Dear aspirant officers, let me share with you a famous fable. It goes like this. There were two friends Mohit and Rohit. They were asked to clear equal areas of a jungle and both were given the time of 5 days. Mohit started on day one but Rohit was absent. Mohit was there on the day two also but Rohit was still absent. Rohit came to cutting the logs on the third day and on the third, fourth and the fifth day both Mohit and Rohit cut the trees. At the end of the fifth day, to the surprise of everyone, it was seen that though Rohit started late but he cut more number of trees.
When the reason was enquired for this seemingly absurd situation it came to light that for the first two days, Rohit was busy in making the strategy. He conducted the survey of the entire area, came to know where the softwood was and where was the hardwood. He spent a considerable amount of time sharpening his tools and then on the third day he started. Hence the moral of the story is that though Rohit started late but because of a very perfect strategy and planning he ended up with a better result.
This is the significicance of a fool-proof strategy. Hence, with the lessons of this fable in mind, let us now device a good strategy for the preparation of the Personality Test.
When to Start:
The most important aspect about the strategy for preparing for the Personality Test is the timing of the start, that is, when to start.
After the Mains exams are over, there is a good amount of stress, physical as well as mental, that an Aspirant Officer feels. So, in my opinion, at least 10 to 15 days of complete break should be taken. After that you should seriously start with the preparation.
Many would argue that why to start so early. Let’s wait for the result of the mains examination and once it’s out we will still be left with sufficient time to do a good preparation. I would strongly differ with this line of thought. Firstly, the things are not that simple and easy. You can confirm it from anyone who has appeared in the Personality Test earlier. Dimensions are much diverse and intricate then the previous two stages.
Secondly, this is the final stage and your competition is now with the selected candidates who have been filtered not once but twice by the highest recruiting body of the nation: the UPSC. So you cannot take your competition and your competitors lightly. When the stakes are so high, when you are so near to your target and when the target itself is such a big thing; why to take a chance? Leave absolutely no stone unturned at this stage. You should never regret that had you started a few days earlier the things probably would have been different for you.
For a few initial days you can start with devoting only few hours. This can be started with daily reading of the newspapers, magazines and watching the news broadcast on the TV. This won’t be too taxing for you. Within a few days the gears need to be changed; and a more systematic and intensive preparation needs to be pursued.
Self Analysis:
Before you actually start with your preparation, I would very strongly recommend you to go for a self analysis; an analysis of your strengths and weakness. By this time, you have come a long way. You have gone through the prelims; you have taken the Mains exam; you have a fair amount of idea what this exam requires; where you are performing well and where you are having the shortcomings.
Prepare two lists: a list of the attributes to be tested in the Personality Test; and another list of your strengths and weaknesses in the context of the first list. Now your target is to strengthen your strengths further and remove your weakness. There can be two types of weaknesses. Firstly, those which you feel can be removed during the course of your preparation; and secondly those which you feel are virtually impossible or probably very difficult to remove during this short span of a few months.
For the former, in consultation with the right people, prepare a ‘Winning Over Weakness Plan’ or the ‘WOW Plan’. For the latter, you should strategize from the very start itself as to how to prevent them from being exhibiting during the course of the Personality Test, and ensure that you will never allow the Board to enter into that territory of the ‘irremovable weaknesses’.
Based upon this you should prepare a “preparation blueprint”. Every goal and sub-goal in this blueprint should be time-bound. In fact, I would suggest that you should have the entire blueprint in the day-wise format. That means, for every day you should have the pre-defined targets. Once this blueprint has been prepared, seek the blessings of GOD ALMIGHTY, your parents, teachers and elders and with a very positive state of mind, kickstart your preparation.
The Personality Test Buddy:
Dear friends, based on my decade-long experience in the domain of personality development, I can tell you one thing with full conviction: “The probability of achieving or understanding anything, reduced on a piece of paper, increases tremendously.” In this statement lies the genesis of what I term as your ‘Personality Test Buddy’, a small diary in which you will be jotting down your views regarding the current issues, some very good analyses that you might have read or heard somewhere, any doubt, a good phrase or a term, any thought that traverse though your mind and any other thing you feel worthwhile. Why I have termed it as a ‘buddy’ because like a true friend, it will remain with your throughout your preparation, would be helping you out at every stage and would drastically augment your efficiency.
