Coaching for UPSC CSE Exam is required or not?

No, Not Required.

I know many people including myself who have cleared this exam without any classroom coaching. IAS coaching centers claim hundreds of selection every year which are completely false. As many of the aspirants during CSE journey give mock interviews, enroll for test series and e-magazine. These coaching walas claim full credit of success of these aspirants when they clear the exam. But reality is very different. Hardly 10% are enrolled for classroom programme. I prepared all by myself, sitting at home, and cracked the exam in the Both attempts. I don’t endorse classroom coaching. Here’s why -

(1) Internet is the greatest leveller for this generation. Be it Delhi, Manipur, Chennai or Mumbai, aspirants from all across the country can now access ALL the relevant information and study material for IAS via the internet. There are many people like me who have been uploading the booklist, online sources and strategy on internet.

(2) As this year’s CSE Prelims paper has demonstrated, attending coaching is not really necessary. Many Famous magazine have failed miserably. Also in the Mains papers of last 3 years, General Studies has mostly been centered around current affairs and common sense based static portion questions which any genuine aspirant can answer based on self preparation.

(3) Joining a coaching centre is no guarantee of anything! In most of these places, you will have attend classes in crowded rooms, get taught by substandard teachers and made to pay exorbitant fees. And even after doing all that, it will mainly be your self-driven efforts that will decide your fate in UPSC CSE. Even toppers who have attended coaching centres have stressed on the fact that these centres can not help you beyond a certain extent.

(4) Attending coaching takes away a lot of time in the day, which can easily be invested in self study.

(5) People like Mrunal are doing a brilliant job by providing immensely useful educational videos absolutely free of cost. I myself would endorse that plz watch geography and economy videos on mrunal patel youtube channel. There is almost unanimous consensus among toppers and aspirants that his videos on Economy (GS Paper 3) are the best in the business.



Instead you can invest in TEST SERIES for answer writing practice. But don’t get enrolled until you have finished your syllabus once and attained enough knowledge so that you are ready to replicate in on piece of paper.

However, for those who have the time, money, resources and interest to attend coaching, you might as well go ahead and try it out. Those who are unable to attend/afford such coaching, you must know that you are as good as the others to crack the exam. I can say this from personal experience

PS: I completely agree with views of Debotosh sir.