Important UPDATE on Select Focus Group for Prelims 2018

Dear Friends, thank you for showing overwhelming response to the ForumIAS Select Focus Initiative ( SFG ) for Prelims 2018. We announced it last week.

While we would like to accommodate each and every single one of you, we will be limited by human resources , time constraints and attention span to cater to you all. Also, we plan to keep this offline initiative free, hence, it will not be feasible to accommodate a large number of people either online or offline.

We will be selecting 100 Students for the Select Focus Group ( Prelims 2018 )

These students will have access to ForumIAS Mentors and will be guided all throughout the Prelims Process, to ensure that each one of them clears the Prelims examination in 2018. We will do our best.

Selection Mode : The selection will be on the basis of an open competitive examination to be held on January 5 ( Friday ) at ForumIAS Offline Guidance Center in New Delhi.

Since the area is a student area, and hundreds of people do end up thronging the offline center, we require that you register for the Open Test by clicking here.

A registration fee of Rs. 100 will be applicable for the Open Test. Link for the Open Test Registration is provided at the end of this message.

How will the program be conducted?

The program will be conducted in an Offline Mode in New Delhi. You will be given very short syllabus chapters and asked to prepare and come and write a Test at 8AM. The daily Tests are likely to be of 1 hour duration, and you must compete to be on top of it. We’ll make sure you do well.

After the Test, we shall have a post test discussion and guidance session for the next test. The level of Tests will be medium , and most of the questions will be book based – to test that you have read the books thoroughly. Some questions will be thought provoking and will require you to develop problem solving skills going beyond what is given in the text.

The Tests will be conducted Monday to Friday and weekends will be left for you to prepare for the week.

You will also get a weekly report of your performance in that week ( 5 days ) – your average performance. You must consistently been in the top 66% of the group, and it is going to be very competitive.

Note that everyone on the group will be someone who has never cleared Prelims before, and if you cannot beat them in January, how will you beat them on June 3? Everyone will start from an equal footing.

How to prepare for the Test?

The test does not require any specific preparation, but candidates are expected to go through previous years UPSC Papers and should have the habit of reading the Hindu / any ONE newspaper on a regular basis.

Selection Criteria & Process

An Open Offline Test will be conducted on January 5. Those selected will be communicated by email by Sunday, January 7.

We also plan to also maintain a reserve list of candidates, so that if anyone drops out, we should be able to accommodate you – so in case you are planning to take this up, and fear not being able to make it to the top ranks, we may have a place for you – depending on the number of candidates signing up.

Also, candidates who drop out mid-way will be replaced by candidates from the Reserve list.

As of now, we plan to have 100 students in the SFG and maintain 100 students in the reserve list, who can be accommodated in the SFG.

What will be the fees of the program?

The program will not have any course fee associated with it. However, to cover the logistics and stationery cost, we are considering levying a charge . The charges are likely to be less than 20 rupees per day – so that financial burden on you is not there. ForumIAS will bear the burden of the SFG, and SFG students – Top 100 will get 20% discount on ForumIAS Mains Guidance Program – after Prelims – which we are sure you will clear.

Also, the charges will NOT be collected for the full duration of the program, but can only be deposited on a monthly basis – after calculating the cost. In no case will the cost exceed 500-600 per month, we will ensure this. We want to keep this affordable to everyone.

I do not think I can make it.

Trying is always better than not trying. We encourage you to compete and give it to a good fight . We will have something for you, even if you do not make it, we promise ( wink ) So prepare hard. Read the newspaper daily and do past years papers well.

And if you make it to the SFG, it is our responsibility to get you passed 🙂

Refunds

There will be no refunds if you register for the test and dont write it. Also there will be no refunds on charges to be paid on a monthly basis if you are not able to appear for the tests.

Flexibility

This program offers no flexibility and tests can only be written at the designated time. If you miss a test, you will be awarded zero marks. This will bring down your weekly average score.

Tentative Calendar for the Test.

We will be giving about first 4 weeks to Indian Polity . A detailed chapter wise listing will be provided to selected students.

The chapter listing is done in a manner so that is exam oriented – as in the kind of guidance we would give to a sibling who has less time, and wants to clear the Prelims quickly. We would also avoid chapters that may be indirectly important for Mains, but bear no relevance for Prelims.

How to I register for the Test?

The Open Test Can be registered for by clicking on the link below :

CLICK HERE TO APPLY FOR SFG AND REGISTER FOR OPEN TEST( Limited Seats )

Wishing you Success. Do a good job. Work harder than ever before.

Always,

ForumIAS