Few Lessons Learned For Prelims
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Matthew kirkFew Lessons Learned For Prelims
Uploaded by
Matthew kirkFew lessons learned for Prelims
Disclaimer: “It is the mark of a serious aspirant to be able to entertain an advice without accepting it” — Aristotle
About Me: Shantanu Malani - Air #113. UPSC CSE 2021.
About my Prelims Journey: —
● 1st Attempt (2019) — Failed. Missed Prelims cut-off by 10 marks.
● 2nd Attempt (2020) — Passed. 5 marks above cut-off. (Then failed Mains by 1 mark)
● 3rd Attempt (2021) — Passed. Cleared Forest Service cut off too. 15 Marks above Cut-off. Got a rank too.
● 4th Attempt (2022) — Passed. Cleared Forest Service cut off again. ~15 Marks above Cut-off (Guesstimate). In case I
need to improve my rank.
In Brief: —
Success in short term will be based on: — Success in Long term: —
1. Syllabus wise Notes followed by its Revision. 1. Schedule (Discipline)
2. PYQs: Trends/pattern analysis followed by 2. Belief/Patience
Writing/Brainstorming it 3. “Trust the process” — Ed Catmull
3. Practice: — Mocks for Prelims & Mains (“Creativity”)
(Answer Writing Tests for Mains) 4. Intensity is overrated; Consistency is
4. Topper’s Copies for Mains underrated.
Lesson 0: “Keep the syllabus close, but previous years’
questions closer.” — Al Pacino (The Godfather)
● Syllabus and PYQs contains answers to most of our questions. They are the best guide of what to do and how to do.
The best part is that they don’t lie or misguide. Give both the respect and time they deserve.
Lesson 1 — “Immature aspirants imitate; mature
aspirants steal.” ― T. S. Eliot.
● Watch as many toppers strategies [Target: 50] as you want. Steal what suits you/makes sense to you. Look for people
with your background, your optional — see what advices they have to give and then make your plan accordingly.
Lesson 2 — “All subjects are equal, few subjects are
more equal than others”. — George Orwell
○ 3 Subjects have disproportionate weightage - Environment, Economics and Polity: ~ 50 Questions from Big
Three (Env, Eco & Polity).
○ To crack Prelims you need - 60-30-10: Correct:Incorrent and Not Attempted = 100 marks — (Post 2019). Keep
that in mind.
Lesson 3: “There are three reasons I failed. Not enough
training. Not enough training. And not enough training.”
— Haruki Murakami
● Solve more Mocks (Target: 50) to learn techniques to solve questions when you are confused, logic is required etc.
● Types of mocks - Sectional from one test series and Full length tests from diverse coaching to get a flair of different
questions possible. (Give Eco, Env mocks of multiple institutes cause — Lesson 2)
“An unexamined mock is not worth giving.” — Socrates
○ Schedule for ~ 3 Months before Prelims and try to cover each subject 4-6 times (14 Days * 6). I obviously fail to
do so — So I prioritised Eco, Env and Polity over A&C, A&M.
Lesson 4: “I fear not the aspirant who has read 10
sources once, but I fear the aspirant who has read one
source 10 times.” — Bruce Lee
○ QRN = Quick Revision Notes. For all the topics where I am weak or are important acc. to PYQs — I make my
notes (It helped me, obviously though not necessary to crack Prelims). Eg. In Prelims 2019 - I could not answers
National Park questions correctly so for 2020 I mugged up 105 NP, 60 WLS, 50 TR and All Biosphere reserves.
This helped me do 3 Questions correctly with Confidence in Prelims 2020. But alas in 2021 no questions from
NP, WLS, YRs were asked — Such is UPSC Prelims and Life!
Lesson 5: “When you lose don’t lose the lesson” — Dalai
Lama
● Analyse your failures — in mocks or actual exam whatever it is. Learn from yours and others’ mistakes — So that you
know what needs to be done for better results next time.
“If you make a mistake and do not correct it, this is called a mistake.” ― Confucius.
● Also, Make a list of Mistakes committed in mocks so as to revise your weak areas in subsequent revisions.
STATUTORY WARNING: DO NOT TAKE CSAT
LIGHTLY.
Misc: —
1. Pen: Liqui-flo or Fanta Flo
2. For Maps: Drishti IAS or La Excellence Videos that comes closer to Prelims
3. Good Resources:
a. Anshuman Rajhans’s PYQs solved video - A friend who has never failed Prelims recommended it.
b. Mrunal’s guessmastergiri
c. Insights’ Intelligent guessing Blog
d. Abhijeet Sinha’s tips
Words of Wisdom:
From Book: — “The Dip” by Seth Godin
Maybe wisdom is not so much to come up with new answers as to recognise at a deeper level the profundity of the age-old
answers.