[Official] SFG 2024 Level-1 Discussion & Queries thread

Dear Students,  

SFG 2024 Level-1 will be starting from 26th December 2023, and it is the ideal time for encountering challenges in clearing one's  Prelims exam and prioritizing one's Prelims exam preparation.

The Select Focus Group test series has been designed exactly according to the demand of the UPSC CSE Prelims Examination.

In Level 1 the focus will be upon-

• Complete chapter-wise coverage and revision of the NCERTs of different subjects including the conceptual as well as the factual aspects.
  
• Covering comprehensively static part of General studies Paper-1 for Prelims 2024 over 45 tests.
  
• The pattern, difficulty level and quality of the questions which will be similar to UPSC CSE Prelims Examination Paper.
  
• Developing analytical acumen through interlinked and multi-dimensional questions.
  
• Developing the art of solving Prelims examination questions.
  
• Helping the aspirants in consolidating and revising their knowledge acquired during their course of preparation. 

What is Select Focus Group / SFG and How it works ?

• Select Focus Group ( SFG ) is a small group of students who are selected by ForumIAS every year for coaching them to clear the UPSC Prelims Examination. Almost all  candidates selected, and retained consistently in the group has cleared the Prelims examination in the past including Rank 1 Ishita Kishore and Rank 4 Smriti in CSE 2022
  
• Top 100 Students from Offline mode will be selected for the Select Focus Group (SFG) and the rest who clear the cut-off of the Entrance Test will be selected for Reserve List Group (RLG), who will be required to report at 7AM everyday 6 days a week to write an hour long test based on a pre-planned syllabus , followed by discussion on the same, at no additional cost.
  
• Candidates who are unable to make it to the SFG, will be maintained in a Reserve List, who can also write the tests, but will not be allowed to take classes.
  
• Tests are conducted daily and results are provided within 12 hours of test with Name and Rank list for candidates and parents to evaluate their daily performance. On the basis of ranks, about 50% of bottom performing students from SFG are migrated to the reserve list on a weekly basis, and an equal number of students from reserve list ( RLG) are moved into SFG. The decision of management in this regard is final and not subject to dispute. Please note that this migration is done not keeping in mind the overall merit list but moving away bottom 50% from SFG and picking up an equal number of people from RLG. Thus those who may be getting more than RLG students , but are bottom 50 in SFG will be moved to RLG.
  
• Every month, the bottom 10% or so non-performing students are eliminated from the program to maintain the quality of competition.
  
• All candidates writing the CSE 2024 are eligible to apply for the entrance test.

Application Procedure and Fee Structure & Details:  

• The program will commence from 26th December 2023, admissions to which will be entrance test based. The Entrance Test-2 which was previously scheduled for 17th December 2023 has been postponed to 20th December 2023.  The results of the Entrance Test will be announced by 23rd December 2023.
• SFG 2024 Level-1 Entrance Test-2 for English Medium students will be conducted on 20th Dec. 2023 at 9:30 AM and for Hindi medium students it will be conducted on 21st Dec. 2023 at 9:30 AM.
  
• Admission to the SFG and RLG are based on the rank of the candidate in the merit list of the SFG Entrance Test. Students can apply for the program by registering for the Entrance Test.
  
• Candidates can register by visiting  https://academy.forumias.com/sfg/ . The candidate must appear for the entrance test on the designated date and time, subsequent to which he/she will be admitted to the Select Focus Group or the Reserve List Group.
• SFG will be conducted in both online and offline mode. In online mode, students will invariably be part of the RLG and not SFG.
  
• 100 students will be selected for SFG. The remaining students will be selected for RLG. The rank list of online and offline students will be published separately. 
  
• The course duration is of about two months and fees is charged on a monthly basis. Fees for the full duration of the program cannot be paid at one go.
  
• Candidates selected for SFG will have to pay a monthly fee of Rs. ( To be decided )  and those in the reserve list will have to pay a monthly fee of Rs. ( To be decided ). Fees are to be paid once the candidate is selected for the program. A fee of Rs. 20 is to be paid additionally for a physical I-Card by all Offline students.

Important Dates and Updates: 

• SFG 2024 Official Noticeboard: https://forumias.com/blog/sfg/
• Daily study plan of SFG 2024 Level-1 Click Here
  
• SFG Program Starts: 26th December 2023 | 7 AM

Please Note:

• If you have any clash with any other exam, you will get an opportunity to write the second entrance exam. Only those students will have the opportunity to write the specific entrance who will email other exam hall ticket to farej@flaviant.com.
• SFG will be conducted in both online and offline mode. In online mode, students will invariably be part of the RLG and not SFG.
• The tests will be supplemented with comprehensive discussions.
  
  

Here are some updates with respect to the SFG 2024 Level-1 Entrance Test:

• The duration of the test will be 1 hour. It will have both GS and CSAT questions.
  
• There will be 50 questions. For every correct question, there will be 2 marks, and for incorrect questions, there will be a negative marking of -0.67
  
• It is expected that candidates will have gone through the basic books and are aware of the concepts across different subjects.
  
• For GS part, you can expect a judicious mix of questions from Polity (10 Questions), Economy (9 Questions), Indian History and Art & Culture (9 Questions) and Indian geography (6 Questions). For Current Affairs (6 Questions), questions will be asked from the last 3 months i.e., August, September and October 2023.
  
• For CSAT part, a total of 10 questions from Reading Comprehension, Reasoning, and Aptitude will be asked. The previous year's question paper from 2013 can be used as a reference point for preparing these topics.
  
• The entrance test will check the aspirant’s problem-solving aptitude within the provided time.

Note: Admissions to the SFG / RLG Group will only be on the basis of the merit position of the candidate in the entrance test.  

No admission will be granted to the candidate without appearing for the Entrance Test.