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Forum IAS: GS Mains 2018 Guidance Program

ForumIAS will be conducting a Mains Guidance Program for 2018. The Primary Focus of the Program will be

• Covering the entire syllabus via the Test Series in a disciplined manner before Mains
• Providing vital inputs and feedback to improve answer quality and possible scores.
• Beginning early helps in both improving the answers as well as absorbing the inputs given and implementing them.
• Aiding Preparation by providing notes on important topics related to Current Affairs
• Providing Detailed Solutions to cover all dimensions of questions asked.

Mains Guidance Program – Program Design

We have broken the syllabus into small doable parts that can be covered in a week.  After a week, candidates can appear for a Test on the topics. This will

• Help in checking their preparation on the topics mentioned
• Get feedback and marks on the paper they have written
• Cover the syllabus in a disciplined manner, which is otherwise difficult
• Become aware of issues and questions on the topics being prepared. This is especially useful for those who have just begun. Timely tests help you understand what to focus on while studying.

The MGP has been improved with inputs from our MGP 2016 and 2017 Students. The goal of MGP 2018 is to

• Ensure that students cover the full Mains syllabus at least once before the Prelims
• GS Paper 1 and GS Paper 4 is covered in a holistic manner before Prelims. This ensures that candidates do not waste 2 months on GS Paper 1 and GS Paper 4 next year between Prelims & Mains
• the Tests calendar is designed such that syllabus common to Prelims and Mains is tested in Jan – March by when you should start preparing for Prelims
• Major Part of the “Mains-only” syllabus will be covered by December end itself.

Components of the Program

 There will be a total of 46 tests of which

1. 20 Sectional Tests that will be released before the Prelims Examination
2. 8 Full-Length Tests released before the Prelims Examination and
3. 6 Essay Tests between the Prelims & Mains Examination
4. 12 Full Length Test Released between Prelims and Mains Examination.

• Quality Improvement Sessions & Feedback sessions with ForumIAS Mentors will be conducted in the classroom and telephonically.
• Time to time Re-orientation session with Top ForumIAS Scorers in Civil Services including rank holders.

MGP CALENDAR 

What is unique?

The Test design is based on the feedback from our MGP Students of 2016 – some of whom are top scorers in General Studies in 2016 while some of them are serving officers in Indian Police Service, Indian Revenue Services and Allied Services and joined us for rank improvement.

There were some of the common things that they had to say

• The preparation for Mains must begin before Prelims and at least one iteration should be completed.
• Papers like Ethics and GS – 1, which become a big burden to cover between Prelims & Mains must be covered as much as possible in September – January.
• Candidates must spend October – December for covering Mains syllabus and the Time after January must be dedicated for Prelims cum Mains while March onwards one should dedicate solely for prelims.
• Essay must be included in any Mains Test Series unlike MGP 2016 where Essay was not included, and they had to take classes elsewhere. Essays were included in MGP 2017.

Based on their feedback and participation, we went for this program design where we have classified the Topics in a manner such that

1. Interrelated topics of same paper or even different paper to be covered together to provide a holistic idea for a given topic.
2. The topics relevant only for mains are covered in initial days, so that they do not become a pain point in the later date of your preparation.
3. The Tests are designed so that the Prelims and Mains preparation is synced as Prelims approaches closer
4. The volume of topics for each test are such that it can be easily covered on a weekly basis. Your static portion will be completed in 3 months at a fast pace with 4 hours of study on a daily basis.
5. The First 20 Tests are half Tests of 10 questions and 90 minutes duration, which will be easy to attempt, complete and will help complete the syllabus and get assessment from mentors.

The current affairs portion of MGP will be supplemented by ForumIAS Mains Marathon program 2018.

Test Plan

The Test Plan is designed to achieve 4 times revision of the full syllabus for candidates appearing for Mains 2018.

Performance review and feedback

Each answer booklet will be reviewed and evaluated by ForumIAS Mentors, who have relevant experience with the Civil Services Mains Examination.  Relevant feedback on making improvements will be provided.

ForumIAS will be assisted in this initiative by several members who have scored well in the successive examination and several members who have secured good ranks and marks after making changes to their strategy.

Post Test Discussion – Classroom

Tests will be released on the Test Portal and in the Classroom on Saturdays, as per calendar. It is expected that students write the Tests between 10AM – 1 PM on Saturday. Post-Test discussions can be held in the second half of the day or in certain cases on the next day.

How it Works – Online?

Candidates can enroll for the Mains Guidance Program (MGP) online. After enrollment, they need to create an account on forumias.academy.

Tests will be released on the Test Portal on Saturdays, as per calendar.

The students will

• Download the QCA Booklet and print it and attempt the Test on it. It is necessary to write on QCA as it provides for
  • Judicious use of space
  • Macro and Micro comments space
  • Specific evaluation parameters after each question and on complete paper overall.
• The Attempted Paper should be scanned by a scanner or Mobile Phone using the Camscanner app and sent to mgp@forumias.academy
• It is expected that students write the Tests between 10AM – 1 PM on Saturday.

