Which One To Choose: Self-study Vs Attending IAS Coaching In Kolkata?

Are you based in Kolkata and planning to pursue a career in government jobs? Then this article is for you as we discuss strategies to prepare for UPSC civil services and opportunities for IAS coaching in Kolkata. Stay with us. 

What are opportunities in government jobs for college graduates?  

For any college graduates, both the Government of India and different state governments offer lucrative career options. Some of the top competitive job exams with college degree as eligibility are: 

• UPSC Civil Services Exam  
• UPSC Combined Defence Services
• UPSC Central Armed Forces 
• Staff Selection Commission CPO 
• Staff Selection Commission CGL 
• Indian banking Personnel Selection (Clerk)
• SBI PO  
• Railways Recruitment Board non-technical exams 
• Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Recruitment
• NABARD Grade-A 
• Food Corporation of India    

What do you need to clear these exams? 

Though, the syllabus for these competitive exams varies. However, there is a broad similarity in several areas, like: 

• General awareness
• Current affairs 
• General English
• Reasoning ability
• Quantitative aptitude
• Computer awareness

Preparation based on the UPSC IAS syllabus can help you cover most of the subject knowledge and practice requirements for any UPSC and SSC all-India services exams. Besides, you can also appear in exams conducted by the Public Service Commission of West Bengal for recruitment to state government departments. 

UPSC IAS syllabus includes: 

• General studies subjects 
• Current affairs 
• Civil Services Aptitude Tests 
• Mains papers on optional subjects of your choice 

Self-study or attend a comprehensive coaching class 

Self-study involves making your own study plan, consulting different reference materials, preparing your study notes, self-invigorating practice tests, and self-assessing your quality of your preparation. Do you think these are too much of a task? Then it is important to remember that many candidates appear and clear all-India and state-level civil services exams with preparation through self-study.

The benefits of self-study are: 

• You can prepare your study plan as per your personal learning style.  
• Self-paced studying may not have any deadline or time restrictions. You can give as much time as possible.  
• Self-study can be much more affordable than comprehensive programs. However, arranging study materials, preparing study notes and other challenges involve costs in terms of time and involvements. 
• Candidates living in remote locations do not need to travel to cities if they choose self-studying over comprehensive classroom-based programs. 

The limitation of self-studying for UPSC CSE:

• Self-studying depends too much on the trial-and-error technique. It costs more time and effort to find the right strategies. 
• Self-studying means limited access to guidance and motivation during UPSC preparation, as most of the time candidates are on their own. 
• UPSC and other civil services syllabus include school-level subjects. However, it’s challenging to build a conceptual understanding of these subjects without direct interaction with teachers. 
• Self-studying students usually have limited access to ready-made study materials, practice questionnaires and mock tests. These are essential for UPSC aspirants. 
• Coaching classes offer detailed feedback on candidates’ performance in mock tests and practice sessions. However, self-studying does not offer such benefits.   

Benefits of attending IAS coaching classes 

IAS coaching in Kolkata and other cities offers various types of offline and online classroom based programs. The benefits of attending online and offline classroom based comprehensive coaching programs are: 

• Access to qualified and experience tutors and opportunities for one-to-one interaction with them 
• Candidates attending comprehensive programs get a regular assessment of their performance in practice sessions and feedback to improve overall performance. 
• Attending online and offline classrooms allows immense peer interaction opportunities. It encourages collaboration and learning. 
• Comprehensive classroom-based programs offer access to reference materials and updated study materials, as most of their institutions have libraries containing competitive exam magazines and reference materials. 

Limitations of classroom-based IAS coaching are: 

• A candidate might need to travel to the nearest cities with coaching centers 
• Comprehensive coaching programs can be expensive 
• Candidates may not have enough time to attend online or offline classrooms  

Bottom-line 

Self-study or attending IAS coaching is a personal choice. However, if you are committed to your dream of becoming a civil services officer, classroom-based coaching facilities are highly beneficial. So, if you are in Kolkata, check AptiPlus. They are the oldest and offer one of the best IAS coaching in Kolkata. Aptiplus also offers IAS coaching in Bhubaneswar and other Eastern Indian cities.