Hard vs. Smart Work for IAS Preparation – Getting Your Priorities Right

IAS preparation is a long-term process, and you must be incredibly careful in devising your strategy.

The mentors at National IAS Academy, an academy well-known for IAS Coaching in Bangalore, believe that in any exam, be it IAS or any other, getting your priorities right is the key to success. This cannot be overemphasized, especially in the IAS exam, which is one of the toughest exams in the world. It is not only essential to know what to study but also important to know how to study.

While working hard has its importance, getting your priorities right involves working smart.

Read on to learn a few points which will help you get your priorities right in IAS preparation.

Working smart vs. working hard

Hard work is defined as putting in a lot of effort to achieve something. It is working hard physically or mentally to do something. For example, if you want to get good grades, you will have to study hard. If you aspire to get a promotion, you will have to work hard.

Hardworking students will devote the entire school year to studying, take extensive notes on everything, and pore over their books late into the night, getting less sleep when preparing for their exams. However, when the results are revealed, some “dark horses” often surpass the hard workers and make it to the top of the list, surprising everyone.

On the other hand, smart work is defined as working more efficiently and effectively. It is about using your time, skills, and resources in the best way possible to achieve something.

For example, if you want good grades, you will study efficiently by making a study schedule and sticking to it. If you want a promotion, you will work efficiently, and above that, you will also Network and develop positive relationships with the right people.

Smart work helps you achieve goals faster with less effort

The key to smart work is ROI (Return on Investment). It is all about getting the most out of your work with minimal effort.

The effort needs to be highly focused and targeted to yield the most results with the least amount of effort.

At National IAS Academy, often called the best UPSC coaching center in Bangalore, our mentors offer a well-strategized map to aid our students in cracking the UPSC exams.

Lay emphasis on the quality of your learning, not the quantity

If you are preparing for the UPSC civil service exam, please remember that the quality of learning is more important than the quantity of learning because it is the quality of learning that determines how much knowledge a person retains and how well they can apply it.

When the quality of learning is high, people can learn more in less time and retain more of what they have learned. On the other hand, when the quality of learning is low, people take longer to learn and retain less of what they have learned.

Remember the Pareto principle

The Pareto principle is the concept that for a lot of occurrences, about 80% of results come because of 20% of the causes. In business, this principle is often used to identify which areas of a business handle most of its profits or losses. For example, a company might find that 80% of its profits come from 20% of its customers.

In a broader sense, the principle might be understood to mean that a small number of inputs produces the most outcomes.

Working smart is precisely that; making a route map after chalking out what subjects to give more effort to, and following some important tips when preparing for the UPSC exams, can help you a long way.

Understand what to study

Many IAS aspirants make the mistake of studying and mugging every bit of information in an effort to be prepared for anything that may appear in the examination. They will spend hours and hours poring over various books, stressing whether they will be able to retain the vast amount of knowledge contained in those endless pages.

However, smart working students prefer to go through our Super 40 series online. They try to understand the exam pattern over the previous years. They will give mock tests to get a gist of the exam and understand how they can manage their time to answer maximum questions without getting muddled up.

Conclusion

Yes, a little bit of hard work will not harm you, but when every aspirant has access to a wide range of resources that can confuse them, the value of smart work is more important than ever.

So, which is better? There is no simple answer to this question.

Both hard work and smart work are important. Arduous work is necessary to achieve something, but it is not enough. It would be best if you also worked smart. Smart work will help you achieve your goals faster and with less effort.

To be successful, you need to have demanding work. You need to work hard to develop the skills and knowledge required to be successful. And you need to work smart to use your time, skills, and resources most efficiently.

Register with the National IAS Academy, which our students quote as an academy that provides the best IAS coaching in Bangalore.

We are here to mentor, guide, and walk with you through your journey to achieving your UPSC goals.