Relevance / Need of Coaching for GS Mains

fallen_leaves

Hi all,

I was travelling this afternoon and went down to Mukherjee Nagar to catch-up with an old friend of mine. Among a lot else, we talked about the New Mains Pattern and relevance/ irrelevance of coaching for GS Mains i.e. Specific to the new pattern.

As we walked around the market, we realized that a lot of people have already started taking admissions for the "Integrated" GS Prelims + Mains + Essay + Chinese + Blah Blah for 2014 or even the GS Mains - 2013 course. I believe the case isn't much different every other year. We went around to inquire at a few places and were amazed at their "hyper-inflated" fees (Not that we didn't know, but it was different to "hear it from the horse's mouth" Almost everyone is quoting value which are in 6 figure ( 1 Lakh + ) :O

At one of these places, an old man had come down to get his son/daughter admitted and had run out of cash. I assume it was one of those GS - Pre + Mains + Essay + Optional-1 + Optional-2 as the amount of money required was way above what the ATM could dispense in 1 day. What pinched more was how the institute people tried to convince the old man that to become an IAS, all his son/daughter needs to do is "Join their Integrated program"

After this long story, here comes my question. How relevant/useful are these institutes with the *Changed GS Mains* pattern, specifically for 2013 ? Having attended coaching-classes myself, I am not someone who is categorically against coaching-classes as such. What I am against is how many of these institutes *misguide* people. And with CSE Mains - 2013 bringing everyone at baseline-level, ( institutes or students ) how advisable/useful would any of these institutes be ? For 2013, they know as much as I or you know, so what makes them better ?

This thread is *not at all* relevant to Prelims. I had been thinking about it since evening and just wanted your opinions I have decided not to go for any of these classes, solely based on the fact that for CSE Mains-2013, *genuinely* even the RAMs wouldn't know more than Me/You/Anyone!

Apologies for the long story. I just wanted to clear my head by writing over here and getting some opinions! (hopefully)

fallen_leaves

I was talking to another friend who is going for GS classes. At the time of admission, the institute categorically told them that any changes in GS Mains pattern would be covered, and free of cost. However, the institute now wants 28-30K, to teach Ethics (among other things) Irony they say! Lol! People attending GS with me have been querying our institute for a while now, but to no avail!

Eric

this time results will be shocker for sure.much more than 1st CSAT.

fallen_leaves

@Eric Amen to that! I hope you meant a shocker for these institutes and not us :P

Stardust

I think these changes have been made specifically to curb the growing tide of coaching classes which have almost perfected the science of churning out a civil servant. Along with the overhaul of the pattern, I suspect we will also see a significant change in the style of question that will be asked, memorizing Lakshmikanth or Bipin Chandra will no longer cut it.

UPSC wants civil servants who can think and analyze and are not just good at memorizing 1500 pages of readymade notes.

Eric

@fallen
to all those who will waste their time in coaching.

fallen_leaves

@Eric And especially GS-IV (Ethics). I remember reading, how 90% Lawyers flunked in the Advocate-on-Record - Ethics paper. This is with all due respect. I am just quoting an example that reflects/strengthens my opinion about coaching for the New-Pattern! (especially the Ethics paper)

Stardust

For this year at least, there is absolutely no reason to assume that the coaching classes will know what to teach you because they are as much in the dark as any of us.

This would be the best attempt for a first timer because all the ones who have been preparing for 2-3 years have had their progress greatly curtailed with the changes, and most of all, the people who qualified in the last couple of years and were allotted one of the 'lesser' services will not be in a good position to improve their rank this year because the work/training pressure will not allow them to do the necessary work to adapt to the changes as well as they should, when earlier they could just rely on their previously made notes to attempt the civils again.

fallen_leaves

@Eric +1

I think these changes have been made specifically to curb the growing tide of coaching classes which have almost perfected the science of churning out a civil servant. Along with the overhaul of the pattern, I suspect we will also see a significant change in the style of question that will be asked, memorizing Lakshmikanth or Bipin Chandra will no longer cut it.

UPSC wants civil servants who can think and analyze and are not just good at memorizing 1500 pages of readymade notes.

@Stardust1901 Completely agreed!

Eric

@fallen
to all those who will waste their time in coaching.

Coachings had been traditionally good at some static optionals but a big failure when it came to GS. with the weightage of optionals substantially reduced and papers like ethics introduced,they are no good than the aspirants themselves.

all those people with stronghold like literature(hindi)+history+philosophy will be brushed aside(that happened in 1st CSAT also).Goodtime for those with pol science,pub ad,geography and other dynamic optionals.Also those having 2 science optionals previously are nearly out of race.

Arpit

I think this (rather) calls for a discussion if coaching is relevant for Mains at all...

Personally, I subscribe to the opinion that the real need belongs to and can be understood only by the individual him(her)self. Having made it to the interview without any coaching, I have not felt the need for coaching yet. (Although, I may quit my job this year depending on the result and go to Delhi; but that's a different story).

Stardust, above has quite rightly understood the requirement of UPSC in wanting Civil Servants who can analyze.