In this blog post, Ms. Ojasvita Srivastava, a Senior Manager – Legal at Reliance Communications, New Delhi and a Mentor at Project Abhimanyu provides tips on how to effectively prepare for as well as ace the Civil Service Examination. Project Abhimanyu acts as an external placement cell that guides a student about the available career options and job opportunities as well as helps them apply for internships and jobs.
Query: I am planning to write the civil services examination but I don’t know where to begin. Please guide me.
Answer:
The syllabus for the civil services examination is vast and quite daunting at first glance. However, a planned approach is the key to success for such examinations.
I would suggest you start by getting last ten years question papers of Law mains and note down important questions on each topic in every subject. This will give you an idea of what the pattern of the question paper is and what are more likely topics. So you can have better focus while preparing. Besides some topics are repeated every year. Its best to know what you have to be thorough with. Then you can pick up one standard book for each topic mentioned below and practice writing standard answers with latest case laws. It’s important to practice answer writing. You have to practice writing non- stop for 6-7 hours per day in three-hour sessions. So once you have written standard answers, try solving sample question papers. But for now, you can start off with this.
Here is a list of standard books to refer for Law optional paper.
Books on Indian Penal Code
- K.D. GAUR
- Atchuthen Pillai
- Ratanlal Dhiraj Lal
Books on Law of Tort
- Atchuthen Pillai
- R.K. Bangia
- Winfield
- Ratanlal Dhiraj Lal
- Avatar Singh
Books on Constitutional Law
- V.N. Shukla
- S.K. Kapoor
- J.N. Pandey
- M.P. JAIN
Books on Law of Contract
- Avatar Singh
Books on Merchantile Law
- R.K. Bangia
- Avatar Singh
- Pollack and Mulla
Books on Jurisprudence
- P.K. Tripathi
- Dias
Books on International Law
- KAPOOR
- Malcom N Shaw
- S. K. Verma
For GS start with the NCERT text books on History, Geography and political science and make notes topic wise. Then move to Economic Survey and India Yearbook. Economic Survey and India yearbook will get updated every year so you could even do them later. You need to have the latest information in those. Also again for GS, get the last 10 years question papers and make notes so you know what the pattern of the exam is.
Newspaper: Read Hindu and Indian Express daily and make topic wise notes. For example, important people, awards, trophies, sports events, scientific discoveries/ inventions, new policies/ schemes, any major events etc.
You may begin with this, and make sure your preparation is consistent and steady. I wish you luck!
Very good article. But is it specifically for law students or applies even to aspirants from other streams?
Dear Isaac,
This article was written in reply to a law student who sought advice from Project Abhimanyu on how to prepare for the civil services examination. However, the same approach should be followed while preparing for any other subject as well. Feel free to write to [email protected] should you have any further doubt. Good luck!
Ojasvita
Thank you so much Ojastvita for your clarification.
Regards
Isaac