The WAR Approach:
Don’t just read but absorb;
Don’t just understand but reflect;
Don’t just see but watch!
Now here I will spend some time with you because I have a very strong conviction about the efficacy of this approach. Let’s understand what this “War Approach” means and why I have named it so.
Very often it is seen that some sort of a casual and complacent attitude sets in the candidates while they are preparing for the Personality Test.
They feel that there is no longer any need to study in the intensive and careful manner as they used to do for the prelims and the mains exam. They just read the material, just go through the newspapers, just go through the magazines. They just read; they don’t absorb. What is the difference between the two? When one is just reading, one reads without any conscious effort of retaining the things in his/her mind which is actually very important. The result is that after few days or weeks the things and the points start vaporizing from the mind.
Therefore you should make conscious effort of absorbing in your mind what you are reading. This will have a twofold benefit. Firstly, while substantiating any viewpoint during the Personality Test, you don’t feel the dearth of the points; and secondly you are mentioning the points in a proper and a structured manner based upon the priority of the points.
Now next I will discuss the understanding part of the WAR Approach. We have already discussed that you should not only read but absorb. Once you have done that, you will try to understand the ‘absorbed’ point or concept. But here I am suggesting that only the understanding of the concept is not sufficient. Yes you read it right! I am saying that only the understanding of the concept is not sufficient. Definitely not at this level. Definitely not for prospective bureaucrat like you.
You should not only understand but should also reflect. Let me explain the difference between the two. When you just understand something you simple try to understand the underlying dynamics of that particular concept or the point. But when you start the practice of reflecting on something, it is something beyond the understanding. Definitely it includes the understanding. First you understand something and then you reflect that weather that concept in its current form is right or wrong; what could be the possible improvements in that; how it could be better etc. reflecting means that based upon your understanding of the concept you are trying to analyze and better that concept.
The third component relates to the difference between seeing and watching. I will explain this thing in the context of the TV news. I have already mentioned that for the Personality Test the TV discussions are very important. Now very often it has been seen that when the candidates are seeing the news broadcasts they are very casual and are generally involved in something else as well; probably with the dinner or texting on the mobile or something like that. They are not totally focused on the news broadcast, they are just ‘seeing it’ and ‘not watching it’. the former signifies a casual approach while the latter means a focused approach.
Now the question is “Why watching and not seeing?” The answer lies in the fact that when you watch the broadcast, not only understand and absorb much more from the same discussion; you also tend to get certain other positive aspects like how the learned men should speak, how the body language should be, what kind of body gestures and body postures should one have. Surely you will find what is right and wrong related to the non-verbal part of the communication skills which, believe me, forms a very critical and important component of your assessment by the Board.
The significance of this ‘watching’ goes far beyond the information part. This approach of watching the things should be employed and practiced at the other times as well. Wherever you are going, with whoever you are spending time with, you should have a keen ‘watching approach’ so that nothing that is happening around you should be missed by you.
This approach also signifies that you are always conscious about the things taking place around you. Very often it has been seen that certain questions aiming to test this aspect of your personality can also be asked, for example, “How much was the distance that you travelled from your place of residence to the place of the interview?” or for that matter “What was the color of the shirt of the attendant who was attending you at the waiting hall?” etc. so friends try to inculcate this approach of always watching the things around you. This will help you tremendously, not only for the preparation of the Personality Test but in your life as well.
So dear Aspirant Officers, I have deliberately used this is acronym ‘WAR’ and the term ‘WAR Approach’ because it is also symbolic that now you have launched a full blown ‘war’ to be victorious in your quest of becoming a bureaucrat.
Time Management:
As the time is very limited and the course very large, you should effectively manage your time, you should always maintain a record of the ‘utilisation of the time’ for every day. At the end of the day you will have the full details of how much time have you utilized and how much got wasted. Take a vow that the wastage will be reduced the next day. Also be your own competitor as far the time management is concerned.
Squeezing the time out:
I fyou cannot, because of personal or professional reasons, spare the full time for the Personality Test preparation then what I’m going to discuss now is most relevant for you. In this case you won’t be having those big chunks of time slots wherein you can intensively prepare for the Personality Test. So dear Aspirant Officers, here your Endeavour should be to squeeze out small-small chunks of time from your daily hectic schedule.
