Degree of a Recognised University or equivalent. |
| Candidates appearing in the requisite Degree qualification are also eligible for appearing in the examination, however, they are supposed to submit proof of passing the requisite qualification along with with Detailed Application Form for Civil Services (Main) Examination. |
Scheme of CS (Preliminary) Examination
The Preliminary Examination consists of two papers of objective type (multiple-choice questions) carrying a maximum of 450 marks.The Question Papers (Test Booklets) are set in English & Hindi
| Paper - I | General Studies | 150 Marks |
| Paper - II | One of the optional subjects to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects | 300 Marks |
List of Optional Subjects CS (Preliminary) - Total 23
| Agriculture | Mathematics |
| Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science | Mechanical Engineering |
| Botany | Medical Science |
| Chemistry | Philosophy |
| Civil Engineering | Physics |
| Commerce | Political Science |
| Economics | Psychology |
| Electrical Engineering | Public Administration |
| Geography | Sociology |
| Geology | Statistics |
| Indian History | Zoology |
| Law |
Statistical Data CS (Preliminary)
| Year of Exam | No of Candidates | |
| Applied | Appeared | |
| 1997 | 2,65,761 | 1,30,198 |
| 1998 | 2,71,517 | 1,22,363 |
| 1999 | 3,09,501 | 1,35,086 |
| 2000 | 2,25,555 | 1,19,398 |
| 2001 | 2,56,673 | 1,38,240 |
| 2002 | 3,01,585 | 1,57,486 |
CS (Main)
Tentative Date of Examination : October - November
Scheme - CS (Main)
| Paper-I | One of the Indian Languages to be selected by the candidate from the 18 languages included in the VIIIth Schedule to the Constitution (Qualifying Paper) | 300 Marks |
| Paper-II | English (Qualifying Paper) | 300 Marks |
| Paper-III | Essay | 200 Marks |
| Papers IV & V | General Studies (300 Marks for each paper) | 600 Marks |
| Papers VI, VII, VIII & IX | Any two subjects (each having 2 papers) to be selected from the prescribed optional subjects (300 marks for each paper) | 1200 Marks |
| Total Marks for Written Examination | 2000 Marks | |
| Interview Test | 300 Marks | |
| Grand Total | 2300 Marks | |
List of Optional Subjects - CS (Main) - (Total 25)
See Note below List of Optional Subjects (Literature)| Agriculture | Management |
| Animal Husbandry & Vetinary Science | Mathematics |
| Anthropology | Mechanical Engineering |
| Botany | Medical Science |
| Chemistry | Philosophy |
| Civil Engineering | Physics |
| Commerce & Accountancy | Political Science & International Relations |
| Economics | Psychology |
| Electrical Engineering | Public Administration |
| Geography | Sociology |
| Geology | Statistics |
| Indian History | Zoology |
| Law |
List of Optional Subjects (Literature) - CS (Main) - (Total 26)
| Arabic | Gujarati | Manipuri | Sanskrit |
| Assamese | Hindi | Nepali | Sindhi |
| Bengali | Kannada | Oriya | Tamil |
| Chinese | Kashmiri | Pali | Telugu |
| English | Konkani | Persian | Urdu |
| French | Marathi | Punjabi | |
| German | Malayalam | Russian |
| Note (i) : | Candidates have the option to answer all the question papers, except the language papers, viz, Paper-I and Paper-II, in any one of the languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution or in English |
| Note (ii) : | Candidates who have opted for an Indian Language as language medium for the Main Examination have an option of being interviewed either in English or in the same language which they have opted for the Main Examination |
Statistical Data - CS (Main)
| Year Of Exam | Vacancies | Candidates Recommended | ||||||||
| SC | ST | OBC | GEN | TOTAL | SC | ST | OBC | GEN | TOTAL | |
| 1995 | 98 | 49 | 165 | 333 | 645 | 101 | 49 | 192 | 303 | 645 |
| 1996 | 125 | 57 | 174 | 383 | 739 | 138 | 59 | 212 | 330 | 739 |
| 1997 | 89 | 43 | 166 | 323 | 621 | 94 | 46 | 215 | 266 | 621 |
| 1998 | 53 | 28 | 114 | 275 | 470 | 60 | 30 | 142 | 238 | 470 |
| 1999 | 53 | 27 | 97 | 234 | 411 | 63 | 30 | 127 | 191 | 411 |
| 2000 | 54 | 29 | 100 | 244 | 427 | 58 | 34 | 128 | 207 | 427 |
| 2001 | 47 | 39 | 97 | 234 | 417 | 52 | 42 | 131 | 192 | 417 |
| 2002 | 38 | 22 | 88 | 162 | 310 | 38 | 22 | 88 | 138 | 286 |
General Information
Courtesy: UPSC.GIAS INTERVIEW 2010
Friends, Results for Mains examination has been declared by UPSC and I congratulate those who got the golden chance to appear in Interview. I would like to give some suggestions form my side based on my experiences-
1.Formalities- You have to take certificates in regard of your Educational qualification, Caste Certificate(if u belong to SC/ST or OBC community) and No Objection certificate from your employer if u r already working. Before interview, your certificate will be checked by upsc officials. Read carefully all instructions in this regard in interview form.
