Winners choose their top 3 states for judiciary before starting preparation.

Due to variations in the syllabus of every state, it is important to choose your states of priority and pursue state-specific preparation.

90% of the candidates attempt every judiciary exam that is notified for the sake of practice. 

The problem is that everytime a judiciary exam draws near, their focus on the mains for their preferred state of priority goes off track, as they start focusing on the upcoming state prelims.

Those who choose their states of priority instead are able to get an advantage as they stay focussed on their mission.

In judiciary preparation, since the syllabus is vast, apart from starting early, you can get an advantage by narrowing down your scope of work and staying focussed on your plan. 

That is why you must shortlist your states of preference so that you do not go off track later, make your preparation unmanageable and sabotage your own chances of success.

We support our students to do 1-on-1 identification of their preferred states.

How many states should you prepare for? 

We have identified the optimal number to be 3 states. We advise our students to prepare for 3 states. You can do this in your 5000 hours limit.

Preparing for only 1 state is very risky. 

• If in that year the seats are not announced, or there is an unexpected shift in the paper pattern, or you just had a bad day, you will end up losing time. 
• The next exam may very well be after 2-3 years. 
• If you intend to attempt only one state judiciary exam, it may amount to casting your net too narrow. 

Preparing for more than 3 states is not realistic either. Your preparation can become unmanageable.

• The syllabus has a few key differences in every state – ranging from local laws, minor subjects, languages, variations in GK, reasoning, etc. Expect at least 30% time to be added for your preparation per additional state, which is quite substantial. 
• Paper pattern of each state is different, even for the common subjects. You will need to dedicate enough time to practise state-specific mocks. 
• You will need more time than 5000 hours, and also you are severely increasing the pressure on yourself. 

So, 3 states is ideal.

How to select the right states? 

Narrow down your top 3 states based on the following criteria: 

1. Have sufficient seats been announced in the past five years? As far as possible, 2 of the states should be those where more than 100 vacancies have been announced in the past 5 years. 

2. Has the exam been held consistently? At least once in two years?  

3. Which states have the maximum number of common subjects? 

4. Shortlist the states for which the language component is common. Do not learn a new language from scratch. Arrive at a list of 4-5 states.
5. Don’t attempt exams for states whose local language you do not know, except for maybe getting a feel of the exam environment. 

• For example, if you do not know Tamil, attempting to crack the Tamil Nadu judiciary exam is not a realistic idea for you, because it has a translation from English to Tamil. 

• This is very logical because in lower courts you have to deal extensively with a local language.

• It takes a very long time to learn a new language, and it can derail your entire preparation even for your state of preference. 

• If you know how to speak in Hindi, read and understand the language and yet it just needs some more improvement to clear the exam, 100-200 hours of prep may be enough to clear a state where you will be tested on Hindi. 

6. If your Hindi is not very good, and you do not know any other regional language, attempt the exam in a state where there is no dedicated Hindi paper, but only a translation question of 10-20 marks. This will be easier. Here’s a list of such states: Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu Kashmir, Andhra Pradesh (English to Telugu translation or Hindi translation only)

7. If you don’t know Hindi and are also not conversant with any regional language, here are the states you should attempt the exam in: Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Goa, Telangana 

8. If you speak a non-Hindi local language, for example Marathi, Gujarati, Punjabi, Telugu etc, your top choice will be that particular state where your vernacular language will get tested.

9. This is the state of highest priority for you. This is where you will face lowest competition as well as other good candidates from other states who do not know this language cannot compete with you.

10. You would still appear in two more states that may have syllabus closest to your primary state, and where you do not need to learn a regional language, or whose vernacular language you can learn fast – just for the translation question. 

Based on this assessment, finalise your list of top 3 states. 

Perform this exercise on Day 1. Do it today if you are attempting the judiciary exam and haven’t already performed it.     

You can choose your top 3 states provisionally right away!  

Here is the syllabus for all the states. Please choose your 3 states according to this. 

Do you notice how much sharper it makes your preparation? 

Imagine that you have such guidance for everything you do for judiciary prep. 

Every strategy, every micro adjustment in the judiciary exam has a final bearing on your preparation and the outcome.