Best Online Preparation For OAS Prelim Exam, 2021

DOWNLOAD THE OAS Exam, 2021 Notification

Odisha Civil Services Exam is conducted in two stages. i.e Preliminary Exam Stage & Main Exam Stage. Again the main Exam has two parts i.e 

1. Written Exam 
2. Personal Interview

Preliminary Examination

The Preliminary Exam is an MCQ type of examination.  Here Objective Questions are asked. There are two papers for this  Exam. Paper-1 is the General Studies paper. Questions are asked from the following seven sections in this paper.

1.Current events of national and international importance.

2.History of India and Indian national movements.

3.Indian and World geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the world.

4.Indian polity and governance-Constitution, political system, Panchayati raj, public policy, Rights Issues, etc.

5.Economic and Social development-sustainable development, poverty, inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.

6.General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity, and climate change that don't require subject specialization.

7.General science

Paper- 2  is the Civil service aptitude test, Popularly known as CSAT Paper. Questions are asked from the following section in this paper.

1.Comprehension.

2.Interpersonal skills including communication skills.

3.Logical reasoning and Analytical ability.

4.Decision making and problem-solving.

5.General mental ability.

6.Basic numeracy(numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude)(Class-X level).

Data interpretation(charts,graphs,tables,data sufficiency etc)(class-x level).

7.English language comprehension skills(class-x level).

In paper-2, there are 80 questions. Each question carries 2.5 marks. 2.5 mark is awarded for correct answer and [1/4]th of it i.e 0.625 is deducted for the total score for the wrong answer. But this paper is qualifying in nature. It means every student should secure at least  33% of marks i.e 66 out of 200 so that his/her paper-1 will be evaluated. For those students who score below the 66 marks, their paper-1 is not evaluated so they become failed in the preliminary stage of the examination. So scoring above 66 marks is mandatory in this paper.

Paper-2 Preparation Strategy

1. All you need is to qualify for Paper-2 so that your paper-1 will be evaluated. So huge and extensive practice is not required here. But, Yes, You should not neglect this paper. You just solve the past years' papers so that you will get the idea of the type of questions they are asking. Along with it, you will come to know your weak areas so that you will work more on them to improve.
2.  You may take the help of online coaching[ most preferable nowadays] if you think this paper is creating problems for you.
3. In the exam hall, you will get 2 hours to solve this paper. So for speed and accuracy, you need a little bit of practice otherwise you can not answer many questions for which you know the answers.
4. Returning home, you can answer many of them but in the exam hall, you can not. The reason for it is the lack of practice.
5. From my experience, I am telling you you divide the time into two parts, one hour each. For the first one hour, you solve the aptitude or the math section and in the 2nd  hour, you solve the English passage and other questions.
6. Do not stick to a question whose idea is not coming to your mind. Skip it and go ahead. Time management is the key in the examination hall.
7. At least you should answer 50 questions correctly from your point of view. After deducting the marks for the wrong answers, you will be in a comfortable stage to qualify the paper.
8. Those who are exceptionally good at this paper, no need for them to panic. They should exclusively focus on paper-1.
9. My suggestion is, don't take this paper for granted, devote some time for this paper so that you will be absolutely confident for this paper before the exam.

Paper-1 Preparation Strategy

1. This paper is the most important one in the preliminary Examination.
2. 100 questions are asked in this paper. Each question carries 2 marks. 2 marks are awarded for correct answer and [1/4]th of 2 marks i.e 0.5 marks is deducted for the wrong answer.
3. The marks you secure in this paper will be considered for merit if you will be qualified for the main exam or not.
4.  I have mentioned the seven sections above from which questions are asked in this paper. You can see these are very subjective in nature.
5. my suggestion is, go through the past years' papers of paper-1 and try to find out the type of questions they are asking each year. So that you will get the idea of preparing for this paper.
6. From my experience, I am telling you, this paper is in between  UPSC and SSC types of questions. Most of the questions are factual and data-based. We have to byheart certain things which are mandatory.
7. After analysis of the past papers, you will get to know, questions like the constitutional amendment, Headquarters of international organizations, Reports published by different national and international organizations, Joint Military Exercises, Naval and Airforce Exercises, Awards, Books & Authors, Indexes, Important Days and their themes, National parks, etc. are asked each year. So you should prepare these sections very nicely.
8.  The following article will give you an elaborate compilation of these sections in a very lucid way.  Most Probable Valuable Random Facts For OAS Prelim
9. For History, First Cover the Modern Indian History From the Book Spectrum Modern India.  You can read the Old NCERT's book for Modern Indian History if you have. Read the Book once and underline the important ones. For the second time, you read the underlined ones.  After this refer to Tarun Goyal GK or Kiran's One-liner or Lucent GK. to read the compilation. Either of these books is good for revision.
10. Nowadays 5 to 6 questions are asked from medieval Indian History. Only read the compilation from the books I have mentioned above along with Old NCERT Books. If you have time go through the NCERT's books.
11. One or two questions will be asked from Ancient India, so only read the compilation of these books mentioned above.
12. There is no world History in the Preliminary exam, so don't panic.
13. For Geography, NCERT's  Fundamentals of physical Geography & India: Physical Environment, these two books are sufficient. Along with it solve a lot of MCQs from any Objective book. In my opinion, Disha's 10000+ is a good one. 
14. For Indian Polity, M. Laxmikanth is the best book. Read this book multiple times so that you will grasp the basics nicely.
15. Prepare some famous landmark judgments of the supreme court. These are necessary from prelim and main exam points of view. For this, you can read the book " Important Judgements that transformed India" by Alex Andrews George.

1. For Economics, NCERT's A textbook of MacroEconomics is the basic one. You will get many basic pieces of stuff from this book. For other things, you can refer to Ramesh Singh[ No need to read the whole book]
2. You can take the help of Google, Youtube, or your seniors to understand the different concepts of Economics.
3. For Environment & Ecology, Read Chapters 13, 14, 15,16 of Class 12 Biology Book of NCERT.
4. You Can Refer Sankar IAS Environment Book for few advanced things.
5. For General Science, read the compilation from Tarun Goyal GK or Kiran's one-liner or Lucent GK.  Either of these book's compilation for General Science will be sufficient.
6. For Current affairs of national and international importance, make some notes of important points which are generally asked in the Prelim Exam. Current affairs are so vast. You can not read everything. Read some selected and important ones which are absolutely required.
7. For Practice and more clarity of the content, you need to solve a lot of MCQs from any Objective books available. But in my opinion, Disha's 10000+ is a good one.
8. Make habit of reading News Paper Daily. so that you will get yourself updated on different current issues on daily basis, Initially reading News Paper will be boring and time-consuming but once you get acquainted, you will enjoy it.
9. You can read this article for various relevant books and resources for the preparation of the prelim exam. Book list( syllabus wise) for OAS prelim exam 2020
10. Unlike the main exam where questions are predictable, in the prelim, nothing can be predicted. But one thing is for sure, they will definitely ask questions from basics. So revise the basics again and again. You will definitely clear the prelim. Trust me. 

Every year the number of vacancies is different. So how many students will be qualified in the prelim stage to write the main exam is different from year to year. There is an empirical rule for it. Each year the number of students selected/ qualified is equal to 12 times the number of vacancies. Similarly from the main exam, 2 times the number of vacancies of students are selected to the personal interview stage. The marks secured in the main written exam + the marks secured in the personal interview will decide if you get selected for the service or not.

NOTE- Tarun Goyal's Compilation For General Studies is a nice book for Revision