Civil Services Examination Tests Aspirants on Current Affairs

Faraz Ahmad Qureshi, who successfully cracked Civil Services examination 2009, talks to jagranjosh.com about the importance of Current Affairs

Jagran Josh: How did you start your preparation once you decided to appear for the exam? More importantly how did you manage current affairs sections in G.S.?
F A Qureshi: At the initial stages I concentrated on the ‘stable’ part of GS such as Indian Constitution, Indian history, Indian physical geography, basic economics, fundamentals of science etc. Current affairs is a section that cannot be prepared in one go. So, I read two national daily news papers and I subscribed a civil service oriented monthly magazine.

Jagran Josh: How did knowledge of current affairs help you in Prelims, Mains and Interview? Do you think preparation for all three stages should be done simultaneously or stage wise separately? Is there an overlap in the preparation of all the three stages?
FA Qureshi: As I have mentioned earlier, majority of questions at all three stages of civil service exam have current orientation. Concentration and hard work is needed at all the stages but preparation must be ‘stage specific’. Preliminary test requires voracious reading. Mains (written) stage needs analysis and contemplation. For Personality Test, one must work on body language and nerve-handling.

Jagran Josh: How did you prepare for Essay paper? How do you think knowledge of current affairs can help student to perform better in this paper?
F A Qureshi: Essay paper is more about assimilative power than preparation. Essay writing involves traits that have been acquired as early as during school days. Incorporating recent examples in Essay may be an icing on the cake.

Jagran Josh: Even in optional papers irrespective of whether it is from Arts, Science or Commerce stream, knowledge of current affairs plays a significant role to get good marks. What is your opinion about this?
FA Qureshi: Usage of current affairs in answers is an evidence of the fact that the examinee not only has information but he/she also knows how to apply that knowledge. Such answers are expected to fetch more marks.