What is so great about the IAS exam?
If you need to ask this, probably you’ve not been socialized as to what a big deal in our
country a selection in this exam is.
UPSC Civil Services is the most coveted exam of the country. It is also one of the most
competitive exams in the world.
Is it really that difficult?
What makes it so difficult are a number of factors – the sheer length and breadth of the
syllabus, the dynamic nature of question-setting by the UPSC, and of course, the mammoth
competition Indian youth faces because of our, uhhh, let’s call it “demographic dividend”.
What complicates this already arduous nature of the exam is the web of over-complication
of the method and style of preparation, recommendations of too many big, bulky books,
and lack of a structured, routine-ized plan of study.
What does Sleepy Classes offer?
We at Sleepy Classes are trying to bring about a change in approach.
We provide you with video lectures of the entire syllabus of UPSC via our YouTube channel.
These video lectures are and shall be FREE!!
Through these videos we offer a very structured and step-by- step guide to UPSC
preparation.
Please elaborate on this
Each subject is broken down into concepts which are discussed in classroom-style detail.
For e.g. if you open the Economy playlist, you will have videos on GDP, Unemployment,
Inflation etc. These will help you understand these concepts and consequently help you
understand the newspaper better and more comprehensively.
We also recommend you sources from where you can read and buff up your knowledge.
This is very essential as no video lecture, coaching etc. is wholly sufficient.
Ours is a highly academic exam and therefore there is no success to be found without
putting in the effort of going through a good book or two.
What else?
You can follow this plan at any stage of your preparation.
We however do not claim that we are self-sufficient or we are the only source or that you
will crack CSE in your first attempt if you follow us.
We recommend that you watch our video lectures and back that understanding by reading
certain standard textbooks, sources and/or newspapers.
A word of caution
The nature and vastness of the syllabus and the exam demands that we develop a
generalist understanding about a lot of things (The exam is meant to select generalist
bureaucrats). So in order to do so we must read what is essential.
Reading books can be a means to an end or an end in itself. We ardently love books and so
for us it is an end in itself. It can/may be the same for you too.
However, success in UPSC requires that you read books from the textbook of the said exam.
You are not meant to or even expected to gain a Ph.D. in every aspect or even in one aspect
at the cost of others. That is possibly the biggest mistake that a lot of candidates end up
making.
So, we do recommend reading books but reading those judiciously.
For e.g. post-independence history of India is a component of the Mains exam. Now there
are two good books for the same,
India After Gandhi
India Since Independence
Each of this is a mammoth in itself, over 800 pages each. The said component in the past 5
years has accounted for fewer than marks.
So it does not really make much sense that you put in the weeks to read 800 pages for 20
marks (on average) in the exam.
So herein we make sure that you read only select components from the given source that
are relevant for the exam.
This, we believe, is very important.
We hear about this magazine and that magazine, that good book and that new report – and
eventually we end up spending disproportionate time on these things.
Herein comes our role as educators. We guide you on these little things. And these little
things are what in totality create the difference between a selection and just-missed- it-by- a-few.