KSG IAS Fees 2024, Admission Counseling and Classroom Review - KSG 10-month Foundation Course

December 18, 2023

10 Minutes

Introduction

Unlocking human potential has always been a core principle at Josh Talks. With the growing number of UPSC coaching institutes and the influx of questions from aspirants, we decided to assist in their preparation journey by providing preparation guidance, and evaluating and recommending the best coaching platforms.

Noticing that most online reviews rely on internet data, I, Shivom Sharma, a Content Strategist, took on the role of an aspirant to get hands-on experience. I personally visited and reviewed leading coaching institutes in Delhi, such as Drishti IAS, Vajiram and Ravi and NEXT IAS. This time, I explored KSG, a reputable institute founded by Dr A R Khan, also known as Khan Sir. KSG India is renowned for its teaching approach and mentorship. Let's dive into the blog to discover more about KSG.

Location and Infrastructure

So, there I was, parking my car across the street from KSG IAS, located on the prime and busy high street of Old Rajinder Nagar. Stepping into the admission office, a friendly security guard pointed me to the admission desk. The counselor welcomed me and led me to her office, where she explained the course details and other information to me.

It is to be noted that the admission wing of the institute was situated here but the classrooms were in another building, in a street across the road. The building was just 30-50 meters away from the admissions office.

Admission Counseling

As we started chatting, I spilled the beans about my past preparation journey and having only a few attempts left. I elaborated my ambitious plan for UPSC CSE 2025 and made it clear that I needed a trial class to make up my mind. With only 10 minutes before the next trial class, she jumped into explaining all the course details. She recommended taking KSG’s 10-month Foundation Course, the latest batch of which was to start 10 days from the day I was there. Among the various courses KSG offered, including the Advanced Foundation Course and KSG Online Learning, she pointed me to this one, considering my limited attempts and the target of the 2025 prelims.

I found the counsellor’s explanations to be spot-on. She also took out the KSG’s monthly magazine for current affairs and other resources, including checked papers, handouts and current affairs. Every doubt I had got cleared, and the clarity in her answers made the experience satisfactory.

KSG IAS Courses

KSG IAS provides multiple courses for UPSC preparation and these courses have been designed after keeping in mind the requirements of different sections of aspirants, such as there are separate courses for working aspirants and separate for those who want to wrap up the coaching fast as well as those who want to take it easy yet comprehensive.

• Advanced Foundation Course | Duration: 2 Years

  The course includes foundation and basics of GS, Cognitive Development, Writing Skills Development, Personality Development, Foundation Course for General Studies, CSAT, Essay and Interview. Notably, KSG also provides a free pre-preparation plan to the students with all its courses.

• Foundation Course | Duration: 10-11 Months

  This course includes coverage of General Studies, CSAT, Essay, Test Series (Prelims + Mains) and Interview Guidance along with the pre-preparation plan. This plan was recommended to me so I’ll explain it in detail later in this blog.

• Weekend Course

  This course has been designed for working professionals, who can’t attend regular classes. The course has all the features of the Foundation course, with the only difference being that classes for this course take place exclusively on weekends.

• KOL - KSG Online Learning

  This is a purely online course and the institute provides aspirants a choice to choose between the Advanced Foundation Course and Foundation Course in online mode. It is notable that KSG also provides students with the option to shift from online to offline classes anytime during the course, provided they’re ready to pay the fee difference.

Other notable courses from KSG include

• KSG on Campus
• Distance Learning and Mentoring Program (DLMP)
• NEEV- NCERT for Effective and Early Victory
• AWSDP - Answer Writing Skill Development Program

Course Details (10-month Foundation Course)

Syllabus Coverage

The course covers all the vital aspects of UPSC preparation, including General Studies for prelims and mains, CSAT, Test Series for Prelims and Mains as well as Interview. The institute follows a set strategy of teaching, where the next subject gets started only after the completion of the ongoing subject.

KSG provides a comprehensive coverage of current affairs during its courses. The students receive a weekly compilation of editorials from newspapers, a fortnightly compilation of current affairs and a monthly current affairs magazine called Current Connect so that they don’t miss out on anything that’s happening in the country and around the world.

Guidance and Mentor Support

The institute offers round the year mentor support to the students. These mentors are the students, who have qualified for the UPSC interview at least once. These mentors help students with their academic doubts, preparation problems, time management etc.

Journal Writing and Power Writing

Writing good answers faster is the key to getting good scores in the Mains examination as just having good knowledge is of no use if a student can’t express them well and quickly. To resolve this issue, KSG conducts regular sessions on journal writing and power writing. KSG has divided these into two parts:

• Focus Writing: The students are given different themes and asked to submit their write-ups on them. These writeups then go to the evaluators, who give them titles according to the content.
• Purpose Writing: In this section, the students are asked to write questions based on four keywords, including Evaluate, Discuss, Comment and Highlight. The evaluators review these submissions and provide feedback on the student’s approach.

