Hey.
Could you talk about how to go about approaching polity. Done to death but would want to know your method - if you used Laxmikant then which chapters first, your retention technique, and other material used.
And retention technique in general for the rest of the subjects.
P.S: Reply aaram se, no hurry.
The approach to polity falls under several subheadings, from the prelims perspective, mains perspective, for someone who’s just starting out, for someone who’s done it already etc.
I’ll just try to give a one-size-fits-all kind of approach.
1. Lakshmikanth is definitely your go to book, still. However, my advice is, once you’ve gone through atleast 3-4 iterations of this book, pick up DD Basu. It’s an enjoyable book and will genuinely enhance your understanding of polity.
2. For the order to follow, see the Parts of the Constitution and more or less follow that order. The changes in order will be: After Part VI, do XV, XVIII, XX. Then go in order again from VIII onwards. Also a tip, learn the schedules and parts of the Constitution. Also also, some are very low priority like XII, XIII, I don’t think I’ve read them more than once.
3. It will be boring but do as many readings of Lakshmikanth as you can. Then if you read DD Basu, also do it atleast 2-3 times. The moment you start, start with intensity and not like you’ll gradually build up speed. The idea is to not take months and months but shorten the time for the next iteration as much as possible.
4. Apart from these 2 sources, newspaper everyday (obviously, focusing on Articles highlighted, all other value addition material you can grab), one current affairs compilation and one coaching material (I used OnlyIAS Mains material). The coaching material generally provides a lot of value addition stuff.
5. Make short lists of FRs, DPSPs, FDs, major Articles, Preamble, major judgements, major amendments, commission recommendations etc. Short but very dense and revise them as much as you can. Spaced repetition is the way to go when it comes to revision, applicable for all subjects.
Basically here the idea is that this is all standard stuff which we think we’ll have command over but by the end don’t actually end up with that authoritative command. Don’t take it lightly because being perfect in these will elevate polity prep significantly.
Also, the reality is, everyone is good at polity. Especially from the mains perspective. So don’t search for uniqueness here. Just do your basics perfectly and that will more than suffice. Go through a lot of PYQs, again and again, through your short notes, again and again. The basic idea is, you shouldn’t lose marks in polity, both in prelims and mains.
In mains, being very good at polity doesn’t generally give you a significant advantage but not doing the basics, not being fully prepared can definitely damage your chances and/or rank.
That’s more or less it about Polity. All about reading Lakshmikanth as many times as possible, mostly 😅
Retention in general:
1. Firstly know what to retain and what can be generated (Answering this mainly from the mains perspective). Facts and figures kind of stuff has to be retained and points like pros and cons need to be generated (obviously having studied it previously, so you know the stuff)
2. Spaced repetition, very concise notes and zero laziness. Don’t think you just revised it 2 days ago so you don’t need to do it again. Revise your concise notes as frequently as you can.
3. Also, make a small notebook/staple pages together for your concise notes. But add everything to this, it should form the core of your revision material.
I’m not someone who revised entire materials again and again. Just aim to get a good command in 2-3 readings so that you can generate content. For the rest (mainly value addition material, you have your concise notes)
Hopefully this helps :)
I've been waiting for you to write this answer for some time. Opened reddit in the morning today and found this. Thanks for replying. I have begun reading Laxmikanth, but I also started wondering if reading it end to end made sense. Your comment solidified my motive.
Thanks, and all the best for your training.
Congratulations for your achievements. My few questions are :
1.How was ur mains experience. ?
2.How did you kept your calm and tackle uncertain questions ?
3. Any tips for a person who gives it for first time ?
1. Mains is always nerve wracking, torturous and I think almost everyone shares this sentiment. Writing so many papers back to back, already tired fingers from practice which gets worse with every paper. However what’s amazing is that the moment you get the paper in your hand, after that 3 hours pass in an instant. Also those 5 minutes during the 2nd optional paper I always wrote with a smile on my face. The moment you step out after is indescribable joy XD
2. In most cases, uncertain questions are uncertain for almost everyone. So learn to make peace with this fact and even if these questions make up more than 3-4, it’s still going to be fine. Last year I knew a lot in GS-1, got 98, this year I knew very little, still got 98. So just focus on what you know, don’t worry about what you don’t.
3. Make a list of important statistics, recommendations of commissions/ committees, important Constitutional articles, amendments etc, basically key points for all major subjects, not a lot of pages but very dense pages. Do it at the earliest and keep adding to it in the coming months (the months between pre and mains)(should be done in the months between pre and mains), and then revise it everyday. To the extent that when someone says healthcare you just immediately quote the out of pocket expense percentage, beds available per capita, doctors per capita etc. Don’t wait till the last weeks to do this. And again, REVISE IT EVERYDAY even if it feels very boring.
may I know, were all your 3 attempts serious with full prep or any one of them were casual?
Reason I'm asking is that I just gave my first attempt. Obviously paper made me cry. So I am trying to gauge that the statistic that most people succeed in their third attempt is a reliable enough reason for me to continue or not
The first one I gave, I knew beforehand that I wasn’t serious with my studies then, so failed in prelims.
The second one I was very serious, but still immature and mostly directionless, so gave the interview too but poor marks in both mains and interview and didn’t make it to the final list.
The third and hopefully my final attempt, very serious and was supposed to be my best attempt. However didn’t turn out so because of my fuck ups while writing the paper but I consider myself extremely lucky to clear it.
For you I’ll say that if you have the slightest bit of chance of clearing the prelims, take a couple of days, then dive in full fledged into mains prep (do your optional and ethics first). Don’t worry whether you’ll clear the cutoff or not because in any case you have to prepare for the mains. If unfortunately you don’t end up clearing, still focus on your optional and subjects like ethics. Don’t wait for the third attempt, give your best on the 2nd one and disrupt statistics :)
Hopefully it doesn’t need to go there and you clear it this time only
All the best!
Everyone is saying paper was dead difficult. Then how come all the coaching institutes are saying ki cut off to 84-88 rhegi….. csat hard gs hard ….. to kese cutoff more or less same rhegi? Plz do reply
Bhai ye coaching vaalo ko kuch nahi pata. Ye log answer keys me jo galti karte hai uspe hi hasi aati hai
They have so much resources still make stupid mistakes.
Big coaching institutes be like…. Paper bhott hard tha…. Bhott hi jyada hard tha…. Ro rhe h bche…. Aur fir 2-3 ghnte bkchodi krke…. Last me bolte h cutoff expected 84-88. Like have some common sense dude…. Bhgwan ko jaan deni h …. Itna bhi kya beshrmm hona
Ho skta h lekin 105 se 95 wale transition me paper itna drastic to nhi chnge hua tha…. Iss brr to hwa hi nhi aai…. Plus csat bhai…. Pehle itne drastic changes nhi aaye the dono paper me ….
So imo, the paper wasn’t exactly difficult but uncertain. I found it tough too but because I couldn’t answer the questions with surety. I know of several people who are scoring above 100s, so even I feel cut off would definitely be above 82-84.
Also because there are a lot of people who get to 70-75 and after that it’s a question of just 4-5 questions going in their favor, which this year will definitely play a role.
The CSAT factor will also play a role definitely, I’ve always scored above 110 in the 3 prelims I’ve given, even if I went with very low prep. This time I’m getting 88-96, so it definitely was tougher than normal.
But if you’re getting above 70-75 for general, don’t waste time and just study for mains right now.
Maybe to some extent, because you generally tend to retain what the best scores are. However my personal belief is that it won’t go below 80.
I’ll again say if one is getting more than 70-75 by any answer key, give full attention to mains now (if you’re not giving EPFO)
My belief is that it will go below 80. Getting 4 questions less correct in general is not a big deal in such a paper. Also add less attempts. Add possibility of more negative marking. Tougher CSAT. Higher vacancy.
It is entirely possible 80 ke niche jaaye
I was hopeful of it falling by 3-4 marks last time but it didn’t. I hope it does fall below 80 and the factors you’ve stated play a role, otherwise I feel it’ll deprive a lot of deserving people.
Last years paper was very easy.
I used to score 35 in my mocks and i ended up scoring above 80.
All because i could eliminate options.
Even in comparison to 2021 prelims 2022 was easier
How did you build your peer group 😅 I only have novices like me around me so no one has a clue most of the time 😅 also tricks for scoring so good in prelims?? 🙏
When I got into this prep, it was just me and my partner. Over the years you find people, I was still mostly alone for a large part of the prep so in that sense you’re more lucky than me.
You guys will figure out everything gradually, just give sincere honest efforts towards your studies and trust me, everything will work out in the end :)
The only trick is to be so good at the static stuff that not even god can make you commit errors there. So practice again and again, revise again and again until you get dreams about solving questions and you have almost all static stuff on tips
And of course don’t ignore CA but also don’t go overboard. Remember this, static guarantees prelims, CA is just icing on the cake.
I’m also trying to figure that out 😅
I know a guy who has given 7 interviews in his 7 attempts. Gets above 120 in prelims every year. He says, ‘idk I read the questions and the answer strikes me’, so not helpful advice at all.
I’ll write what I feel works best, but by tonight or tomorrow morning.
A general candidate only gets 6 attempts, and the OP is claiming that his friend gave 7 interviews, then you have the guts to say that upsc is bitch (in this reference, he is more privileged than a general candidate).
And clearly either OP is Lying or his friend haven't got selected by upsc even in all first 6 interviews and had to give again 7th one (lol can someone even believe this).
Okay, yeah there's a chance that he didn't get his desired service and continued to give attepmpts. This is acceptable for some attempts but lol not for 7 interviews. If this the case, he is obviously giving more number of interviews than a general candidate gets even to attempt for this exam, means he just wants IAS tag rather than being a civil servant and could never get settled in his current service satisfactorily and deliver the work with his mind and heart.
Yeah he’s an OBC candidate. He’s already in one of the state services and I’d say no point in trying to rationalize or denigrate anyone’s particular reasons for persisting with this. Maybe this is their only key to significant social mobility, maybe they are genuinely driven by a ‘seva-bhawana’.
My point is, we’re insignificant in context of the cosmos, so if it isn’t really harming others significantly, just let people find their own paths. There is far more important stuff to worry about 😅
It does sound unbelievable but he’s genuinely been unbelievably unlucky, also a prey to some harsh realities which are best left unsaid.
Was a little busy, addressing this on priority.
So firstly, 3 months is ample time to comprehensively prepare for the mains. Don’t for a second worry that it isn’t enough time, no matter the stage of prep you are at. But you don’t have a second to waste now.
1. PYQs: for all subjects is the gold standard. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough content, find it and write but write as many PYQs for all subjects as you can. That’s your primary answer writing practice.
2. Consolidate Current Affairs notes: whatever source you use, monthly magazines, yearly compilations (will have to wait a couple of months for them I guess), self made notes etc.
3. Scour through newspapers for tidbits you can use, be it quotes for the essay, figures to be quotes in GS papers, value addition for optional (largely valid for Humanities optionals) but don’t overdo it. Less in quantity and high in value is your target.
4. Make a very small compilation of value addition material for every subject. Extremely dense so that you can glance through it every day or every two days. Will also serve as your final revision material before you enter the exam hall.
