Friday, 9 September 2016

IAS interview questions and answers (Best of 2016 by UPSC)

The Civil Services Examination conducted annually by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) India is considered the toughest among all the interviews in India and stands third toughest when considered globally. To illustrate some statistics about the level of difficulty the UPSC conducts it's IAS examination. Every year about 2 lakhs aspirants writes the preliminary examination out of which only about 12,000 candidates gets short-listed to write the mains which comprise 6% while 94% gets out of the race in the first round itself. Only 2000 among 12000 aspirants will be invited for the personal interview and about 1000 name will ultimately appear in the final list. So, only 0.5% success and 99.5% failure, what else can be the toughest examination than UPSC Civil Services Examination?

UPSC interview questions are always tricky and require the presence of mind to answer them.

UPSC IAS toughest personal interview questions.

25 toughest UPSC IAS toppers personal interview questions and answers.

Question 1:

Interviewer: have a cup of sugarless tea adding a teasp1oonful of sugar.

Candidate: Initially he got bemused and thought for a few seconds, and added a teaspoonful of sugar into the tea cup and stirred well.
Secondly, he took one more teaspoonful of sugar and ate it to sweeten his mouth.
After sweetening his mouth, he started drinking the cup of tea which made the tea SUGARLESS.
As we all know, we feel sugarless to tea/coffee after consuming sweets.


Question 2:

Interviewer: You have a choice. Do you want me to ask you one very difficult question or ten very easy questions?

Candidate: Sir, ask me the difficult question.

Interviewer: Okay, but still, this question must be bread & butter for you. Find and Pinpoint the Centre of gravity of this table (while pointing towards his workplace table, which had a highly irregular shape).

Candidate: Sir, it's here (while pointing towards a random point on the table).

Interviewer: Explain to me, how did you come to that conclusion?

Candidate: Sir, you said that you will ask only one difficult question!

Question 3:

Interviewer: " What if I call your mother PROSTITUTE ? "

Candidate: The Cool Guy answered with smile on his face " My father is the only one customer..!! He will give a lot of Love in return."

Question 4:

Interviewer: There is one scooter It has 2 tyres and one stepni (spare tyre). Each tyre can run 5 km How long a scooter can run?1
UPSC IAS Interview Questions
Candidate: 3 tyres, each can run 5 km = total 15 km.
However, at any time, you need 2 tyres. Hence, the total maximum distance that can be covered = 15/2 = 7.5 km. How to achieve the maximum distance?

Let the 3 tyres be A, B and C. 
Run on A and B for 2.5 km (remaining: A = 2.5, B = 2.5, C = 5) 
Run on B and C for 2.5 km (remaining: A = 2.5, B = 0, C = 2.5) 
Run on A and C for 2.5 km (remaining: A = 0, B = 0, C = 0) 

Question 5:

Interviewer: You are driving along in your car on a wild, stormy night,
it's raining heavily, when suddenly you pass by a bus stop, and you see three people waiting for a bus:
  1. An old lady who looks as if she is about to die.
  2. An old friend who once saved your life.
  3. The perfect partner you have been dreaming about.
Which one would you choose to offer a ride to, knowing very well that there could only be one passenger in your car?

This is a moral/ethical dilemma that was once actually used as part of a job application.
  • You could pick up the old lady, because she is going to die, and thus you should save her first;
  • or you could take the old friend because he once saved your life, and this would be the perfect chance to ! pay him back.
  • However, you may never be able to find your perfect mate again.
The candidate who was selected had no trouble coming up with his answer. Guess what was his answer?

Candidate: I would give the car keys to my Old friend and let him take the lady to the hospital. I would stay behind and wait for the bus with the partner of my dreams."


Question 6:

Interviewer: Fill this cup with the water. 

Candidate: Poured some water into a cup and it overflowed slightly.

Interviewer: "nervous?" asked the interviewer.

Candidate: "No sir, I always give my 110%".

Q7. How can you drop a raw egg onto a concrete floor without cracking it?

Ans. Concrete floors are very hard to crack! 