Pre-Preparation Plan

When you sign up at KSG, they give you a pre-preparation plan based on the course material. This plan is designed to help you understand what UPSC Civil Services Exam expects and the kinds of questions you'll face. The course material for this plan includes analysis of current affairs, sample answers, weekly objective tests, and subjective tests.

Vertical Plan

On the first day of the classroom program at KSG, each student gets a vertical plan. This plan outlines the schedule for both objective and subjective tests that students will take throughout their coaching period. KSG uses this "Retrieval Method" to help students organize their study routine effectively.

Proof of Delivery (POD)

This is also a unique approach of KSG IAS, which involves testing of all the classroom topics according to the UPSC syllabus. Although every UPSC syllabus topic is taught in every coaching institute, the effectiveness of its curriculum can only be evaluated by testing it against the syllabus.

The purpose of POD is to test the effectiveness of its classroom lectures against the UPSC exam. This system also helps students realize if they’re able to use their class modules in a UPSC CSE-style paper or not.

Study Material

Every student enrolled in KSG IAS courses gets a total of 22 books. These books have been expertly developed by their faculty members under the guidance of Dr Khan.

Current Issue Writing Practice (CIWP)

KSG IAS not only provides current affairs compilation but also organizes current affairs tests. Within the first few weeks of joining, the institute starts fortnightly subjective tests based on research assignments. The students are provided research assignments by Dr Khan prior to the test.

Performance Charting

KSG’s Performance Chart is a tracker for each student and helps students check their progress in successive tests. KSG prepares a graph of 30 objective type tests taken by the students of its Foundation courses for this assessment.

EYFB (Earn Your Fee Back)

The students of KSG can take these special monthly tests and if they fulfill the criteria, they can get up to 10% of their course fee refunded.

KSG IAS Optional Coaching

KSG India currently offers optional courses for the following four subjects in ‘Hybrid Mode’.

1. 1. Sociology
2. 2. PSIR
3. 3. History

Although Public Administration optional was also mentioned in their brochure, I couldn’t find its details in KSG’s official website or the print out that they handed over to me. If you’re still confused about selecting your optional, check out my detailed blog on How to Pick the Right Optional Subject for UPSC.

KSG IAS Fees

For GS Courses

For the payment of fees, KSG India also provides options of fee payment in three installments within a period of 3 months. However, if a student fails to make the payment on time, he loses the access to classes.

For Optional Courses

KSG India currently doesn’t mention any live batch for History optional on its website or during admission counseling. The brochure mentions that only the recorded lectures of History optional are available at the moment. The fees have been taken directly from the copy of the plan provided to me by their counselor.

I’ll attach the picture of that original paper provided to me during my visit to KSG IAS at the end of this blog.

KSG IAS Fee Payment Mode and Discounts

KSG IAS accepts payments in any of the following modes

1. 1. Demand Draft
2. 2. Credit Card
3. 3. Debit Card
4. 4. Cheque
5. 5. UPI
6. 6. Bank Transfer

When I enquired about the discounts on the table, the counselor told me that KSG will provide a flat discount of 20,000/- on one-time fee payment. However, on calling them the next day, they were ready to provide the same discount if I opted for installments.

Trial Class Experience

After the counseling, I headed to a Science and Technology lecture by Mr. Ravi P Agrahari, a respected UPSC faculty and the author of Science and Technology for UPSC (McGraw Hill). The session was set for three hours, and, trust me, sitting through such lengthy UPSC lectures is no cakewalk.

To my surprise, the class turned out to be both amazing and fun. Mr. Ravi's way of explaining topics and keeping things interactive with both the in-class and online students was commendable. Just when the class started feeling a bit dull, he'd crack a joke, shifting the focus right back to him. I appreciated how he delved into each topic, highlighting all the UPSC CSE questions linked to it. He made sure to cover each question thoroughly, even dictating essential points for our class notes and linking them to current affairs.

The class covered a range of topics, including ICT issues, WiFi, WiMax, Biometrics, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality, and he explained them quite well. Mr. Ravi also showed various videos, including one from Iron Man, to help explain the concept of Mixed Reality. It's worth noting that all the previous years’ questions related to these topics were compiled in the KSG books, and he discussed each one separately. I walked out of the class feeling pretty satisfied.

Conclusion

When I first stepped into KSG IAS, I didn't know much about their methods or classes. All I knew was Khan Sir's name and that he ran a coaching institute. However, after getting a firsthand experience, I was genuinely impressed. The counseling went smoothly, and I had a chance to check out their course books, exam papers, current affairs handouts, and objective test papers, all of which looked pretty good.

KSG IAS offers several unique features, like the pre-preparation plan, vertical plan, proof of delivery, and a three-tier current affairs coverage, making it a solid choice for UPSC coaching in my opinion. I confirmed the average batch size of 150 with the support staff, which seemed reasonable for the classroom size. While the coverage in a three-hour class felt a bit short, the overall classroom experience was enjoyable, informative, and interactive. If you're on the lookout for good coaching, I'd recommend giving KSG IAS a shot. See if it clicks with you through your own experience.

For preparation tips, you can also check out my blog on How to Prepare for UPSC.

Snapshot of KSG IAS Fees