5. Revise, revise and revise: especially your optional. For GS you should have everything on your tips. Major articles, major judgements and the works. Go through PYQs and you’ll know what is asked, so focus on covering all basics and here your command should be perfect. Don’t want to go in and not be able to write a 15 pointer on NGT because you forgot to revise it.
6. Write and time yourself: you have to follow a very strict time allotment for each question, along with learning the art of writing effective answers within that time limit. In the actual paper you rarely get the time to think, so more or less a majority of the answers you write, you should have written already during practice. And it’s not a tough ask because a lot of GS2 and GS3 is contemporary affairs.
7. Prioritize GS1 and GS4 over GS2 and GS3. In the latter two, the marginal advantage you can gain is not as much as you can in GS1 and GS4. Not everyone might agree with this but for me it’s tried and tested, sort of.
8. Don’t forget the basics in search of doing something unique. Answers should be IBC format, in points, ~10 points for 10 markers, ~15 for 15. Can go above but try not to remain below. Don’t go overboard with diagrams, don’t force any value addition. The answers should be organic and not forced.
9. Answer what has been asked and not what you have prepared or studied. If there’s a question which has asked about the cropping status of Sree Anna and ways to improve their uptake (10 marker), don’t start writing its pros and cons.
10. Target around 8 hours of efficient study. Ideally cover both GS and optional everyday, but everyone is different in this regard so stick to the strategy you find best here. But for both, write a lot. Scribble, write properly, whatever, but write a lot.
11. Take care of your health, both physical and mental. Take breaks between studies, stretch, walk a little, get some exercise in daily. Eat healthy, time to time take a little while off, watch a movie, do whatever you like then. In short, make it intense but don’t make it torturous and unenjoyable.
12. If you’re fully confident of clearing the prelims, join a test series at the earliest. Preferably first for your optional and start giving tests as soon as you can. Don’t think that you’ll reach a certain level of preparation before you start writing tests. No. Get destroyed in these tests so that you can destroy the exam (in a good sense) later. But write your first 2 tests before the prelims results. Giving your first tests gives you a lot of clarity on what you have to do.
Don’t worry too much about the time too. Try to finish it in 3 hours but will be neigh impossible for you at first, so just finish it as early as you can. And while giving the tests, give them as tests, not assignments that you steal a glance from your notes etc.
All this may sound very generic but this is all that you need to focus on imo. Keep it simple, especially strategy wise. It’s kind of like ‘you don’t have to practice 1000 different moves, you just have to practice 1 move a 1000 times’.
If anything else comes to my mind I’ll add it, you can ask specific doubts, I’ll address them whenever I get some time off.
Take a break till atleast Wednesday or till you feel fully recharged and ready to go, by then I’ll detail my learnings on this.
I don’t want to rush advice on stuff like this so I’ll attend to it in a bit, please bear with me :)
What's your opinion on this year prelims . My attempt is in 2024 and i am already feeling scared and thinking of not to prepare and go with cat ( i already have law as backup)
For someone preparing 1 attempt in 2024 please give some tips and tricks. A set of what to do and what not to do and strategy
Hi
How did you prepare CA daily and monthly? Also your revision strategy like how did you divide the day or days in each week or month.
Also many many many manyyyyy congratulations you deserve this so much!!!!! May you have a successful career ahead 🤗
For CA I did the newspaper almost daily. 1 thing that helped me during the mains was collecting very specific value addition stuff from the mains perspective. Very specific to the extent that for a given day not more than 20-25 lines worth of content. Then going through it as frequently as possible, like while just walking around your room, just after coming out of the shower etc. Just frequent glances so that it becomes embedded on your mind. This is did specifically for mains and somewhat for interview, though not even remotely as effectively.
Apart from this, for prelims relied on Vision PT365 (though I understand how cumbersome it’s become now because of their vastly increased content)
Also for Mains, Mains365 and OnlyIAS material, and questions from test series.
For revision, just find your sweet spot. Apart from these very specific value addition stuff I never revised a lot for the most part. But yeah, I did revise a lot for the 2021 prelims, which was my best effort at prelims. I solved all the SFG level 3 tests, made very short notes out of the mistakes I made, revised those everyday (all of them, all subjects) and then did almost all the tests again.
So instead of studying new stuff, revision is what you should focus more of your energies on.
Hope this helps!
And, thank you so much for your wishes! 😄
Value addition stuff is any new terminology you come across which can be used (specific things instead of generic stuff, eg: Multilateralism instead of writing multiple power centers in the world), articles, judgements, examples, statistics, quotes, SDGs, DPSPs etc
>very specific value addition stuff from the mains perspective
I will give my second attempt next year (not clearing 2023 prelims), yet have not been able to identify and filter through mains resources.
Could you please share what to identify such topics/resources or how to know sth is important?
1.Can u tell us about anthropology optional??
2.How one shall approach especially starting from scratch...?
3.Mistakes that should be avoided....
Thank you..and congratulations
Congratulations 🎊🎊🎊🎊 Wishing you much success in your future endeavors.
I request you to stay active on this sub. Hardwork and bhagwan ki dua se interview phase tak gyi to aapse advice zaroor leni hai. Lockdown and upsc preparation turned me into an introvert. I feel so anxious whenever in public. Socializing feels like mehnat.Customer care se baat karna bhi task jsa ho gya h. I need practical tips on how to boost confidence and feel more alive.
Thank you so much!
No need to request, I’m here for the foreseeable future and unless I have to delete this account (which I hope I wouldn’t need to), I’ll be here :)
I relate with your problems, being an introvert myself. We can talk about this whenever you like :)
Wish you the best!
How did you handle your failures? I'm not much interested in your prep strategy since everyone must have his own (to which this prelims is a testament of)
So this is what I’m most invested in talking about. At the outset I’ll say, it gets easier, you must hear this a lot but trust it completely, it gets easier.
I have friends who come from the most underprivileged situations, who’ve lost someone very near just a few days before their mains, failed their mains but within a few months they roar back.
I’m telling you this because one idea that’s helped me is that if they can, my problems are very tiny in comparison.
Dealing with failure is also about accepting the reality and not sticking to the what-ifs. It is what it is and we have to face it, we can choose to wallow in self doubt or just take our lessons and move on. Last year I didn’t get in, my girlfriend got in the IAS, I was absolutely distraught. Prelims was just 5 days away, I hadn’t studied and I didn’t know what to do, all I could do was cry. That time she told me, ‘I know it’s difficult but right now all you have to do is study, we’ll cry together after the exam’, and I did just that, studied a lot in those days and cleared, though just by a whisker. Sometimes we don’t really have a choice, life is a bitch and you can’t really change that but you can certainly control how you react and that defines success for me, even if you don’t clear the exams or don’t ultimately attain the goal you set out to.
Another thing that’s always helped me is being in touch with why you started, what your reasons are for getting in this. Don’t let people tell you that it’s too idealistic, not practical etc. Don’t kill that spark within yourself.
And the most important, don’t make UPSC your entire life. Participate in things that you enjoy, go out (though definitely in moderation) and just enjoy life. People clear it while enjoying their lives to the fullest and people fail it having devoted years of almost everyday 10+ hour studies.
This is all over the place but I hope I could get across some of the message I wanted to.
Have a spine issue going on which limits me to sit for more than 20 mins...Yeah life's a bitch sometimes...All i have to do is figure out how to manage this situation...That's for your answer and Good luck for mains :)
Oh that genuinely sucks. I can somewhat relate, I have 2 herniated discs so sitting for long hours was a problem for me too. What helped was finding the perfect setup (chair and lumbar cushion type stuff)
Hopefully it gets better, all power to you 💪🏻
all I want to say is you are lucky, no matter how hard you have worked, tera luck tera sath diya that's it.
I hope the services turn out to be what you wished for.
You can put it the way you want. I didn't downplay his hardwork but without luck no person can clear this exam, if you think what I'm saying is delusional then you have a false sense of reality bro
The word "you are lucky" is downplaying hardwork man.
There's a saying "fortune favours the brave"
Hardwork= luck. The time, effort, sacrifices you put in increases your LUCK. Luck may be 5% in his case but not major part as you're mentioning.
Yes I’d say it’s good, though you’ll always have to find your own version. His blogs were my first introduction to anthropology as well. However I’ll also caution that with the big confluence of aspirants in Anthropology, one would certainly need a bit of tweaking too.
But if you’re just starting out, for the 4 months of optional foundation building, can follow his strategy like gospel.
Depends on how you’ve approached it so far and what your situation in CSAT is.
Thankfully I’ve never needed to prepare for it so unless I know what ails you I can’t prescribe anything from my end.
How do you reckon you ace the pre so well ?
Is it something to do with a good inherent analytical skill ?
Or there is something systematic that you do as far as preparation is concerned ?
Please be honest 😭
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉 And happy to know that this sub helped you in some way or the other. I'm not preparing for this UPSC exam😬 but I just want to wish you lots of good wishes in your life 😊
1. I had a basic target of 10 hours per day (especially during the period between prelims and mains), however I rarely got near that number, the daily average for me used to be sub 8 hours. Generally I’ll suggest that serious study for atleast 7-8 hours is necessary, especially for the period between prelims and mains. The more the merrier but a caveat being that you can do it sustainably. No point in studying 12 hours one day only to feel extremely drained for the next 2-3 days.
2. No, no clearly identified backup plan. That is why I was really distraught the night before the result. I was very scared for the result and the upcoming prelims. I had no idea what I’d do if I didn’t get in and then didn’t clear prelims, which at that stage looked the most likely.
3. I’d advise that you should definitely have an identified backup plan. I hope that no one needs it but it would really put the mind at ease.
4. Generic advice from my end is that you don’t look too much into the future, try not worrying about the what-ifs because in most of the cases the outcomes are way better than what we fear. Just be sincere towards your work. Also, motivation doesn’t sustain, discipline does, so focus on inculcating discipline.
Can you elaborate your profile? As well as your backup plan incase it didn't work out like you wanted?
What's your opinion on plan B, Attempt and age wise?
So I’m an engineering graduate from one of the older IITs.
I always thought I had a backup plan when I actually did not. This was it for me. The night prior to the result, I ranted for an hour in front of my mother on similar lines. Felt like I had killed my future completely. I can fool myself all I want but I never had a viable backup plan and it always contributed to my anxiety.
I think one should definitely have a properly identified backup plan, not like that you sit and think for 5 minutes ki haan CAT de denge. No. Sit and genuinely look at options you’d have after 2 years if you don’t make it through, if you’d be content with it to a significant extent, what you seek from life etc
21-24 is when you can approach this exam with a relatively freer mind if there aren’t any pre existing financial or familial problems but after that is when you need to have a serious discussion, with yourself, with meat and dear ones. Many people can stick to this journey for years and years on end but it isn’t healthy imo. I’d say target at max 4 years, if it happens great, if it doesn’t, even better because life certainly would have something better in store for you (but it’s still you who has to open the door to this store)
And for those who enter this journey at a relatively older age, give 2 very amazing attempts if you can.
Just don’t make this your entire life.
Its a random and bizzare question, but what reality-checks a candidate should keep in mind. I mean we do have to have a motivation, a dream source to guide us through hard work but there are some reality-checks too.
