Civil services offer brilliant career opportunities for college graduates in India. Every year UPSC conducts Civil Services Exam (CSE) for recruitment of all-India cadre administrators and other central government departments. Besides, almost every state government conducts provincial civil services exam for recruiting officer-ranking administrators in state cadre. However, clearing any of these exams requires tremendous dedication, determination and strategic preparation. One of the essential components of effective civil services preparation is the test series.
This article discusses how you can choose the right test series and use them as part of your preparation.
What is a test series for UPSC?
A UPSC test series is a pre-scheduled set of mock tests structured and designed based on papers and subjects in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) Civil Services Examination (CSE). Any of the top civil services coaching institutes conduct test series programs. The purpose is to help candidates enhance the effectiveness of their preparation. Mock tests in such a series try to simulate the actual UPSC CSE exam environment.
What are the components of a UPSC Test Series?
An ideal test series for UPSC usually comprises the following components.
- Prelims mock tests – These tests focus on the objective question format of the UPSC Prelims examination. Papers in any prelims test series include General Studies Paper I and CSAT Paper II. The paper-I cover subjects, like history, Indian heritage, polity, geography, economy, environment, S&T and current affairs. CSAT includes questions on aptitude, reasoning, and comprehension skills. Prelims test series in some of the coaching institutes also offer subject-wise practice tests.
- Mains mock tests – These mock and practice tests mostly include descriptive type questions as per the format of UPSC Mains papers. They cover all the 9 papers, including language papers, compulsory GS papers and optional subjects. The purpose is to develop skills related to structuring answers, writing skills, time management, and critical thinking.
- Integrated tests – Some of the coaching institutes offer integrated test series to help candidates prepare for both the stages simultaneously.
What are the purposes of a UPSC test series?
The top coaching institutes conduct test series for UPSC aspirants for several reasons. They are:
- Syllabus coverage: Attending a test series helps candidates cover the vast UPSC syllabus in a structured manner. Such series conducts 30 to 40 tests in per-scheduled intervals. You can plan your study routine based on that schedule.
- Performance tracking: Your score in test series exams can be a fair indicator of your UPSC preparation level. So, you can identify the gaps and rectify your study plan to plug those gaps.
- Exam simulation: Mock tests in UPSC test series programs simulate UPSC exam pattern, difficulty level and exam environment. So, candidates get prior experience before attending the actual exam. They can learn how to apply time management techniques under actual exam pressure. This helps overcome performance anxiety.
- Feedback and evaluation: Any top coaching institute offers detailed feedback on your performance in mock and practice tests. This provides guidance and motivation for continuous improvement.
- Improving answering accuracy – Regular practice of attempting mock tests minimizes that chance of errors. This is especially useful for Prelims, where negative marking on wrong answers can impact your actual scores significantly.
- Practical understanding of the exam pattern – Anyone can learn about exam patterns in UPSC CSE from the UPSC website or the advertisement they publish every year in newspapers. However, a test series provides a practical perspective on exam patterns, which can be a lot more enlightening.
- Answer writing practice for Mains papers – If UPSC Prelims tests your knowledge, Mains tests critical understanding about a topic and the ability to express the understanding through written text. So, scoring in Mains papers requires a solid grasp over writing skills. Test series serves as practice tests for developing answer writing skills.
In short, a UPSC test series provides a route map for civil services preparation, and ensures candidates make a holistic improvement and write the actual exam with confidence.
Why is it important to choose the right test series?
As a UPSC aspirant, you might have come across too many test series questionnaires on the internet. Many of them are available free of cost. Some of them require payments. The more test series you attempt, the better the level of your preparation. However, that does not mean you should attempt any tests and questionnaires. This may lead to wasting time without deriving additional value.
How to choose the right test series?
Many institutes offering UPSC coaching in Kolkata conduct test series. Choosing one among them can be a little tricky. We have a checklist you can follow.
- Quality of faculty members
- The number of tests in a series
- Schedule of the tests
- Subjects and papers covered
- Feedback of previous year’s candidates
- Modes of the tests
Quality of faculty members in a coaching institute is a critical determinant of the effectiveness of their test series. Faculty members set questions for mock and practice tests, check answers, review answers, and provide feedback. Inexperienced faculty members may not be capable of conducting good quality test series.
The number of tests in a test series can vary with institutes and the cost of the program. However, most test series comprise 30 to 40 mock and practice tests, conducted over months.
Schedule of the tests Any top institute publishes a tentative schedule of exams in their UPSC test series. It shows their commitment to conducting the tests. You should not opt for a series with no tentative exam schedules.
Subjects and papers covered in test series must mirror the actual UPSC structure. For example, what different optional subjects are covered in the series? Does it include your preferred subjects?
Feedback of previous year candidates – This is an important criterion for choosing a test series. Consult with candidates who attempted the institute’s previous year test series. What was their experience?
Modes of the tests – Many of the top coaching institutes conduct test series in offline and online modes. Many candidates face difficulties in attending all the tests in offline mode. Online tests are easier to attend.
Bottom-line
Test series is an integral part of civil service preparation. Your preparation may remain incomplete without attempting these programs. Are you planning for UPSC coaching in Kolkata? Check https://aptiplus.in/. They are the oldest and one of the best institutes with dedicated test series programs for UPSC Mains and Prelims.