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American author, success coach, and one of the most influential motivational speakers of present times, Tony Robbins, says, “Once you have mastered time, you will understand how true it is that most people overestimate what they can accomplish in a year – and underestimate what they can achieve in a decade!”

Time management is a potent tool to achieve success in life, and UPSC civil services exam is no exception. In spite of having the reputation of one of the most competitive exams in the country, aspirants from various parts of the country and different socioeconomic backgrounds crack this exam each year. A major differentiating factor between them and those who failed to register success in the exam is time management. Time, the equally distributed resource, treats everyone equally. Thereby, it is the capability of a person how rationally and effectively s/he utilizes it.

No matter how long the list of candidates appearing in the exam, how vast the syllabus is, and how many attempts there are if one properly understands the UPSC exam syllabus and studies following a pragmatic time management strategy, then failure is as impossible as nabbing the Don.

These are a person’s creative, comprehensive, decision-making, and communication skills (both written and verbal) that UPSC wants to find out in future administrators and bureaucrats. By allocating time to improve and polish these skills as per their weightage in the syllabus and following the timetable tenaciously, one can make the preparation easy and goals achievable. Verily, the UPSC exam is all about a positive game approach where planning, consistency, and focus are more important than one’s past academic performance and IQ level. Moreover, one can only chalk out the right plan and focus consistently on that plan only after managing the time properly.

The study plan should be prepared only after a thorough self-assessment, i.e., having a clear understanding of the topics for which one has a sound understanding and the topics that seem tough but are included in the syllabus. This assessment will help the candidate to allocate days/hours for each topic as per the requirements, make a comprehensive plan, and study according to it, utilizing the time effectively and efficiently. After reading about the stories of IAS toppers from average academic backgrounds, one can come across many incidents where the achievers give credit to their success, not to anything else, but time management.