2.Dress- Your dress should be decent and formal. Use dark colour pant(preferrably black and blue) with plain or simple sriped shirts. Tie is optional but if u r comfortable with it then use it. It adds to your look. Use formal shoes and belt. The most important thing is that you should be comfortable and confident about your dress. Use your dress at least 2-3 times to be fully comfortable with it.
3.Salutation-
Either use Good Morning/afternoon/Evening Sirs/Madom or in Indian Tradition Use Namsakar/Namate with hand gesture. Your eye and face movement should be towards all the board members in one go. Greeting chairman and each board member separately is not needed.
4.Biodata- Normally, candidates remain in doubt that they need bio-data and their certificates with them in interview room or not. That is not required. Board will have your bio-data based on details filled by u at the time of Mains examination. So, take your certificate folder with you but leave that outside interview room with gateman their.
5.Preparation-
list out all the possible questions on the following area-
-Your Optional subjects
-Current affairs and important topics, Indian Economics, Important public debates going on at present in India and abroad
-HOBBIES given by you in the mains form, their importance and significance in your life, any important development related to that hobby (I'll discuss this topic in detail in my next post because somtimes your hobby may be most important segment or your interview)
-Your home state, home district and all related and important matters
-If you are working, then important things about your job
Also acquire some knowledge about your Work state and District.
-Regarding extra-curricular activities if You have mentioned them in Your mains Form
-Your Inspiration for joining this service
-Service preference given by you
-Cadre preference given by you
-Hypothetical questions Suppose if you are holding this post, what will you do for this problem...
Prepare all possible questions on these topic and then conduct mock interview sessions with your friends, relatives, teachers, good institutions with all seriousness. Always remember UPSC's motto of Interview-
"The candidate will be interviewed by a Board who will have before them a record of his career. He will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms this is really an assessment of not only his intellectual qualities but also social traits and his interst in current affairs. Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.
2. The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate.
3. The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have taken an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thought and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of well educated youth."
(From UPSC website http://www.upsc.gov.in/)
I'll come with specific guidance on some topics like hobbies, Hypothetical questions, using your sense of humour in a positive way, reading the mind of Interview board in coming days. I wish good luck to all the candidates who are going to appear for this year's interview.
With best wishes and Good Luck,
Yours,
Keshvendra
HOW TO READ A NEWSPAPER:
Readers and reading are of two broad types: skimming (scanning) and reading. There are different styles of reading for different situations. The technique of reading depends on the purpose of reading. So first of all, you should have the purpose of reading very clear in your mind. For example, one might be reading for enjoyment, information, or to finish a task. If you are researching or reviewing, you might skim through a document. Reading speed depends on the purpose of reading. Skimming is usually done four-five times faster than normal reading. Many people consider skimming and scanning to be search techniques, rather than reading strategies. Skimming is usually resorted for quick identification of the main contents of any given material.
Some people read the first and last paragraphs using headlines, sub-headings, summaries, searching for keywords. But while scanning, it is advisable to read the first sentence, for it gives a fair and a broad idea of the contents of that paragraph.
Newspaper reading can be easily compared to long-distance running. You should start jogging in the beginning, let the muscles warm up and accelerate a little bit at the halfway mark and sprint only at the last lap of the race. It is thus, strongly advised that if you are a beginner at serious reading of a newspaper, do not skim, or scan to start with. Skimming requires trained movement of eyes from one word, sentence, or paragraph to another. This will come with sustained practice and one must increase the speed of reading gradually.
Reading requires careful attention to every word and detail. However, anyone can increase the speed of reading while maintaining equal, or even higher comprehension. If you subscribe to a particular newspaper, slow reading in the beginning is a must to train the eyes for the type and size of the font. There are three factors which can help in enhancing reading speed: (1) willingness to improve, (2) keenness to try out new techniques and (3) motivation levels to practice reading regularly. With practice – and gradually, try to develop a wider and broader eye-span. This will help in reading more words and later on, even sentences, at one glance. Try to increase the eye-span from one sentence to two, then to three, four and then the whole paragraph. For, even physiologically, the movement of the eye is amongst the fastest movements of our body. Hence, it is of utmost importance to control eye movement while reading, for eyes have a peculiar habit of not being fixed at one place and the gaze just keeps shifting to see and visualize more and more.
One major difficulty in reading, or even scanning, is that the eyesight, if not trained, has the habit of jumping and skipping words that are difficult to read, or not familiar to the eye. This leads to problems in reading and retention. Often one may misread, or misunderstand a word while reading fast. Thus it is all the more important to read slowly and at a comfortable pace and increase the speed only when the eyesight is properly trained. Certain write-ups like editorials, main stories of the day have to be read carefully. Skimming can be practiced in cases where one is reading for leisure on a weekend, or vacation and perfect it before applying to daily reading. One can of course, formulate own reading techniques for speed-reading with practice.
