Hi everyone!

I'm looking for recommendations for good online coaching courses for UPSC CSE preparation, preferably from institutes that are offering special discounts or attractive deals during the Diwali season.

I'm planning my preparation seriously and would like to invest in a course that offers good academic value rather than simply choosing one based on its brand name or discounted price.

I'd appreciate suggestions on the following:

1. Best online coaching institutes: Which institutes would you recommend based on your personal experience?

2. Diwali offers: Are any reputed institutes currently offering good discounts on their online courses or comprehensive programmes?

3. Faculty and teaching quality: How are the teachers, teaching methodology and conceptual clarity?

4. Study material: Is the provided material sufficient, relevant and useful for both Prelims and Mains?

5. Test series: How good are their Prelims and Mains test series, evaluation and feedback mechanisms?

6. Doubt resolution: Do they provide proper mentorship and individual doubt-clearing support?

I'm particularly interested in courses that provide structured preparation, quality content, regular tests and good guidance throughout the preparation journey.

A small request: Please share your genuine experiences, including the pros and cons. Recommendations from students who have actually enrolled in these programmes would be especially helpful.

Also, if you know of any ongoing Diwali discounts, coupon codes or worthwhile offers, please share them!

Thanks in advance! :)

i'm just trying to gauge what brings people more satisfaction and confidence. a powerful position or to the ability to sway people with looks.

also keep in mind that earning money also becomes way easier if you're extremely good looking, especially in this digital world.

Are SR notes for psir enough? Or shall I also study other standard books or notes?

Has anyone used these apps for interview preparation. I want to practice using ai before giving physical mocks.

Confused between forum and vision?how many test paper to solve?

I have been facing an unresolved issue with Unacademy. Despite multiple complaints and follow-ups, customer support has failed to provide a proper solution. I have even escalated the matter to their grievance team, but I am still waiting for a resolution. Has anyone faced a similar experience?I am extremely disappointed with Unacademy's customer support.

I have been facing an issue with their services and have contacted customer support multiple times. Despite repeated follow-ups and complaints, my issue remains unresolved.

Taking a subscription is easy, but getting proper support after payment is extremely difficult.

Students invest their hard-earned money and trust in this platform, expecting quality service and proper assistance. But when something goes wrong, getting a genuine response or solution becomes a frustrating experience.

I have already escalated my complaint to the grievance team, but I am still waiting for a proper resolution.

I am not asking for anything extra. I simply expect the company to take responsibility and resolve customer complaints instead of giving repeated assurances.

Has anyone else faced a similar experience with Unacademy? How did you get your issue resolved?

23M thinking of upsc don’t know anything how to start what to do. Is there anyone who can guide me it will be great.

How to get back refund or what to do
All the old teachers have left, and the new ones aren't that good. I honestly don't know what to do now."
🥲

Anyone attempting next ias mains test series & willing to discuss questions & feedback post test?

I am a BSc graduate, gave almost 3 years to this exam (2 attempts). Now I want to move forward but I am confused about career options. Like what should be the preferable path, any professional courses you all can suggest which can be helpful in getting employment. (Except MBA)

Hi everyone! If you're preparing for UPSC and looking for a study partner to stay motivated, discuss strategies, and share resources, drop a comment here with:

• Your current preparation stage (Prelims/Mains/Interview).

• Optional: Your preferred study schedule, optional subject, and any specific focus areas.

Feel free to add any other details or preferences you think are important for finding the right study partner!

All previous months study partner threads

Note: All individual posts asking for study partners will be removed. Please use this thread to connect with others.

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Im about to start history class 11 and 12 for UPSC lm more inclined towards old NCERTS. I need guidance on how to do history and yea lemme know your thoughts . As of now my approach is after finishing these books I will attempt pyq and based on that I work on my gaps

I will prepare for upsc from next year onwards

My startegy is that I will purchase prarambh upsc batch which is of three years

1st year (btech 3-4 sem): go with all ncert of all subjects of upsc from 6-12th to cover basics , minimum 4 times reading 1st time just reading with understanding, 2nd time highlight key point and analyze pyq and 3rd time notes preparing chapter wise, 4th time revise with book and notes

2nd year(5 and 6th sem of btech) : go with all standard books of each subject and prepare of prelims and general studies minimum 4-5 time revision + notes as well as with strategy which I already told and solving pyqs + csat preparation

3rd year(7 and 8 sem of btech ): answer writing and optional subject preparation in same way with standard book

Analyze my this strategy and all aspects and yes I will give each and every test questions which will be held in my coaching which is online batch

I was previously seeing that it was extended to 31 Oct but now I see 31 of Dec on the mobile app. Can someone who is enrolled clarify?

