UPSC Mains\u00a0Strategy<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n AIR 162, CSE 2016<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n First Attempt, No Coaching<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n This Article is a Part of Series of Articles written by\u00a0Saurabh Dixit\u00a0<\/strong>who has secured\u00a0AIR 162, CSE 2016<\/strong>\u00a0with self study in the very First Attempt.<\/p>\n Read the Part-1 Here<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n Read the Part-2 Here<\/strong><\/span><\/a><\/p>\n As I had said earlier, if this your first attempt, don\u2019t worry about answer writing.<\/p>\n Focus on finishing<\/em> the syllabus first.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n You first need to know what contribution did Netaji and Gandhiji had in our freedom struggle to attempt a comparative. You need to know what air mass is before you write about it\u2019s role in affecting micro-climate. In a nutshell, I believe if you know it, you can write it, if you don\u2019t \u2013 writing skills won\u2019t save you.<\/p>\n Format of answers: after my pre-exam, I joined mains test series Test series(s). Always<\/em> take them as self assessment. Take the schedule as a guide to finishing the syllabus on time. It helps you develop a habit of sitting for three hours and write like a generalist. <\/em>The scores in test series do not reflect your chances of success in CSE. Period.<\/p>\n Be least bothered about underlining, highlighting, paragraphs or points etc. Just write what you know. Be lucid, legible and innovative. Always<\/em> stick to the point. Bang on!<\/p>\n Another important thing – there\u2019ll always be 10-12 questions (out of 20) that you can score best in. Don\u2019t lose out on them. 4-5 questions will be like you have a general idea, a tangential concept – yet you\u2019ve to attempt it. However, do not<\/strong> bluff in those. Just write 100 words, if you know 100. (I did this in GS Paper II and have got 103, so you can trust me or not<\/em>). And for some questions like McBride commission, etc just don\u2019t bother. Nobody knows it. You can\u2019t bet your selection on questions like these.<\/p>\n These are fodder for people who think CSE is a lottery, let it be. Just be cool in the exam.<\/p>\n Many a time students form an opinion of the exam just by looking at first few questions. Avoid that temptation. The exam is same for all.<\/strong><\/span> Be positive about it. It helps.<\/p>\n I took rest for a couple of days, made a plan. I made a list of topics important for mains that I had not revised (for e.g., world history). Now, I knew I was good at GS part or rather the static part of syllabus. I knew all I had to do what practice tests, write few essays, keep an open mind, be imaginative (helped me score 150 in Essay<\/em>) and learn Sociology by heart.<\/em><\/p>\n I did as per the plan. Read Yojana, Kurukshetra, Economic Survey, IYB (chapters like Agriculture), revised NCERT History books several times and so on.<\/p>\n More important in this phase is to remain positive but not overconfident. Revise multiple times.<\/strong><\/span> Period.<\/p>\n Clues to the main(w) exam suggest U in UPSC doesn\u2019t<\/strong> stand for Unexpected<\/em>:<\/p>\n DD Kisan (yes, I looked at theYouTube playlist while preparing agriculture for GS III) was showing programs on PMBFY. Pre exam had question on PMFBY. And GS III had a 12.5 marker on PMFBY. Surprise anyone?<\/p>\n CSE 2015 had a comparative on Gandhiji and Babasaheb. Our PM released archives on Netaji in starting months of 2016. CSE 2016 had a 12.5 marker n a comparative between Netaji and Gandhiji. Surprise anyone?<\/p>\n CSE pre 2016 had a question on Vijaynagar. CSE main had a 12.5 marker n Krishnadevaraya \u2013 the ruler of Vijaynagar \u2013 surprise anyone?<\/p>\n CSE 2015 had a question on insolvency bill. (This should have made you go through important bills, even coaching institutes started including it in their current affairs material). CSE 2016 had a 12.5 marker on prospects and challenges on inland waterways ( a bill declaring national waterways was passed in the same year). Surprise anyone?<\/p>\n The whole point is, most questions in CSE are expected and can be guessed, if you\u2019re all in<\/em> the game. I was, and it helped.<\/p>\n Above all, keep following things in mind. Don\u2019t get lost in petty details. Always have the macro picture in mind.<\/p>\n Be quick in analyzing and develop habit of good presentation.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n \u2013\u00a0Saurabh Dixit,\u00a0AIR 162<\/b><\/p>\n (\u201cForumIAS is the best platform to help students in today\u2019s era<\/span>\u201d, says the UPSC Topper)<\/em><\/p>\n Below is the\u00a0Mains S<\/strong>corecard<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Note<\/strong><\/span>:<\/p>\n Next\u00a0GS Mains Test Series for UPSC CSM-2017 on\u00a017th August, 2017. Click Here for more details<\/strong><\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" UPSC IAS TOPPER,\u00a0Saurabh Dixit UPSC Mains\u00a0Strategy AIR 162, CSE 2016 First Attempt, No Coaching This Article is a Part of Series of Articles written by\u00a0Saurabh Dixit\u00a0who has secured\u00a0AIR 162, CSE 2016\u00a0with self study in the very First Attempt. Read the Part-1 Here Read the Part-2 Here Answer writing As I had said earlier, if this… Continue reading [Strategy] Cracking UPSC in First Attempt : GS Mains Strategy of UPSC IAS Topper Saurabh Dixit (AIR 162 \/ CSE 2016) First Attempt, No Coaching, GS Mains Preparation Strategy and Answer Writing [Part 3]<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":6183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,28,9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motivation","category-preparation-strategy","category-public","category-toppers-story","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/Saurabh-Dixit-upsc-topper.jpg?fit=1000%2C500&ssl=1","views":{"total":10,"cached_at":"","cached_date":1700118289},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6183"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nAnswer writing<\/strong><\/span><\/h6>\n
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\nSo what did I do after August 7?<\/span><\/h6>\n
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\nMains Scorecard<\/h6>\n
\n![\"mains](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.forumias.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/mains.png?resize=500%2C428\")
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