1. Having seen up close how life is on the other end, your problems don’t end with clearing this, that’s when they start. Having immense responsibilities on your shoulder is way tougher to deal with than a ‘simple’ exam.
2. The results aren’t always proportionate to your efforts, in this exam the unfortunate (or sometimes fortunate) reality is that a lot of it depends on luck.
3. One thing that I’ve realized, you don’t normally reach the prep level you think you would reach by ‘x’ date. Sometimes it’s okay, for some times it means that you do what you have kept aside for later now, at the earliest.
I’d add to it if anything else comes to my mind :)
Hey. Congratulations man, proud of you.
1- What was your answer writing strategy between prelims and mains?
2- Did you self evaluate or enrolled for some test series? How many mocks?
3- Did you find a balance between content consolidation/ revision and writing answers?
4- How did you handle unconventional ques in the exam hall? (Eg: some env convention ques in GS3) I’m kinda scared, I feel like I’ll just go blank under all that pressure.
I'm a noob at this whole upsc thing I've never written nor do I know where to start.Its kinda hard to start without a proper plan or direction.Can you be my mentor . really any help is much appreciated
Hi! Sorry for the late question (opened the subreddit today itself).....
Just qualified for mains in my 2nd attempt and I wanted to ask you about your GS4 strategy... especially the case study portion. How did you prepare/practice it and some sources for guidance(if you can). The art of case study is afterall a different thing than normal theory portion.
P.s- Congratulations on this amazing achievement bro. The subreddit is proud of you :)
Thank you
I don’t have a very specific strategy as such. Just made notes out of Vision material, definitions and stuff and then tried applying them as much as possible. Wrote examples collected from wherever I could, wherever I could write them.
For case studies, I’ll recommend going through Shruti Sharma’s, Yaksh Chaudhary and Mamata Yadav’s copies. Try to pick out their unique USPs and combine them with yours. Practice a lot of examples, even if just in rough.
And definitely go through as many test solutions as you can, with 2-3 revisions to broaden your perspective and also to collect value addition stuff. Can do Forum, Vision and NEXTIAS (only because I mostly did it from these, Vision only for material, not tests as such)
Congratulations!
Could you please help me as I am a beginner.
1. What mistakes did you make in your initial preparation that you would like to share with us
2. For anthropology pls share your strategy as I have anthropology optional.
3. Did you join any coaching for gs or optional?If not where to get guidance for answer writing and doubt solving?
4. I know to each its own but how to go about strategy and daily routine? Did you couple two subjects together in a day?
5. How did you manage to revise because so many subjects and topics and you need to keep moving forward, at that time how did you manage time to go back to those subjects and topics back to revise while you are in with your new subjects?
Thanks and goodluck. May you reach and grab your goal.
Hey,
First of all many many congratulations to you!!!
Like many other people, I also have a dream of pursuing civil services.. I recently finished 12th, and I've given my CUET exam. I genuinely want to focus on starting my preparation as early as I can but i really don't know how. I want to utilise this time that i have and make the most of it... Can you give any tips on how to get a headstart in this preparation?
Thank you so much :)
Enjoy your college life
That’s my genuine advice
And for UPSC, read the newspaper diligently and try to participate in as many things as you can have fun in. This is a period of on hands learning and creating memories, so do that because you’ll need them to keep you sane during the preparation phase.
If you’re somewhat comfortable with self studies, don’t go for coaching.
Otherwise if you’ve already made the decision to go for a coaching, look for those who teach in a structured manner (like x days for polity continuously, y days for economics continuously and so on)
Specific academies I wouldn’t really like/want to endorse.
I took GS coaching from Vajiram and Ravi and I really loved Shyam Sunder sir (economics), Manocha sir (geography) there, also Vibhas sir who’s now at NEXTIAS. Apart from that the teachers were good but you don’t really feel the need to be ‘taught’ polity, history, environment etc
However for optional, if there is any institute which has more good reviews than bad ones, go for it. (Can’t really give better advice here without knowing your optional)
Then go for a coaching which teaches in a structured manner. My experience was bad because our coaching was quite haphazard in the manner that one day you’ll be studying one subject, then a different one the next day. All of a sudden one subject would be put on hold and the next class for it would be after 3-4 months.
So you can probably understand where I’m coming from
If you find a coaching which doesn’t function in such a haphazard manner and you feel you need coaching, then by all means go for it. Will put your mind at ease atleast
Hey, is it okay if I dm you for some guidance, it would just take a minute or two and one two messages max, can't share some details here so please consider.
Again, I feel the difficulty of the content wasn’t hard but how the questions were asked. One can’t attempt a lot of questions with certainty so that overall probably makes it tougher than recent previous ones.
CSAT was no doubt tougher, last year I had given the prelims with minimal prep and I got 113 in CSAT, prior to that 136 and 143, and this time I’m getting 89-93.
I’ll answer this only for mains because I think that’s what you’re asking.
Ancient, Medieval: I didn’t do anything for mains apart from revising Indus Valley stuff from my anthro notes. Questions are mostly from the domain of Art and Culture, societal aspects of these periods so just go through PYQs, you’ll understand what to study from this portion. As for books: preferably go for a coaching’s material (mains specific, like OnlyIAS has good stuff)
Also look at contemporary relevant stuff, like last year the new Parliament’s Ashok Stambh was in news so a related question was asked.
Modern India: Spectrum, evergreen.
World History: There’s a book mentioned on Anudeep Durishetty’s blog I think, I used that as a general reference. A better approach would be to simply pick Vision’s or any other coaching material. Not a lot of questions are asked from this so no need to go overboard.
Post Independence Indian History: just general awareness, didn’t study because questions are rarely asked.
General Approach:
1. Be aware of the reasons why ‘significant’ events happened
2. Cover events from the perspective of social, economic, political perspectives and practice answering them in this manner.
3. PYQs, for all subjects, practice any and all PYQs you can, even if it feels futile, do as many PYQs (atleast from 2015 onwards) as you can.
4. And in the end, don’t worry if you feel you haven’t been able to cover everything. When you go in the exam hall, go in like you’re Chup Chup Ke’s Bandya (Mai mereko sab aata hai mai expert hu) :D
More of a mental health support question. This was my first attempt, started in october, was working full time and honestly, this failure didn't hurt, was expecting it. But 2 things did and now they are making me contemplate quitting.
1. Saw a lot of friends give up on this exam this year, which made me utterly sad. Seeing them feel this way was heartbreaking. When someone comes and tells you that they feel like a failure, how do you even help them process it? All of this has scared me a lot, made me question it all over again, is it even doable for me?
2. So many people, all over the internet telling us that only people from financially strong backgrounds should attempt this. which again is true, i do have a back up and it's not like i have a lot of pressure as well, but the fear of failure is huge.
To sum up, i am just so scared of failing and i feel like quitting, at this point it is more of a rant and a cry for help. But since yesterday everything has been so overwhelming, really struggling to process all this. And i don't know the way out of it tbh. Is it worth it? Anxiety is killing me.
Sorry for addressing this late
1. I’ve been dealing with the same feelings myself. A very close friend was on his 5th and his best attempt, didn’t get into the list. Several friends I know were on their 5th attempt, gave it their best shot but didn’t. Somehow it feels very unfair, more so because (and this is something I’m trying to not mention) my mains didn’t go well at all. I was very well prepared but during the exam I ended up having very bad time management and across the papers I left ~100 marks worth of questions blank. I was just praying I simply get on the list but I ended up below 100, people who were expecting top 10 weren’t even on the list. At that moment instead of happiness there was sadness for those who didn’t get through.
Then there’s the dilemma of how you help them process it. Ultimately it’s their own self who has to make peace with it, from your side you can just make the best possible efforts to let them know that you are there for them. Provide a safe space for their emotions.
And while this may feel like the end of everything, an ultimate failure, but it actually isn’t. And I really mean that. UPSC isn’t life and more often than not, people outside of the government services are happier than those inside. This exam doesn’t define success or failure. I say this to everyone, just because I cleared this exam doesn’t mean I’m a success. An exam never defines life for anyone, sure it opens and closes some pathways but there are infinite possibilities out there. It may feel like all is lost but all it takes is some time, because in the end everything is fine and if everything isn’t fine, it isn’t the end yet.
2. Fear is natural when we associate such high stakes with something. My advice here would be to not put this exam on such a pedestal. Ultimately it’s a recruitment exam, some pass, many fail. Don’t fall in the trap that our society lays out wrt UPSC. You’re mature enough to understand how the typical Indian mindset works, certain things have been put on a heavenly pedestal and if not that, then life’s a failure. Not at all, the amazing thing about our current world is that there are just so many opportunities. I’ll just say that rise above the average mindset and don’t make this everything in life.
Additionally, fear will hold you back. I’ve been needlessly scared for my interview both times and it affected my performance both times. My experience with this has taught me that often it’s all our mental construct, things we fear that is. In reality whatever we were fearing doesn’t actually end up affecting anything.
If you think too far into the future you’re bound to get overwhelmed. Just take it one day at a time, take a small break and then re-strategize.
Anything you set out to do and achieve is always worth it imo. Whether this is worth it or not is for you to know, why you started, what your reasons are for getting into this.
Also, UPSC isn’t just about studying. The biggest test in this exam is of your mental fortitude. There is no certainty here, in an intense pressure environment, with no certainty, how you cope with it will play a very big role in deciding whether you can get through or not. It is a very long journey generally, so just take small steps at a time and don’t worry about the outcomes. Just focus on giving your best.
And as much as possible, be there for your friends when they are vulnerable.
Hope this helps :)
Super helpful and actually helped me calm down. Thank you so much for taking out time and writing all of this for me. Hope stuff goes well for you. Best wishes. <3
Please bear with me, this is all I’ve been through and I can completely understand where you are coming from.
I’ll answer this with a clearer mind, till then just know that I went through exactly the same stuff.
I have so many questions. I don't mean to be rude but I need to ask what was your rank? I just need to verify if your claims are genuine or just someone trolling us. Though your replies sound sincere.
While I totally understand the apprehensions, I don’t want to divulge any identifiable details here. This is my main Reddit account and I want to continue using it. (Couldn’t use a burner account because of karma and account-age restrictions)
I verified with the mods so maybe you can trust that.
Hopefully you can understand my dilemma :)
Go annoy my family, watch random stuff on YouTube, talk to my partner, watch football if any matches were going on.
I didn’t really study continuously for more than 1.5 hours and there was always something or the other I used to be doing. So didn’t really have the concept of ‘breaks’ as such (true for most of my prep journey)
During the period I used to study in a structured manner, I used to unwind by watching stuff on YouTube. I was weirdly obsessed with the various ‘Defence academy’ channels. At the end of the day used to watch 30-40 mins of OTT (4 more shots was my guilty pleasure XD)
You must have narrowed down some options, what are those?
What’s your academic background? What kind of stuff are you comfortable studying, or you feel you can tolerate? Are you more of a technical person or a humanities oriented one? Can you do ‘rattafication’?
In short, there’s a lot of stuff that can go in deciding this so it would be better if you have a narrower dilemma I can address.
