How to maximise scores in UPSC Prelims exam - detailed analysis

As I do each year, here is the comprehensive solution to both papers of UPSC Civil Services exam 2016. Each session is of 2 hours.

What you should learn from these sessions 

1. Macro approach to tackling a tough test like this
2. How to budget your time across the 100 or 80 questions
3. Basic test-taking-techniques (TTT)
4. Scan - Search - Select - Solve techniques to maximise your score
5. Staying positive throughout till the last moment
6. Tricks and Test-smarts e.g. using options to quickly get the answer

UPSC Prelims 2016 - Paper I (GS) 
Here is the complete questionwise analysis

UPSC Prelims 2016 - Paper II (GS - CSAT) 
Here is the complete questionwise analysis 

To read detailed analysis, go to this page.
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What is the best mindset while preparing for Civil Services exams?

Well, no doubt, if you wish to be a doctor, you should imagine being in the shoes of one. It helps understand - to some extent - the challenges and the pluses. Similarly, you can try to imagine yourself as a Civil Servant even while preparing for the exams, as that can (to some extent) help you raise the bar from time to time.

The Young Aspirant as the Civil Servant - A Guide

Extreme approach

1. Avoid the Extremes - "All politicians are corrupt. All judges are lazy and slow. All policemen are brutal. All teachers are idiots. All businessmen are profit-hungry". If you have been conditioned to think like this, your preparations for IAS are doomed. This is so because India has had exceptions to the above in all fields. It's only that you haven't read enough to discover those names. Think extreme => Write extreme => Look like an extremist => Fail for sure.
2. Embrace the Truth - Our personal opinions can, at times, cloud our judgement in many matters. For example - most Indians think Pakistanis are bad people, and there is no hope for Indo-Pak relations. But turn the clock back, and you'll discover that our stock is the same. We all descended from the Indus Valley civilisation originally. So if they are bad, we are perhaps bad too. A better statement could be - "Pakistan is a horrible State, though most Pakistanis must be good people, as people are, everywhere". This is a positive way of looking at a rather despondent situation!

Comprehensive analysis of UPSC Mains 2015

Good news!

India's only comprehensive, questionwise, bilingual and detailed analysis of UPSC Mains 2015 is now available. We have prepared a systematic solution, that will give you a thorough insight into how the papers (Essay and all GS papers) were designed, and how you should have tackled them.

Very useful for all upcoming exams, and those students targetting UPSC 2016, 2017 and 2018.

You can buy the Book + Session (DVD) from here
http://ias.PTeducation.com/Mains2015

Enjoy this brief excerpt from the full session -

All the best!

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I don't want to go to Delhi to prepare for IAS exam. Can I make it?

Can you clear IAS exam without going to Delhi? Yes.
Can you stay at home and prepare for IAS exam? Yes.
Do people go to Delhi and crack the IAS exam? Yes.
Do people go to Delhi and fail to crack the IAS exam? Yes.
I started with the range of possibilities we witness every year. So it is safe to say that you can prepare well for the UPSC IAS exam, even while remaining at home (or while working), if you are disciplined enough to stay focussed, sincere enough to prepare structured notes daily, and intelligent enough to realise what's important and what's not. And this discipline + sincerity + intelligence has to be sustained, and not sporadic or spasmodic.

We're with you, even at home

You can also try and get hold of a comprehensive solution for Self Prep that can help you go step-by-step in this long and arduous journey. Such a solution has to go way beyond being just a "collection of books, newspapers and internet content". It has to be a comprehensive solution.

Now coming to the broad and generalised "Delhi-jaoon-ki-nahin" conundrum, here's what I feel:
A complete answer to your question depends on knowing certain things about you:

1. Is this your first attempt? (from the question, it appears so)
2. What is your reading background so far?
3. What is your educational background?
4. How much do you know about the demands of the UPSC exam?
5. Which location do you hail from?

I asked the first question to judge your present state of exposure to the various dynamics of UPSC preparations. If you have written the exam even once, then you surely come to know about (a) the names of top classes in India, (b) the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly about perceptions of people regarding the exam, the teachers, the course materials, and the Optionals, and (c) your own standing vis-a-vis what is needed to crack the Test. So, if you have no idea about what the UPSC prep is all about, going to Delhi is not a bad idea, if you can afford it. A lot of well-intentioned people on this forum and on the internet may aggressively advise you against it because it did not work out for them. But it does work for many people who may not write any answers here! So, it is not proper, IMPO, to totally depend on someone's personal experience of Delhi. That "someone" is not you, and does not share your constraints or resources.