The civil services examination are considered one of the toughest exams on the planet as the success ratio is less than even 0.01%. 

To crack such an exam, you need much more than just hard work, commitment, and luck.  

If you look at the interviews of the successful candidates, one common thing you would notice is the habits they followed during their preparation period.  

Let’s discuss these habits which will help every UPSC aspirant to be successful in both exams and life. 

1. Seek Clarity

You need to build a habit of seeking clarity at every stage of the exam preparation period. 

For example, when you are reading a newspaper, you need to be clear about:

• Why are you reading it?
• What parts should be avoided?
• How to use the information?

Asking these simple questions to yourself will help you to save a lot of time as well as change the course of your exam preparation. 

Follow this habit when you study Geography, NCERT, Current Affairs, or any other subject. It will make you believe in yourself that you can do it. 

2. Kill the Bias

Most of the UPSC aspirants are biased in all their view, which hampers their preparation. For example, most of the aspirants do something or follow some strategy because others are doing it. 

Instead of analyzing that a particular method or strategy will benefit them or not, people just blindly follow others. 

If someone is being biased, then their views will be irrational and emotional, which will appear in the answers. 

You need to develop a habit of not being biased. Whenever you are in doubt, do a little research and find out whether the view or idea is biased or not. 

3. Develop Writing Skills

Most of the aspirants don’t have a habit of writing a lot as the preliminary exams are of objective type. However, even if you clear the first stage, it will be tough to clear the main exam. 

A significant part of the main examination of Civil services is a subjective test. Hence, if you are a serious aspirant, then make sure to develop your writing skills along with preparing for other subjects. 

Writing in your words also helps you to create notes, which makes it easy for you to remember information. 

4. Have a Growth Mindset

A growth mindset means believing in yourself, the process as well as learning from the challenges and problems instead of assuming that a few people can only do specific work. 

You need to be open-minded and believe that you can learn anything with proper effort and hard work. 

Most of the students have a fixed mindset, which is very dangerous for someone who is preparing for any examination. They find fault in others and blames everyone else except themselves for their failures. 

Someone having a growth mindset will see criticism as a way to grow. On the other hand, the fixed mindset people can take it as a personal attack and might get offended.

To be successful in both exams and life, you need to have a positive mindset. 

5. Challenge your understanding 

Most of the people believe that their understanding is better than others, and they don’t need to challenge it. 

It may seem like a lot of effort, but once you start challenging yourself, you will understand it’s benefits. This one habit can reduce your exam preparation time significantly. 

For example, if you have studied History, then challenge your understanding by explaining a topic to a student of high school at his knowledge level. 

If you are unable to explain him for the first time, then read the book and try again. This will save you a lot of time and help you understand the topic from the exam point of view. 

6. Seek Adversity

You need to build a habit of seeking adversity, which will help you to face challenges strongly. In order to do this, you have to belive in your skills and learn how to handle unexpected situations.

While facing a change, avoid reactional behavior and be positive. For example, if you see an accident in front of you, don’t fear instead be calm and think what right decisions you can take to save lives. 

Whenever you get fear, replace it with being calm and cautions. Similarly, replace anger with empathy and rational thinking. These small practices can help you face and handle adversity well. 

Final Words

That ends the list of the habits which you can follow to build a strong mindset for UPSC exams. 

Although the UPSC exam is considered one of the toughest examination in the world, people have cracked it. 

All you need to do is believe in yourself, follow the habits of successful candidates and try to inculcate them into yourself. 

Have a proper mindset, follow the right strategies and give your best, then you can definitely crack the UPSC examination. 

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