Q8. If it took eight men ten hours to build a wall, how long would it take four men to build it?

Ans. No time at all its already built.

Also Read: Why do most auto rickshaw drivers sit on the edge of their seat?


Q9. Approximately how many birthdays does the average Japanese woman have?

Ans. Just one. All the others are anniversaries.


Q10. If you had three apples and four oranges in one hand and four apples and three oranges on the other hand, what would you have?

Ans. Very large hands. 


Q11. How can you lift an elephant with one hand?

Ans, It is not a problem since you will never find an elephant with one hand.


Q12. How can a man go eight days without sleep?

Ans. He sleeps at night.

Q13. Why is it impossible to send a telegram to Washington today ?

Ans. Because he is dead.


Q14. If you throw a blue stone into the red sea what will it become ?

Ans. It becomes wet. 


Q15. What often falls but never gets hurt ?

Ans. Rain

Q16. What is that no man ever saw which never was but always will be?

Ans. Tomorrow 


Q17. What looks like half apple?

Ans. The other half. 


Q18. What can you never eat for breakfast?

Ans. Lunch & Dinner.


Q19. What gets wet while drying?

Ans. A towel. 


Q20. What 3 letters change a girl into a woman ?

Ans. AGE.


Q21. What happened when the wheel was invented ?

Ans. It caused a revolution.


Q22. How is it easy to weigh a fish?

Ans. Because it has its own scales.

Also Read: The Best Online Coaching / Learning for GATE 2017 CS&IT Aspirants

Q23. Why does a bike rest on its leg?

Ans. Because it is too tired.

Q24. The Bay of Bengal is in which state?

Ans liquid (UPSC)


Q25. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday or Sunday?

Ans: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

This are a few UPSC IAS interview questions and answers, there are still a lot of entertaining funtastic stuff in this blog if you have seen all of them then don't forget to subscribe and get all the interesting facts by email as I will keep posting a lots of exciting stuff to keep you entertained, keep visiting funtastic facts and enjoy.
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HINDI MEDIUM GUIDANCE FROM HINDI TOPPER- SANTOSH RAI (AIR 107, CSE 2013)

