[Newcomer’s Guide] Coaching classes & Postal Courses for Civil Service Exam
Every newcomer has this question
Should I join some coaching class / postal course or not?
so here are a few things that you should know.
(Basically this article is consolidation of scattered advices given throughout the IOforum +a few things I learned from my experience) the reason to write it, is because there is so much misinformation and myths regarding this topic.
Table of Contents
Advantages of Coaching Class 2
#1-Saves you from Trial & Error 2
#2- Mock Tests keep you working 2
#3- going through entire syllabus quickly 2
#4- Literature Optional & Coaching Classes 2
Disadvantages of Coaching Class 2
Avoid Mushroom classes 3
State Govt. / Trust-Caste organization run classes 3
How to get maximum benefit from the coaching class? 3
#1- Do Ask Questions 3
#2- Do Make Notes from Lectures 4
#3-Keep your Ego & jealousy @ home 4
If you did not join coaching classes Then What to do? 5
Caution while using Internet’s Information for preparation 5
Postal Courses 5
How do they create postal courses? 6
Mains & Postal Courses 6
You’ve to Draw the bigger picture. 7
Bigger Picture for Public Administration optional 7
UPSC's view on postal /coaching 7
Fake Advertisements by Coaching Classes/Postal Stuff 7
Me and the Coaching Classes 8
Conclusion 8
Advantages of Coaching Class
#1-Saves you from Trial & Error
· if you're a newcomer, then you don't have much idea on which books to read, what to skip, what general strategy to adopt? in this case, you can either learn it via trial and error (& risk failing the exam) , or join some class etc. which saves you from the 'trial-error'
· (but nowadays lots of internet article on strategies so above argument is not true 100%)
#2- Mock Tests keep you working
· Coaching classes (if) take weekly tests, then it keeps a pressure on you not to go lazy. like they took Test on Sunday you got only 10/20 while your friends got average 15/20, so you get alert & start working harder.
· you meet likeminded people, talking with them gives you some more info. on every topic.
#3- going through entire syllabus quickly
· Coaching class will cover the entire syllabus in a short span of 1 or two month from exam oriented point of view, and then all you've to do is keep revising & updating current affairs & reading further reference books.
· They'll simplify some hard to understand topics so saves your time.
· But again whatever they teach- they learned it after reading some book/article which you can read by yourself
#4- Literature Optional & Coaching Classes
· There are certain optional which have very limited UPSC oriented books/ information (for example literature optional) so if you try doing it on your own (which you can because books in the market for BA/MA) but problem- is that (IF you're a non-Arts graduate) you don't know how exactly to write answers,How to prepare from exam oriented point of view ? because the literature optional's books are written from B.A./ M.A' rot-learning point of view, but the UPSC's style is lil different from that.
· plus hardly any literature optional' previous papers are available in the market so you may need to talk with some coaching class man to get the old papers.
· Again it doesn’t mean that you can’t crack literature papers without coaching classes.
Disadvantages of Coaching Class
· Very expensive (for Delhi their fees are around 30,000+ for single subject + hostel etc= almost 50k upwards)
· Time consuming (traffic etc, if you're not in a nearby hostel)
· Their speed of teaching might not match with your speed of studying/learning/grasping.
· They're not God sent Angels, whatever they teach- they teach it from the books, so its not that you can't learn it if you don't go there.
· *Read the UPSC's view on Coaching classes/Postal Courses* @ the bottom of this article.
· five years back, there was limited info about how to prepare for this exam, even books were hard to find outside Delhi. So if you were in some famous coaching class it would have put you ahead of the crowd.
· But nowadays almost every semi-urban & non-Delhi city has got bookstores keeping books for this exam.
· There are plenty of sites & blogs & forums giving you inside info on how to prepare for this exam.
· so you can do it on your own.
Avoid Mushroom classes
- Nowadays in every town and city of India, coaching classes for IAS Exam are mushrooming.
- Even the retired professors of history, Even those who never cleared the State PSC’s prelim exams have become ‘self-acclaimed IAS exam Gurus’
- These people often give a lot of fake ads in the newspapers, (more on that given later in this article)
- They run multiple batches- for State PSC, Banks, UPSC etc etc and in all of them their teaching method is same but for State PSC batch they’ll take 3,000 Rs as fees and for UPSC batch Rs. 10,000- teaching the same thing & topic in the same method
- Don’t waste/money your time in such things.
