Dear Aspirants,

Let me rephrase this question to “Can civil services be cracked with dedicated and preserved effort in 8 months” and the answer is definitely and a very big “”YES”.

However, it requires certain basics to start with, will answer them in pointers i.e. Non -academic & Academic aspects :

Non- Academic Aspects:

Belief in yourself : This competition unlike other competitions requires a multidimensional aspects of preparation i.e. thought process development, writing skills, presence of mind, acquaintance with social milieu around you and further knack to converge them at your peak.
Be through with syllabi and Pattern of examination: This process where you acquaint yourself with competition can help you to optimise your preparation almost by 70–80% which you can reduce yourself.
Awared & Conscious mind: Newspaper reading in these months that too making notes simultaneously and doing some introspection and self appraisal regularly will help you to do course correction and prepare for any negative externalities.
Make your own plan: There are plenty of resources both online & offline as a guide to crack civil services, many of them replete with do’s and don't and way forward. It's good read them, get some insight and motivation but ultimately what works is your own plan. So make a plan and stick to it.
Insulate yourself from negative externalities: Every one around us will have something to offer in form advice , criticism,comparison and demotivation at times. Keep your plan with yourself and don't share with others that you are preparing. There will be times when you will be tempted to share yourself, be cautious here. Idea is get the positivity, hope, optimism and insulating from all negatives around you.
Take regular breaks while preparation: Few hours of break every week is necessary to refresh and rejuvenate your mind.
Academic Aspects

Stick to Basic books initially: NCERT are the best book to start initially for 2–3 months. Then standard books selectively can be referred.
Writing Skills: This should one of the area where you should put effort right from day 1. Start with basic questions given in NCERT then previous year papers at least past 5 years.
Newspaper reading: Thorough reading of newspaper covering range of areas like social issues,economic issues, governance issues, international events, important people in news and related events. Cover editorials and other important articles from “The Hindu” regularly. Initially it will be little difficult but eventually you will adapt to it.
Refer previous years papers regularly: Both prelims and mains papers should be covered along with topics. Let's suppose you covered “ Banking” topic in economics then check your comfort and accuracy from previous years papers.
This list can go on endlessly so calm your mind , develop composure and get on with it.

Just focus on ur study without any divergency.