The Role of Coaching in Civil Services Preparation: Insights from an Experienced Mentor (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: A very good morning to all of you. I have been taking many sessions, live sessions, regular sessions. I have been teaching for the last 10-11 years. And a very common question that students have asked me in the last few days and that question is that, sir, how does coaching help in the civil services preparation? That is, what is the role of coaching in IS preparation? How does it help? Now I run an institute, so naturally, I would like to have good students in my institute. But as a mentor, I always look for students who are good, motivated, who are ready to work hard, who have discipline in their life. And if they have the right intent, right intent to crack the examination, they are ready to put hard work, they can persevere, they can persist for one year, two years. So naturally, I will be looking for those students. But it is definitely a good thing that how can coaching help you. And if you ask me, the role of coaching in selection is less, it is the students who want to get selected, their role is much more. But broadly, if I talk about 4-5 pointers, so what are the areas where coaching usually helps the aspirant? The first aspect of coaching is that coaching can help you in regimenting your preparation. In the beginning, your preparation starts with you regimenting and planning. Your preparation has to be regimented, you have to give a good structure, you have to plan. Here, the coaching can help. But again, the coaching where people are experienced, where they are committed, ready to help you. The second part is, of course, coaching can help in the timely completion of the syllabus. Normally, the duration of the course is 10 months to 1 year. So timely completion of the syllabus is another area. In one year, we complete your syllabus in 10-12 months, touching every part of the syllabus. And this is a very important aspect for the aspirant because a student knows that his syllabus is ready. And I just need to focus on value addition, revision, answer writing, giving tests, giving MCQs, preparing for interviews. So the student's focus goes on all these areas. The third aspect of coaching, which I personally believe, is the availability of support system. Every day, I speak to many of my students. Offline, we meet regularly, so naturally, there is a much closer interaction. But even offline, we meet through online sessions, we meet through Zoom calls, we meet through phone calls, conference messages. So a very strong support system, especially for mentoring and guidance, is very important for an aspirant. Another part related to the support system is motivation. Motivation is the key to preparation. A good mentor will always look how to motivate their aspirants. How to motivate their students. Because this journey is long, the journey has ups and downs, and that is where motivation is the key. Motivation never stays external for a long time. Motivation has to come from inside. It has to be internal. And intrinsic and pure motivation will take you to success. Your journey is long. The destination is clear in front of you. But how motivated you are about this journey is very important. Because you need every day motivation. Every day till months, years. And that is where it is very important. In a long journey, support system motivation is very important to drive the preparation. The next aspect, which I personally believe coaching can help, is of course making a good strategy for preparation. Especially if I talk about writing an essay. There are a lot of areas where students feel that this can be done. But a good mentor should apprise the student that you can't take it easy. For example, when a student asks me, Sir, CSAT will be done. I am from an engineering background. I say no. Caution. I say you are making a mistake. If you think you can easily take out CSAT, you are mistaking it. Because CSAT is not so simple as it looks. So if you want to track CSAT, you will have to work hard. It is possible that you are an IITian. Because I have seen IITians not able to crack CSAT. Just because they have not even studied for a single day. They have not studied for a single day. They have not made an effort for CSAT for a single day. If they had given 2-3 mock tests, then CSAT might have been done. But I have seen very good students doing that. Selection students make such mistakes. So it seems that you have not understood the preparation. And that is where it is important, a good mentor to guide. He gives you a strategy and also gives you a caution. A word of advice. That this is doable, this is not doable. So these are the ways in which I can say that coaching can help a student in general. And if you want to get all these inputs. Content, booklet, material. Study well. All these things are part of a good coaching. But I am more, I think more beyond that. I think mentoring and guidance. Like a constant anchor, you feel that there is somebody I can speak to. If I have any issues, I can ask Sir or Ma'am. I can discuss my issues. And naturally, strategy and planning will definitely help you in a long way to grab the exam. So all these things are important. And I am giving you all these things as an input. Now people who are targeting next year. Time is ripe. You should start evaporation right now. You should not wait. This COVID is going to go on. You should start evaporation immediately. The early bird gets its food first. So start as an early bird. And remember, if you are not doing, somebody else is. If you are not preparing, someone else is doing. And he or she might be able to make it. So that is all for today.