- If you want to join then join something decent or don’t join at all.
State Govt. / Trust-Caste organization run classes
- Many State Govt. are running their own coaching classes- give hostel/library facility for students at very nominal costs (like Ahmedabad- SPIPA, same in Chennai) so do try to get information of such places – and if they exist in your state DO JOIN THEM.
- Same way many trusts, caste organizations are also running such things at very nominal costs- so again do check them out.
- These classes are better than the Mushroom classes because they’ve better library-hostel facility, plus sometimes they’ll invite selected IAS/IPS officers or some big professors for seminars – who can give you some really good guidance.
How to get maximum benefit from the coaching class?
If you joined / are going to join a class- then you must rip out max benefit from it,so keep following thing in mind.
#1- Do Ask Questions
· the most important thing- don't by shy to ask question, whenever you've doubt ask the coach.
· "if i ask question , i'll look stupid, what will other students think about me?" <--- get out of this mentality first.
· If you ask question, you'll look stupid for a second, but if you don't ask it then you'll remain stupid for the rest of your life.
· students coming in the class, all are @ different stages of their preparation, so they would have already gone through some topics, so if you see entire class noding their heads on whatever the coach is teaching- that doesn't mean you'll look stupid when you ask questions.
· besides you're paying the man to teach you & you're not there to 'impress' anyone.
· Some people have this mentality “if I ask question during the class then others will also know the answer so let me ask to sir after the class is over” – here problem is, if you did not understand something during the class, you might not be able to grap the other things the Coach keeps teaching till the end of the class.
· And at the end of the class when you goto ask him, you’ll find there are atleast 5 others also waiting to ask him other doubt- so he’s in hurry so he won’t explain your doubt in great detail and even if it does- you could have understood it a lot better when the topic was going in continuous flow during the lecture.
#2- Do Make Notes from Lectures
· Every coach worth his salt, has ability to simplify the difficult topics, he has a 'flow of teaching' so don't just keep staring @ him, do make some notes from what is he teaching?
· Suppose he taught in very lucid manner about monsoon mechanism & you understood it nicely but did not make any notes- then you pick up the economy books (or the material given by him) after 15 days, you'll get confused again- that's why make notes so you don't forget how he had explained it in simplified manner. And you must make it on your own hands and words- only then it’ll go in long term memory.
#3-Keep your Ego & jealousy @ home
- I’ve noticed this problem with the newcomers; they look @ every other candidate as their potential rival and blood-enemy. And that prevents them from interacting / learning / discussing any topic/problem with other candidates @ the coaching class.
- That mentality with not help you because, there is so much competition- its not like If you tell something to someone, he’ll grab the IAS seat that God had allotted in your destiny lol come on man, this isn’t your college/HSC board exam so grow up.
- When you go to classes, make friendship with likeminded serious candidates- it’ll help you a lot. Like he talks something about his subject, you talk about your subject- both of you end up learning new things.
- There was a group of students @ SPIPA with History optional- every time, during dinner/lunch or playing table tennis they’ll ask each other prelim questions on history, while making fun of each-other, thus learning new fact/data. 90% of them have cracked prelims in 2009.
- I had another friendly group from SPIPA with me during the Prelim exam 2009- so after the optional paper was over in the morning, we started discussing GS topics quickly with each other for the afternoon exam, and in 2 hours everyone quickly talked about the important topics he could remember+ we compared & rotated our notes with each other – result – there were plenty direct questions from what we had discussed -e.g from Tennis /history. We could have acted like kids- not sharing our toys but we did not and result -all of us have cleared the prelims.
- After wasting our years in previous failed trials, we all have learned it- In UPSC-nobody eats nobody’s seat, everyone will reach his destiny when his time comes.
- Same formula applies @ mock tests in the class, if someone gets more marks then you, then don’t hate him but try to learn what did he do which you did not do during preparation? Instead of making excuses on your own lame scoring.
If you did not join coaching classes Then What to do?
1. Stop thinking negatively that you’ll lag in the competition just because you’re not going to some fancy coaching class.
2. Try to gather as much info from internet & senior candidates- as you can regarding which books to read/ how to prepare (strategy stuff); then buy all those books and start preparing.
