Habits are created slowly and gradually. It’s time to follow a new effective routine that will help you better retain material, manage your time and even help you improve your concentration and focus. Making an effective routine can enhance your learning style, develop a good study routine and start achieving your goals.

Many people have trouble with their habits because they don’t follow effective routine “system” for sticking to them. It’s easy to forget about a new routine when your day is full of dozens of tasks and personal obligations. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution to this problem. If you follow an “effective routine” every day, you’ll create a short ritual where you can complete a number of small habits that can improve your life.

Every day we get up, go to work, go home, and go to sleep. Maybe our routines aren’t quite that dull, but they’re rarely perfect. Whether you feel the need to get more done or just feel better in general, we’ve got suggestions to help you upgrade your effective routine.

The trick here is knowing which habits to include in your Effective Routine.

Perform Your Most Important Tasks

Our natural willpower is highest in the morning, which makes it the perfect time to perform your most important tasks; that is, the things you want to do, but never seem to find the time for. Incorporating your most important tasks into your morning effective routine is a surefire way of ensuring they have a chance of getting done.

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Routines Allow You To Tune Into Life Cycles

Life moves so fast these days that we barely have time to notice our own transformation. Everything that goes on outside of us goes on inside too. That means that inside and out, you’re changing as much as your environment changes from day to day and season to season.Routines actually allow us to observe the changes in the seasons. And perhaps even better than that, effective routines provide an opportunity for us to witness and celebrate our own transformation!

Don’t Multitask

Multi-tasking in the morning effective routine, when you have lots of work to do, tons of energy, and it feels like you can do two or three things at once is tempting, but it sets your whole day back. Multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time. Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can only focus adequately on one thing at a time. When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.

Say “No”

Saying “No” to a new commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfill them while your mind is fresh. “No” is a powerful word that will protect your precious mornings effective routine. Learn to use “No”, and it will lift your mood as well as your productivity.

Assign times to your to-do list, and monitor your progress against your goals

To-do lists are helpful for making sure you don’t forget anything, but beyond that, they can be misleading. It pushes you to avoid multi-tasking in order to complete things within the allotted time. It also shows you what is and isn’t feasible so that you can prioritize your day accordingly. Look at what you’ve done so far with a critical eye. If you realize you’re behind schedule or doing a shoddy job, it’s important to adjust your goals or your work ethic so that you can move intentionally through your day.

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Don’t attempt to cram all your studying into one session.

Successful students typically space their work out over shorter periods of time and rarely try to cram all of their studying into just one or two sessions. If you want to become a successful student then you need to learn to be consistent in your studies and to have regular, yet shorter, study periods.

Choose a workout split that fits your ideal routine.

Once you’ve figured out what the ideal workout routine for you, the next step is to pick a workout split that not only allows for that ideal workout routine to be reached, but a workout split that will fit perfectly within your daily/weekly schedule and life.

Routines Relieve Stress

Most of us experience some form of stress all day every day, thing is we no longer even recognize it as stress. Routine can help to reduce the stress in some of these situations, by providing a mental/emotional anchor that in a lot of cases can turn out to be a lifeboat!

Get Enough Sleep

Getting enough sleep the night before is so important when you’re creating your effective routine, as waking up too late to do anything other than throw on some semi-clean clothes and run out the door will never result in a morning to look forward to. If you want to create an effective morning routine, you need to get enough sleep.

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The Union Public Service Commission Conducts Exams for selection into IAS, IPS, IFS and other allied services. Here is the list of the the UPSC Syllabus for UPSC Prelims and UPSC Mains. Knowing the UPSC Syllabus is key to begin your preparation for UPSC Exam.

UPSC Syllabus – Preliminary Examination

UPSC Syllabus of Preliminary Exam consists of two compulsory papers of 200 marks each  (Paper I and Paper II) and carries a maximum of 400 marks. The Preliminary Examination is meant to serve as a screening test only; the marks obtained in the Preliminary Examination by the candidate who are declared qualified for appearing in the Main Examination are not  counted for final ranking; it is just for the qualification for Mains Exam.