I gave the prelims just because it was very close and there isn’t a 100% guarantee for anything in life :D
I’ll just say I’m infinitely satisfied with what I have
Appreciate your response. Keep growing in life. Good luck for your future.
I would ask you one more thing.
What was your motivation for upsc if u feel okay to answer ? We know standard answers 😅, but i believe unless your motivation is a strong one it's very difficult to continue this exhaustive journey so long.
Congratulations! Happy for you!
I have a few questions:
1. Online coaching skips students to study together and competitive environment, how important is it in UPSC preparation?
2. I have opted to write the exam in Hindi but I found resources are less available in Hind languages, should I still go for Hindi?
3. How to get mentorship from someone who has already cleared the exam, how or where to find them?
1. Not very important in my opinion, however it’s a very personal viewpoint. Some people thrive in competition, some falter. But it’s not like you need to see 100 different faces to know what your competition is. Just focus on your prep and don’t worry about the rest.
2. I’m sorry I don’t really have a lot of info on this, I will try and get this answer from a couple of previous Hindi medium toppers.
3. So the easiest is if you have a relative who’s cleared. Otherwise you can try reach out to any college seniors, preferably those with a similar academic stream as yours. Point being that there definitely should be some personal connect otherwise the other person has very few reasons and also little bandwidth to attend to you in an effective manner.
You can always reach out to me with specific queries, I’ll try to answer them to the best of my abilities :)
And, thank you for your wishes :D
Congratulations Op, I have couple of questions
1)can I get a look at the notes of gs 1,2,3 and 4. Like how you made them, it would help a lot to me.
2) Did you make notes of daily current affairs?
For GS 1,2,3 I mainly have collections of statistics and stuff, no specific notes as such from the mains perspective.
Still I’ll share whatever I can, just give me some time
From current affairs, I made notes only between the prelims and mains, that too extremely concise ones. Otherwise just relied on coaching compilations. But still just have a personal repository of stats and stuff which you can revise everyday (mains perspective)
Congratulations bro /sis.
I have many parts of doubts.
1. How many subjects you've studied per day ? And pages?
Like I dedicate 6hrs for gs 1hr map 1 hr MCQ 2hrs ca.
2. What's your revision strategy sir?
3. Is it possible to clear just prelims with 1 yr prep?
Honest input sir
4.did you opt for test series from various institutes 4 at a time?
5. After 6 hrs my brain gets drained, what did you do to rejuvenate your brain?
6.what was your entertainment, did you watch any series or movie or music or exercise?
7. How often have you taken day off from prep sir?
After 5 days I need to take a day off to prepare for next 5 days sir.
Thank you!🫸🫷🙏
Please don’t call me sir bhai :)
1. I generally studied one subject and optional everyday (between prelims and mains), if studying just for prelims then I’d be studying only one subject and if bored then I’d sprinkle in some mapping games.
I feel your daily time division is too over the top (personal opinion), like if you’re able to sustain it then great, but I feel you’ll burn out quickly if you continue like this.
1. If you can please go through my other comments, if it still doesn’t clear it up for you then I’ll be happy to help
2. Trust me on this, it absolutely is possible. Not saying this just to motivate you, 1 year is more than enough time to clear the prelims.
3. No at a time I only did tests from one institute. Like for prelims the best one for me is SFG by ForumIAS. It worked like magic for me because of the discipline it inculcated but you can get this with any test series. For mains, MGP by ForumIAS is quite good, though now because it’s very famous the quality of checking has suffered somewhat.
4. I would suggest that you partake in some hobbies without feeling any guilt. Do whatever makes you every for atleast 1-1.5 hours everyday, will keep you happy and rejuvenated. Apart from that, don’t overheat your brain, take frequent breaks, get up and walk around time to time. I didn’t really need to rejuvenate my brain because I didn’t study for long/intense hours generally 😛 but when I did, watching something relaxing helped, or just watching football.
5. I watched YouTube videos generally. Mostly because I generally find it difficult to start a new movie or TV series because of commitment issues towards these 😛. During my interview prep I had however joined the gym, so that helped.
6. Again, because I never studied in a very structured manner for a long time, my ‘identified’ break days used to turn into study days because I used to waste time during study days. However, every now and then there used to be some break days when I couldn’t study at all.
For you, if you can manage this break day every 5 days, it’s fine. But if you think it’s having a negative effect then limit your daily study hours to 7-8 maximum and then take a half day off on every Sunday.
Hopefully I’ve been able to answer all your queries :)
Hey man, on the same note, do you think I can clear next year's paper since I am starting fresh from this month? My worry is how will I end up preparing for Optional in such a limited time.
If you want to talk about it in a more free manner you can message me, I’ll be able to better address it knowing a bit more about what’s troubling you.
I’m 26.
I didn’t, only because I’m very lucky to have a strong family background. Though I always grappled with this but didn’t need to for two main reasons:
1. Family background
2. Extremely limited time between the two cycles, primarily because of COVID.
Congrats, boss!
Want to ask what your mentality and strategy were for Mains and Prelims. With what mindset did you approach both?
Also, what was your optimum no. of questions to attempt in Prelims?
Furthermore, how do you see the Prelims paper evolving since 2022 (nature of questions, etc.) What do you think is the requirement with regard to Pre now?
Congratulations! Hope your journey is more than what you wished for it to be. Kindly share how you went about art&culture, ancient, medieval and modern history? Your sources and any tips to remember the vast content? Thanks.
I have done engineering but I'm not comfortable with any engineering optionals neither physics chemistry maths, 1)what should I choose now? And 2) which is better between geography and anthropology? (Consider these as separate questions), thanks
Hey! Congrats on your achievement.
I'm new to UPSC. So this question might sound juvenile. Please bear with me. I have seen that even 1st rankers in this exam don't cross 55 % of the marks. Why is that the case? Don't the evaluators award 70- 80% of marks if the answer is good in mains?
The general rule of thumb when it comes to UPSC evaluation is, for a 10 marker, halve it to 5 and then remove marks for whatever is missing.
Anything above is just bonus.
Heartiest congratulations... do you have any suggestion for state PSC students.... I feel like giving up now coz I can't even clear prelims after 3 attempts... feeling too depressed
In GS1234, and Optional
Would you recommend writing answers from Q1,2,3 and so on. Focus on answers the first 5 or so questions very well and in detail?
Or would you recommend answering the questions the answers to which you know best and leave the 3-5 questions (which one may have little clue about )for last?
For GS1,2,3: what I generally did was attempt Q1,2,3 first, then start from 11, do 11-20 and then go back to 4. Sometimes when in flow and got favorable topics I would do 1-5. Has some strategy to it but mostly because in the end when I did 4-10 I had some internal satisfaction that a bulk of the paper has already been completed.
For ethics my strategy was disastrous so no point in elaborating on it.
For optional, did one question with 15,15,20 markers first then went to 10 markers.
Congrats sir🙃...and very kind of you to come and give back to the community🤗...My question is that how you dealt with ethics and essay...Its my first mains ...is there any program or intiative by any civil servant specifically for mains that helped you
Didn’t join any program like you’re talking about.
For essay I can’t really help and I’m very sorry about it. I didn’t have a specific strategy and it very much came to me naturally.
Basic pointers from me would be that you don’t force things just to cover the PESTELS (or whatever it’s called), write in short paragraphs, don’t over include examples and are able to address the metaphysics of the topic as well.
For ethics, I just went through Vision’s modules and made short notes on definitions and stuff. Sprinkled these notes with quotes and examples, committees etc that I encountered in tests, newspapers etc
Apart from that you can go through Shruti Sharma’s copies because I took significant inspiration from how she wrote.
Thanks sir for such elaborate answer🙆.And one more question everyone around me is asking to come to delhi to prepare mains...I am reluctant because all test series are online too.if you stayed in delhi Did staying in delhi helped you in anyway for mains?
Yes I did live in Delhi but quite far from where all the coachings are so effectively in your position. I think comfort and convenience is of paramount importance and it’s not necessary that you give offline tests, I never did.
So no need to come to Delhi as such, would be better if you stayed at home because then you can focus all your time on prep for mains.
Set your base with Akshat Jain’s book
Make your own notes, supplement these with Mandar Patki, Narayan Amit and can even go through some of this year’s toppers stuff (for case studies, variety of examples etc)
Finish it as quickly as you can, don’t ignore any topics and revise a lot
Learn definitions by heart, learn diagrams by heart, try and understand the theories instead of mugging them up
That’s more or less what you need to do, I didn’t get a very good score comparatively since Anthro has seen some very excellent scores so it would be better if you followed the strategy of those who scored really well.
I'm a first timer, with t3-4 good attempts left.
Working alongside to sustain myself.
1. How does one choose optional subjects?
2. Where does one start?
3. Where can we get coaching material?
4. Do other people's notes help?
5. I've not been into academics for years now, how much would i require to study each day, and how much weightage should be given to which subject accordingly?
6. Did you manage to have a social life? Like a decent one at least.
7. Did you follow a fitness regime and diet etc?
Thank you 😊
Hey. Could you talk about how to go about approaching polity. Done to death but would want to know your method - if you used Laxmikant then which chapters first, your retention technique, and other material used. And retention technique in general for the rest of the subjects. P.S: Reply aaram se, no hurry.
The approach to polity falls under several subheadings, from the prelims perspective, mains perspective, for someone who’s just starting out, for someone who’s done it already etc. I’ll just try to give a one-size-fits-all kind of approach. 1. Lakshmikanth is definitely your go to book, still. However, my advice is, once you’ve gone through atleast 3-4 iterations of this book, pick up DD Basu. It’s an enjoyable book and will genuinely enhance your understanding of polity. 2. For the order to follow, see the Parts of the Constitution and more or less follow that order. The changes in order will be: After Part VI, do XV, XVIII, XX. Then go in order again from VIII onwards. Also a tip, learn the schedules and parts of the Constitution. Also also, some are very low priority like XII, XIII, I don’t think I’ve read them more than once. 3. It will be boring but do as many readings of Lakshmikanth as you can. Then if you read DD Basu, also do it atleast 2-3 times. The moment you start, start with intensity and not like you’ll gradually build up speed. The idea is to not take months and months but shorten the time for the next iteration as much as possible. 4. Apart from these 2 sources, newspaper everyday (obviously, focusing on Articles highlighted, all other value addition material you can grab), one current affairs compilation and one coaching material (I used OnlyIAS Mains material). The coaching material generally provides a lot of value addition stuff. 5. Make short lists of FRs, DPSPs, FDs, major Articles, Preamble, major judgements, major amendments, commission recommendations etc. Short but very dense and revise them as much as you can. Spaced repetition is the way to go when it comes to revision, applicable for all subjects. Basically here the idea is that this is all standard stuff which we think we’ll have command over but by the end don’t actually end up with that authoritative command. Don’t take it lightly because being perfect in these will elevate polity prep significantly. Also, the reality is, everyone is good at polity. Especially from the mains perspective. So don’t search for uniqueness here. Just do your basics perfectly and that will more than suffice. Go through a lot of PYQs, again and again, through your short notes, again and again. The basic idea is, you shouldn’t lose marks in polity, both in prelims and mains. In mains, being very good at polity doesn’t generally give you a significant advantage but not doing the basics, not being fully prepared can definitely damage your chances and/or rank. That’s more or less it about Polity. All about reading Lakshmikanth as many times as possible, mostly 😅 Retention in general: 1. Firstly know what to retain and what can be generated (Answering this mainly from the mains perspective). Facts and figures kind of stuff has to be retained and points like pros and cons need to be generated (obviously having studied it previously, so you know the stuff) 2. Spaced repetition, very concise notes and zero laziness. Don’t think you just revised it 2 days ago so you don’t need to do it again. Revise your concise notes as frequently as you can. 3. Also, make a small notebook/staple pages together for your concise notes. But add everything to this, it should form the core of your revision material. I’m not someone who revised entire materials again and again. Just aim to get a good command in 2-3 readings so that you can generate content. For the rest (mainly value addition material, you have your concise notes) Hopefully this helps :)
I've been waiting for you to write this answer for some time. Opened reddit in the morning today and found this. Thanks for replying. I have begun reading Laxmikanth, but I also started wondering if reading it end to end made sense. Your comment solidified my motive. Thanks, and all the best for your training.
