IAS officer shares dark side of UPSC exam, gives valuable inputs for aspirants

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IAS officer shares dark side of UPSC exam, gives valuable inputs for aspirants

An anonymous IAS officer shared candid insights and harsh truths about the UPSC exam in a viral Reddit post, offering valuable advice for aspirants. The officer discussed success odds, study hours' effectiveness, financial challenges in service, and tips on handling preparations.

Published by admin | December 20, 2025

In a candid Reddit post, an IAS officer from a recent batch offered valuable insights for aspirants and shared a few harsh truths about the prestigiousUPSC examthat has now gone viral. Speaking anonymously, the IAS officer shared his two cents, especially for those who forget everything for UPSC.

“This is a very cruel examination where chances of success are next to none. Even if you make it to the interview stage, one in three make it to the final list. IAS is the best job in the country. No job comes even close to what the IAS offers to any middle class person in India. But also be aware of the dark side of this exam,” the anonymous user shared.

He continued, “The scariest part is that more number of hours studied or efforts made are no guarantee for better performance in subsequent attempts. Your chances don’t increase with more hours of study. Qualitatively, studying the same syllabus year after year does cause brain rot and declines the capacity to think quickly, and promotes vomit of rote of notes, none of which are conducive to better performance in mains.”

“There are many challenges in the service. It is hard to make ends meet in a salary of 63k in hand. Harder if you’re married, not easy to maintain a decent house and wear decent clothing. Most of us are living paycheck to paycheck,” his post read.

This apart, he/she also shared a few free gyaan for fellow aspirants:

1. Don’t make Coaching centres richer, they make wild claims to ensure selection etc. Every selected candidate has applied their own brain in preparation, not depended on spoon-feeding by these institutes.

2. Coaching centres will never tell you these harsh truths about exam and selection. Don’t get bogged down by these numbers but just know the reality and the competition you are facing.

3. Don’t take a career break of more than 2 years for UPSC. Extend by another year if interview. Not more than that in any case. You severely affect your employment chances and high chances you’ll be depressed looking at peers with non-upsc preparation paths.

4. Even during prep, enrol in a masters degree preferably to avoid resume gaps.

5. Don’t take this exam to your ego or judge yourself based on your results here. Carry on with life as usual after 2 attempts.

6. Work for a couple of years in my opinion before preparing for this exam. It will boost your self confidence because of financial independence, non-fresher resume advantage if you have to return to non-upsc profession, and a general sense of maturity that will help you to deal with the IAS work life balance.