Hello,

UPSC Civil Service Exam consists of three stages-

• Preliminary
• Mains
• Interview

The first and the most important step towards preparation is to be well acquainted with UPSC Syllabus , so take a print out of it and  go through it, you can keep it near your study table, UPSC syllabus is humongous so you have to know even the minutest details of the syllabus, only if you do this you'll get to know what to read and what to skip.

Have an integrated approach while preparing for Preliminary and Mains, because  nowadays what's happening is even in prelims, UPSC frame questions based on Mains.

Reading newspaper on a daily basis is highly important,  you can start with  The Hindu, or Indian Express, for starters it may be time consuming but don't skip this step at all. Put a more emphasis on editorial part, it will not only broaden your perspective but help a lot in answer writing,and make sure whatever opinion you form it should be well balanced. You can also make notes of this,it'll be very useful in answer writing.

When it comes to reading books ,start with basics, for each subject, you can do with NCERTs for this. This will build your foundation strong,as you progress, move on to other relevant books as mentioned below;

For Prelims, refer the following books:

History ;

• NCERT Class XI and XII
• India's Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra
• For Indian Culture, refer art and culture by Nitin Singhania

Geography ;

• NCERT Class VI to XII
• GC Leong's Physical Geography
• World Atlas

Economics ;

• NCERT Class XI
• Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh

International Relations & Polity ;

• NCERT XII Political Science with current affairs
• Indian Polity by Laxmikanth

CSAT ;

• Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by RS Agarwal
• M Tyra's Quicker Maths

Coming to Mains Exam, you can refer the following books for four General Studies Paper;

GS I - For History , Class XI NCERT book with India's struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra,India after Independence by Bipan Chandra,History of Medieval India by Satish Chandra

For Geography refer World Geography and Geography of India by Majid Hussain, GC Leong's Physical and Human Geography with NCERT Class XI book.

For GS II - Polity and International Relations , refer Indian Polity by Laxmikanth,India's Foreign Policy by Rajiv Sikri

For GS III - For Economics refer Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh, read ARC report along with Economic Survey and Fiscal Budget.

For GS IV - For Ethics refer a book named Lexicon by Niraj Kumar, also you can go through study material of IGNOU.

Remember to keep resources minimal always, read one book many a times instead of many a book one time. Revision is the key here.

Start practicing answer writing in advance, even in a little way, writing mains is such a big task especially writing for 250 marks in three hours,you have to learn time-management and this will only come through practice, There are many sites which provide questions on daily basis you can avail that. Try to give a holistic viewpoint while answer writing by providing political,economical and social aspect. You can go through answer sheets of toppers easily available in UPSC preparation sites, in order to get an idea about how to present your answer and fetch more marks.

Practice previous year question paper which you can get from the site of UPSC,in addition mock papers, and test series which you can get it from any of the sites exclusively dedicated to UPSC, it's highly important to evaluate your performance while doing so.

Preparing for UPSC can become extremely tiresome experience but your dedication and single-minded focus will sail you through every challenge. Start your preparation in gradual manner, such as learning the syllabus by heart, reading The Hindu everyday, reading NCERTs for a strong foundation, go through previous year paper in order to know how well you're with the topics etc.. And then onwards move towards other important stuffs,

You are correct because with Corona all around, one cannot dare step out for whatsoever reason. What was once a comfort has now become a luxury. But you can prepare from home for UPSC with knowledge on the exam pattern and few books.

UPSC is a 3 stage   selection process involving Prelims, Mains and Interview which tests your personality test. Prelims has 2 Papers namely General Studies and CSAT.

General Studies has Current Events, History of India and Indian National Movement, Indian and World Geography, Indian Polity and Governance, Economic and Social Development, Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change and General Science.

CSAT has Comprehension, Interpersonal skills including communication skills, Logical Reasoning and Analytical ability, Decision making and problem solving, General Mental Ability, Basic numeracy and Data Interpretation.

If you are preparing at home, you need to keep yourself away from distractions and focus on the goal ahead. Gather as much as information as you can on each topic and keep yourself updated. Practise mock test papers.

Indian Polity for Civil Services bby M. Laxmikanth

Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania

Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Gog Cheng Leong

Oxford School Atlas by Oxford Publishers

Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh

Economic Survey by Ministry of Finance

India Year Book

A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir.

Hii,

First make strategy for your preparation and make sure you have enough time for competitive exams. You can use internet with a lot of stuffs available. Try to make a regular time table which also contains time for your exam preparations of your ba. As your paper is at your first priority.

Hope it is helpful to you.

Thanks and regards

Harsh Agarwal