Is Coaching Needed For Clearing UPSC Prelims

I am Abhishek. I remember that when i had joined coaching for UPSC Prelims-Cum-Mains in October 2004 for General Studies and Psychology, i was always running against the time and for a long time there was no sense of direction as to what to read and from where to read.Many aspirants ask that which is the best coaching institute and when should we take coaching etc etc.Well, there are no easy answers, when i took coaching Vajiram & Ravi used to be the final word in GS coaching and it still continues to attract students in droves.Though in the past three-four years others like ALS-Interactions and Shriram have also come up alongwith the usual suspects Chanakya and Rau's. But remember that any coaching institute by itself is no guarantee that you will clear prelims,but yes it will give you a sense of direction and make you aware of the competition that is out there.So,whether you take coaching or no coaching is entirely your decision, my advice would be to go for coaching if u really lack a sense of direction and have money and time to invest.Otherwise self-studies under right kind of guidance can be as effective if not more so.

Some suggestions For Clearing UPSC Prelims:
1.Don't go by the tall claims made by institutes, many of these claims are fake.
2.Do your own survey,take help from aspirants who have already taken coaching in deciding on a particular institute.
3.Don't take a hasty decision by just attending one or two sample classes,ask people who have done the entire course and how they felt about the coaching quality.
4.Coaching like any other instrument can do you good as well as harm depending on how you make use of it.All 300 odd students would be taught the same thing in the same manner, so it would be upto you to make the difference and come up trumps.