Preparation for UPSC Civil Services Interview

The UPSC Civil Services Interview is the final obstacle in the race in getting selected for the recruitment to the various Civil Services of the Government of India. Some of these are India Administrative Service (IAS), Indian Revenue Service (IRS), Indian Foreign Service (IFS), and many more.

The UPSC Civil Services examination is conducted in two phases; the Preliminary Paper which consists of two objective type papers and then the Main Examination which consists of nine further papers which is followed by an interview. This interview is correctly termed as a personality test as the aim of the interview is to assess the candidate’s behavior, personality, his/her presence of mind along with assessing whether the candidate is suitable to be a administrator or not.

The candidate is usually tested on his presence of mind, general aptitude and intelligence, balance of judgment, integrity and alertness. Experts have always said that the preparation of the UPSC Civil Services Interview is not something the candidate can prepare for in a day. It is process which required the candidate to be on his toes with the current affairs and a lot more that is going around him. The personality test is out of 300 marks, of the total 2300 mark scheme of the Civil Services Examination based on which the final selection list is prepared.

The UPSC Kothari Committee 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.”

Preparation for the Personality Interview conducted for UPSC Civil Services

Like we said before, the interview is not something that can be prepared for in a day, it is a continuous process which involves the candidate to be alert and widely read. This includes reading books, journal, magazines, newspapers and many more. The candidate needs to work on his communication skills along with improving their pronunciation. The aspirant should carefully look into his strengths and weaknesses and try to put forward his strengths through activities, hobbies and bringing them up during the interview.

Do’s for a successful interview at UPSC Civil Services

1. Maintain a positive attitude and reflect it through you body language and posture.
2. Ensure a good personal turnout and make sure you look sharp.
3. Answer questions clearly and confidently. Do not lie about things you have no knowledge about. It is not very difficult for the panel to know when you are
4. Try to remain calm and composed even when faced with provocative questions
5. Do not get into long winded explanations and answer to the point and make sure you r pint is brought across in your answer.
6. Avoid expressions like ‘I am sorry’, ‘of course’, ‘obviously’ and the likes
7. Avoid technical jargons unless necessary.
8. Analyze things wisely for option based questions and do not derive into far-reaching generalization

Hope this article gives you some insight of things to do and some to avoid. Prepare well.

All the best

Also See  UPSC Exam Dates 2018