How to Prepare For IAS Interview Effectively

 

About IAS Interview 

 

These are some fundamental facts regarding the IAS interview:

 

• The interview round is the most challenging part of your whole journey. 

• The interview lasts for 30 minutes and is the eventual test of both your versatility in crisis management and quick thinking ability.

• Interview round carries 275 marks out of 2025 marks. 

• You should not mistake the interview as a test of knowledge. Instead, an interview is a test of your personality in which the panel who will be interviewing you wish to know whether you have all the necessary administrative skills of a good civil servant. 

• Even though the combined marks of the mains and interview are taken into consideration to make the final decision, the marks you’ve scored for IAS mains has no impact on your interview. 

• The interview round is decisive since a high score can greatly improve your value by great marks in contrast to a fellow candidate. Mostly, the high-scorers for the interview stage would top the UPSC final selection list as well. 

 

Carry Out a Self-Personality Assessment

 

The interview stage is not a knowledge test, but rather a personality test. Therefore to present yourself as a well-rounded, alert and confident person, you need to access your personality first, in terms of your weaknesses and strengths. 

For instance, find out whether you have any signs of nervousness such as raised pitch, swaying, leaning forward, speedy talk, slouching and more. 

 

Work on Improving Your Self-confidence 

Speak to manifest that you are confident enough about the decisions that you’ve made in your life, your opinions and your ideas. This in turn will substantiate that you truly trust your decision-making abilities and believe in your life path. But make sure that you don’t go overboard with confidence; otherwise you may end up sounding conceited. 

 

Attend Mock Interviews

It’s always a great idea to seek the help of interview experts when it comes to IAS interview preparation. Attending mock IAS interview is an effective way to meet wonderful mentors and fellow candidates who will give you beneficial insights to improve yourself. 

In fact, attending a mock interview is an indispensable requirement. You have to attend a number of such interviews. Take as many as possible, until you feel confident enough to face the interview panel. The prime purpose of such interviews is to reduce the anxiety of facing the board and not to brush up your knowledge. Taking mock interviews are very much essential for candidates, especially for those who don’t have any previous experience in attending an IAS interview before. 

 

Be Confident With Your DAF

As part of evaluating your personality, the interviewers will be curious to know you on a personal level as well. This is the major reason why they will be handed with a copy of your biodata, better known as a Detailed Application Form(DAF). 

You need to make sure that you’re aware of each and every thing you’ve mentioned in your bio-data. You need to thoroughly prepare to give right answer all questions that they ask, arising out of your DAF. 

To prevent clumsy answers, read and practise possible IAS interview questions related to your education, work experience etc. 

 

Give Attention to Your Hobbies 

Most likely, the panel will start off the interview by asking you about your hobbies, to keep things light. Therefore choose one hobby which intrigue you and then practice it until the day before the interview. Since they want to assess your personality, make it interesting. 

 

Improve Your Communication Skills 

None of us has perfect communication skills- but you can still work on it. To score high on your interview, you need to be a good communicator, even though not great. 

To improve your communication skills, you can 

• Regularly watch news discussions and debates on news channels

• Begin mock IAS discussions with fellow aspirants or with friends. 

• Evaluate yourself after the process and make necessary changes

 

Work on a Positive Body Language 

Besides communication skills, you also need to work on your non-verbal skills to benefit what you speak. Steer clear of inflated facial expressions, bodily movements and gesticulations. Regularly practice speaking standing in front of a mirror to develop and maintain a positive body language. 

 

Regularly Read Newspaper 

Reading the newspaper regularly is vital for all the three stages of the IAS exam. The UPSC puts a lot of emphasis not just on current affairs, but also the contemporary socio-political scenario, and general knowledge on the three stages of IAS examination. Comprehension of current events is highly essential. You need to make sure that you read the newspapers regularly until you attend the interview. 

The prime reason behind this is to help candidates instil a habit of being aware of all the latest happenings around them- in the political, economic or social spheres. So candidates should focus more on current affairs more than ever since the panel consists of members who are subject experts from various fields and for them, the common denominator will always be in current affairs which affect their respective subjects. 

 

Read Your Graduation Books 

Your graduation is the area where you specialise in. The UPSC expects you to be adept in that area. Properly read all your graduation books since there’s more chance of questions being asked from that area.

Don’t forget to read your optional subject as well. The chances of questions being asked from the optional of your choice are very high. So prior to your interview, you should also brush it up as well. 

 

Study Your Native District Well

Since the panel wants to gauge your administrative capabilities, they might ask questions regarding your state and district, the problem faced by the district and the solutions to it. So you need to be thoroughly prepared to answer such questions. 

 

Watch Previous year’s Interviews Attended by Toppers

You can watch topper’s interviews online. They will also offer you great inputs regarding interview first-hand from someone with great personal knowledge. 

 

Know About UPSC Members

 You need to have an idea of the IAS interview process and about the UPSC members who will be chairing the interviewing boards. Even though the boards are allocated in a random way on the interview day, having background knowledge of the UPSC members, the candidate will be pre-informed regarding their position, experience and areas of expertise. This will help you to communicate discreetly and confidently. 

 

You should bear in mind that the interview panel consists of members with extensive experience in which they’ve gone through and seen it all, and they can easily catch your bluff when a tricky question is asked, or when you make a half-hearted effort to answer a question in which you have no idea about. 

 

Therefore, be your own self and show your original thought process in everything you say during the personality test, let it be answering to those questions or greeting the interviewers, or sharing your thoughts about a topic. Get the best IAS Online Coaching through Vedhik IAS Academy.

https://vedhikiasacademy.org/2020/10/06/complete-guide-to-upsc-preparation/

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