Hi Utpal, You should know that WBCS is a difficult nut to crack and you should be thoroughly prepared for it, before appearing for the Prelims even. Civil Service Exams are conducted in 3 parts - Preliminary, Mains & Interview. You will need to identify your strengths and weaknesses with regard to your choice of subject and select those with which you are comfortable and fluent. Begin your WBCS preparations thinking that you have already cleared your Prelims. It puts you in a better situation mentally, as the pressure of the Civils can be huge! We recommend that you start your preparation at least 18 months before the Mains exam. Then about a year before the Main exams, start preparing for GS (both for Mains and Prelims), the General Essay paper and Prelims optional preparation and continue till 6 months before the Prelims. At 6 months before the Prelims, slow down your GS for Mains and General Essay paper and continue with the GS Prelims and Optional Prelims preparation. Write the Prelims and continue with your Mains preparation in full swing for GS, General Essay and Optional. Whatever might be the Prelims result, keep preparing this way till the Mains time. And the cycle continues.

Here are a few tips to help you prepare better:

Time Management & Strategy for WBCS (preliminary)

The first thing a candidate needs to bear in mind is that the examination is designed to evaluate certain qualities like a sharp memory and basic retention power. Considering the general nature of the examination the tactics must be to focus on greater rather than intensive coverage. One is expected to know history, science, polity, geography, economy and other such disciplines, all at the same time. When you are preparing, we advise you to read texts once and all important points (likely to be forgotten) recorded separately so that you need not study voluminous texts again. Start preparing for the exam at least a year in advance and start appear for the Prelims only when strong grip over the Mains' subject matter.

Answering Strategy

As the questions in the Preliminary examination are objective in nature and there is no negative marking in the exam, it is suggested not to leave any questions unanswered and intelligent guesswork may be used to answer questions when you don’t know the precise answer. Move on from question to question and attempt the difficult ones at the end.

Reference Books

The questions asked in the General Studies paper are of 10+2 level. Therefore emphasis has to be on conceptual clarity. If you want to have command over General Studies, then you have to prepare 7 major areas i.e. - History , Geography, Polity, Science, Economy, Current Affairs, General Knowledge. For all the above topics, best way to start is from basics i.e. NCERT Books of Class 6th to Class 12th.

While the UPSC is a different exam, the question paper pattern may help you in your preparation for studies. So here's a free sample test paper for IAS exam, for your convenience. Please take the test once you are thoroughly prepared because you can take the test only once. The results will be sent to your inbox. Good luck!

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