India's most competitive exam | UPSC
Tibees
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1,215,119 views Jan 13, 2020
This video is a look at the UPSC exam used to select candidates for the Indian Civil services. Is this the most competitive exam in the world?
2019 past papers: https://www.upsc.gov.in/examinations/...
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@divineray7822
4 years ago
UPSC preparation means studying everything you've studied in your life again at once.
3K
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14 replies
@abhishektripathi593
4 years ago
Since our leaders are idiots...So we select very intelligent public officers so they can help them to run govt.
18K
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322 replies
@gautamborah3662
4 years ago
Upsc Explained In a nutshell- You should know something about everything, and everything about something for your optional.
1.8K
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6 replies
@mashuto
4 years ago
Every other guy on the streets in North India : "I am a UPSC aspirant"
4.7K
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40 replies
@karthikk5384
4 years ago
That thumbnail is Rapunzel waiting for a Government Job
3.9K
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21 replies
@deepakshukla6092
4 years ago (edited)
"In india only clearing competitive exams leads to happiness and success. This is the bitter truth.
If you can't crack exam you are useless here."
4K
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60 replies
@AbdaalAkhtar
3 years ago
I cleared this exam with an AIR of 35 in 2015 and honest to God, the competition is so intense that I could as easily have flunked that year
4.8K
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97 replies
@dineshmohapatra1355
4 years ago
Quantum mechanics with history & geography with ethics with aptitude with literature
What else am i missing !!
1.8K
Reply
28 replies
@sriramkiron4566
4 years ago
An exam more competitive than the IIT JEE? How can this be possible?! Oh, wait...it’s another Indian exam.
1.5K
Reply
47 replies
@cicada3301dash
4 years ago
Welcome to the world of upsc i gave it twice and its been 4 years of preparation and kind of frustration im going through is like pressure cooker .... Please pray for me this year plzzzzz
4.6K
Reply
132 replies
@srbhsngh796
4 years ago
Noone
Indian relatives after you successfully make a startup and become billionaire or millionaire.
-"son if you had worked a bit more hard you would eventually be a government clerk"
3.7K
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36 replies
@itscosmo_gg
3 years ago
"Sometimes not getting what you want , can be a wonderful stroke of luck" ... REMEMBER THIS LINE
903
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6 replies
@vibhaw860
4 years ago
It's like weed in UP and Bihar .
5.1K
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47 replies
@viharcontractor1679
4 years ago (edited)
"India, Killing dreams with exams."
Since 1947
5.3K
Reply
58 replies
@ashadahmad651
4 years ago
As a Indian this video induces a feeling of pride and sadness at the same time.
1.4K
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27 replies
@ishaangupta7466
3 years ago
Sadly people have to attempt this with fear because they are in financial,parental,and time pressure
478
Reply
3 replies
@Rohit-tz6gs
4 years ago
After qualifying this exam, you have to face a panel of 3-5 members extracting every bit of knowledge from inside of you.
1.3K
Reply
17 replies
@CharlesOffdensen
4 years ago
So in India, if you want to work for the government, you do 32 hours of exam. In Europe, if you want to work for the government, you just show up. Sometimes.
577
Reply
43 replies
@tdb7992
4 years ago (edited)
It seems to sad that students in India have to go through such a ruthless examination process just because there aren't enough places available for them. Surely a lot of students miss out, when they're still good enough to be an excellent academic. I can see why so many Indian students come to Australia to study. It must be so peaceful here for them with our famous relaxed attitude. I have so many friends from India, or their family came from India and they were born here. Such great people with great humour.
106
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@kashishrawat6947
2 years ago
5:00 "even if you don't get in, its not like you've wasted all your time." yea tibees tell that to my relatives and parents
43
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Search in video
0:00
- Hi, I'm Toby and welcome to another exam review video.
0:04
So imagine over a million students applying to take an exam
0:09
for which there are less than 1000 spots
0:11
waiting for them at the end.
0:13
This insane competitiveness is the reality for students
0:18
who are taking India's UPSC exam,
0:21
making it one of the toughest exams in the world.
0:25
So I have some of the UPSC exam papers here today,
0:30
but this isn't even all of it.
0:31
It's a huge exam.
0:34
It takes up to two years of preparation,
0:36
and when everything's said and done,
0:38
if you make it all the way through,
0:40
you would have sat 32 hours worth of exams.
0:44
I've covered some other tough exams coming out of India
0:47
like the JEE advanced exam for engineering,
0:51
or the NEET exam for medical students.
0:54
But this UPSC exam is different
0:57
in the fact that you need to be more on top
1:00
of all your subjects from technology
1:03
to current affairs to philosophy,
1:06
the scope is extremely broad.
