You can crack BPSC exam in first attempt with good planning

By Sandip Sagar
Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) will conduct the 67th Civil Services Examination on May 8 next, for which around 6 lakh candidates have registered. Although this exam is considered tough to crack, with comprehensive planning it can be cracked in the very first attempt.
The BPSC civil services exam is conducted in three phases, and every phase has its own set of demands.The preliminary exam (prelims) is the first and most important phase, as it serves as a rejection round. Around six lakh applicants appear in the prelims round, of which merely five to six thousand qualify for the main examination (mains). So, this separates serious students from non-serious one. The role of prelims is increasing with ever increasing number of applicants in the BPSC civil services exam.
Format of Examination
The prelims paper consists of a total 150 questions of one mark each. All questions are compulsory and there is no negative marking. The duration of exam is two hours. There are five options in each question, with the fifth being very tricky and making the question tough to solve.
Scheme of Examination
An analysis of the previous years’ question papers shows there is no fixed scheme of examination, but history, science, Bihar special and current affairs contribute roughly 120 questions out of 150 questions.
In the 66th BPSC examination, questions were asked from the following sections: History (25), geography (10), Constitution and polity (6), economy (7), science (30), Bihar special (25), current affair (37) and mathematics (10)
History: One of the most scoring sections in this exam, majority of the questions are those asked in various examinations in previous years. History has been divided into three parts – Ancient history, Medieval history and Modern history. Around 30 questions are asked from the subject. Modern history is more important than the other two. National Movement section should be given more emphasis. For covering history, NCERT Spectrum and previous years’ questions are the key.
Science: Another important section of the BPSC prelims exam is science, from which around 30 questions are asked. For science portion, one needs to cover NCERT science book from class 6 to class 10. Apart from NCERT, one should analyse the previous years’ question papers and mark the chapters from which questions are frequently asked in the BPSC examination. For a quick revision, one can follow the Lucent Book.
Geography: A tricky section in the paper, questions are generally asked from world and Indian geography. One can cover this section with class 6 to class 10 NCERT books. Atlas and Lucent Book are also helpful. Mahesh Barnwal’s Geography book can be a useful tool in this regard.
Polity and Constitution: In polity, questions are comparatively easy. Largely, questions of various competitive examinations are asked. One needs to cover M Laxmikanth’s Polity book and the previous years’ question bank to score well in this section.
(To be concluded)
(The author is an alumnus of JNU, New Delhi & currently working as Assistant Professor in Veer Kunwar Singh University, Ara in Bihar)