Did not clear Prelims 2024? Don’t screw up CSE 2025! ( Part 1/2 )

“I did not clear Prelims.”

This time also.”

Excepting the odd 12,000-15,000 people who are writing Mains every year, this is the common refrain among most aspirants of an examination that has less than 1% selection rate.

That means 99%[1] of the people may not clear the Prelims.

Now, when we do not clear Prelims, we think that we belong to the group of people who have failed Prelims.

Do not get me wrong, people who have not cleared Prelims do not fall in a single bucket.

It is like saying I am a government servant – and you could be a clerk or a Cabinet Secretary implementing the vision of the Union Cabinet, or the Chief Election Commission, a member of the Indian Administrative Service, and the ONE man, who can save democracy through conduct of free and fair elections in a nation of 1.4 billion people – perhaps the only country with  democracy in all of South Asia.

In short, where you stand matters.

What nudged me to write this post ( and not one for Mains 2024, which shall shortly follow ), was that I see all around me a bunch of people who have cleared Prelims – and who have not cleared Prelims and the difference in the mindset.

Mindset is the way you think. The way you see a situation, the way you approach a problem – and most importantly the problem you see ( or not see ) in a situation.

This post is for people who have not cleared Prelims.

One of the common things that may happen to you when you do not clear Prelims is to get caught in what is known as the UPSC chakrvyuh, or the UPSC cycle where you keep giving attempts, until you reach the 5th or 6th attempt and you figure out karna kya tha. I have written a detailed post on this here.

The difference between people who make it and people who do not is while the ones who make it know karna kya hai. The ones who don’t  make it – wait until after a few years they know karna kya tha.

This year I got and odd 100-120 people to work with us for the Prelims 2024. Only prelims, nothing else. Out of them, we were able to see 1/3rd selections for Mains 2024. About 1/3rd will get selected next year, because now they know karna kya tha all these years. The last 1/3rd will realise at some point of time that Civil Services is neither their priority, nor is it worth spending one’s youth – or something more honest – they may not want to put that level of effort which others are putting and will walk out of the process for good – because they have run out of energy, youth, parental trust and support or financial support – that is needed to sustain one’s preparation for an extended period of time.

At this point, you may ask me why will the middle 1/3rd clear it next year? Why could they not make it this year, and what makes you so sure about their success next year.

That’s because I have seen it every year happening around it. The difference that may come up in this 1/3rd who didn’t make it this year – and will make it next year is because they have seen success around them – even if they have not succeeded around them.

And that changes everything. Forever.

Watch this video carefully at timestamp 1:30:27. Here is the link.

If you see carefully, in this event, there is a Chief Guest giving out some awards to the selected students. And selected students taking those award from a previously selected candidates now serving in the IAS.

But if you look closer, they have been classmates at one point of time. And I, as their mentor know that if Aditya ( he always had a good score in GS, but his optional didn’t work out for him. The year he got selected, he was probably the highest or second highest rank holder from his optional ) could sustain his preparation for so long, it was because he had seen his classmates clear the exam.[2]

What I have learned in the past 15 years of my experience with Civil Services Examination , and having met several successful people – and sometimes very bright people who do not make it. is that success comes down to three factors. More so, in this examination, it will come down to three specific below issues.

The books you read matter

The first is the work/ study that you are doing and the books you are reading. You want to fail someone? Give them the wrong book. GIve them poor quality notes.

About a decade ago, the best way to fail someone in prelims was to gift him the India Year Book – not that questions wont come from there – but to cover those questions, you end up spending so much time, you lose out on everything else.

When it comes to Civils , the first classes you take, the first books you read – set the benchmark or the base for you. Your inception into the preparation, if not doe right is likley to cost you a few years – if not an entire career. I have received some advice in a direction I had never thought ( you can read the bashing here ) , and I am meeting a lot of students – not just the focussed ones, but also the ones who think they are preparing –  while there curriculum is very different from exam curriculum. For instance I met a very passionate student, who felt that this channel was the best one for Civil Services preparation. ( He said he had watched more than 2000+ videos on the channel and also done some paid courses from the app ). It was impossible for me to proceed on a discussion with me, least he wrote bad things about me on the Internet, so I quit the discussion.

If you asked me why it was so challenging even to get 33% selections from a crowd of 100-120 people – is that a lot of people have completely wrong idea about the exam and preparation. And after 3 failed prelims attempts – you develop even poor ideas. And you have a tendency to blame it on all luck. [3]

Worse, your benchmark for what is to be studied changes in those years, and just like success begets success, failure begets failure.

The people you work with matter

The second crucial factor for success in life is the people you are working with. The coaches and Mentors, but most importantly your peers. Why Aditya would ultimately clear the exam will be not because of any other factors, but because he would see Minal, Akshay, Nikita get in services. They set the baseline for him.

The baseline for hard work

The baseline for perseverance

The baseline for what-is-a-good-score-in-simulator

The baseline for what-rank-is-a-good-rank in SFG

The baseline for whether it is worth the time, travel energy and money spent in travelling from Noida Greater Noida to sit in a poorly furnished class travelling 2 hours on each side?

You succeed – sometimes because you see other people succeeding – and you draw your baseline.

You define your normal.

You decide what is the lowest standard for you.

And that will be set by the kind of people who had an influence over you.

And in most likelihood, if you are reading this, you are reading it because one of your peers told you it was worth a read.

And if you cannot have a group who can set high standards for you – by all means – stay alone. The lone wolf. But a company of non-sincere, loosely motivated, problem-seeking, worried-about-everything-except-the-exam-and-studied will pull you down.[4]

If you cannot find the right peers, reading good books, being a part of a sincere community can help.

But having on negative person around you can make or ruin an entire attempt.

The Hard work

The hard work is the third stand of the tripod that is essential to success and critical for the stability of the tripod. By all means success will not come to you if you do not work hard.

And it is not like you can take away the other two and things will work. All three have to come together. You cannot make compromises with any of these or your tripod falls.

Until next time

❤️

–

Neyawn

This article is a part of Series of Articles for People who have not cleared Prelims and are looking for a way ahead. You can read the second part of the article by clicking here

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[1] As per the Commission, 13.4 lakh candidates appeared for the examination, and 14,627 candidates have been selected for the Mains examination. That makes the % rejection at the Prelims stage at a whopping 99%.

[2] Minal and Aditya were classmates in ForumIAS CGP Foundation program. They are serving in the IAS and IPS respectively.

[3] Luck is the uncontrolled and uncontrollable factor in nearly every human endeavour. Unlike Thomas Alva Edison, you do not have 1000 attempts in Civil Services.