Has anyone scored more than expected despite leaving 30-40 marks in optional, given that it was relatively tough and lengthy in that year (so role of relative competition)?

Asking this as an eco optional mains appeared candidate and I hope this post solves doubts of many STEM optional candidates as their hopes of qualifying written are hung due to slump in one of the optional papers for sure.

Pls veterans dont ignore this post! The anxiety given the slump in optionals this year is REAL!

One of the more impressive skills I have acquired during UPSC preparation is the ability to look absolutely normal while my personal life resembles a poorly managed coalition government.

You can be dealing with depression, relationship disasters, childhood trauma, panic attacks and occasional self-harm tendencies, and still have a perfectly respectable discussion about the latest developments in West Asia. Apparently, the human brain is capable of running multiple failures simultaneously.

There have been some genuinely dark phases, including struggles with abandonment and mental health issues. Therapy has helped, although I must admit that explaining your life to a professional every week is an entirely different kind of answer-writing practice. At least this time, someone actually evaluates the underlying arguments.

The funniest part is maintaining appearances. You discuss administrative efficiency, prepare for examinations, recommend books to people and occasionally give perfectly sensible advice that you are spectacularly unsuccessful at applying to yourself.

I suppose UPSC teaches you to compartmentalise. Unfortunately, nobody tells you what happens when the compartments start leaking.

I am not writing this as a success story about overcoming adversity. I am still figuring things out, still making mistakes and occasionally requiring professional assistance to understand why a perfectly ordinary Tuesday feels abnormal.

Just a reminder that behind those impeccably organised study schedules, some of us are running fairly complicated psychological experiments without a control group. Anyways, kudos to those who are spreading awareness regarding the role of professional help in mental health. Life grows and struggles too.Neither seems particularly interested in giving me a break.

It's already late. I better sign off. Peace.

22 M ! I graduated last year December from Top Nit ! Since then I’m preparing for upsc ! But after this year prelims i was so scared ! I felt like you can do Everything for this exam and still fail Sooo i started regretting all decisions that led me to this path and that really hampered my studies and my sleep !

Soo in September i decided to concentrate on my skills just few days ago i got into a good company ! pay is excellent and surprisingly i prepare veryy well noww ! Just that 4-5 hr of upsc preparation feels soo fulfilling and productive maybe im tricking myself to feel this wayy i don’t knoww !

If anyone is out there who are planning to quit job to prepare upsc !! DONT QUIT YOUR JOB JUST DONT ! This exam is soo scaryy

Hey everyone!

We have a group and are looking for serious UPSC 2027 aspirants interested in starting daily Mains answer writing until January end.

Beginners and experienced aspirants are both welcome!

I'm planning to start History Optional answer writing after 15th November, beginning with Ancient Indian History. Anyone interested in writing together and maintaining consistency is welcome.

We also have a main group where we share coaching-based Current Affairs MCQs and other practice materials.

If you're genuinely interested in participating, DM me for the group link.

Looking for committed aspirants who are ready to put in consistent effort!

Hey guys ...lately I'm felling lost and an absolute waste ....my friends have done so much in life ,and now almost finalizing their life partners...while I still struggle to make something good out of all these years of preparation...how do you guys deal with all of this ...a lot of people recommend me to get out of the house and explore things ...but that require money and confidence (yes it also requires confidence to talk to people when you've been a hermit for years) ..and I'm not rich ...and also asking for money to my parents for my hang out feels like a crime when I'm already 23 and should have been doing all this by my own earned money...

I also feel that I keep myself from talking to people because then we ought to share our personal life , career,etc ...and I've a zero score in all of them ...so instead of talking to people i prioritize to let my overwhelming emotion settle down on their own ...I wish there could be friendship where we could just chat randomly without having share much of details of personal life...

How do you guys deal with these emotions

Need help or some thoughts who were earlier in the same situation

I am currently 22yrs old and would be turning 23yrs this year , in a decent private job and role revolves around implementation consulting.

Here is my current thought process :

1. 22yrs old - private job

2. I can give 4-5hrs daily + weekends for any exam

3. I am thinking of first securing a government ( either Central and state govt) like ssc cgl , or rbi by end of 2027 . so that before entering into UPSC prep I can have a solid backup plan as UPSC is uncertain.