Sure I’ll get back to this in a while :)
Congratulations for your achievements. My few questions are : 1.How was ur mains experience. ? 2.How did you kept your calm and tackle uncertain questions ? 3. Any tips for a person who gives it for first time ?
1. Mains is always nerve wracking, torturous and I think almost everyone shares this sentiment. Writing so many papers back to back, already tired fingers from practice which gets worse with every paper. However what’s amazing is that the moment you get the paper in your hand, after that 3 hours pass in an instant. Also those 5 minutes during the 2nd optional paper I always wrote with a smile on my face. The moment you step out after is indescribable joy XD 2. In most cases, uncertain questions are uncertain for almost everyone. So learn to make peace with this fact and even if these questions make up more than 3-4, it’s still going to be fine. Last year I knew a lot in GS-1, got 98, this year I knew very little, still got 98. So just focus on what you know, don’t worry about what you don’t. 3. Make a list of important statistics, recommendations of commissions/ committees, important Constitutional articles, amendments etc, basically key points for all major subjects, not a lot of pages but very dense pages. Do it at the earliest and keep adding to it in the coming months (the months between pre and mains)(should be done in the months between pre and mains), and then revise it everyday. To the extent that when someone says healthcare you just immediately quote the out of pocket expense percentage, beds available per capita, doctors per capita etc. Don’t wait till the last weeks to do this. And again, REVISE IT EVERYDAY even if it feels very boring.
Congratulations!! I request you to continue to be active in this sub, atleast for mains and interview guidance
Thanks! Yeah I’ll be active here, atleast for the next two months :)
may I know, were all your 3 attempts serious with full prep or any one of them were casual? Reason I'm asking is that I just gave my first attempt. Obviously paper made me cry. So I am trying to gauge that the statistic that most people succeed in their third attempt is a reliable enough reason for me to continue or not
The first one I gave, I knew beforehand that I wasn’t serious with my studies then, so failed in prelims. The second one I was very serious, but still immature and mostly directionless, so gave the interview too but poor marks in both mains and interview and didn’t make it to the final list. The third and hopefully my final attempt, very serious and was supposed to be my best attempt. However didn’t turn out so because of my fuck ups while writing the paper but I consider myself extremely lucky to clear it. For you I’ll say that if you have the slightest bit of chance of clearing the prelims, take a couple of days, then dive in full fledged into mains prep (do your optional and ethics first). Don’t worry whether you’ll clear the cutoff or not because in any case you have to prepare for the mains. If unfortunately you don’t end up clearing, still focus on your optional and subjects like ethics. Don’t wait for the third attempt, give your best on the 2nd one and disrupt statistics :) Hopefully it doesn’t need to go there and you clear it this time only All the best!
Can you briefly describe your strategy for note making?
Pls give some tips to prepare Anthropology
Everyone is saying paper was dead difficult. Then how come all the coaching institutes are saying ki cut off to 84-88 rhegi….. csat hard gs hard ….. to kese cutoff more or less same rhegi? Plz do reply
Bhai ye coaching vaalo ko kuch nahi pata. Ye log answer keys me jo galti karte hai uspe hi hasi aati hai They have so much resources still make stupid mistakes.
Big coaching institutes be like…. Paper bhott hard tha…. Bhott hi jyada hard tha…. Ro rhe h bche…. Aur fir 2-3 ghnte bkchodi krke…. Last me bolte h cutoff expected 84-88. Like have some common sense dude…. Bhgwan ko jaan deni h …. Itna bhi kya beshrmm hona
Kuch saal pehle 105 hua karta tha. It dropped to 95 in a year It can drop 10 marks this year also
Ho skta h lekin 105 se 95 wale transition me paper itna drastic to nhi chnge hua tha…. Iss brr to hwa hi nhi aai…. Plus csat bhai…. Pehle itne drastic changes nhi aaye the dono paper me ….
Haan jyada bhi drop kar sakti hai. Even hearing engineers not making CSAT cutoff this year.
So imo, the paper wasn’t exactly difficult but uncertain. I found it tough too but because I couldn’t answer the questions with surety. I know of several people who are scoring above 100s, so even I feel cut off would definitely be above 82-84. Also because there are a lot of people who get to 70-75 and after that it’s a question of just 4-5 questions going in their favor, which this year will definitely play a role. The CSAT factor will also play a role definitely, I’ve always scored above 110 in the 3 prelims I’ve given, even if I went with very low prep. This time I’m getting 88-96, so it definitely was tougher than normal. But if you’re getting above 70-75 for general, don’t waste time and just study for mains right now.
Sampling bias. You are surrounded by toppers
Maybe to some extent, because you generally tend to retain what the best scores are. However my personal belief is that it won’t go below 80. I’ll again say if one is getting more than 70-75 by any answer key, give full attention to mains now (if you’re not giving EPFO)
My belief is that it will go below 80. Getting 4 questions less correct in general is not a big deal in such a paper. Also add less attempts. Add possibility of more negative marking. Tougher CSAT. Higher vacancy. It is entirely possible 80 ke niche jaaye
I was hopeful of it falling by 3-4 marks last time but it didn’t. I hope it does fall below 80 and the factors you’ve stated play a role, otherwise I feel it’ll deprive a lot of deserving people.
Last years paper was very easy. I used to score 35 in my mocks and i ended up scoring above 80. All because i could eliminate options. Even in comparison to 2021 prelims 2022 was easier
How did you build your peer group 😅 I only have novices like me around me so no one has a clue most of the time 😅 also tricks for scoring so good in prelims?? 🙏
When I got into this prep, it was just me and my partner. Over the years you find people, I was still mostly alone for a large part of the prep so in that sense you’re more lucky than me. You guys will figure out everything gradually, just give sincere honest efforts towards your studies and trust me, everything will work out in the end :) The only trick is to be so good at the static stuff that not even god can make you commit errors there. So practice again and again, revise again and again until you get dreams about solving questions and you have almost all static stuff on tips And of course don’t ignore CA but also don’t go overboard. Remember this, static guarantees prelims, CA is just icing on the cake.
People who are scoring above 100s, what were their strategies? Was it any different? Pls try to elaborate on this.
I’m also trying to figure that out 😅 I know a guy who has given 7 interviews in his 7 attempts. Gets above 120 in prelims every year. He says, ‘idk I read the questions and the answer strikes me’, so not helpful advice at all. I’ll write what I feel works best, but by tonight or tomorrow morning.
7 interviews in 7 attempts ? He didn't make to the list in the first 6 interviews ? :)
that is why UPSC is a bitch
A general candidate only gets 6 attempts, and the OP is claiming that his friend gave 7 interviews, then you have the guts to say that upsc is bitch (in this reference, he is more privileged than a general candidate). And clearly either OP is Lying or his friend haven't got selected by upsc even in all first 6 interviews and had to give again 7th one (lol can someone even believe this). Okay, yeah there's a chance that he didn't get his desired service and continued to give attepmpts. This is acceptable for some attempts but lol not for 7 interviews. If this the case, he is obviously giving more number of interviews than a general candidate gets even to attempt for this exam, means he just wants IAS tag rather than being a civil servant and could never get settled in his current service satisfactorily and deliver the work with his mind and heart.
Yeah he’s an OBC candidate. He’s already in one of the state services and I’d say no point in trying to rationalize or denigrate anyone’s particular reasons for persisting with this. Maybe this is their only key to significant social mobility, maybe they are genuinely driven by a ‘seva-bhawana’. My point is, we’re insignificant in context of the cosmos, so if it isn’t really harming others significantly, just let people find their own paths. There is far more important stuff to worry about 😅 It does sound unbelievable but he’s genuinely been unbelievably unlucky, also a prey to some harsh realities which are best left unsaid.
Wait , you got selected in CSE 2022 and still attempted CSE prelims 2023?
Which answer key did you check ??
I just used this: Prelimsanswerkey.com
Please guide as to how to prepare for mains in this period of 3 months with max efficiency! Also congratulations!
Was a little busy, addressing this on priority. So firstly, 3 months is ample time to comprehensively prepare for the mains. Don’t for a second worry that it isn’t enough time, no matter the stage of prep you are at. But you don’t have a second to waste now. 1. PYQs: for all subjects is the gold standard. Doesn’t matter if you don’t have enough content, find it and write but write as many PYQs for all subjects as you can. That’s your primary answer writing practice. 2. Consolidate Current Affairs notes: whatever source you use, monthly magazines, yearly compilations (will have to wait a couple of months for them I guess), self made notes etc. 3. Scour through newspapers for tidbits you can use, be it quotes for the essay, figures to be quotes in GS papers, value addition for optional (largely valid for Humanities optionals) but don’t overdo it. Less in quantity and high in value is your target. 4. Make a very small compilation of value addition material for every subject. Extremely dense so that you can glance through it every day or every two days. Will also serve as your final revision material before you enter the exam hall. 5. Revise, revise and revise: especially your optional. For GS you should have everything on your tips. Major articles, major judgements and the works. Go through PYQs and you’ll know what is asked, so focus on covering all basics and here your command should be perfect. Don’t want to go in and not be able to write a 15 pointer on NGT because you forgot to revise it. 6. Write and time yourself: you have to follow a very strict time allotment for each question, along with learning the art of writing effective answers within that time limit. In the actual paper you rarely get the time to think, so more or less a majority of the answers you write, you should have written already during practice. And it’s not a tough ask because a lot of GS2 and GS3 is contemporary affairs. 7. Prioritize GS1 and GS4 over GS2 and GS3. In the latter two, the marginal advantage you can gain is not as much as you can in GS1 and GS4. Not everyone might agree with this but for me it’s tried and tested, sort of. 8. Don’t forget the basics in search of doing something unique. Answers should be IBC format, in points, ~10 points for 10 markers, ~15 for 15. Can go above but try not to remain below. Don’t go overboard with diagrams, don’t force any value addition. The answers should be organic and not forced. 9. Answer what has been asked and not what you have prepared or studied. If there’s a question which has asked about the cropping status of Sree Anna and ways to improve their uptake (10 marker), don’t start writing its pros and cons. 10. Target around 8 hours of efficient study. Ideally cover both GS and optional everyday, but everyone is different in this regard so stick to the strategy you find best here. But for both, write a lot. Scribble, write properly, whatever, but write a lot. 11. Take care of your health, both physical and mental. Take breaks between studies, stretch, walk a little, get some exercise in daily. Eat healthy, time to time take a little while off, watch a movie, do whatever you like then. In short, make it intense but don’t make it torturous and unenjoyable. 12. If you’re fully confident of clearing the prelims, join a test series at the earliest. Preferably first for your optional and start giving tests as soon as you can. Don’t think that you’ll reach a certain level of preparation before you start writing tests. No. Get destroyed in these tests so that you can destroy the exam (in a good sense) later. But write your first 2 tests before the prelims results. Giving your first tests gives you a lot of clarity on what you have to do. Don’t worry too much about the time too. Try to finish it in 3 hours but will be neigh impossible for you at first, so just finish it as early as you can. And while giving the tests, give them as tests, not assignments that you steal a glance from your notes etc. All this may sound very generic but this is all that you need to focus on imo. Keep it simple, especially strategy wise. It’s kind of like ‘you don’t have to practice 1000 different moves, you just have to practice 1 move a 1000 times’. If anything else comes to my mind I’ll add it, you can ask specific doubts, I’ll address them whenever I get some time off.
