How to ace TSPSC without coaching
Anytime someone mentions TSPSC exams, ‘coaching centres’ usually pops up somewhere in the conversation. Coaching centres, which are aplenty in the city, make money off a success formula. They guarantee that students who take coaching at their centres will clear the exams. But not every student can go for coaching, some can’t afford to and others choose not to. So, how do you go about preparing for the exams that give access to sought-after jobs in the State government? “Discipline, planning and self-motivation,” says Srinivas Rao, director, IBT Institute. In fact, he has observed a lot of aspirants, who cleared the TSPSC exams and made it to the interview round, managed to do so without any coaching. So, there is no reason why another aspirant can’t do the same.
Plan ahead
Figure out the syllabus and see which subjects are your forte. Graduates of history will find it easier to process information like important dates and events, while those with a public administration background will do well reading polity first. Focus on these subjects first and then the weaker ones.
Analysis
Take a look at the previous year’s examination papers and see how you fare in them. See the subject marks weightage. That will determine which topics you should focus on the most, and which the minimum.
Online channels
A lot of YouTube channels offer free lessons on English and other verbal reasoning topics. Utilise them for the English language portion of the exam.
Time management
Make sure to read different subjects every day. Reading only one subject in a day is going to be boring. Break it up to retain information better. You will also cover different topics across subjects this way.
Focused approach
Self-motivation is crucial when studying without coaching. Spend eight hours a day on preparation with breaks. A tired brain won’t help you. A common mistake many coaching centre aspirants make is not doing self-study beyond what they do at the centre.
Plan resources
Make a list of the books you will need for your preparation. The resources can be various books available on a particular subject, online videos and study material, question banks published by coaching centres which can be purchased.
Set targets
When doing self-study, it’s better to set a weekly target and try to achieve that. Coaching centres take daily classes with a set syllabus in order to cover all the relevant chapters properly. You need to follow a similar pattern. Stick to small and achieveable targets. You will feel happy when you calculate your success rate at the end of the day/week.
Quality over quantity
It’s important to understand that these exams are a test of your application of your knowledge. So take a standard book, and go through it more than once to get clarity on a concept instead of many books. Multiple revisions are ideal for retention of information.
— Kota Saumya