1:09
UPSC stands for union Public Service Commission.
1:13
And the exam recruits graduates who have already done
1:16
a university degree who want to come and work
1:19
for the Indian Civil Services.
1:22
So that's basically working for the Indian government
1:24
in various administrative roles.
1:27
It's a highly sought after position,
1:29
and people who do really well on this exam
1:31
are really admired by their fellow peers.
1:34
So let's have a look at the kind of questions
1:37
that would be involved.
1:38
The exams held in multiple stages,
1:41
there is the prelims that are two papers,
1:44
general studies and an aptitude test.
1:47
And if you make it through that,
1:48
it's the main section.
1:50
Now the mains consists of nine papers each three hours long,
1:55
and this is what they cover.
1:57
There are two that are just qualifying an English exam
2:01
and an exam in an Indian language of choice.
2:04
But then we have an essay for general studies exams
2:09
and two papers of your choice.
2:12
These papers of your choice are on optional subjects
2:15
which range everything from physics, maths, philosophy,
2:19
engineering, but also basically every subject
2:22
you could imagine.
2:23
So, let's have a look at a few of these papers.
2:27
So I've got here the first general studies paper
2:29
this one covers Indian heritage, culture,
2:32
history, geography of the world.
2:35
And so everything written in Hindi and English.
2:38
There are 20 questions in this booklet
2:39
and all questions are compulsory
2:42
So let's have a look.
2:45
They're not joking that this is a lot of work.
2:48
All of these questions are little like mini essay questions.
2:51
Yeah, like this is kind of Indian history.
2:54
Things about an 1857 uprising.
2:58
The linkages between The 19th century Indian Renaissance
3:02
and the emergence of national identity.
3:05
So everything from that to the impact of global warming
3:08
on the coral life system.
3:10
What makes Indian society unique
3:13
and sustaining its culture discuss in 150 words.
3:17
So I think, what you really need to do
3:19
to prepare for an exam like this,
3:21
where it's kinda testing your general knowledge
3:24
and I've seen many preparing students talk about this,
3:26
it's actually reading newspapers.
3:29
And reading newspapers to prepare for an exam
3:31
seems kind of bizarre to me,
3:33
but it makes sense.
3:34
Newspaper should give you a pretty good idea
3:36
of what's kind of going on in the world right?
3:40
So this is another General Studies paper.
3:42
Number four, this one should cover ethics,
3:45
integrity and aptitude.
3:47
They wanna know what are the basic principles
3:50
of public life illustrate any three of these
3:52
with suitable examples?
3:54
What do you understand by the term public servant, right?
3:57
That's very relevant since
3:58
that's the job you're applying for.
4:00
But then, we even have some kind
4:01
of philosophical ideas over here.
4:04
An unexamined life is not worth living, socrates
4:08
discuss that in 150 words,
4:11
one from Gandhi, a man is but a product of his thoughts
4:15
what he thinks he becomes.
4:17
I'm left feeling that someone who's prepared for an exam
4:21
like this wouldn't just be good at sitting this exam
4:24
but they'd be a really knowledgeable
4:26
and smart citizen of the world.
4:29
You know what I mean?
4:29
Like questions like this on history, philosophy, geography,
4:34
general knowledge are that they have general
4:37
your tested on them kind of everyday in your life,
4:40
there are what allows you to contribute
4:42
to interesting discussions with random people that you meet,
4:45
and I don't think this knowledge would be lost
4:48
when you finish this exam.
4:49
I think some of these ideas
4:51
just help you understand the world better.
4:53
And even if you don't get in,
4:55
it's kind of like you haven't wasted your time.
4:58
You spend all this time becomes knowledgeable
5:00
about your country.
5:02
And I don't think that's something to be upset about.
5:05
So this is the essay paper of between 1000 and 1200 words
5:10
on something like wisdom finds truth
5:13
or biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy,
5:17
or the rise of artificial intelligence.
5:19
You see, some of these ideas are interesting to think about.
5:22
Now, that's kind of a look through the general studies
5:24
and my thoughts on those.
5:26
Let's have a look at some of the optional papers now.
5:29
So since this is basically a physics channel,
5:32
I picked a couple of the optional physics papers.
5:35
I've got physics paper one and physics paper two.
5:38
And so let's have a little bit of a look through these.
5:41
They're starting off not too difficult.
5:43
What is the central force give two examples.
5:46
How does Reynolds number help in the study of fluid motion?
5:49
What I noticed straight away is that these
5:51
are not multi choice questions,
5:54
which was the case
5:55
for some of the other Indian exams I looked at.
5:57
This page is pretty interesting Section B.