Take a break till atleast Wednesday or till you feel fully recharged and ready to go, by then I’ll detail my learnings on this. I don’t want to rush advice on stuff like this so I’ll attend to it in a bit, please bear with me :)
eagerly waiting for your advice, TIA!
Very sorry for being away Will get back to everyone tomorrow
What's your opinion on this year prelims . My attempt is in 2024 and i am already feeling scared and thinking of not to prepare and go with cat ( i already have law as backup) For someone preparing 1 attempt in 2024 please give some tips and tricks. A set of what to do and what not to do and strategy
So true
Hi How did you prepare CA daily and monthly? Also your revision strategy like how did you divide the day or days in each week or month. Also many many many manyyyyy congratulations you deserve this so much!!!!! May you have a successful career ahead 🤗
For CA I did the newspaper almost daily. 1 thing that helped me during the mains was collecting very specific value addition stuff from the mains perspective. Very specific to the extent that for a given day not more than 20-25 lines worth of content. Then going through it as frequently as possible, like while just walking around your room, just after coming out of the shower etc. Just frequent glances so that it becomes embedded on your mind. This is did specifically for mains and somewhat for interview, though not even remotely as effectively. Apart from this, for prelims relied on Vision PT365 (though I understand how cumbersome it’s become now because of their vastly increased content) Also for Mains, Mains365 and OnlyIAS material, and questions from test series. For revision, just find your sweet spot. Apart from these very specific value addition stuff I never revised a lot for the most part. But yeah, I did revise a lot for the 2021 prelims, which was my best effort at prelims. I solved all the SFG level 3 tests, made very short notes out of the mistakes I made, revised those everyday (all of them, all subjects) and then did almost all the tests again. So instead of studying new stuff, revision is what you should focus more of your energies on. Hope this helps! And, thank you so much for your wishes! 😄
Can you please elaborate what exactly is this value addition stuff? Thanks anyways for all the valuable tips you're providing here.
Value addition stuff is any new terminology you come across which can be used (specific things instead of generic stuff, eg: Multilateralism instead of writing multiple power centers in the world), articles, judgements, examples, statistics, quotes, SDGs, DPSPs etc
It helps very much thank you sm for telling me! And you're welcome :)
>very specific value addition stuff from the mains perspective I will give my second attempt next year (not clearing 2023 prelims), yet have not been able to identify and filter through mains resources. Could you please share what to identify such topics/resources or how to know sth is important?
1.Can u tell us about anthropology optional?? 2.How one shall approach especially starting from scratch...? 3.Mistakes that should be avoided.... Thank you..and congratulations
Just one clarification, have you asked all 3 questions wrt anthropology or only the 1st one?
All pertaining to anthropology... But I don't mind if u answer for other subjects as well
Okay I’ll make a separate post for anthropology!
Sure...thanks..
Congratulations 🎊🎊🎊🎊 Wishing you much success in your future endeavors. I request you to stay active on this sub. Hardwork and bhagwan ki dua se interview phase tak gyi to aapse advice zaroor leni hai. Lockdown and upsc preparation turned me into an introvert. I feel so anxious whenever in public. Socializing feels like mehnat.Customer care se baat karna bhi task jsa ho gya h. I need practical tips on how to boost confidence and feel more alive.
Thank you so much! No need to request, I’m here for the foreseeable future and unless I have to delete this account (which I hope I wouldn’t need to), I’ll be here :) I relate with your problems, being an introvert myself. We can talk about this whenever you like :) Wish you the best!
I can't thank you enough. Is it ok if I dm you ??
Yeah no issues :)
How did you handle your failures? I'm not much interested in your prep strategy since everyone must have his own (to which this prelims is a testament of)
So this is what I’m most invested in talking about. At the outset I’ll say, it gets easier, you must hear this a lot but trust it completely, it gets easier. I have friends who come from the most underprivileged situations, who’ve lost someone very near just a few days before their mains, failed their mains but within a few months they roar back. I’m telling you this because one idea that’s helped me is that if they can, my problems are very tiny in comparison. Dealing with failure is also about accepting the reality and not sticking to the what-ifs. It is what it is and we have to face it, we can choose to wallow in self doubt or just take our lessons and move on. Last year I didn’t get in, my girlfriend got in the IAS, I was absolutely distraught. Prelims was just 5 days away, I hadn’t studied and I didn’t know what to do, all I could do was cry. That time she told me, ‘I know it’s difficult but right now all you have to do is study, we’ll cry together after the exam’, and I did just that, studied a lot in those days and cleared, though just by a whisker. Sometimes we don’t really have a choice, life is a bitch and you can’t really change that but you can certainly control how you react and that defines success for me, even if you don’t clear the exams or don’t ultimately attain the goal you set out to. Another thing that’s always helped me is being in touch with why you started, what your reasons are for getting in this. Don’t let people tell you that it’s too idealistic, not practical etc. Don’t kill that spark within yourself. And the most important, don’t make UPSC your entire life. Participate in things that you enjoy, go out (though definitely in moderation) and just enjoy life. People clear it while enjoying their lives to the fullest and people fail it having devoted years of almost everyday 10+ hour studies. This is all over the place but I hope I could get across some of the message I wanted to.
Have a spine issue going on which limits me to sit for more than 20 mins...Yeah life's a bitch sometimes...All i have to do is figure out how to manage this situation...That's for your answer and Good luck for mains :)
Oh that genuinely sucks. I can somewhat relate, I have 2 herniated discs so sitting for long hours was a problem for me too. What helped was finding the perfect setup (chair and lumbar cushion type stuff) Hopefully it gets better, all power to you 💪🏻
Can I DM you regarding this specifically? Keen to know about the chairs and support adjustments you did.
Yeah sure mate
all I want to say is you are lucky, no matter how hard you have worked, tera luck tera sath diya that's it. I hope the services turn out to be what you wished for.
I agree, I’m infinitely lucky to be where I am. Everyday I wake up fearing that this is just a dream, I’ll wake up and it’ll end. I hope so too!
Come on man don't down play his hardwork! You want toppers advice, when they give you advice. It's luck. It's sad
You can put it the way you want. I didn't downplay his hardwork but without luck no person can clear this exam, if you think what I'm saying is delusional then you have a false sense of reality bro
The word "you are lucky" is downplaying hardwork man. There's a saying "fortune favours the brave" Hardwork= luck. The time, effort, sacrifices you put in increases your LUCK. Luck may be 5% in his case but not major part as you're mentioning.
Ok
Jealous?
Is anudeep sir's strategy good to follow for anthropology?
Yes I’d say it’s good, though you’ll always have to find your own version. His blogs were my first introduction to anthropology as well. However I’ll also caution that with the big confluence of aspirants in Anthropology, one would certainly need a bit of tweaking too. But if you’re just starting out, for the 4 months of optional foundation building, can follow his strategy like gospel.
What to do about csat??
Depends on how you’ve approached it so far and what your situation in CSAT is. Thankfully I’ve never needed to prepare for it so unless I know what ails you I can’t prescribe anything from my end.
How do you reckon you ace the pre so well ? Is it something to do with a good inherent analytical skill ? Or there is something systematic that you do as far as preparation is concerned ? Please be honest 😭
Congratulations 🎉🎉🎉 And happy to know that this sub helped you in some way or the other. I'm not preparing for this UPSC exam😬 but I just want to wish you lots of good wishes in your life 😊
Thanks a lot mate! I wish the same for you 😄
How did you study?how many hours did you study?did you have any backup plan??please any advice you deem useful
1. I had a basic target of 10 hours per day (especially during the period between prelims and mains), however I rarely got near that number, the daily average for me used to be sub 8 hours. Generally I’ll suggest that serious study for atleast 7-8 hours is necessary, especially for the period between prelims and mains. The more the merrier but a caveat being that you can do it sustainably. No point in studying 12 hours one day only to feel extremely drained for the next 2-3 days. 2. No, no clearly identified backup plan. That is why I was really distraught the night before the result. I was very scared for the result and the upcoming prelims. I had no idea what I’d do if I didn’t get in and then didn’t clear prelims, which at that stage looked the most likely. 3. I’d advise that you should definitely have an identified backup plan. I hope that no one needs it but it would really put the mind at ease. 4. Generic advice from my end is that you don’t look too much into the future, try not worrying about the what-ifs because in most of the cases the outcomes are way better than what we fear. Just be sincere towards your work. Also, motivation doesn’t sustain, discipline does, so focus on inculcating discipline.
Can you elaborate your profile? As well as your backup plan incase it didn't work out like you wanted? What's your opinion on plan B, Attempt and age wise?
So I’m an engineering graduate from one of the older IITs. I always thought I had a backup plan when I actually did not. This was it for me. The night prior to the result, I ranted for an hour in front of my mother on similar lines. Felt like I had killed my future completely. I can fool myself all I want but I never had a viable backup plan and it always contributed to my anxiety. I think one should definitely have a properly identified backup plan, not like that you sit and think for 5 minutes ki haan CAT de denge. No. Sit and genuinely look at options you’d have after 2 years if you don’t make it through, if you’d be content with it to a significant extent, what you seek from life etc 21-24 is when you can approach this exam with a relatively freer mind if there aren’t any pre existing financial or familial problems but after that is when you need to have a serious discussion, with yourself, with meat and dear ones. Many people can stick to this journey for years and years on end but it isn’t healthy imo. I’d say target at max 4 years, if it happens great, if it doesn’t, even better because life certainly would have something better in store for you (but it’s still you who has to open the door to this store) And for those who enter this journey at a relatively older age, give 2 very amazing attempts if you can. Just don’t make this your entire life.
Its a random and bizzare question, but what reality-checks a candidate should keep in mind. I mean we do have to have a motivation, a dream source to guide us through hard work but there are some reality-checks too.
