50 Days Strategy to Prepare for TNPSC Group 1 Exam

The Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission has recently announced the revised date of the TNPSC Group 1 Prelims examination 2020. The exam that was supposed to take place on 5th April 2020 has been rescheduled for 3rd January 2021. Aspirants preparing for the TNPSC Prelims 2020 are left with almost 50 days to prepare or revise the syllabus of the examination. Hence, this article will bring you the revision and preparation tips for the Tamil Nadu recruitment exam for Group 1 services. 

What is TNPSC Group 1 Examination

Before aspirants plan to start their preparation, they must know what the examination is all about. TNPSC Group 1 is the recruitment examination that selects candidates based on the three stages of the examination – Prelims, Mains and Interview. It is also called the Combined Civil Services Examination-I. The following posts are filled through the examination:

1. Deputy Collector
2. Deputy Superintendent of Police
3. Assistant Commissioner (Commercial Taxes)
4. Deputy Registrar of Cooperative Societies
5. Assistant Director of Rural Development
6. District Officer (Fire and Rescue Services)

Brief Overview of TNPSC Group 1 2020 Examination

The commission had released the official notification of Group 1 Examination on 20th January 2020. The notification contained information on TNPSC Syllabus, exam pattern, age criteria, educational qualifications among others. 

The important dates and information of the combined civil services examination-I 2020 are:

1. The last date to apply for the 2020 recruitment exam was 19th February 2020. 
2. The commission has announced 69 vacancies for the current examination and that makes the competition tougher for candidates who have applied for the exam. 
3. The last date to make online payment for the examination was 21st February 2020. 
4. The Prelims examination will take place on 3rd January 2021 against the earlier date of 5th April 2020. 

The examination has three stages and preliminary examination is the first stage. Candidates who are going to appear for the examination should note the below-mentioned tips to cover the entire syllabus in 50 days smartly and efficiently. Also, these tips are handy for those candidates who are running short of time to prepare and need smart revision techniques as otherwise, it is often advisable to prepare for civil services examinations over a period of a year or more. 

Subjects in the TNPSC Group 1 Prelims

Preliminary examination has only one paper for 300 marks. There are eight units that are included in the paper which are:

1. General Science
2. Current Events
3. Geography
4. History and Culture of India
5. Indian Polity
6. Indian Economy
7. Indian National Movement
8. Aptitude, Mental Ability and Logical Reasoning

How to cover Prelims Topics in 50 Days

The candidates are advised to break-up the span of 50 days into groups of 5 days each. This way, they get 10 circles within which they need to finish their prelims syllabus. 

Let’s see how these 10 study circles can help TNPSC candidates to finish their syllabus:

1. Day 1-5: Aspirants should take up the gist of current affairs compilations of any good institute and cover the yearly news analysis from these compilations. Such compilations are brief, factual and cover the most important topics that are expected to be asked in the paper. One should try to devote somewhere between 14-16 hours of the day in the study. It will be a challenging task but nothing fruitful comes easy and hence, one must avoid all distractions in this time. 
2. Day 6-10: Aspirants should pick M.Laxmikanth’s Indian Polity book. The book is designed in a way where it is easy to revise. If an aspirant plans a right strategy, the book can be finished within 5 days easily. However, it must be noted that in the paucity of time, it is advisable to start off the important chapters first and later if time permits read the topics which are less focussed from exam point of view. Some of the important chapters are:
   1. Fundamental Rights
   2. Fundamental Duties
   3. Directives Principles of State Policy
   4. Indian Judiciary
   5. Important Constitutional Bodies
   6. Preamble
   7. Schedules
   8. Parts
   9. Federalism
   10. Union Executive
   11. State Executive
3. Day 11-15: Aspirants should take Geography in these 5 days and in the first two days, one should skim over the state textbooks for state-specific geographical concepts. Later, one can pick any one reference book and finish off the remaining important topics. 
4. Day 16-20: Aspirants should take history subjects. First, one must take any one reference book like Arihant’s Magbook on Indian History. Cover important topics from these books by referring to previous year question papers. History is a vast syllabus, hence, it will be intellectually challenging to read history from scratch. Hence, one must take notes of any reputed institute and revise those. 
5. Day 21-25: Indian Economy can be covered in 5 days with special focus on the terms that are often in the news. One can also read the gist of economic survey and union budget within a span of 5-6 hours and note down the important terms. Nitin Singhani’s Indian Economy can be referred to as the go-to book for basic concepts. 
6. Day 26-30: Indian National Movement is a very important topic. There is a plethora of material available online to cover this unit. Aspirants should focus on major freedom struggle movements, state freedom fighters and their contributions and british legislation acts. One may refer to Rajiv Ahir’s Brief History of Modern India and go through its last pages where important facts are given in appendix manner. 
7. Day 31-50: General Science, Current Affairs and Mental Ability-related topics can be revised in this timeframe along with the revision of some important topics of the other units. 

Strategizing the TNPSC Group 1 Combined Civil Services Examination (Prelims) phase is very important as it is the screening test. After clearing this stage only, one can pass onto the next mains stage. Completing the entire TNPSC syllabus will be a challenge in 50 days, hence, one must smartly prepare without going too deep into it. 

Refer to the previous year question papers to understand the trend of questions being asked these days. One’s efforts will surely bring success in the TNPSC examination.