I had been painstakingly looking for this for quite some time now. A lot of hindi medium aspirants had come to me for guidance and I used to feel sorry for not being able to help them much since I myself didn’t know much about preparation via Hindi medium.
But, finally found Santosh ji and thanks to him for responding to my call on fb and offering to guide the hindi medium aspirants via facebook. His fb profile ishttps://www.facebook.com/santosh.chandra.10 …
Below are his other words of wisdom which I have been able to gather from here and there… For any more queries please contact him on fb.
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Santosh ji’s Marksheet
ESSAY 122 (SC TECH)
GS 1-69
GS 2 67
GS 3 67
GS 4 100
HISTORY 1 116
HISTORY 2 106
MAINS TOTAL 647
INTERVIEW 193 (DAVID SIR BOARD)
TOTAL 840
RECOMMENDED AIR-107
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Santosh ji on Medium of Examination
“still i feel medium doesnt make any difference…….d fact is that less people from hindi r appearing in d exam ………..so r d less results………..plus normally hindi medium ones lack in financial resources generally………then lack of good coaching ……..books……….newspaper etc in hindi……….these r some obstacles………….bt no prob…..where dere is will……..dere is a way…………. dont give up d medium……..there is nothing wrong in hindi medium…….”
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Santosh ji on Books for Preparation
FOR ALL PRELIMS AND MAINS
– HISTORY – modern ncert of 12th for modern india, freedom struggle and india after independence from bipin chandra
– GEOGRAPHY – mahesh bernwal……11th 12th ncert
– polity – laxmikant
– science tech – vivas panorma or spectrum
– economy – any one good book. may be ramesh singh of tmh or lal and lal or even extra issue of pd wud suffice
– environment – bharoocha’s book plus 12th old ncert
– THE CURRENT OF ALL THE SECTOR WILL BE SUPPLEMENT BY READING CHRONICLE AND THE HINDU PLUS FOLLOWINGhttp://MRUNAL.ORG AND LISTENING TO ALL INDIA RADIO NEWS ANALYSIS FROM 9.15 EVENING EVERYDAY.
IMPORTANT: I FELT IT MOST IMPORTANT TO JOIN THE TEST SERIES FOR THE MAINS……..FOUND EXPERT BRAIN OF SYNERGY VERY PRODUCTIVE……..THEIR BEAUTY IS THAT THEY WILL GIVE YOU THE SOURCE AS WELL ……..LIKE FROM WCHICH BOOK WHICH CHAPTER HAVE TO READ FOR A PARTICULAR TOPIC. SO U REALLY DONT HAVE TO LOOK FOR WHAT TO READ FROM WHERE……..U CAN SIMPLY RELY ON THEM
– PLUS ETHICS MATTER IN HINDI U CAN GET THE CLASS NOTES OF ABHAY KUMAR OF SYNERGY…….ITS REALLY GOOD AND COVERS THE MOST OF THE TOPIC……
– FODDER FOR INTERNAL SECURITY U CAN GET THE CLASS NOTES OF MERIDIAN……..SIMILARLY U CAN GO THROUGH THE CLASS NOTES OF NIRMAN OR AASTHA FOR SELECTED SECTOR LIKE ECO AND DIPLOMACY IF U LIKE
– “i didnt take coaching from anywhere for gs……….yes i had gone to discovery and attended 4-5 lectures on indian society in crash course.”
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Is it Possible to Clear With Job?
“some of my friends say dat dey r working or have less time…….i want to share for them dat i was not only working full time but i m married……….since past 6 years having kid 2”
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Santosh ji on “Ideal” Timetable
“frnakly speaking there was no general routine……….but surely whatever time i had after my job eating and sleeping i used 2 devote to d civils…..even i was not studying physically ……….mental preparaton was going on…….so passion to clear d exam was always dere……..neither i got bore anytime nor lost self confidence.”
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Santosh ji on History Optional Preparation
“i think coaching class is gud 4 optional……..i took history class from balyan sir n also did d test series 4m dere………class is ok type…..but test series of balyan sir is excellent……..definitely do that……..regd study material…….i read class notes of balyan sir and manikant sir……..manikant’s class note is really gud………den dere is limitation of class n notes……….so must cover the left over topics of the syllabus particularly some small small topics generally left by d teachers from wtever sources u can………freedom struggle and india after independence of bipin chandra is must……..also follow ignou notes for cultural, economic sections………dere r some chapters like arts n culture of regional kingdoms…….u wil find only in ignou……..for mapping take d manikant’s map booklet……..plus ncert……..take a blank map…..get it laminated……..n practice site location with sketch pen…….u wil b master of it………also update the map from google as some of the sites in manikant or ncert r not pin pointed…….like simpley written ………on the bank of some river…….google dat upto at least district………plus very few sites r wrongly located also or not clear…..so google wil help in pin pointing dat…..plus u wil remember 4 long time………practice map in d beginning itsself not at the end……….bcz at d end…..u have lots of stuff 2 go thr.”
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Santosh ji on Paper Management
“finally……….cover d entire syllabus…….not a single topic sud b left……..must join test series……….in d exam attempt all d questions……..in short questions….try to write point wise instead of para………master the mapping……..it fetch gud marks……..”
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Santosh ji’s Interview in Pratiyogita Darpan August 2014 Issue
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IAS Mains Syllubs for general studies (GS) 1,2,3,4

