Read newspapers & stay informed, former UPSC chairman tells civil service aspirants

Former Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) chairman DP Agrawal on Sunday urged civil service aspirants to pay attention to their physical and mental well-being while they rigorously prepare for the written exams and personality tests (interviews).

"Balancing study with activities that promote physical and mental health is essential to manage the pressure of UPSC exams.” His comments come amid reports of students ignoring their health and face intense mental pressure as exams approach.

Agrawal, a former faculty member at IIT-Delhi and a former director of AB Vajpayee Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management, Gwalior, interacted with civil services aspirants at the invitation of Grace IAS Centre, and urged them not to get overwhelmed by such pressures.

READ NEWSPAPERS, STAY INFORMED

The former UPSC chairman said while exam-specific study was crucial, a well-rounded understanding of events around us was equally important. "Understanding diverse topics, reading newspapers regularly, and staying informed about international and domestic events sharpen analytical and logical thinking skills—qualities essential for clearing all stages of the UPSC exam.”

Agrawal said he started reading newspapers when he was six year old and, at 75 now, he still scrupulously reads newspapers every morning. This helped him stay updated as he never had to put in any extra effort for preparations as knowledge gathered from newspaper reading kept him in good stead. This helped him get through with flying colours in all interviews he faced in his entire career.

With only 1,000 out of six lakh candidates succeeding each year, he highlighted the need for candidates to have their own individual style for preparation strategies. "Each aspirant needs to tailor his or her own approach to enhance their abilities rather than blindly follow popular methods.”

Candidates aspiring to join the premier civil services can write the exams and face interviews in the language of their choice as the UPSC has assigned equal weightage to all languages. "All languages are given equal weightage, but it's vital for candidates to express themselves clearly in their chosen medium."

Success in the UPSC exams comes from presenting well-reasoned answers on the back of a systematic and focused study in the run up to the exams, he said.

Agrawal encouraged aspirants to write answers that are logical, well-argued, and tailored to the question, avoiding unnecessary attempts to impress. This principle, he said, applied equally to interviews.