You should always carry a hand bag containing some book, magazine or the newspapers along with your Personality Test Buddy (the interview dairy) coupled with a pen and pencil etc. whenever you get some time, read a chapter of the book, flip through the magazine or simply revise the points jotted down in the Personality Test Buddy. And during your ‘Time Analysis’ in the night, as discussed above, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the ‘extra’ amount of time coming your way without making any change in the daily schedule.
If you are a tech savvy person then you should always carry your laptop, tab or the smart phone, as the case may be, and while reading from that keep maintaining a record of the relevant points on your electronic Personality Test Buddy itself.
Stress Management:
Stress and anxiety are the very obvious byproducts of this examination. They are at the peak at this stage because now the stakes are very high. So we cannot and should not avoid them. Hence it is always advisable to prepare a fool-proof plan for avoiding and managing the stress. First, let’s try to understand that why at the very place do we feel the stress?
Stress can be of two types: external and internal. The genesis of the External Stress lies outside ‘you’. It is attributed to the external sources like the people (negative and pessimists; people and your ‘friends’ who feel jealous of you and intentionally try to derail your preparation; the losers etc.) and the circumstances (suddenly one meets with an accident, some family problem, financial problem etc.)
Now, as far as people are concerned, the stress emanating from them is easy to avoid. Simple stop meeting and talking with these negative guys till your preparation is on. But there can be some negative people whom you can’t avoid. So what to do for them? Even this is simple. Once you have figured out that a particular person is negative, the moment he/she starts going into that negative territory, stop listening him/her. When I say “stop listening”. It means to stop listening ‘mentally’. Don’t ask him/her to stop. Simple don’t take anything uttered by him/her seriously.
Regarding the circumstances, try looking the entire thing in an objective manner. Everything is definitely not lost. Try to make the optimum use of the time that your ill health allows you to devote. Just cribbing over the situation or blaming your luck is not going to help you anyway. So it’s better to use your available resources in the best possible manner. Also keep in mind that howsoever bad the situation might be, there an always be a worse situation. So simple thank GOD ALMIGHTY and move further. Gradually the things will start coming back to normal.
The genesis of the internal stress lies inside ‘you’. It is attributed to ‘you’ and only ‘you’. The biggest causative factor of this stress is the fear: The fear of failing. The thought “What would happen if I fail?” is perhaps the most common and the most devastating thought amongst the Aspirant Candidates. See friends, the mind can entertain only one though at one time. So, for all those moments when you are entertaining this thought you are ensuring that you can’t entertain the other thought i.e. you can’t do your preparation. That means you are ensuring yourself that you will fail. So even if otherwise you were moving on the right track and would finally have succeeded in the exam, this stupid thought would ensure the contrary results. So, never entertain the thought “What would happen if I fail?” always maintain in your mind that you are already a bureaucrat, an officer; and the process that you are currently going through is a mere formality. Remember, to become a bureaucrat tomorrow, behave like one today. You will definitely become one tomorrow.
Another reason for the internal stress is the response we make to a situation around us. There can be situations like you seeing an ocean of the students around you; candidates much better than you not clearing the exam etc. now understand friends, it is not the situation per se which has the capability of causing stress, but it is your response. That is why the same situation can destroy a person completely while the other person comes out of it virtually unscratched.
Let’s take the example of the first situation i.e. “an ocean of the students around”. Now, how does it matter that how many people are there in the competition? For you to achieve your dream, you just need one seat. That’s it. simple. And that, in no way, is the function of the number of candidates appearing.
Take the example of the second situation i.e. “candidates much better than you not clearing the exam”. Here again, it’s your response that matters. Though the candidate you are comparing yourself with may be better than you in the academics but that’s not everything. For example, he might not be a very health conscious person and must have fallen ill at the crucial time of the actual exam. You don’t know the exact circumstances of the others; you are just aware of one or two dimensions. So, there is no point comparing yourself with them.
Even if all this doesn’t convince you, let me make one more attempt with the analogy of cricket. Many times it happened that Sachin Tendulakar used to go out for a duck or a single-digit score. Now he was definitely “a batsman much better than the others in the line-up”. So does that mean that the guys coming to bat after him will not score? There are many examples where Sachin couldn’t score but the teammates did, and that too handsomely. I hope I have been able to drive home the point now.
In my opinion, it is the easiest to tackle the internal stress because only you are involved in it!
Ways of mitigating the stress”
- Reading good motivational and inspirational book and the similar stuff from the internet.
- Try to have a company of some positive and motivating people.
