Stress Management: The Civil Services aspirants usually go through considerable stress, apart from anxiety before the Exam. And it is understandable given the fact that only a handful of the candidates are declared successful by UPSC. And it holds true for every year!
What Adds To The Stress Making It Manifold?
Stress Management: It is none other than the Civil Services Exam. However, the point to be noted is that stress for the Exam is manifold. For most of the Exams, the candidates are simply required to study, get the queries solved and revise frequently.
But, it is quite a different story when it comes to the CSE. Apart from studying and revising, there is a lot more that is to be looked into! And that’s what that makes the stress manifold!
Now, the major reasons that make the Civil Services aspirants un-nerved are briefly described below:
1.The syllabus that UPSC prescribes for the CSE
Once you begin to study for the Civil Services Exam as per the syllabus, you are not very likely to complete the same within a brief span of time. The syllabus seems to run forever!
2.The competition is almost overwhelming!
If you study the statistics, comparing the huge number of the applicants applying for the CSE every year with the figure that is declared successful, you would be far from receiving a heartening impression.
3. The fear of being projected as a failure on the social front:
A huge number of the Civil Services aspirants leave home to visit Delhi only for the sake of preparing well for the CSE. Needless to say, the move is also accompanied by lots of stress at various platforms.
Apart from the Stress Management to clear the Exam, there are various other factors that make the candidates almost crack under the pressure at times. Some of these might include:
(a) A safe and secure accommodation:
First of all, the Civil Services aspirants need to look for a safe and secure roof over their heads. Finding a suitable accommodation in the capital where they might or might not be having reliable acquaintances does pose its own share of psychological stress.
(b) Need for the guidance to prepare competently for the CSE:
Opting for the best IAS Coaching in Delhi issimply indispensable if you aim at preparing successfully for the Exam. Once the aspirants find a suitable accommodation, they begin to look for a coaching institution so that they are guided well.
Most of the competent IAS Coaching Institutions in Delhi claim themselves to be the best. Thus, it puts the candidates ill at ease making it harder for them to make the right choice for the best IAS coaching institution.
(c) Expenses are raised considerably:
Various economic issues are also to be surmounted for leaving home requires the candidates to spend for almost anything and everything that might had been available to them easily, had they stayed at home.
(d) Almost a non-existing support system:
And, what is worst, the candidates moving away from home to the national capital, all of a sudden, find themselves existing on their own without the support system that is usually provided at home by the near and dear ones.
Apart from what has been specified above, there might be several other reasons adding to the stress faced by the Civil Services aspirants depending upon the individual circumstances for every candidate.
How can you manage the stress effectively to make your preparation for the CSE a great success?
Well, all sensible souls on the Earth would agree that stress and anxiety, apart from playing havoc with the health at various platforms, also ruin the chances to realize the goal you might have been aiming at. And the same applies to clearing the Civil Services Exam.
However, it is heartening to know that one may overcome stress successfully rather than allowing the stress to overcome him.
Here are some of the ways to manage the stress effectively to make your preparation for the CSE a great success:
1. Go for quality rather than quantity:
Preferring quality over quantity will help you sail through your preparation for the Civil Services Exam without much of the stress. Besides, it will help you get selective and save your time.
You might be too fond of reading to let any opportunity slip out of your hand to read whatever interests you. But the tendency (though curiosity is appreciable and helps accelerate the pace of learning) would cost you the precious time. And as a result, you might not be left with time sufficient enough to complete preparing the entire ocean of the syllabus prescribed by the Union Public Service Commission for the Civil Services Exam.
Thus, diversions from the syllabus for the sake of satisfying your appetite for reading would only help you get stressed further. It is best to adhere to the syllabus. And read selectively as per the same preferring quality over quantity. It will help you complete the entire syllabus well within time.
And it is logical that once you complete the entire syllabus competently, you are more at ease while managing time to revise well. And the truth is that if you prepare strictly as per the requirements of the syllabus, you would be better able to manage your time.
As a result, you would be able to revise regularly, take down notes and get your queries solved as required. Thus, when your preparation for the Exam moves ahead competently, you automatically feel more confident and can proceed further in a relaxed frame of mind keeping the stress at bay!
2. Crystal clear concepts help prepare for the Exam in a stress free manner:
Great comprehensive power is what you must be equipped with if you aim at preparing for the Civil Services Exam in a flawlessly competent manner. And you may do so only when you gain a crystal clear knowledge of all the basic concepts.
You might be having your own ideas for making the concepts clear. But it is advisable to read the NCERT books. It helps gain crystal clarity for the basic concepts.
Once, all your basic concepts are clear, you may prepare for the Exam with a relaxed mind for you would be able to comprehend well. And apart from your power to comprehend, your ability to retain the information thus gained for longer spans of time would also be enhanced considerably. And these great qualities are great stress busters, most would agree!
3. Keep all the negative influences at bay:
It is advisable to focus absolutely on the goal that you aim at achieving. There is absolutely no point to allow any kind of the negative influence to waste your time, energy or in brief, render your efforts for the preparation for the CSE useless.
Thus, it would be great if you keep all the negative thoughts and every kind of negative influence at bay. Doing so is going to help you keep the stress at bay!
4. Get enrolled at a competent IAS coaching institution:
Doing so automatically takes a lot of stress off your mind. Various requirements for the preparation of the Civil Services Exam are automatically taken care of once you get yourself enrolled at a competent IAS coaching institution in Delhi.