Discussion videos of the Test will be uploaded on the Test Portal within 48 Hours of conducting the Test.

Flexibility:

Students can write the Tests anytime after the Release Date for a period of 8 weeks. This means that the Tests that they miss can be completed anytime till 2 months from the release date.

For more than 2 months ForumIAS will declare submission window for every test on a regular basis to be submitted. You can then submit a test only in its respective time window when it opens. Papers submitted outside evaluation window will not be entertained till evaluation window opens.

For Tests, prior to prelims atleast 60 % of the tests i.e. 12 Test should be completed before prelims.

However, in calendar month, candidates will be entitled to assessment and evaluation of upto 5 Test Papers with guaranteed evaluation period of 15 days. Beyond 5 Test Papers, it will be on the discretion of the Mentors depending on time availability and will not guarantee 15 days evaluation.

Also, if you submit more than one copies at a go the first copy will be evaluated in 15 days the second one after that and so on. Submitting more than one copies at a go doesn’t mean they will be evaluated simultaneously within 15 days.

This is because of in the last week, candidates write 2 Tests on a single day – and send 12 – 15 copies in a time span of 1 week, just 2 weeks before the exam.

With just 2 weeks for the exam, it is impossible for us to give you an honest feedback and point out any lacuna simply because Mentors cannot ensure that the feedback has been implemented. Also, impossible for the candidates to implement the feedback in their answers, which takes at least 2-3 Tests to implement.

This defeats the purpose of the Test Series itself.

Secondly, sending 8-10 copies in a week ends up compromising on the time we can give to candidates who write Tests on a timely basis.

ForumIAS will always prioritize candidates who appear for the Tests on time

 Mains Guidance Program –  Working Candidates

We have scheduled the Tests on Saturdays so that working candidates can attempt the Tests on Saturday or Sunday. Discussion Video will be made available in the next 48 hours from classroom discussion.

GS Mains Test Series Schedule

Flexible: Tests can be written anytime after the Test Release Date. They must be submitted within 8 weeks of the Test release date for proper evaluation.

Note: Current Affairs will be part of all the Tests. Current Affairs need to be prepared from September onwards.

The Offline Tests will be available at our Test Center at the address –

ForumIAS Test Center, 3^rd Floor, Shop No. 6, Old Rajinder Nagar Market, Near Syndicate Bank (Lane Opposite Friends Restaurant )

Google Maps Location: http://is.gd/ForumIAS

You can call Vinay at 9821711605 or Shantanu at +91-8800631116 for details.

MGP CALENDAR 

Fees and Courses

Enrollment and Test Process

1. Please create an account in our test portal http://forumias.academy and we will add the MGP 2018 Course to your account. In case you face any delay, please email us at ravi@forumias.com
2. The tests will be uploaded in our test portal http://forumias.academyas per test calendar and you will be notified for the same through mail.
3. If you want to write the test online, download the question cum answer booklet, write the test physically, scan your answer-sheet and send it to mgp@forumias.academy for evaluation.

NOTE: While mailing your scanned answers to mgp@forumias.academy, the Subject line must contain Name – Roll no. – Test Code – Date of submission. The scanned file should also follow the same naming convention. Evaluated copies will be mailed back within 15 days of submission.

1. If you want to write the test offline, come to our test-centre* on the day of the test. You will be given QCA booklet to write the test. After attempting the test, submit your answer sheet in the test-centre itself for evaluation.

NOTE: Your QCA/Answer sheet must contain your Name, Roll No., Test Code and Date of submission. You will receive your evaluated copy in pdf format on mail. You can collect the original physical copy from the centre after receiving the mail.

5. If you cannot attempt the test on the day it is conducted, you can write the test any day after that at a time comfortable to you. This applies for both online as well as offline mode. However, it is recommended that you sit for the tests on time to avoid backlog and lagging behind. Especially for offline students, it is recommended that you write the Test on designated dates with other candidates to get the examination feeling.

NOTE: Evaluation will be on a first come first serve basis. Papers submitted on time will be given priority in evaluation over papers submitted late.

In order to make sure that evaluation quality is up to mark and evaluated copies are sent to respective students within 15 days of submission, students will be allowed to submit at the most 6 tests in a month for evaluation.

NOTE: ForumIAS Mentors will prioritize Students and copies that are regular.  In a month, there will be maximum 5 copies of a particular student that will be evaluated. Beyond it will be upon the availability of Mentors. This does not necessarily means that copies will not be corrected, but merely the fact they will not be prioritised.  

8. Our Mentors can be reached over email for guidance, queries and other test-related assistance. A call back can be requested over email to discuss your paper one to one.
9. For any queries, please reach us at student@forumias.academy.

If your issue is unresolved, you can reach out to vinay@forumias.academy / 9821711605

If your issue is still unresolved, you can reach out to shantanu@forumias.academy / 8800631116