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UPSC Syllabus for Paper I of Prelims

• Current events of national and international importance.
• History of India and Indian National Movement.
• Indian and World Geography – Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development-Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialization.
• General Science.

UPSC Syllabus for Paper II of Prelims

• Comprehension.
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills.
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability.
• Decision-making and problem-solving.
• General mental ability.
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. – Class X level).

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Note 1: The CSAT  or Paper-II of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination will be a qualifying paper only with a minimum of 33% to be secured to sit for the Civil Services (Mains) Exam.

Note 2: The questions in both Paper-I (current affairs) and Paper-II (aptitude test) will be of multiple choice, objective type for 200 marks each and the time allotted for each paper is two hours.

Note 3: It is mandatory for the candidate to appear in both the papers of Civil Services (Prelim) Examination for the purpose of evaluation. Therefore a candidate will be disqualified in case he or she does not appear in both the papers of the (Prelims) Exam.

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UPSC Syllabus – Mains Examination

UPSC Syllabus of Main Examination consists of written examination and an interview test. The written examination consists of 9 papers of conventional essay type in the subjects out of which two papers are of qualifying in nature. Marks obtained in compulsory papers (Paper I to Paper VII) and in Interview for Personality Test are counted for ranking.

Candidates will be alloted to the various services keeping in view their ranks in the examination and the preference expressed by them for the various services and posts.

The written examination will consist of the following papers:-

Qualifying Papers:

Paper-A, Marks – 300

(One of the Indian Language to be selected by the candidate from the Languages included in the Eighth Schedule to the Indian Constitution).

Paper-B, Marks – 300

English

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Papers to be counted for Merit

Paper-I, Marks – 250

Essay: Candidates may be required to write essays on multiple topics. They will be expected to keep closely to the subject of the essay to arrange their ideas in orderly fashion, and to write concisely. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

Paper-II, Marks – 250

General Studies – I: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.

• Indian culture will cover the salient aspects of Art Forms, Literature and Architecture from ancient to modern times.
• Modern Indian history from about the middle of the eighteenth century until the present- significant
  events, personalities, issues.
• The Freedom Struggle – its various stages and important contributors /contributions from different
  parts of the country.
• Post-independence consolidation and reorganization within the country.
• History of the world will include events from 18th century such as industrial revolution, world wars, redrawal of national boundaries, colonization, decolonization, political philosophies like communism, capitalism, socialism etc.- their forms and effect on the society.
• Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India.
• Role of women and women’s organization, population and associated issues, poverty and developmental issues, urbanization, their problems and their remedies.
• Effects of globalization on Indian society
• Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism.
• Salient features of world’s physical geography.
• Distribution of key natural resources across the world (including South Asia and the Indian subcontinent); factors responsible for the location of primary, secondary, and tertiary sector industries in various parts of the world (including India).
• Important Geophysical phenomena such as earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanic activity, cyclone etc., geographical features and their location- changes in critical geographical features (including waterbodies and ice-caps) and in flora and fauna and the effects of such changes.

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Paper – III, Marks – 250

General Studies- II: 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.
• Separation of powers between various organs dispute redressal mechanisms and institutions.
• Comparison of the Indian constitutional scheme with that of other countries .
• Parliament and State Legislatures – structure, functioning, conduct of business, powers & privileges and issues arising out of these.
• 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.
• Appointment to various Constitutional posts, powers, functions and responsibilities of various
  Constitutional Bodies.
• Statutory, regulatory and various quasi-judicial bodies.
• Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.
• Development processes and the development industry-the role of NGOs, SHGs, various groups and associations, donors, charities, institutional and other stakeholders.
• 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.
• Issues relating to development and management of Social Sector/Services relating to Health,
  Education, Human Resources.
• Issues relating to poverty and hunger.
• Important aspects of governance, transparency and accountability, e-governance- applications, models, successes, limitations, and potential; citizens charters, transparency & accountability and institutional and other measures.
• Role of civil services in a democracy.
• India and its neighborhood- relations.
• Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests.
• Effect of policies and politics of developed and developing countries on India’s interests, Indian diaspora.
• Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate.