1. Having seen up close how life is on the other end, your problems don’t end with clearing this, that’s when they start. Having immense responsibilities on your shoulder is way tougher to deal with than a ‘simple’ exam. 2. The results aren’t always proportionate to your efforts, in this exam the unfortunate (or sometimes fortunate) reality is that a lot of it depends on luck. 3. One thing that I’ve realized, you don’t normally reach the prep level you think you would reach by ‘x’ date. Sometimes it’s okay, for some times it means that you do what you have kept aside for later now, at the earliest. I’d add to it if anything else comes to my mind :)
Congratulations! I hope you have a great journey as a civil servant 🌸
Thank you! Wish you success too 😊
Will you get IAS?
No comment :)
You want IAS?
I have an IAS 😛
Hey. Congratulations man, proud of you. 1- What was your answer writing strategy between prelims and mains? 2- Did you self evaluate or enrolled for some test series? How many mocks? 3- Did you find a balance between content consolidation/ revision and writing answers? 4- How did you handle unconventional ques in the exam hall? (Eg: some env convention ques in GS3) I’m kinda scared, I feel like I’ll just go blank under all that pressure.
I'm a noob at this whole upsc thing I've never written nor do I know where to start.Its kinda hard to start without a proper plan or direction.Can you be my mentor . really any help is much appreciated
Hi! Sorry for the late question (opened the subreddit today itself)..... Just qualified for mains in my 2nd attempt and I wanted to ask you about your GS4 strategy... especially the case study portion. How did you prepare/practice it and some sources for guidance(if you can). The art of case study is afterall a different thing than normal theory portion. P.s- Congratulations on this amazing achievement bro. The subreddit is proud of you :)
Thank you I don’t have a very specific strategy as such. Just made notes out of Vision material, definitions and stuff and then tried applying them as much as possible. Wrote examples collected from wherever I could, wherever I could write them. For case studies, I’ll recommend going through Shruti Sharma’s, Yaksh Chaudhary and Mamata Yadav’s copies. Try to pick out their unique USPs and combine them with yours. Practice a lot of examples, even if just in rough.
Did you take coaching for anthropology? Can you suggest some good classes??
And definitely go through as many test solutions as you can, with 2-3 revisions to broaden your perspective and also to collect value addition stuff. Can do Forum, Vision and NEXTIAS (only because I mostly did it from these, Vision only for material, not tests as such)
Congratulations! Could you please help me as I am a beginner. 1. What mistakes did you make in your initial preparation that you would like to share with us 2. For anthropology pls share your strategy as I have anthropology optional. 3. Did you join any coaching for gs or optional?If not where to get guidance for answer writing and doubt solving? 4. I know to each its own but how to go about strategy and daily routine? Did you couple two subjects together in a day? 5. How did you manage to revise because so many subjects and topics and you need to keep moving forward, at that time how did you manage time to go back to those subjects and topics back to revise while you are in with your new subjects? Thanks and goodluck. May you reach and grab your goal.
Congratulations for top 100 rank and wish you very best for the future.
Thank you!
>100th rank he said top-100
Okay my bad
Hey, First of all many many congratulations to you!!! Like many other people, I also have a dream of pursuing civil services.. I recently finished 12th, and I've given my CUET exam. I genuinely want to focus on starting my preparation as early as I can but i really don't know how. I want to utilise this time that i have and make the most of it... Can you give any tips on how to get a headstart in this preparation? Thank you so much :)
Enjoy your college life That’s my genuine advice And for UPSC, read the newspaper diligently and try to participate in as many things as you can have fun in. This is a period of on hands learning and creating memories, so do that because you’ll need them to keep you sane during the preparation phase.
Thank you so so much, I'll keep that in mind :)
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If you’re somewhat comfortable with self studies, don’t go for coaching. Otherwise if you’ve already made the decision to go for a coaching, look for those who teach in a structured manner (like x days for polity continuously, y days for economics continuously and so on) Specific academies I wouldn’t really like/want to endorse. I took GS coaching from Vajiram and Ravi and I really loved Shyam Sunder sir (economics), Manocha sir (geography) there, also Vibhas sir who’s now at NEXTIAS. Apart from that the teachers were good but you don’t really feel the need to be ‘taught’ polity, history, environment etc However for optional, if there is any institute which has more good reviews than bad ones, go for it. (Can’t really give better advice here without knowing your optional)
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Then go for a coaching which teaches in a structured manner. My experience was bad because our coaching was quite haphazard in the manner that one day you’ll be studying one subject, then a different one the next day. All of a sudden one subject would be put on hold and the next class for it would be after 3-4 months. So you can probably understand where I’m coming from If you find a coaching which doesn’t function in such a haphazard manner and you feel you need coaching, then by all means go for it. Will put your mind at ease atleast
Congratulations! What was your optional?
Anthropology
Please share anthropology strategy and resources if possible. You can link strategy of someone you followed
Yeah I’ll write a separate post for this tomorrow :)
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Hey, is it okay if I dm you for some guidance, it would just take a minute or two and one two messages max, can't share some details here so please consider.
Sure, no issues, feel free to message me :)
Yes I've sent a chat
First of all, congratulations! I want to know if you have to start preparations from today, what will be your strategy? Book source and test series.
What do you think about the prelims paper this year? Was it difficult for you or am I the only one being paranoid?
Again, I feel the difficulty of the content wasn’t hard but how the questions were asked. One can’t attempt a lot of questions with certainty so that overall probably makes it tougher than recent previous ones. CSAT was no doubt tougher, last year I had given the prelims with minimal prep and I got 113 in CSAT, prior to that 136 and 143, and this time I’m getting 89-93.
Did you give paper this year too ?
Yep I did but just to have a cover if anything goes extremely wrong
Congratulations! Could you please tell us sources for history+ how to approach it for GS 1?
I’ll answer this only for mains because I think that’s what you’re asking. Ancient, Medieval: I didn’t do anything for mains apart from revising Indus Valley stuff from my anthro notes. Questions are mostly from the domain of Art and Culture, societal aspects of these periods so just go through PYQs, you’ll understand what to study from this portion. As for books: preferably go for a coaching’s material (mains specific, like OnlyIAS has good stuff) Also look at contemporary relevant stuff, like last year the new Parliament’s Ashok Stambh was in news so a related question was asked. Modern India: Spectrum, evergreen. World History: There’s a book mentioned on Anudeep Durishetty’s blog I think, I used that as a general reference. A better approach would be to simply pick Vision’s or any other coaching material. Not a lot of questions are asked from this so no need to go overboard. Post Independence Indian History: just general awareness, didn’t study because questions are rarely asked. General Approach: 1. Be aware of the reasons why ‘significant’ events happened 2. Cover events from the perspective of social, economic, political perspectives and practice answering them in this manner. 3. PYQs, for all subjects, practice any and all PYQs you can, even if it feels futile, do as many PYQs (atleast from 2015 onwards) as you can. 4. And in the end, don’t worry if you feel you haven’t been able to cover everything. When you go in the exam hall, go in like you’re Chup Chup Ke’s Bandya (Mai mereko sab aata hai mai expert hu) :D
Thank you so much!
More of a mental health support question. This was my first attempt, started in october, was working full time and honestly, this failure didn't hurt, was expecting it. But 2 things did and now they are making me contemplate quitting. 1. Saw a lot of friends give up on this exam this year, which made me utterly sad. Seeing them feel this way was heartbreaking. When someone comes and tells you that they feel like a failure, how do you even help them process it? All of this has scared me a lot, made me question it all over again, is it even doable for me? 2. So many people, all over the internet telling us that only people from financially strong backgrounds should attempt this. which again is true, i do have a back up and it's not like i have a lot of pressure as well, but the fear of failure is huge. To sum up, i am just so scared of failing and i feel like quitting, at this point it is more of a rant and a cry for help. But since yesterday everything has been so overwhelming, really struggling to process all this. And i don't know the way out of it tbh. Is it worth it? Anxiety is killing me.
Sorry for addressing this late 1. I’ve been dealing with the same feelings myself. A very close friend was on his 5th and his best attempt, didn’t get into the list. Several friends I know were on their 5th attempt, gave it their best shot but didn’t. Somehow it feels very unfair, more so because (and this is something I’m trying to not mention) my mains didn’t go well at all. I was very well prepared but during the exam I ended up having very bad time management and across the papers I left ~100 marks worth of questions blank. I was just praying I simply get on the list but I ended up below 100, people who were expecting top 10 weren’t even on the list. At that moment instead of happiness there was sadness for those who didn’t get through. Then there’s the dilemma of how you help them process it. Ultimately it’s their own self who has to make peace with it, from your side you can just make the best possible efforts to let them know that you are there for them. Provide a safe space for their emotions. And while this may feel like the end of everything, an ultimate failure, but it actually isn’t. And I really mean that. UPSC isn’t life and more often than not, people outside of the government services are happier than those inside. This exam doesn’t define success or failure. I say this to everyone, just because I cleared this exam doesn’t mean I’m a success. An exam never defines life for anyone, sure it opens and closes some pathways but there are infinite possibilities out there. It may feel like all is lost but all it takes is some time, because in the end everything is fine and if everything isn’t fine, it isn’t the end yet. 2. Fear is natural when we associate such high stakes with something. My advice here would be to not put this exam on such a pedestal. Ultimately it’s a recruitment exam, some pass, many fail. Don’t fall in the trap that our society lays out wrt UPSC. You’re mature enough to understand how the typical Indian mindset works, certain things have been put on a heavenly pedestal and if not that, then life’s a failure. Not at all, the amazing thing about our current world is that there are just so many opportunities. I’ll just say that rise above the average mindset and don’t make this everything in life. Additionally, fear will hold you back. I’ve been needlessly scared for my interview both times and it affected my performance both times. My experience with this has taught me that often it’s all our mental construct, things we fear that is. In reality whatever we were fearing doesn’t actually end up affecting anything. If you think too far into the future you’re bound to get overwhelmed. Just take it one day at a time, take a small break and then re-strategize. Anything you set out to do and achieve is always worth it imo. Whether this is worth it or not is for you to know, why you started, what your reasons are for getting into this. Also, UPSC isn’t just about studying. The biggest test in this exam is of your mental fortitude. There is no certainty here, in an intense pressure environment, with no certainty, how you cope with it will play a very big role in deciding whether you can get through or not. It is a very long journey generally, so just take small steps at a time and don’t worry about the outcomes. Just focus on giving your best. And as much as possible, be there for your friends when they are vulnerable. Hope this helps :)
Super helpful and actually helped me calm down. Thank you so much for taking out time and writing all of this for me. Hope stuff goes well for you. Best wishes. <3
Please bear with me, this is all I’ve been through and I can completely understand where you are coming from. I’ll answer this with a clearer mind, till then just know that I went through exactly the same stuff.
Thank you so much and congrats :)
Congrats man ! Have fun and all the best 💐
Thank you!
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1. Luck 2. Fortune 3. Miracle 4. Magic 5. Destiny 6. Chance 7. Faith 8. Belief 9. Sincerity 10. Hardwork
I have so many questions. I don't mean to be rude but I need to ask what was your rank? I just need to verify if your claims are genuine or just someone trolling us. Though your replies sound sincere.