- Based upon your temperament and personality try to find out the things which de-stress you and incorporate them in your daily schedule.
- Positively affirm yourself: This is an effective psychological technique. It involves using positive affirmations to your own self like “I can”, “I will”, “I will achieve this target” etc.
- Take out some leisure time to de-stress yourself.
- Time for self: you should take some time out for your own self. Simply sit on the terrace, or in some crowd-free park or just stroll down a peaceful lane. And keep talking with yourself, but not related to the exam. Believe me friends, it is such a great stress buster.
- Meditation: Take some time for meditation and spirituality. Both of them have nothing to do with the religion; though I am not suggesting that being religious is wrong.
Self Talk:
In this technique you will talk with your own self in the front of a mirror. The technique basically starts with you framing a question in your mind and then asking the same to yourself. This should happen in real time. You should not have prepared the answer beforehand. Now once a question has been posed to you, start answering the question and behave as if you are answering to the board. During this answering, try to closely monitor various aspects like the facial expressions. The kind of words you are using. Your accent, your fluency, any sign of nervousness on your face etc. if you have a web cam or nay other recording facility at your place then the same process can be video recorded as well.
This is an easy, multidimensional and effective way of preparation. It is easy because you are not dependent on anybody; neither a teacher nor a friend is required for this technique. It is multidimensional because it helps you checking and correcting a number of parameters, as mentioned above, simultaneously. It is effective because you are judging you’re answering from all the perspectives simultaneously which is exactly what is going to happen during the Personality Test. Hence you can nail down your deficiencies effectively.
Visualization:
This is a very effective technique. It simple requires you to visualize in advance what you actually want. So in our context, every night before going to the bed, take out 5 to 10 minutes for this process. Close your eyes. Be calm. Concentrate only on yourself and nothing else. Now imagine that you are in the interview room sitting in front of the Board and confidently answering their questions. The important thing to be kept in mind here is that the more specific and more exact you are in your visualization, more effective it would be. Hence work on the finest details of your Personality Test during these visualization sessions. Go to the minutes details like color of your shirt, the buttons on it, even imaging what you are thinking in that ‘virtual’ interview etc. this will tremendously boost your confidence.
Verbal communication Skills:
Working over the verbal communication skills like vocabulary, language used and the choice of words, economy of words, pronunciation, fluency and acent, loudness and pace of the speech, intonation etc. is a very significant and critical requirement of the preparation.
Mock Interviews: see the “Mock Interview for UPSC interview”
Group Discussions:
Group discussions with friends will help you immensely. You should try to make a small and manageable group of like-minded people. Why I’m stressing on the small gourp because a large group can create chaos and can be difficult to handle. The emphasis should also be on the like mindedness. When I’m saying ‘like minded’, it does not mean that the people should have same ideas and views on a particular issue. It means that they should be like minded in the seriousness, regularity and sensitivity towards the exam. It also means that they should subscribe to the same values that a good prospective bureaucrat should have; they should limit their answers to the domain of legality and constitutionality, they should not be offensive, should not be any serious and so on.
Health:
Many times it happens that we focus so hard on the destination that we totally take our eyes off the road and the accompanying impediments and the dangers. In our context, the destination means 'clearing the exam', and the road means 'our entire process of preparation'.
Maintaining a good health, both physical as well as mental, is an utmost important part of the process of preparation. In our endeavor of preparing hard we often tend to ignore this important aspect. Why I am focusing so much on this particular aspect is because perhaps I'm the brand ambassador of this mistake! I suffered a lot because of my ill health. In my case it was bad physical health though mentally I was a strong person.
So friends make a conscious and sincere effort to maintain absolutely world class level of your health. Everyday go for a walk, try to do some physical work, do yoga and so on. Take particular care of what you are eating (both quantity and quality wise) and drinking. Also keep in contact with a doctor regularly. Try to resist from bad habits like smoking and drinking.
Next: Mock Interview for UPSC
Dear Reader, My name is Manisha Dubey Jha. I have been blogging for 3 years and through the Fast Read.in I have been giving important educational content as far as possible to the reader. Hope you like everyone, please share your classmate too. As a literature person, I am very passionate about reading and participating in my thoughts on paper. So what is better than adopting writing as a profession? With over three years of experience in the given area, I am making an online reputation for my clients. If any mistakes or wrong in the article, please suggest us @ [email protected]
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