10 Qualities that Enable An Aspirant Become an IAS Officer

Cracking the UPSC Civil Services Exam is no joke. There are various factors that make clearing the Exam a Herculean task. However, what should be noted, rather focused at, is that there are always a few successful candidates that are allowed by UPSC to join IAS.

10 Specific Qualities that Transform an Aspirant into an IAS Officers

The successful candidates do have some qualities that set them apart from the rest of the competitors. Thus, if you cultivate these traits, you can join the list of the successful candidates as well.

1. Discipline

Discipline is an indispensable quality if you truly aim at clearing the IAS Exam. Discipline teaches an individual to follow a set daily routine, apart from various other factors. You would do well if you make a daily time-table and follow the same till you actually face the Exam. It will improve your time management skills.

And you should not forget that time is a resource that is forever running out. Besides, you simply cannot afford to waste your time even slightly for it’s not an easy task to prepare the entire syllabus prescribed by UPSC.

2. Curiosity

It would not be illogical to say that the job of an IAS officer and curiosity go hand in hand. An IAS officer is usually required to deal with the socio-economic and political scenarios of the specific areas. Unless and until, he is curious enough to know what goes around, he would not be able to do justice to his job.

Besides, what’s even more important for you to know right now is that the UPSC syllabus includes a variety of the subjects including History, Polity, Economics, Geography, etc. And only a curious mind can study such a variety of the subjects whole heartedly.

3. Perseverance

Perseverance is the quality to keep trying till you reach your goal. Your focus must not waver. Given the extremely vast syllabus and the complexities of the preparation, you would need to cultivate perseverance even more in order to clear the IAS Exam.

4. Patience

The IAS Exam includes three stages including the Prelims & Mains and the Interview spanning over the period of one year. Besides, you would need at least one year’s time to prepare for the Exam. That is to say, you need to study, prepare, revise and re-revise, at least for the time of two years, even if you clear the Exam in the first attempt. Thus, patience is required.

5. Focus

Maintaining the focus on your goal is one of the greatest virtues that all humans are endowed with. However, every individual, specifically an IAS, needs to maintain his focus absolutely! You must join IAS! That’s why; you have been putting in so much of the effort. So, do not allow your focus to waver. Stay focused on your goal till you join IAS.

6. Analytical Ability

An analytical mind is what makes for a good IAS officer. If you have an analytical bent of mind, it not only makes you alert and aware, but also better equipped to make proper decisions. And if you have been analyzing a particular set of circumstances, taking a fair stance, it only indicates that you do not carry any kind of bias. And that’s what UPSC looks for in an administrator.

7. Time Management

You have to read, re-read, revise, and re-revise, apart from accomplishing 1000 other tasks to prepare the almost never ending UPSC syllabus that lies at your writing table! And time is something that will run out, anyway! So, it’s best to sharpen your time management skills.

8. Communication Skills

Communication skills, both written and verbal, count to a considerable extent when it comes to compete. And who can deny that the IAS Exam is the fiercest of all the competitions. Thus, your communication skills need to be the best of all the competitors. It would help you write well during the Mains and answer well during the Interview. And if, your communication skills are not competent enough, it’s advisable to cultivate them.

9. Decision Making

Lack of the skill to make suitable decisions at the right time and in the right manner can paralyze your preparation for the IAS Exam. Even if you are enrolled at an IAS coaching institution, you might have to decide, at many a times, what to read and what not to in order to save your time.

Besides, as a future IAS officer, i.e., if UPSC selects you to join the Indian Administrative Services, you would be, very often, required to make the right decisions, justifiable to all, in a timely manner. Thus, the decision making skill is something that is highly desirable in a potential IAS officer.

10. Think out of the box

Thinking out of the box simply implies to think in an innovative and creative manner. It’s an important point to be noted that UPSC assesses you as a future IAS officer on the basis of what you write, and how you do so in the Civil Services Exam. You score and rank accordingly in the Civil Services Exam.

And it can’t be denied that what you think and how you think is reflected in what you write when you answer the question papers. Thus, if you think out of the box, in a logically convincing manner, the quality is definitely reflected in your answers in the Exam.

Though the qualities described above, are, of course, desirable in an IAS aspirant, you can always add to the list. Adhering to these qualities would be in your own interest, as not only you would be able to score higher, but also function as a highly capable IAS officer, if allowed to do so, when UPSC declares the CSE results.

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