How to clear the MPPSC being a UPSC aspirant?

Almost every student has a backup plan for their career. Especially if someone is preparing for the UPSC exam, he definitely has alternate options like State PSC or maybe other Central Examination. Here I would try to summarise a basic strategy for preparing MPPSC exam while studying UPSC in the following points:

• Study the Syllabus of both the exams and understand the similarities and topics which are common. And complete the common Syllabus first. It will help you in both the examinations.

• Make a schedule giving appropriate time to both the exams and their subjects.

• The current affairs for both the exams are very different, so make sure along with reading it conceptually you are covering the factual Current Affairs as well for the MPPSC Exam. 

• Give special attention to the MP Specific Current Affairs. Because in MPPSC mostly questions are asked from MP perspectives.

• Understand that even the Mains paper of the MPPSC Exam is based on factual information, so do not ignore the facts, the questions that are asked are direct and straightforward in the MPPSC Exam, unlike the UPSC Exam.

• Attempt enough mock tests and previous year papers of both the exams, and do not forget to revise them regularly. (Yes, Revise the solved papers, it’s important).

Finally, you must understand that it is not going to be easy to juggle between exams that are vastly different in their nature, but I assure you that it can be done and you must not lose hope. 

Definitely, UPSC demands more effectiveness and efficiency in the handling of the topics under the syllabus. By effectiveness, I mean you should study them in-depth and understand the concept. In any case, generally, PSC is more concerned about facts and figures. It has less requirement of concept, unlike UPSC.

What I personally believe is that if you want to prepare for both the exams simultaneously, you should study according to the UPSC guidelines because UPSC has much more topics in its syllabus than that of MPPSC. And a good understanding of the issues always makes it a permanent memory. When you are preparing for UPSC, maximum portions of your MPPSC syllabus, I think, are adequately covered. If something remains untouched, that you can put additional effort before the exam. Moreover, the UPSC syllabus covers a maximum of a PSC syllabus, but not vice versa, though their patterns are different.