5:59
You answering these physics questions
6:01
in about 150 words each,
6:04
so you have to really be good
6:05
at your communication of scientific ideas.
6:08
For example, we're asked to discuss in brief
6:11
the ultraviolet catastrophe.
6:13
How did Planck solve this problem?
6:15
Alright so that's paper one of the six.
6:17
Let's have a little look at paper two
6:19
before we make any judgments.
6:21
This is starting off with some quantum mechanics questions.
6:25
Again, a lot of explainer type questions.
6:28
How do you define density of states?
6:31
Define mathematically the Bohr radius.
6:33
Calculate the numerical values for the hydrogen atom.
6:37
I should mention that if you make it through
6:39
all of these papers, you make it through the main round,
6:41
then there is an interview and that interview
6:44
would be a bit of a personality test.
6:46
So even if you ace all of these,
6:49
I guess it's still possible that you're not quite
6:51
what they were looking for.
6:53
And that interview is probably maybe one of the most
6:56
subjective parts of all it's hard
6:58
to put a number on someone's personality.
7:01
Just like I did in my in my NEET exam
7:03
I'll give this exam, a little rating.
7:06
So name UPSC the scope.
7:10
Well, we covered everything from philosophy to physics.
7:15
That's a pretty big scope.
7:17
It gets an A and a plus.
7:19
Difficulty well, it's a tough exam
7:21
I'll give it an A.
7:24
I guess the difficulty will depend on your strengths
7:27
and weaknesses and how prepared you are feeling
7:30
and how much preparation you've done for it.
7:32
Time pressure, well, it's kind of a test of stamina,
7:37
this is such a long process.
7:39
Like I said, you would have done 32 hours of examinations.
7:43
If you've done all of these papers,
7:45
the interview, the mains, that prelims, that's intense.
7:50
In terms of actual time pressure yet,
7:52
you have three hours to answer heaps of questions
7:55
I'll give it an A as well.
7:57
Now the big one competitiveness.
7:59
This is the most competitive exam
8:01
I've ever covered on the channel.
8:03
I thought NEET was competitive,
8:06
but students here are competing for only hundreds of spots.
8:09
So this is going to be A never before seen rating
8:13
of A plus plus, plus plus.
8:17
And that's what makes this one of the most difficult exams.
8:20
If you want me to compare it overall
8:22
to the JEE advanced exam,
8:24
I would say that UPSC is tougher on the basis of selection,
8:29
but JEE advanced was probably tougher
8:32
on the basis of the questions,
8:35
but they are two totally different exams,
8:38
testing different things for different people
8:40
who want different jobs.
8:42
I wanted to finish this video with a little story.
8:45
So I printed out these UPSC exam papers at the library.
8:51
And while I was doing so,
8:53
there was some of the pages got caught in the printer
8:55
and there was a little printer jam
8:56
you might be able to see this page here
8:58
is a bit crinkled.
9:01
Anyway, one of the staff members at the library
9:03
came over to help.
9:04
And as he was fishing these pages out
9:06
from inside the printer,
9:08
he recognized the exam and he asked me,
9:11
"are you preparing for UPSC?"
9:13
You see, he said he was from India
9:15
and he himself had prepared for the UPSC.
9:18
I told him that "no I wasn't preparing for it."
9:21
And it was a little bit hard to explain
9:23
what I was doing printing it out
9:24
if I had no interest in sitting it myself.
9:28
But he ended up telling me his story
9:30
about how he'd done a lot of preparation himself
9:33
when he used to live in India,
9:34
and he'd gotten quite far through the exam.
9:37
He's done quite well, but he didn't make it
9:40
all the way to the end.
9:41
So he'd faced the disappointment
9:43
of not getting through the UPSC.
9:46
But life had taken him on a different journey.
9:49
He'd gone to university in India and studied languages
9:53
and even done a PhD.
9:55
I guess that PhD had allowed him to apply for a job
9:58
in Australia at the library and he was living
10:01
a happy life here.
10:03
So it was kind of a coincidence for me to bump
10:06
into a UPSC alumni here in Australia.
10:10
But there were two things I kind of took away from it.
10:13
One was that UPSC is so widely known in India
10:18
and so many people apply for it
10:20
that you might bump into people who have done it
10:23
anywhere around the world,
10:25
but also that UPSC and passing it
10:28
is not everything and that
10:30
there are multiple paths to happiness.
10:32
Even if you try really hard to pass an exam
10:36
and you think you want to take your life
10:38
in a certain direction.
10:39
There are other directions that life
10:41
could take you even if you don't get what you want.
10:44
Sometimes not getting what you want
10:46
can even be a wonderful stroke of luck.
10:48
So keep that in mind.
10:50
And thank you for watching.
10:51
(gentle music)
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