You have decided to pursue the Civil Services. Now comes the next big decision — which academy do you join?
You open Instagram. You scroll through YouTube. You walk past hoardings. And everywhere you look, you see confident faces, bold claims, and an overwhelming number of “toppers.”
Social media shows so many ads — and some of them are genuinely inspiring. Everyone does ads. And you get confused.
Then you go to the toppers’ list. And here is where it gets interesting: you will find the same face in multiple academies. The game becomes complicated.
Wait.
Before you make a decision worth months of your preparation and a significant investment of time and money, let us slow down and decode exactly what is happening — and, more importantly, how to choose the right institute.
1. How to Choose the Right Institute
The confusion is real. But the solution is simpler than you think.
Most aspirants make the mistake of choosing an academy based on three things:
- The number of ads they see on social media
- The length of the toppers’ list on the academy’s website
- What their friends or seniors are saying in WhatsApp groups
None of these tell you the truth about an academy’s quality.
What defines the success of an academy? What do you need to ask before joining? It is actually clear and straightforward.
ASK THIS BEFORE YOU JOIN “How many of your PCM batch students cleared the UPSC this year?” PCM = Prelims cum Mains — the foundational batch every academy offers |
That is it. That is the only number that matters.
The Prelims cum Mains (PCM) batch is the foundational course — the most comprehensive service any academy provides. It is where a student joins from the very beginning, builds their knowledge, practises answer writing, and goes through the complete Prelims and Mains test series under one roof.
The number of students who cleared from this batch — not from free interview sessions, not from test series subscriptions, not from random mentorship calls — is the single most honest measure of an academy’s quality.
So, What Should You Look For?
When you walk into any academy — or visit their website — here is your complete checklist:
- Ask specifically about PCM batch clearance rates — not total toppers claimed, not test series students, not interview session participants. PCM batch only. Demand the exact number.
- Speak with current students, not just alumni — real, current students who can tell you what preparation actually feels like inside that classroom, right now.
- Evaluate the faculty by name — who teaches GS Paper II? Who handles Ethics? Who takes your optional? Are they accessible for doubt sessions? Names and track records matter far more than brand.
- Look at the study environment — reading rooms, peer groups, a culture of discipline. Environment shapes your preparation more than most aspirants realise.
- Check the quality of the test series and evaluation — are the questions close to the actual UPSC patterns? Are answer evaluations detailed and personalised? Generic feedback is worse than no feedback at all.
- Understand what interview preparation actually means — not a one-time free session thrown open to non-students. Proper, structured mock interview mentorship built into the programme.
- Ask about the scholarship programme — an academy that believes in its own results will invest in merit, not just in those who can afford to pay.
📌 The Bottom Line on Choosing Right An academy that has genuinely produced results from its PCM batch will answer your question confidently and with a specific number. One that hedges, redirects, or shows you a long toppers’ list without clarifying which service it provided to each aspirant — that tells you everything you need to know. |
2. Why You See the Same Toppers Everywhere
Now, let us decode the toppers’ list problem — because understanding this will save you from being misled.
Many academies claim results and showcase a large number of toppers. And you will find the same figures everywhere. Is this a scam?
Not exactly — but it is misleading. Here is why.
An aspirant depends on many institutes at different stages of their preparation. Each stage involves a different kind of support:
Level 1 | Foundation Phase — The PCM Batch The aspirant joins an academy’s PCM batch. Here they build their foundation, cover the entire syllabus, practise answer writing, and go through full Prelims and Mains test series. This is the most intensive and most consequential phase of preparation — the one that truly defines the academy’s quality. |
Level 2 | Practice Phase — Test Series from Multiple Institutes After building their foundation, aspirants subscribe to test series from various institutes purely for practice. They may take tests from three or four academies at the same time. Each one later claims them as their own result. |
Level 3 | Interview Phase — Free Sessions from Everyone After clearing Mains, most institutes offer free or subsidised mock interview sessions to attract final-stage aspirants. The candidate faces mock boards at multiple academies. Each one documents it and claims the result when the results are announced. |
What happens is: every single help is documented by the academies. When results come out, without any clarity about which service they provided to that particular aspirant, they all claim the result.
⚠ It Is Absolutely a Scam — Without Mentioning Which Service They Provided When an academy says “Our topper!” without specifying whether they provided foundational coaching, a test series subscription, or simply a free interview session — that claim is misleading. Aspirants making life-changing decisions deserve the full picture. |
The number of UPSC students who cleared from the PCM batch is the most efficient parameter to define the quality of an institute. Ask for it. Always.
3. Now, Let Us Decode the PCM Success Rate of the 2025 Results
Let us apply the one question that matters and see what the data actually looks like.
2025 Result · PCM Batch Fortune IAS Academy produced 20 toppers from the PCM batch The highest by any single academy across South India |
PCM Batch Selections — Top Academies Across South India (UPSC CSE 2025)
Academy | PCM Batch Result | Count |
|---|---|---|
Fortune IAS Academy — Kerala’s No.1 | ████████████████████ HIGHEST | 20 |
Tamil Nadu’s No.1 IAS Academy | █████████████ | 13 |
Karnataka’s No.1 IAS Academy | ████████ | 9 |
Telangana’s No.1 IAS Academy | ██ | 3 |
PCM Batch Selections — Kerala Academies (UPSC CSE 2025)
Academy | PCM Batch Result | Count |
|---|---|---|
Fortune IAS Academy — Kerala’s No.1 | ████████████████████ HIGHEST | 20 |
Kerala’s No.2 IAS Academy | ████████████ | 12 |
Kerala’s No.3 IAS Academy | ██ | 3 |
📌 What These Numbers Mean These are not numbers claimed from free interview sessions or test series subscriptions. These are students who built their entire UPSC preparation — from the very beginning — within Fortune IAS Academy’s PCM batch 20 of them cleared in a single year. |
4. The Honest Truth About UPSC Preparation
UPSC is not a sprint. It is a long, sometimes lonely, always demanding journey. The academy you choose does not just provide you with classes — it provides you with the culture, the peer group, the mentorship, and the belief system that will carry you through the hard days.
And there will be hard days. Days when the syllabus feels endless. Days when a paper does not go the way you expected. Days when you need someone to tell you, plainly, what you are doing wrong — and how to fix it.
On those days, the quality of your academy will matter more than on any other.
So do not choose an academy based on the shiniest ad. Do not choose based on the longest toppers’ list. Ask the one question that matters. Demand an honest answer. And make your decision from there.
Because the right academy does not just produce ranks — it produces officers.