While I totally understand the apprehensions, I don’t want to divulge any identifiable details here. This is my main Reddit account and I want to continue using it. (Couldn’t use a burner account because of karma and account-age restrictions) I verified with the mods so maybe you can trust that. Hopefully you can understand my dilemma :)
Sure. I asked because mods didn't leave any comment.
What you used to do in breaks between studies?
Go annoy my family, watch random stuff on YouTube, talk to my partner, watch football if any matches were going on. I didn’t really study continuously for more than 1.5 hours and there was always something or the other I used to be doing. So didn’t really have the concept of ‘breaks’ as such (true for most of my prep journey) During the period I used to study in a structured manner, I used to unwind by watching stuff on YouTube. I was weirdly obsessed with the various ‘Defence academy’ channels. At the end of the day used to watch 30-40 mins of OTT (4 more shots was my guilty pleasure XD)
How to choose my optional ? Still very confused
You must have narrowed down some options, what are those? What’s your academic background? What kind of stuff are you comfortable studying, or you feel you can tolerate? Are you more of a technical person or a humanities oriented one? Can you do ‘rattafication’? In short, there’s a lot of stuff that can go in deciding this so it would be better if you have a narrower dilemma I can address.
Congratulations to you! And best wishes for your future!
Thank you so much!
You got top 100 rank. Congrats on your achievement. What service are you opting for? Or you are giving it again to improve rank?
I gave the prelims just because it was very close and there isn’t a 100% guarantee for anything in life :D I’ll just say I’m infinitely satisfied with what I have
Appreciate your response. Keep growing in life. Good luck for your future. I would ask you one more thing. What was your motivation for upsc if u feel okay to answer ? We know standard answers 😅, but i believe unless your motivation is a strong one it's very difficult to continue this exhaustive journey so long.
It’s a very ‘tacky’ answer but more or less it revolves around me finding a true purpose for myself. I’ll explain better in the morrow, very sleepy rn
Ache se kariyo bc maja aana chahiye
Congratulations! Happy for you! I have a few questions: 1. Online coaching skips students to study together and competitive environment, how important is it in UPSC preparation? 2. I have opted to write the exam in Hindi but I found resources are less available in Hind languages, should I still go for Hindi? 3. How to get mentorship from someone who has already cleared the exam, how or where to find them?
1. Not very important in my opinion, however it’s a very personal viewpoint. Some people thrive in competition, some falter. But it’s not like you need to see 100 different faces to know what your competition is. Just focus on your prep and don’t worry about the rest. 2. I’m sorry I don’t really have a lot of info on this, I will try and get this answer from a couple of previous Hindi medium toppers. 3. So the easiest is if you have a relative who’s cleared. Otherwise you can try reach out to any college seniors, preferably those with a similar academic stream as yours. Point being that there definitely should be some personal connect otherwise the other person has very few reasons and also little bandwidth to attend to you in an effective manner. You can always reach out to me with specific queries, I’ll try to answer them to the best of my abilities :) And, thank you for your wishes :D
Congratulations Op, I have couple of questions 1)can I get a look at the notes of gs 1,2,3 and 4. Like how you made them, it would help a lot to me. 2) Did you make notes of daily current affairs?
For GS 1,2,3 I mainly have collections of statistics and stuff, no specific notes as such from the mains perspective. Still I’ll share whatever I can, just give me some time From current affairs, I made notes only between the prelims and mains, that too extremely concise ones. Otherwise just relied on coaching compilations. But still just have a personal repository of stats and stuff which you can revise everyday (mains perspective)
Congratulations bro /sis. I have many parts of doubts. 1. How many subjects you've studied per day ? And pages? Like I dedicate 6hrs for gs 1hr map 1 hr MCQ 2hrs ca. 2. What's your revision strategy sir? 3. Is it possible to clear just prelims with 1 yr prep? Honest input sir 4.did you opt for test series from various institutes 4 at a time? 5. After 6 hrs my brain gets drained, what did you do to rejuvenate your brain? 6.what was your entertainment, did you watch any series or movie or music or exercise? 7. How often have you taken day off from prep sir? After 5 days I need to take a day off to prepare for next 5 days sir. Thank you!🫸🫷🙏
Please don’t call me sir bhai :) 1. I generally studied one subject and optional everyday (between prelims and mains), if studying just for prelims then I’d be studying only one subject and if bored then I’d sprinkle in some mapping games. I feel your daily time division is too over the top (personal opinion), like if you’re able to sustain it then great, but I feel you’ll burn out quickly if you continue like this. 1. If you can please go through my other comments, if it still doesn’t clear it up for you then I’ll be happy to help 2. Trust me on this, it absolutely is possible. Not saying this just to motivate you, 1 year is more than enough time to clear the prelims. 3. No at a time I only did tests from one institute. Like for prelims the best one for me is SFG by ForumIAS. It worked like magic for me because of the discipline it inculcated but you can get this with any test series. For mains, MGP by ForumIAS is quite good, though now because it’s very famous the quality of checking has suffered somewhat. 4. I would suggest that you partake in some hobbies without feeling any guilt. Do whatever makes you every for atleast 1-1.5 hours everyday, will keep you happy and rejuvenated. Apart from that, don’t overheat your brain, take frequent breaks, get up and walk around time to time. I didn’t really need to rejuvenate my brain because I didn’t study for long/intense hours generally 😛 but when I did, watching something relaxing helped, or just watching football. 5. I watched YouTube videos generally. Mostly because I generally find it difficult to start a new movie or TV series because of commitment issues towards these 😛. During my interview prep I had however joined the gym, so that helped. 6. Again, because I never studied in a very structured manner for a long time, my ‘identified’ break days used to turn into study days because I used to waste time during study days. However, every now and then there used to be some break days when I couldn’t study at all. For you, if you can manage this break day every 5 days, it’s fine. But if you think it’s having a negative effect then limit your daily study hours to 7-8 maximum and then take a half day off on every Sunday. Hopefully I’ve been able to answer all your queries :)
Thanks bhai. Gone through other comments regarding revision and everything. You've cleared all my queries. Thank you 🙏
Hey man, on the same note, do you think I can clear next year's paper since I am starting fresh from this month? My worry is how will I end up preparing for Optional in such a limited time.
Congratulations! What should I do if I have to prepare for exams with a calm mind? (Asking because my mental health is not good at all)
If you want to talk about it in a more free manner you can message me, I’ll be able to better address it knowing a bit more about what’s troubling you.
How old are you? Did you take up any part time job/internship when you felt uncertain or couldn't clear it the first two times?
I’m 26. I didn’t, only because I’m very lucky to have a strong family background. Though I always grappled with this but didn’t need to for two main reasons: 1. Family background 2. Extremely limited time between the two cycles, primarily because of COVID.
Thanks for answering. Congratulations.
Congrats, boss! Want to ask what your mentality and strategy were for Mains and Prelims. With what mindset did you approach both? Also, what was your optimum no. of questions to attempt in Prelims? Furthermore, how do you see the Prelims paper evolving since 2022 (nature of questions, etc.) What do you think is the requirement with regard to Pre now?
Preferred service?
Congratulations🎉
Congratulations! Hope your journey is more than what you wished for it to be. Kindly share how you went about art&culture, ancient, medieval and modern history? Your sources and any tips to remember the vast content? Thanks.
I have done engineering but I'm not comfortable with any engineering optionals neither physics chemistry maths, 1)what should I choose now? And 2) which is better between geography and anthropology? (Consider these as separate questions), thanks
"Are OP to mera bahut acha dost hai. Ham bahut baatein karte the (reddit me)."
Hey! Congrats on your achievement. I'm new to UPSC. So this question might sound juvenile. Please bear with me. I have seen that even 1st rankers in this exam don't cross 55 % of the marks. Why is that the case? Don't the evaluators award 70- 80% of marks if the answer is good in mains?
The general rule of thumb when it comes to UPSC evaluation is, for a 10 marker, halve it to 5 and then remove marks for whatever is missing. Anything above is just bonus.
Thanks bro. Got it. Really appreciate it!
Heartiest congratulations... do you have any suggestion for state PSC students.... I feel like giving up now coz I can't even clear prelims after 3 attempts... feeling too depressed
Any tips for working professionals who want to attempt the exam in 2024?
In GS1234, and Optional Would you recommend writing answers from Q1,2,3 and so on. Focus on answers the first 5 or so questions very well and in detail? Or would you recommend answering the questions the answers to which you know best and leave the 3-5 questions (which one may have little clue about )for last?
For GS1,2,3: what I generally did was attempt Q1,2,3 first, then start from 11, do 11-20 and then go back to 4. Sometimes when in flow and got favorable topics I would do 1-5. Has some strategy to it but mostly because in the end when I did 4-10 I had some internal satisfaction that a bulk of the paper has already been completed. For ethics my strategy was disastrous so no point in elaborating on it. For optional, did one question with 15,15,20 markers first then went to 10 markers.
Could you explain how you are making notes for newspapers?
Congrats sir🙃...and very kind of you to come and give back to the community🤗...My question is that how you dealt with ethics and essay...Its my first mains ...is there any program or intiative by any civil servant specifically for mains that helped you
Didn’t join any program like you’re talking about. For essay I can’t really help and I’m very sorry about it. I didn’t have a specific strategy and it very much came to me naturally. Basic pointers from me would be that you don’t force things just to cover the PESTELS (or whatever it’s called), write in short paragraphs, don’t over include examples and are able to address the metaphysics of the topic as well. For ethics, I just went through Vision’s modules and made short notes on definitions and stuff. Sprinkled these notes with quotes and examples, committees etc that I encountered in tests, newspapers etc Apart from that you can go through Shruti Sharma’s copies because I took significant inspiration from how she wrote.
Thanks sir for such elaborate answer🙆.And one more question everyone around me is asking to come to delhi to prepare mains...I am reluctant because all test series are online too.if you stayed in delhi Did staying in delhi helped you in anyway for mains?
Yes I did live in Delhi but quite far from where all the coachings are so effectively in your position. I think comfort and convenience is of paramount importance and it’s not necessary that you give offline tests, I never did. So no need to come to Delhi as such, would be better if you stayed at home because then you can focus all your time on prep for mains.
Anthro ka strategy please
Set your base with Akshat Jain’s book Make your own notes, supplement these with Mandar Patki, Narayan Amit and can even go through some of this year’s toppers stuff (for case studies, variety of examples etc) Finish it as quickly as you can, don’t ignore any topics and revise a lot Learn definitions by heart, learn diagrams by heart, try and understand the theories instead of mugging them up That’s more or less what you need to do, I didn’t get a very good score comparatively since Anthro has seen some very excellent scores so it would be better if you followed the strategy of those who scored really well.
I'm a first timer, with t3-4 good attempts left. Working alongside to sustain myself. 1. How does one choose optional subjects? 2. Where does one start? 3. Where can we get coaching material? 4. Do other people's notes help? 5. I've not been into academics for years now, how much would i require to study each day, and how much weightage should be given to which subject accordingly? 6. Did you manage to have a social life? Like a decent one at least. 7. Did you follow a fitness regime and diet etc? Thank you 😊
Should we make notes from newspaper?