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1. You mentioned you've been at a T-1 firm for 6 months, I'd suggest you stay for at least 6 more months (if not more, if that works from your UPSC age limit perspective), rounding your work experience out to a year (if not more). If UPSC doesn't work out and you want to get back into private corporate practice (firms or in-house), the more law firm experience you have, the more desirable you will be as a candidate for both firms and in-house roles.
2. For the remaining duration that you choose to stay in your T-1 role, I'd advise against trying to prep simultaneously. In my experience, multi-tasking is a myth and humans do better when they are concentrating on one thing at a time. Instead, focus on doing a good job at work, build a network to the extent you can (don't stop staying in touch with your network during civils prep either), and save whatever you can - ensuring respectively that when you leave, you will have some goodwill that can help you land opportunities if UPSC doesn't work out, including a return to the same team if that is what you want + providing you a financial cushion.
3. Set an outer limit for the number of unsuccessful civils attempts you will allow yourself, so you know when it's time to activate your backup plans.
4. Also assess how easy it was for you to land your T-1 job. The sad but brutal truth is that at least for folks who pivot to law firms after unsuccessful civils attempts, it's easier for candidates from more established colleges to get a foot in the door (at least an interview, trainee associate position etc.) than others. For e.g., my post UPSC prep hires (with several years of prep) were from well-ranked NLUs.
5. Accept that should you choose to return to private practice, there will be a hit to your PQE as nothing but work experience will be counted towards that.
Good luck with whatever you choose!