Many aspirants have constantly asked me one primary question, “how to study for the UPSC exam�. Many of them have several doubts, inhibitions and questions to which they do not find answers easily. This book is meant for such aspirants. This book aspires to be a short, simple and straight forward guide for an UPSC aspirant. The essence of this book is to spread the knowledge of all the ideas that I have amassed during the course of my preparation. I will also talk about all that I have read, heard, taught and have been taught by various people who have helped me in my UPSC journey. I have always liked to talk to students and aspirants about my preparation strategy and methodology but these days due to work commitments it is not always possible. I wrote this book to overcome this obstacle. There has always been the thought of doing something for my aspirant brothers and sisters. Cracking this exam is no easy feat and one can use all the guidance, support and motivation. In the last few years I have met so many aspirants and all of them have a dream, a dream to serve in the capacity of IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS and as other central civil service officers. They have the will, motivation and dedication but they lack guidance. I wrote this book for such students. Initially I had written this book in Kannada. The book received an overwhelming response and many students have told me that it has helped them in many ways. In this edition of the book I have tried to include more aspects about my preparation and have refined the content so as to enable better understanding and faster absorption by students. I have tried to make this book as comprehensive as possible, incorporating all aspects of prelims, mains, interview and many optional subjects.