Therefore, start reading by applying these techniques, for being a prospective mass communicator, you will be required to read/scan tonnes of material. However, one major must for reading is that you must not take it as a burden and have to enjoy the entire process. For, as they say – “Bon Chance” (Wish you all the best).
CIVIL SERVICES PREPARATION:
Civil Services preparation point of view is important in this place, when an aspirant reads a newspaper. If one goes through the previous years questions of Current Affairs, it will give broad idea about the pattern. Normally asked questions are about Personalities, Places, News of National and International importance. Bilateral issues relating to India and other Nations, Visit of Head of the States of other Countries, Visit of Indian President and Prime Minister to other Countries, Important agreements etc.
WHILE READ NEWSPER
Based on previous experience, i would like to urge :
1) News Paper : The Hindu or Indian Express prefer The Hindu.
2) Give one hour to the news paper readings
3) make a diary or note book and have brief of that day
1) News Paper : The Hindu or Indian Express prefer The Hindu.
2) Give one hour to the news paper readings
3) make a diary or note book and have brief of that day
what to study :
-------------------
4) National Events : Awards (Khela Ratna etc.), Business & Economic (RBI
Policy, Budget & its impact analysis in editorial), Sports (Common wealth,
Olympic), Cultural, Government Plan, like Bharat Nirman, NREGA, Petroleum
etc.
5) International Events : Foreign tour of any indian authority or India
tour of any foreign minister. Point out the discussion held with like
Defense, Education, Cultural, Trade & Business (import/export), Sports
-------------------
4) National Events : Awards (Khela Ratna etc.), Business & Economic (RBI
Policy, Budget & its impact analysis in editorial), Sports (Common wealth,
Olympic), Cultural, Government Plan, like Bharat Nirman, NREGA, Petroleum
etc.
5) International Events : Foreign tour of any indian authority or India
tour of any foreign minister. Point out the discussion held with like
Defense, Education, Cultural, Trade & Business (import/export), Sports
Actually news paper describes the entire event from the past and present,
this emphasis the whole situation rather than a note. You may also cut
the details topic and may file.
this emphasis the whole situation rather than a note. You may also cut
the details topic and may file.
Read Pratiyogita Darpan of the next month. You will find almost 60% of current events are noticed by you, then see what you have missed. Spontaneously you will get the right approach, how to read news paper.
Hope this will work.
Thanks & Regards,
Arpit
Arpit
*******************************************************************************
Newspaper reading is an art in itself. It is always advisable to get hooked on to newspaper reading very early in the school days. Before familiarizing yourself with reading a newspaper, it is advisable to get acquainted with the broad contours and some technical terms related to the newspaper.
Front page: As the name indicates, is the first, or the front page of the newspaper. The top left hand and the right hand corners on the front page are known as the ‘Ear Panels’. The ‘Ear Panels’ contain advertisements in small boxes. The name of the newspaper, along with the date, place of publication and the ear panels are known as the ‘Masthead’.
Lead Story: The lead story of the newspaper is the main, first, or the most prominent story on the front page. It is given in bold letters with big fonts and is the most important story of the day.
‘Banner headline’ - Often in the case of a major natural disaster, or death of a head of State or Government, a ‘banner headline’ is given. Banner headline means a headline spread across the top of the front page.
Columns – Every newspaper and every page of a newspaper has eight columns – from left to right. That is, the first column on the left and the eight column on the right.
Pages – The number of pages in a newspaper varies from one to another. Leading dailies have between 16-24 pages on weekdays and 32-48 pages on weekends.
Supplements – Supplements are also known as magazines. These are separate from the main newspaper. Each day, newspapers have supplements, or magazines. These supplements cover special issues such as fashion, health, cuisine and other material for light reading over the weekend.
Layout of the newspaper – This again varies from newspaper to newspaper. But in a standard format, the first page of the newspaper is known as Front page. A front page normally has five-six prominent news stories on issues of national and international importance.
Pages second to fourth page are normally reserved for local news stories, though it depends upon each newspaper. If the newspaper is published from Delhi, the local pages would have news reports about Delhi (or any other city) if a newspaper is published from that city. Pages fifth to seventh contain news from various States.
Pages eight and nine, are normally the most important pages of the newspaper. These two pages combined form the ‘heart and soul’ of the newspaper and are together known as ‘Centrespread’. These contain, most importantly, editorials (usually two in number), two edit page articles and Letters to the Editor. The page on the left is the ‘Editorial page’ and the one on the right is now known as the ‘Op-ed’ (Opinion-cum-editorial pages) and contains columns written by well-known commentators, analysts, opinion-makers and experts on a particular issue. The editorial page conveys the broad policy of the newspaper management – i.e whether the newspaper is pro-government, anti-government or neutral in the coverage of the news and views that it carries.
Pages 10 and 11 are often reserved for international news. The next three-four pages are for news related to Business, stock market and share prices. After these, three-four pages are dedicated to coverage of various national and international sporting events. The last page is often kept for important national and international human-interest stories, that is, stories that would interest any reader.
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