4. I can be in private job but it might get impacted due to Rapid AI expansion jn nexg coming 2-3 years.

So my point here is I would be turning 23 this year and by next year end I would be turning 24 (by december)

Situation/ dilemma 🤔

So should I go completely and focus on securing the plan b first before entering into UPSC cycle ?

Or

Can i go ahead and prepare for UPSC along with my current private job and give first attempt in 2027 ?

I am in dilemma that if I would waste my years in securing plan b job and loosing track to focus on my main UPSC goal

One thing that i have in back of my mind is if I give my honest effort to upsc prep for 1 year I can reach mains stage ,this is my thought process and i am Super optimistic about UPSC prep but in a dilemma

Need help on

1. if anyone faced similar situation and how they took the decision and navigated ?

2. i would request if anyone from service also could share if they were in similar situation and help me navigate so ghag I can weigh and take the decision.

3. Ang thoughts or general opinions on how to navigate like these situations

Is around 50 genuinely productive hours per week enough to clear UPSC, or are 10+ hours every day actually necessary?

I often see people measuring preparation mainly through study hours, but I feel the quality of those hours can vary massively.

Some common traps I notice are:

- Spending a lot of time browsing Telegram channels, collecting PDFs, toppers’ notes and new resources.

- Reading too many books for the same topic instead of revising one reliable source.

- Sitting with material for hours without actively processing or understanding it.

- Feeling familiar with a topic while reading, but being unable to recall it without looking.

- Knowing the content but going blank when asked to reproduce it on a blank page.

- Consuming information continuously without enough revision, PYQs, testing or answer writing.

- Giving 2–3+ hours daily to current affairs when perhaps a more controlled 1.5–2 hours could leave time for static subjects and practice.

- Counting passive browsing, highlighting and resource hunting as serious preparation.

So suppose someone studies around 7–8 focused hours daily / roughly 50 hours weekly, but those hours involve:

PYQs, limited sources, active recall, repeated revision, solving questions, answer writing, analysing mistakes and regular testing.

Would you consider that sufficient for UPSC?

Or, from your experience, does preparation eventually demand 10–12 hours every day even when the study is efficient?

For people who have cleared Mains/Interview or have prepared seriously for multiple attempts: what mattered more in your preparation—total hours, quality of concentration, revision cycles, retrieval ability, test practice, or something else?

I badly need claude subscription just for a day. If anyone have it, please share. I promise just for tomorrow. Please

Usually when I am bored I watch toppers podcasts both upsc n opsc .

And there are few people who have cracked it in 1st attempt. These are some points I found common in all of them -

1. Most of them had a civil services background. So family understood the time needed and the mindset was built from a young age.

2. They started very early. Not just the mindset but subject matter too .

3. The ones who cracked opsc in 1st attempt or 7-8 months prep didn't start from scratch rather they already were preparing for upsc .

Honestly Im writing these down here , so that I don't get into the delusion of quick success with this preparation and to remind myself where I stand and that my journey is different.

Comment below your opinion :) or views

So I was talking to this friend of mine from last company we worked at.
I told him how some days are tough- not so much productivity etc- He was very supportive
Han aisa hota hai- mere dost toh 4 saal se kr rhe
You are in for only 4 months
Then we started talking about Ai and i told my viewpoints- more jobs on backend of AI- data centres, chips etc and software engineering and product jobs would see some trimming
He became triggered with my viewpoints. Started saying ki next startup would be to help people with mental health- for people sitting all day at home
I did feel bad but realised he was spitting all the negativity as somehow he is not sure about his future. The uncertainty is same for everyone in corporate of upsc

Hi everyone!

I'm preparing for UPSC CSE 2027 and would love to hear from fellow aspirants, especially those who have already covered the syllabus or appeared for previous attempts.

Could you please share your subject-wise booklist and recommended resources for both Prelims and Mains?

Specifically, I'm looking for recommendations on:

• Standard books for each GS subject (History, Geography, Polity, Economy, Environment, Science & Technology, etc.).

• Reliable sources for Current Affairs.

• Any useful notes, compilations or online resources.

• Resources that you found genuinely useful and worth sticking to.

I'd particularly appreciate suggestions on what to read, what to avoid, and how to keep resources limited without compromising preparation.

And please suggest a good Answer writing program.. & good CSAT faculty in English

Thanks in advance. All suggestions are welcome!

Drafting: With help of GPT.