IAS Success Secrets --A Lecture by Prof.S.Maitra at CII – Suresh Neotia Centre of Excellence for Leadership(December,2009)

Hard work:
Remember that there is no substitute to hard work. All successful candidates say the hard work is one of the first pre-requisites for the success. There is no short cut to success and hard work never goes unrewarded.
Planning and systematic study:
Proper planning right from the stage of selection of optional subjects and selection of text books is absolutely necessary. Though there is no one way of studying, there are ways to study more effectively and with less stress and more enjoyment. It is important to know how to make use of the sources available to you in the best possible way. It is wise to take a three pronged approach to preparation, reading to learn, making effective notes and able to write answers to various kinds of questions.
Time management:
Effective time management is another requirement. If we spend our time in a frenzy of activity, we can achieve very little because we are not concentrating on the right things. We keep hearing the word "Busy" a lot. There are two kinds of ‘busy’(ness): chaotic, disorganized busy and calm, effective busy. It goes without saying that being the latter helps to pack in more productivity in your work. Improving our "effectiveness quotient" calls for mastery of basic time management skills.
Self-confidence:
Your self-confidence can make the difference. Your self-confidence should be at an all time high - always. You should be in the company of people, who can increase your motivational levels high and can inspire you. Form a group of close friends, who are as determined as you are to make it to the Civil Services Examination.
Dedication:
Be totally dedicated and focused in your studies. You have to sacrifice something like movies, parties, and entertainments etc at this stage of your life to achieve bigger things.
Patience:
As the CSE preparation spans a minimum of one year, right from the Preliminary stage to the interview state, it requires a lot of patience to maintain your tempo. One should not lose patience and the tempo throughout the preparation period till success.

Tips for answering questions at the Prelims:
( I am indebted to Mr. Parvez Dewan, IAS for giving me some of these tips.)
Don’t waste time:
Start answering the questions from the minute you get them. The time allotted is very limited, so waste no time on reading the entire question paper first. First answer all the question you are sure you know the answers to. Skip all the difficult questions in the first round: in this round if you find yourself stuck in a question for more than 10 seconds, just skip it.
However, keep making a small mark on the question paper to indicate that you have skipped that question in the first round. This will enable you to save time in the next rounds. If you answer a question in the second round, cancel this mark, so that in third round you know which questions still remain unanswered. Three rounds should be sufficient, bur you could break the process into a fourth round too.
Allocate time for each answer:
In GS Prelims, if are to answer 150 questions (120 questions for optional subject) in two hours, you have an average of 48 seconds (60 seconds for optional subject) for each questions. So on pro rata basis you should answer 25 questions every 20 minutes (30 questions every half an hour for optional subject). But be harsh with yourself in the first hour. Allocate 30-35 seconds for each question (40-45 seconds in case of optional subject).
Thus if in the first 20 minutes you haven’t answered 35-40 questions (25-27 questions in case of optional subject), you should tell yourself that you are not doing well. This is because in the first hour you will be answering the easiest questions and in the last half-hour you will need plenty of spare time for “logic and guesswork”. Even bright candidates sometimes find themselves slower than the pro-rata speed in the first half-hour. So unless you consciously try to be faster than that speed, you will run into trouble later.
Negative marking:
There will be penalty for wrong answers marked by a candidate in the objective type question papers. There will be four alternatives for the answer to every question. For each question for which a wrong answer has been given by the candidate, one-third (0.33) of the marks assigned to that question will be deducted as penalty. If a candidate gives more than one answer, it will be treated as a wrong even if one of the given answers happens to be correct and there will be same penalty. But if a question is left blank, i.e. no answer is given by the candidate, there will be no penalty for that question. Hence you need be very cautious in the second and third rounds when you are attempting those questions you are fairly, but not absolutely, certain about or those questions that you know absolutely nothing about.