Apart from receiving the right kind of guidance in order to prepare competently for the IAS Exam, you would be provided with:
(i) Competently designed study material
(ii) Test Series
(iii) Mock Tests
(iv) Mock Interview Sessions
(v) Query Solving Sessions
(vi) Mentorship, etc.
apart from the regular classroom coaching sessions.
Thus, you would easily discover it for yourself that an IAS coaching institution relieves your mind of stress at various platforms. Otherwise, you would be catering to all these requirements in order to prepare well for the CSE on your own. Not only would that make the entire preparation a highly stressful exercise, but you are also likely to make a number of mistakes that are best avoided during the preparation.
And, what is it that actually makes the mind stressed during the IAS Exam preparation. The aspirants find the complexities encountered during the process not only cumbersome, but most of the times, even intimidating. And joining an IAS coaching institution takes care of all the complexities, simplifying the same in return. Needless to say, it helps to keep a lot of stress at bay.
5. Take care of your health:
A healthy mind always resides in a healthy body. And your mind should be absolutely healthy, happy and relaxed if you aim at preparing well for the CSE while keeping all the stress at bay. Apart from staying fit and fine and keeping all the physical ailments at bay, it would be well if you keep your mind relaxed.
But, it should not be forgotten that if you look after your health properly, not only will you feel more energetic, but you will also be happier both psychologically and emotionally.
An individual with a weak immunity not only falls ill frequently, but also feels irritated most of the time. And, of course, would not be able to focus well on the preparation and it is none other than the Civil Services Exam that you aim at cracking.
So, take care of your health to keep the stress at bay! And that does not imply that you have to become conscious of your health all the time. You simply have to opt for a disciplined schedule. Wake up early. And go to sleep on time. Take your meals on time. Exercise. And keep all the negative thoughts at bay.
Doing so will be a great feel good factor. And would allow you to keep the stress at bay! Needless to say, it is going to leave a highly positive impact on your preparation for the CSE as you would be preparing in a stress free manner.
How to stay stress free while facing the CSE itself?
Stress Management: Besides, only a stress free preparation is not sufficient. You have to keep yourself free of all stress while you are actually facing the Civil Services Exam itself. And that is highly important. You have been preparing and devising the means to prepare in a stress free manner only to face the CSE successfully.
How to keep yourself stress free Simply a Day Before the CSE?
Stress Management : All the candidates opt for several types of approaches when it is simply a day before the Exam. You may either study the entire day. Or study for a few hours and relax. Or simply do not study and just relax.
The point to be noted is that you should opt for the approach that allows you to feel confident and stay relaxed at the same time. There is no point burning the midnight oil a night before the Exam. It is what and how you have been preparing all the while for the past one or two years that is going to count and not what you have been studying in the last 24 hours!
How to keep yourself stress free During the Civil Services Exam?
Attempt all the questions you are sure of. However, do not allow the stress to overcome your mind. It serves no purpose to get unnerved or panic in the examination hall.
A few more points to be pondered!
Stress Management: However, it should not be forgotten that you have been preparing for the Civil Services Exam for you aim at being a Civil Servant. Many of the aspirants are ambitious enough to aim at joining the Indian Administrative Services.
It is no secret that IAS is the most coveted of all the Civil Services. And the Union Public Service Commission allows only the highest rank holders in the CSE result to join IAS.
And aiming at joining the IAS would definitely require you to be able to take care of all the stressful situations. It simply is not possible to administer the society successfully otherwise. Thus, it would be good if you begin to cultivate the ability to take care of all the stressful conditions.
And why not begin with applying the de-stressing ideologies, mechanisms and strategies right from the time you begin to prepare for, nay even think of clearing the CSE at the very first time itself?
A Word of Caution
Stress Management : As per the human psyche, the people who take a stand harder towards themselves rather than to the world around are more stressed than their fellow human beings on the planet Earth. All are liable to make mistakes. And so are you!
So, do not be too hard upon yourself. Learn to forgive yourself if you think that you have not been able to prepare for the CSE in the manner you had expected yourself to. Rather than being annoyed with yourself and feeling stressed, take a little break. Calm down. And think over how you can prepare better.
The exercise stated above, when undertaken honestly would give you a deep insight into your shortcomings. And the self assessment goes a long way when it comes to prepare successfully for any Exam. And the same applies to the Civil Services Exam as well.
Stress Management: Conclusion
Stress Management : The point to be noted is that undertaking an activity successfully without being stressed indicates that the individual possesses a mind that is alert and aware even during the circumstances where most panic! And such a mind is what makes a capable Civil Servant specifically an administrator.
And it is a great quality inherent in the personality of most of the Civil Servants, to top it all, the administrators. And that explains why does the Union Public Services Commission allows only the highest of the rankers when CSE result is declared to join the IAS.
Moreover, the final stage of the Civil Services Exam, the Interview aims at making an assessment, nay a holistic assessment, of your entire personality, only to find if you can keep yourself stress free and take practical decisions in an impartial manner for the sake of all concerned. And that explains the tricky questions asked by the UPSC Interview Board during the Interview for it aims at finding how would you behave and act or react in a tricky situation. No wonder, the UPSC Interview is also referred to as the Personality Test.
So, keep yourself stress free and see the difference it makes to your preparation for the Civil Services Exam and performance during the same.
