When it comes to preparation for the civil services exam, aspirants are always up-heel giving in their best shot to learning and understanding the syllabus and its in-depth explanations. One must be familiar with the pattern and style of questions and accordingly learn the tricks that will help eliminate chances of negative marking. To achieve this, mock tests are the key! With UPSC Prelims Exam coming up, it is crucial to understand why one must take these prelims mock tests, in the first place.

Understanding the pattern: Civil Services Exam, being the most competitive one, comes with a round of speculations regarding the examination pattern and difficulty level of the questions among other things. And being the most unpredictable exam, students must solve as many test series as possible to cover almost every probable question. The entire syllabus needs to be covered in a judicious, effective and time bound manner.

Boost up confidence level: Solving a good number of mock tests help students not only to cover the entire syllabus and important topics efficiently, but also boost up the confidence level to go for the final quest as the test series are always designed in strict regard to that of UPSC civil services exam.

Assessing oneself: Test series needs to be designed comprehensively each year, in close association with successful candidates, toppers, and retired bureaucrats. This makes sure that no important point goes missing and a student gets to answer almost all the relevant questions, which could be covered in the examination. Students need a fair chance to assess themselves on basis of their academic preparation and mental readiness, as this is not just the exam of knowledge, but of mental ability and overall personality. Mock Tests are the only best sources to asses oneself on the most relevant questions and topics, which hold high probability of being asked in the actual Civil Services Prelims Exam.

Practising to perfection: If you look at the trends for the past 10 years, competition has increased way beyond expectations and is thus affecting the success rate even for serious candidates. Now when you don’t have an assurance of success, it is obvious that mastering the syllabus to the needful depths is the only way out. Practising this knowledge is of utmost importance to synchronise preparation with the expectations of the examiner. Candidates preparing for the civil services prelims exam must solve multiple tests to practice and get a strong hold in each subject and dimension covered in the civil services prelims exam. It is believed that more the encounter you have with a subject, better are the chances of remembering its elements and information.

Ultimate confidence booster: Trust and confidence on one’s dedication and efforts are certain elements that always compliment the preparation for exams like civil services. And what will increase confidence more than perfecting the preparation in the right way. Mock tests are an ultimate confidence booster and solving multiple tests will also help enhance concentration.

For students who are gearing up for UPSC Prelims, or CSE 2019, this is the perfect time to enrol for the prelims test series. Students who are preparing for CSE 2020/21 can also try their hands on attempting the test. It is never too late, to gain knowledge and perfect one’s preparation for any exam in life. And when it is something as grand as the civil services, one must not take the chances.

(AK Mishra is founder and director, Chanakya IAS Academy)