The questions in Mains will be to check a candidate’s primary apprehension of variety of subjects that will be relevant to the Civil Services career. Hence, it is advised to candidates to go through General Studies Paper with attention to detail before starting their preparations. Here’s a detailed list of General Studies Papers I-IV:
Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society:
  • Indian culture covers the salient features of Literature, Art Forms, and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
  • Modern Indian history include the significant events, personalities, issues during the middle of the eighteenth century until the present
  • Various stages and important contributors and contributions from different parts of the country in ‘The Freedom Struggle’
  • Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country
  • History of the world includes events, forms and effect on the society from 18th century like world wars, industrial revolution, colonization, redrawal of national boundaries, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc
  • Salient aspects of Diversity of India and Indian Society
  • Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and remedies
  • Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism
  • Distribution of key natural resources across the world including South Asia and the Indian sub-continent; factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world including India
  • Effects of globalization on Indian society
  • Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including water-bodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes
  • Salient features of world’s physical geography
Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations:
  • Indian Constitution- historical underpinnings, evolution, features, amendments, significant provisions and basic structure
  • Functions and responsibilities of the Union and the States, issues and challenges pertaining to the federal structure, devolution of powers and finances up to local levels and challenges therein
  • Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries
  • Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions
  • Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these
  • Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various Constitutional Bodies
  • Structure, organization and functioning of the Executive and the Judiciary Ministries and Departments of the Government; pressure groups and formal/informal associations and their role in the Polity
  • Salient features of the Representation of People’s Act
  • Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation
  • Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies
  • Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections
  • Health, Education, Human Resources
  • Development processes and the development industry the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders
  • Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to
  • Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures
  • Issues relating to poverty and hunger
  • Role of civil services in a democracy
  • Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests
  • India and its neighborhood- relations
  • Important International institutions, agencies and fora, their structure, mandate
  • Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora
Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management:
  • Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
  • Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.
  • Government Budgeting.
  • Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
  • Major crops cropping patterns in various parts of the country, different types of irrigation and irrigation systems storage, transport and marketing of agricultural produce and issues and related constraints; e-technology in the aid of farmers
  • Economics of animal-rearing.
  • Food processing and related industries in India- scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
  • Issues related to direct and indirect farm subsidies and minimum support prices; Public Distribution System objectives, functioning, limitations, revamping; issues of buffer stocks and food security; Technology missions
  • Land reforms in India.
  • Effects of liberalization on the economy, changes in industrial policy and their effects on industrial growth.
  • Infrastructure: Energy, Ports, Roads, Airports, Railways etc.
  • Investment models.
  • Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life Achievements of Indians in science & technology;
  • Indigenization of technology and developing new technology.
  • Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment
  • Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights.
  • Disaster and disaster management.
  • Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
  • Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
  • Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security; money-laundering and its prevention
  • Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate
  • Security challenges and their management in border areas; linkages of organized crime with terrorism
Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude:
This paper includes questions to check the candidate’s’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his/her problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him/her while dealing with society.
Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects and covers area:
  • Ethics and Human Interface- Essence, determinants and consequences of Ethics in human actions; dimensions of ethics; ethics in private and public relationships
  • Human Values- lessons from the lives and teachings of great leaders, reformers and administrators; role of family, society and educational institutions in inculcating values
  • Attitude- content, structure, function; its influence and relation with thought and behaviour; moral and political attitudes; social influence and persuasion
  • Aptitude and foundational values for Civil Service, integrity, impartiality and non-partisanship, objectivity, dedication to public service, empathy, tolerance and compassion towards the weaker-sections
  • Emotional intelligence-concepts, and their utilities and application in administration and governance
  • Contributions of moral thinkers and philosophers from India and world
  • Public/Civil service values and Ethics in Public administration- Status and problems; ethical concerns and dilemmas in government and private institutions; laws, rules, regulations and conscience as sources of ethical guidance; accountability and ethical governance; strengthening of ethical and moral values in governance; ethical issues in international relations and funding; corporate governance
  • Probity in Governance- Concept of public service; Philosophical basis of governance and probity; Information; sharing and transparency in government, Right to Information, Codes of Ethics, Codes of Conduct, Citizen’s Charters, Work culture, Quality of service delivery, Utilization of public funds, challenges of corruption
  • Case Studies on above issues
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Get Good marks with less efforts (Written exams)