3. Like I said ago there is lot more information regarding this, is available on internet, than it was 5 years ago. But there are some pitfalls--- see following
Caution while using Internet’s Information for preparation
There are 5 types of sites regarding UPSC
1. The coaching classes' sites. (advertisement & brainwashing stuff)
2. Career Guidance sites (don't give you insider details, just broad info on everything IAS,IIM,IIT etc)
3. Blogs (both by genuine people and by plagiarizers)
4. Spammer sites (They've just copy paste jobs, consolidating old question papers & articles from other sites etc. )
5. The genuine sites and forums like this Indianofficer forum
in google search, older sites' articles will be on top of the search list.
- But these old articles were written some 5-10 years back, things have changed a lot- the 90s are over.
- so going by their strategy (i.e. Mishra-puri, Dutt Sundara,Subhash Kashayap, DD Basu etc books) that's like beating the dead horse, like watching the action movies of early 90s- the trend has changed & era has changed.
- ofcourse those reference books are good, but you've to keep the time constrain in mind, if you go doing Mishra Puri for economic then, it'll take almost 1.5 months just to complete that single book!
- Same way plenty of brainwashing articles written by coaching classes in different newspaper- they tend to make you believe like only History is the best optional for cracking this exam, etc etc but its not true (thanks to scaling system.)
- in short, Internet is also full of outdated misinformation. So take caution.
Postal Courses
· Frankly speaking there is no advantage of postal material. It’s a waste of time and money (even if you buy Xeroxed pirated copy)
· because UPSC won't ask question from it generally,
· and in mains if you write the answer from such ready-made material, they'll not give you good marks.
· some postal course are intentionally made easy so the newbie thinks "oh yeah I'm learning everything" but they won't ask such cheap stuff in the Exam.
· some postal courses give a way too much reference material from academic point of view, but here you need to prepare with exam oriented point of view.(you've time constrains otherwise on every History topic there will be a big Ph.D book if you want to read!)
· only advantage- they give you a consolidated material covering all topics so as you newbie you can go through entire syllabus for the first time quickly.
· otherwise, nothing beats the standard reference books.
How do they create postal courses?
· They’re not god sent angles.
· they're just people like you and me, who'll just read the reference books + some internet articles, look @ old papers and make a note out of it and put it in a bullets format
· like this
· and this
· so its not that you'll learn some miracle knowledge from such things which is not given in the books already. (same formula for coaching classes.)
· then they'll go in advertisement mode like those fairness creams -remove dark spots & get fairer by 2 tones in 7 days using our cream & same way finish syllabus in 1 month reading our material! (but dude finishing syllabus is in 1 month isnot important- you've to grasp the 'bigger picture')
Mains & Postal Courses
· Prelims is about what you know?
· Mains is about What you think & understand?
· And interview is about What you are?
· So For the mains exam have you understand the bigger picture.
· Now this isn't a university exam so if you go rotting answers from some readymade guides / postal material / coaching xerox= your answer won't look genuine,
· Second, when you go in exam hall only reading some readymade material, that doesn't mean the examiner (who's generally a senior professor) has read nothing beyond it. They've gone through many reference books, international journals, Ph.D thesis and so on.
· Just because you crammed down Vajiram's notes doesn't meant the examiner knows nothing beyond Vajiram's notes!
· From an aspiring civil servant, they expect to read some genuine answer- Not some copy paste job.
· This isn't university's exam where copypaste job from readymade-guidebooks will get you distinction marks. University exams are 'exam to pass the majority' while UPSC is 'exam to eliminate the majority'
You’ve to Draw the bigger picture.
· By "bigger picture" I'm mean the connections between topics, seeing the subject in totality like watching earth rotating from the spaceship.
· the readymade material may make you master in individual topics but won't show you the bigger picture. and if you don't see the bigger picture you can never write good answer.
· So what exactly is the bigger picture? its hard to explain in words but consider this,
· Brief History of Modern India (Spectrum) = this gives you fact based info. (same goes for Prelim special issues of Chronicle/Wizard)
· Freedom struggle- Bipin Chandra's book - this one gives you the 'bigger picture' on why exactly we needed freedom? what was the background thought/idea? What exactly is colonialism?Why & How the British were exploiting us?Why did they offer reforms in 1909/1919/1935?..... the deeper analytical part.
