UPSC and MPSC civil services mains examinations are over now and candidates must be waiting anxiously for the call letter for Personality test. Some of you might be in the relaxing mood after the hectic and tiresome Mains examination preparation phase. Certainly this is not the time to relax, but to optimally utilize it for thorough preparation of Personality test. You might find yourself on wrong foot if you assume that you would be in a position to prepare for Personality test after declaration of Mains examination. The available window period between Mains examination and the Personality test must be utilized in an optimal manner to score good marks in the Personality test. In this article, we shall try to focus on an approach for preparation of Personality test in the civil services examination.

The personality test, which is the final hurdle in your journey towards your dream career is the decisive stage of your competitive examination preparation. The personality test, which is also popularly known as interview test, is the overall assessment of your personality and your suitability to the appointment under consideration. Hence, the interview test nomenclature is a misnomer and the Personality test reflects the correct meaning of this examination stage. The preparation of Personality test for civil services examination should include mainly four areas namely, candidate’s personal details, current affairs, job details and etiquettes and mannerisms, respectively.The civil services Personality test of a candidate may last for approximately twenty to forty minutes, during which you have to prove to the Interview panel about your suitability for the post under consideration. Usually, civil services interview panel is cordial and provides suitable environment for the candidate to express himself on various issues. The interview panel prefers to start the interaction with the candidate by asking questions related to his personal details including the information related to name, family background, native city, state, educational qualification, present and previous jobs, local issues, hobbies and so on. The candidate must prepare this‘known area’ of interview thoroughly, on which questions can be initiated by the interview panel. The examination information sheet which the candidate has submitted while submitting the Mains examination and Personality test form to the UPSC or MPSC includes all the personal details which needs to be thoroughly prepared. Many times apart from the educational qualification related questions, the Interview panel asks questions related to your hobbies. You must be thoroughly updated with the technical aspects as well as the latest trends of your hobbies. We are familiar with the trend amongst candidates about mentioning their hobbies like playing cricket, but I remember one of the UPSC aspirants who had mentioned his hobby as cricket umpiring. It had not only attracted the attention of interview panel but majority part of his interview was related to cricket umpiring. It is important to note here that the same candidate had stood second all over India in UPSC Civil services examination. Apart from preparation on personal details, the candidate should brush up his knowledge of graduation subjects as well as the optional subject in civil services examination. Any blunder in answering these basic questions may create a negative impression in the minds of interview panel.

Second area of focus during preparation for competitive examination is knowledge and analytical approach towards the current affairs. The candidate must be thorough and analytical while giving answers on these questions. Awareness about the various current events, its analysis, remedial measures for the prevailing problems of the nation within the constitutional limits would be appreciated by the interview panel. Third area of preparation for the civil services aspirants is the preparation related to body language and mannerisms. A civil servant must have an officer like quality including the gentleman officer like qualities, smartness, honesty, integrity and a presence of mind. These personality traits can be assessed by the panel, especially by the psychologist in the interview panel. The practice of self talk i.e. practicing in front of mirror and exposure to number of mock interviews can sharpen the qualities of a candidate needed for a good presentation during the Personality test.

The stage of Personality test is not aimed towards testing the knowledge of the candidate but is mainly focused on assessing the suitability of the candidate and his personality for the desired post. This final stage of a competitive examination can easily be tackled with purposeful efforts of a candidate focussed in a right direction. So dear aspirants don’t waste the available time till the declaration of civil services mains examination result and focus your energies on various aspects of Personality test preparation and emerge as the true winner of this battle!

(The author of this article ,Lt Col (Dr) Satish Dhage, is an ex Army officer and has been qualified for IPS (Indian Police Services) through IPS LCE 2012. Presently, he is Director, MGM Institute of Competitive Exams Aurangabad. For any queries or feedback, he can be contacted on email id : drsatishdhage@gmail.com)