Without a doubt, the UPSC is regarded as the world’s toughest exam. The UPSC exam can be passed without much difficulty, nevertheless, if you have patience, honesty, and dedication.
1. Wide range of subject
It takes more commitment and prolonged study sessions due to the range of courses. The subjects covered in this test encompass a wide range of topics because an IAS’s job is not limited to a single field. Each and every subject covered by the syllabus seems to be of utmost importance in terms of the exam. The majority of candidates don’t have enough time to finish the curriculum, which lowers their selection chances. You have to study every subject, regardless of how you feel about it.
2. Negative marking
The UPSC preliminary examination is an entirely objective test. Simply said, this means that out of the four possible answers to the question, you must select the best one. On the contrary side, there are negative markings in the UPSC preliminary exam. A third of the total points are deducted for each wrong response. Negative marking makes the UPSC exam challenging since you can’t take a chance and draw conclusions based.
3. UPSC examination held in stages
The UPSC examination is divided into three levels or stages:
The Preliminary Exam, Main Examination, and Interview
Before proceeding to the next level, a candidate must pass the one before it. It also comes as no surprise that the difficulty level rises as the stage goes on. The hardest part of the process is getting through the interview because this is where your understanding, optimism, and practical problem-solving skills will all be evaluated.
4. Limited number of attempts
Any aptitude test that is difficult to pass after a certain age is made more challenging. The UPSC has been in a similar situation. Only six exam opportunities remain for general category students until they turn 32. The remaining groups receive 2-4 more combined efforts and years for roughly the same. These efforts, however, are wholly insufficient considering the course material and the number of students taking the exam.
5. No guarantee of success
Nobody can with certainty claim that they will pass the UPSC Exam in a year. Simply put, it’s impossible. Consistent performance is crucial for the UPSC exam. While many qualified and eligible candidates fall behind, the majority of those who have shown constancy are the ones who meet the requirements in one go. Students receive failing grades on their assignments in later exams, even after passing the preliminary exam with flying colors. Furthermore, re-preparation for the following year is necessary if even one test failed. Really no entity in the middle of the scale exists.
6. Limited number of seats
Another reason is that there are only a few seats available, and even among those, it may only be possible to get one or two seats—possibly even none—even after all of your efforts, particularly if you wish to serve as an IAS officer in your home state.
For instance, if you want to apply to the IIT, you need to have an engineering from IIT or another university. Whether you are ranked 1 or 50, you have approximately 50 seats, and you will fulfill your desires (if we take 50 seats and all 50 select it). In the Civil Service, first-choice requests have occasionally been declined for proven capabilities employees as well.
7. Long duration of preparation
It takes longer than a few months to complete. A minimum of a year is needed to fully prepare for the UPSC tests. A single day is not enough time to finish the lengthy course.
Being well-prepared and having a plan is crucial. You will need a lot of time and patience to study for the nine papers you have to take. Although there are only two examinations in the prelims round, the mains and prelims rounds have essentially identical syllabuses.
8. Threshold score is low
In contrast to exams taken in high school or college, the passing mark is not just 33%. One of India’s most prized titles is up for grabs in UPSC. Considering at past accomplishments records in UPSC exams allows us to understand how challenging or straightforward the IAS test is.
The threshold score for the UPSC exam is typically low. The extremely high level of competition is the cause of this. To enter the public service, everyone wants to put their abilities and future to the test.
Thousands of candidates appear for the UPSC entrance examination every year, but only approximately 25% of them are successful. Around 15% of candidates pass the mains exam, which is a substantially lower ratio
9. Subjective nature of the mains exam
It is the wide hypothesis form of the test, requiring not only knowledge of a range of topics like history, geography, culture, economic system, a system of governance, confidentiality, information technology, international affairs, ethics, and your optional subject, but also the reading and writing skills 150–250 words on contentious topics within them from different points of view, as well as the capacity to answer MCQs on them.
You must also write two pieces and focus on your optional subject, current events. When we examine each element separately, the syllabus and the questions asked seem to be reasonable. It becomes a difficult job, though, when you realize that you have to cover all of these subjects (concepts and current events). Due to the subjective nature of the mains exam, UPSC does not grant you access to your corrected answer sheets. It is difficult to tell what worked and what didn’t because of this.
10. Inconsistent Trends
Lastly, the UPSC test completely changes direction each year. The percentage of responders frequently lacks the ability to foresee the overall trend and, as a result, prepare.
It wouldn’t be inaccurate to describe the UPSC exam as difficult after researching and examining the issues as mentioned above. The level of difficulty is completely reasonable to reach that distinction where you would be in charge of the entire district. All we want to get across to the viewers is that UPSC CSE is one of India’s most well-known services and that you should have the guts to fly high if you truly want to reach the sky and grasp the stars.