Commissioner of Police A. Ravi Shankar was delivering a talk for civil services aspirants on how to crack the examination, at the Visakha Public Library.

He was delivering a talk for civil services aspirants on how to crack the examination, at the Visakha Public Library here on Thursday. The session was organised by Visakhapatnam Public LIbrary.

One should first assess their strengths in the subjects and make the right choice judiciously. Thereafter, one should write down their own notes, which will help them to ‘record, retain, reinforce and recollect’, he said.

Mr. Ravi Shankar also advised aspirants to approach the right guide and select the right books for their study material.

Appreciating The Hindu for its content, he suggested to the aspirants to make it a habit of reading the newspaper every day, and make a catalogue of important news items for ready reference.

He also stressed upon time management. “Planning is necessary for time management and some sports and de-stressing hobbies should also be included,” he said.

For the prelims, he stressed on following NCERT books and for the Mains, he advised aspirants to structure and re-frame the answers, as per their understanding.

Sharing his personal experience, he said, “There is an element of luck in cracking the Civils – but luck favours those who help themselves.”

Earlier, secretary of the library D.S. Varma, former Rector of Andhra University and director of CPS, spoke.