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Paper-IV, Marks – 250

General Studies-III: Technology, Economic Development, Bio diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.

• Indian Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilization of resources, growth, development and employment.
• Inclusive growth and issues arising from it.
• Government Budgeting.
• 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.
• 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; economics of animal-rearing.
• Food processing and related industries in India-scope and significance, location, upstream and downstream requirements, supply chain management.
• 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.
• Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and
  issues relating to intellectual property rights.
• Conservation, environmental pollution and degradation, environmental impact assessment.
• Disaster and disaster management.
• Linkages between development and spread of extremism.
• Role of external state and non-state actors in creating challenges to internal security.
• 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.
• Security challenges and their management in border areas-linkages of organized crime with
  terrorism
• Various Security forces and agencies and their mandate.

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Paper-V, Marks – 250

General Studies- IV : Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude

This paper includes questions to test the candidates’ attitude and approach to issues relating to integrity, probity in public life and his problem solving approach to various issues and conflicts faced by him in dealing with society. Questions may utilise the case study approach to determine these aspects. The following broad areas will be covered:

• 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.

Paper-VI, Marks – 250

Optional Subject – Paper I

Paper-VII, Marks – 250

Optional Subject – Paper II

Candidates may choose any one optional subject from amongst the list of subjects given below.

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List of Optional Subjects for Mains Examination

1. Agriculture
2. Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Science
3. Anthropology
4. Botany
5. Chemistry
6. Civil Engineering
7. Commerce and Accountancy
8. Economics
9. Electrical Engineering
10. Geography
11. Geology
12. History
13. Law
14. Management
15. Mathematics
16. Mechanical Engineering
17. Medical Science
18. Philosophy
19. Physics
20. Political Science and International Relations
21. Psychology
22. Public Administration
23. Sociology
24. Statistics
25. Zoology
26. Literature of any of the following languages: Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santhali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu and English.

NOTE: the expression “Qualifying” suggests that if one does not get 33% in the qualifying subject s/he is not entitled to get final result from UPSC.

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UPSC Syllabus – Interview/Personality Test, Marks 275

• Candidates who qualify the UPSC Mains Exam  move to the next and final phase called ‘Personality Test/Interview’ in which s/he is interviewed by a Board that has before them a record of his/her career. He/she will be asked questions on matters of general interest. The object of the interview is to assess the personal suitability of the candidate for a career in public service by a Board of competent and unbiased observers. The test is intended to judge the mental calibre of a candidate. In broad terms, this is really an assessment of not only his/her intellectual qualities but also social traits and his/her interest in current affairs.
• Some of the qualities to be judged are mental alertness, critical powers of assimilation, clear and logical exposition, balance of judgement, variety and depth of interest, ability for social cohesion and leadership, intellectual and moral integrity.
• The technique of the interview is not that of a strict cross-examination but of a natural, though directed and purposive conversation which is intended to reveal the mental qualities of the candidate. Candidate can give preference of the language in which they may like to be interviewed. UPSC will make arrangement for the translators.
• The interview test is not intended to be a test either of the specialised or general knowledge of the candidates which has been already tested through their written papers. Candidates are expected to have  an intelligent interest not only in their special subjects of academic study but also in the events which are happening around them both within and outside their own state or country as well as in modern currents of thoughts and in new discoveries which should rouse the curiosity of a  well educated youth.

Total Marks for Written Examination – 1750 Marks

Interview/Personality Test – 275 Marks

Grand Total – 2025 Marks

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