Stay Motivated
The Civilservice exams conducted by UPSC which is also referred to as the IAS exam is one of the toughest UPSC exams to be conducted, and to stay motivated for the UPSC civil services exam is very important. You must focus on the goal of becoming an IAS officer. Also you must set your target time of getting through the IAS exam and join the IAS in the current year. So if you fill the form for IAS 2010 in the year 2009 you must keep it in your mind that you have to make it to IAS 2010 batch, even at the moment you see the UPSC 2009 notification. The IAS exam by UPSC needs atmost dedication and clarity of comittment towards the exam. You must become familiar with the UPSC exam syllabus at the time of filling up your form or even before that, so that as soon as you see the UPSC exam schedule your own schedule for studies is ready and implemented immediately. The worst thing to do is to wait for the UPSC results of the prelims exam to start preprations for the mains. Your IAS prepration has to be continuous. Solving the old UPSC question papers is a must, but not an end in itself.