  1. Do not eat just anything before an exam. : You should not eat any heavy meal for 3 hours before going to an exam. This is because digestion of food requires energy. When you eat food blood supply and flow of oxygen increases to stomach area. The total blood in the body is constant, so the blood that’s supplied to the brain decreases. This is why you feel lazy or sleepy after eating food. This also means that your IQ or brain power decreases for a few hours (2 or 3 hours) after eating.
  2. Do not stay awake for a long time, the night before the exam.
  3. Read your school books and refer to more than one book for accuracy.
  4. Do your homework. You can do homework due tomorrow today and do the ones due next week tomorrow.
  5. Don’t waste your time on computer games or anything else that would waste your precious time.
  6. Sleep is very important to you. It makes you fresh and gives energy
  7. If you are not optimistic and energetic, you will not do your best in your exam. You will get fewer marks than you are capable of.
  8. Gather all your needed stuff (pen, hall ticket, etc..) before sleeping in the day just before the exam.
  9. Do not practice for the exam in the exam itself. Do your job at its full potential at home by exercising from either your worksheets, past exam papers or any suitable source from the Internet. 
Exercising is very important; as you get used to it, in addition to learning more about your exam questions pattern.


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How to Score well in UPSC written (IAS MAINS)

Today I want to share some of the strategies that might help you to score well in civil services exam. When you enter this UPSC examination and decided that this is your goal. First, lot of us will think that this is very hard! But with hard work, which is intelligently done, you can clear this exam very easily.
As you know that this exam is conducted in three stages. First come the prelims exam which is written by more than 5 lakhs people from across the country. So this exam is very exhaustive and it is mainly a screening exam.
So, basically if you see in this exam, every question you have got has four options and you have to select the right option. So more than choosing the right option in this stage, mainly consist of eliminating the wrong answers. So in this way you will be able to get a clear picture. Since UPSC has introduced negative marking, it is better to leave the completely unknown questions and mainly concentrate first on the questions that you know thoroughly, then the questions which you are having some basic guidelines. So this is the basic technique that we have to follow in the Prelims exam.
Other than that "How to prepare for the prelims exam". This is a exhaustive study level exam. Before preparing exhaustively, I will recommend that you study the basic books first thoroughly and then you can go for other books. So what happens is once you read the basic notes thoroughly, you get the basic understanding of the subject. And when you read the other books, you will get the added information.
For attending the prelims exam, make sure that atleast before one month start writing Mock Tests, so that you get to know more number of answers and mainly the Time Management. Because this is where most of us go wrong. So attend lots of mock tests before going into the Prelims/CSAT exam.
Next comes the Mains level, So out of the 5 lakhs people who are writing the Prelims exam, only 10 or 11 thousand candidates will clear the Prelims exam and they are going to write the Mains exam. As we know that Prelims exam is just of a screening nature, so whatever marks you are going to get in the Prelims exam, it not going to count in the final selection. This is a descriptive type examination in which lot of us don't have the basic techniques. It is the mains exam which resides the main marking and you have to get highest marks,so that you are in the list.
So again I want to share some of the strategies that will help you to score better than the others in the Mains exam.
First is, place yourself in the place of the examiner and think that you are correcting nearly 400 to 500 papers each day. So you have to think that how should I present my answers, so that my answer sheet becomes different from the others. So, some of the techniques or success mantras as many people say is present your answers neatly i.e. thepresentation, answer format, underlining, using two colours for writing headlines then the points in such way.
Second is answer to the question. Don't answer what you know about the question, Answer what is asked in question, One more thing where many of us go wrong. For example "Role of Mahatma Gandhi in Indian Independence Movement". We write whatever we know about Mahatma Gandhi or Independence Struggle, and we don't write about theRole of Mahatma Gandhi. So first understand that what is being asked and then answer it accordingly.
Third point that can make a very critical advantage that is "using diagrams", so use lot of diagrams. If you see previous year exam papers, For example, there was a question regarding Partition of India. So most of us will write that India was divided into two parts in 1947 then again 1972 partition took place etc.
Then how a good answer writing approach should be like: How India was present before independence is a map and after independence how the map look like. So this is a very small diagrammatic presentation but it will make very critical or crucial difference in exam and definitely it will fetch more marks as well. So use diagrams, flow charts, present your answer neatly and to the point. And this is how the mains exam can be a very big advantage to you if you want to succeed in this exam.
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