Bigger Picture for Public Administration optional
· Laxmikanth/ Any other material- fact based, isolated topics. They help you in prelims but
· Mohit Bhattacharya- shows the bigger picture by consolidating everything & giving analysis. That helps you tremendously in the mains.
· for prelims it doesn't affect much if you've not seen the bigger picture.
· but in mains, you'll end up writing pedestrian quality answers if you don't know the bigger picture = low marks=no success.
· REMEMBER- prelims marks don't get counted in final merit list but mains marks will.
· the only way to see the bigger picture is by reading the reference books, keeping an eye on newspaper editorials (and making your notes out of them)
and finally,
UPSC's view on postal /coaching
· UPSC makes sure that no questions are asked from such things.
· for example, in 2009's mains, the coaching classes were stressing on ISRO's lunar mission etc topics but nothing was asked. Same way the conventional 2 markers from Imp freedom fighters were also not asked. (coaching classes used to pay heavy attention on such topics.)
· In 2009’s prelim there were big coaching classes publishing their ‘special most imp current affairs & GK’ type of booklets, I’ve seen their Xeroxes in the hands of my friends. Basically it was very minute facts like when was Sangit-Natak Kala academy established, lists of awards for last 10 years blah..blah..blah.. none of that crap was asked in the prelims and people ended up wasting their time referring such ‘imp notes’ instead of revising the core stadanrd books & their own hand-made notes.
Fake Advertisements by Coaching Classes/Postal Stuff
· If you’re reading chronicle magazine, on every 2nd page you’ll see a big ad with lots of photos “100 candidates from Our Classes, were selected in last exam”
· But all is not true. I know specific cases here.
· Like Mr.A from Gujarat, he got selected in civil service few years back, and in local newspapers almost every coaching class in almost every city of Gujarat, frequently gives ads that he was their student. Now it’s a matter of common sense, he lives in A’bad so for coaching he’ll either go someplace in A’bad or to Delhi and not to every small-town in Gujarat!
· In some other cases, I’ve heard that after selection- some successful candidates are offered good money from the big coaching classes to ‘claim’ they were using it (just like SRK promoting ‘2 Rs. Navratna Oil sachet’ & Kareena Kapoor using 5 Rs. Boroplus cream!)
Me and the Coaching Classes
- Since I did not want to waste my precious money to join some fancy expensive class @ Delhi, I went to SPIPA (which is a Gujarat Govt. run institution for civil service Exam preparation) they give admission after taking a competitive exam just like UPSC’s prelims. Their fees- Rs. 1500 for entire year ;)
- Anyways – there they didn’t give any specific coaching (except Gujarati literature) –
- its just a study center with a library, sometimes the selected IAS officers or senior candidates are invited to take seminars and from that I learned the tricks of trade- how to prepare and go ahead.
- In 2009 I cleared prelims with Public Administration + GS = success is possible with out going to coaching classes. (because theoretically and practically I’ve not received even 10% coaching for either Public Administration or GS– I got only the tips on how to prepare.) And I’ve prepared it all from standard books, magazines (no postal courses / Xerox notes)
- SPIPA got a huge library, they’ve material from almost every coaching class/postal stuff made for this exam, so I’ve seen material of them all – Vaji,Brilliant,Ensemble,Rau,Manikanth,Sunil Gupta,Mohanti/Synergy,Bhawani-Singh/NIAS- you name it and I’ve seen it. But I’ve found none of their material better than the standard reference books/IGNOU/Newspapers.
- That’s why I’m telling you – don’t waste your money in postal courses/ or readymade coaching classes notes.
- SPIPA gives coaching for Guajarati literature which was very useful for me in mains, since I was a Pharmacist with not much understanding of literature.
Conclusion
1. A good Coaching saves your time by helping you concentrate on the exam oriented preparation
2. But at the same time, Success is possible without coaching, provided that you work hard and in the right direction.(which Is not impossible thanks to internet)
3. Postal courses don’t help in any case- it’s a waste of time and money.
I provide Study Material,Notes,Question papers,Guidance For UPSC's Civil Services Exam (IAS,IPS) preparation in India. Went to LM college of Pharmacy, Cracked prelims in 2009, Moderator of Indianofficer.com forum
