Civil Services Mains 2020 Results: In or Out ? Way ahead, gratitude and Pain
The Civils Mains result has been declared. This thread is for sharing your grief , joy , mixed feelings - absolutely anything and everything.
Hey guys, need some advice!
I have been reading THE HINDU for years now and now craving for a change. Is Indian Express a good alternative to go for or should I persist with THE HINDU?
I shifted to Indian Express (IE) from Hindu after my first mains. The reason was that I found Indian Express more appealing (Explained page was good, the language was easier to comprehend etc).
The initial excitement you get from shifting papers lasts only for some time. After that the boredom sets in. So if you change just for the sake of changing, you'll probably be back to the same situation in a few months time.
That being said, I found IE to be superb till now. It is different from the Hindu, not inferior. So you can shift without compromising on the quality of coverage. Personally, I see myself reading IE for the remainder of my preparation
Animesh_Maths,NOLEisGOAT
Hey guys, need some advice!
I have been reading THE HINDU for years now and now craving for a change. Is Indian Express a good alternative to go for or should I persist with THE HINDU?I shifted to Indian Express (IE) from Hindu after my first mains. The reason was that I found Indian Express more appealing (Explained page was good, the language was easier to comprehend etc).
The initial excitement you get from shifting papers lasts only for some time. After that the boredom sets in. So if you change just for the sake of changing, you'll probably be back to the same situation in a few months time.
That being said, I found IE to be superb till now. It is different from the Hindu, not inferior. So you can shift without compromising on the quality of coverage. Personally, I see myself reading IE for the remainder of my preparation
Thanks mate. I will make sure that if I change, It will be based on something more than a momentary impulse!
@SunnyParashar Bhai...can u share the socio notes or strategy...This one was my 2nd Mains with socio... but failedI have my notes derived from sangwan, Tugramanshu, Upendra sir, selected Haralambous, PYQs solutions, Test series solutions and some googleI dont want to fail again.. please suggest some way forward...i have not written the test but solely depend on revision multiple of times..Thnx in advance for your suggestionif want to see i can share my notes
Aapke to last year socio mein mere se bhi zyada marks hain.Mein aapko kya bataunga.Infact mein aapse puchna chahta tha.Aapka socio to theek hai,merse bhi achha
Last year I was in a similar situtation with no idea what to do.Abhi pata nahi mere marks nahi aaye hain but 1 thing I realized is that people focus excessively on tests and ans writing.What I believe actually helps is not how many tests u write(I have'nt written even a single prelims test and still managed to clear pre both times,this time wrote 1 optional tests and 0 gs tests-but read topper copies) but how many times 1 has revised before exams.Last year I could'nt do well not because of tests but because of failure to recall in exam due to lack of revision.
I believe the open secret is to revise entire gs course in the last 1 month before exam which no topper tells,no coaching tells nobody tells.I read saurabh dixit article on forum and l believe his 1 line sums up the entire prep-If u have'nt read anything tests and ans writing can't save one.Last year also I focused only on revising optional and scored decent there despite writing 0 tests.
Yeh koi kyun nahi bolta hai ki pura course 3 baar revise karo pre and mains ke beech main jahan last revision last 1 month mein hona chahiye.Agar kuch mugged up hai to apne aap jaldi recall hoga exam mein aur paper pura hoga.
I have written 2 mains and even secured interview call this time but I still can't figure out how ans writing helps.If one has internalised something,know how to write intro and conclu,has mugged up data and articles and sdg and arc and punchi one will write that in exam.How will ans writing change anything.It is beyond me.Isliye I to believe mug up 4-5 times entire syllabus and one can write things in exam with decent content and even finish paper.
Baaki abhi marks to nahi aaye hain.Isliye I don't know how much of it is true.Maybe all of it is false and I may be shooting in dark.But this is the change I made between these 2 attempts and result changed to positive.I believe ans writing is a hoax created by coaching to earn money.Nobody knows who check the copies,vision test questions are nowhere close to upsc questions.Agar test series ke question repeat ho jab to fayda ho,wo to hota nahi hai.Vision puchta hai ways to save water,upsc specifically puchti hai storage.How does ans writing helps.Only if 1 has issue in finishing papers 1 should go for tests else one should focus solely on finishin course and mugging it up 4-5 times.
If one has'nt revised laxmikanth 5 days before gs 2 one will not be able to recall articles and judgements.If I have'nt read nolan(which I did'nt last year)I can't figure out how writing tests could help.
All of this is my guess.Baaki aage dekho marks kitne aate hain aur kya hota hai.Best of luck to all of us.Hospital se aane ke baad pehla kaam yahi kiya hai.Best of luck again
I wish I could agree with you on this!
I did exactly what you described for this mains. No answer writing at all, barley a couple of questions here and there. (This was my second mains btw and I had done only 8 FLTs for last mains too)
My main focus was only on revision, revision and more revision. I did reproduce all the articles, reports and data wherever I could. Like I mentioned Article for the speaker in GS2 and revenue neutral rate in GST compensation issue in GS3. Also, I believe these are not isolated examples. In most questions,I thinkI did quote some data relevant to the question. Atleast this is true of most of the 80 GS questions.
But alas, I failed to qualify.
Now the reasons for failure could be many:
1. Bad optional (philosophy) performance. Agreed paper 1 was a bouncer but I think paper 2 was good and more than enough to compensate.
2. Essay is the culprit but to be honest, I think both of my essays were good enough to atleast get average marks.
3. Perhaps GS papers weren’t as good as I think they were. Or there are people better than me who mugged up more than I did. Also, I barely do diagrams. Never got the hang of it. Could this be the reason?
4. My handwriting sucks. Perhaps this is why!? I know there are rankers who have bad writing but perhaps there were the exception and exceptions don’t disprove the rule that handwriting matters a lot.
If you guys can throw some light on what could be the possible reasons for failure, I would really appreciate it.
I’m at wit’s end right now. Have no clue on how to proceed. I barely have any motivation left in me. Zero discipline to study too.
Point 3 isnt the reason.I also drew 0 diagrams.Point 4 isnt the issue as can be seen from rank 7 copy.If u have done all of this what can I tell.I also have done same things as u.I have nothing to offer.Maybe optional is the culprit
Last year I was in a similar situtation with no idea what to do.Abhi pata nahi mere marks nahi aaye hain but 1 thing I realized is that people focus excessively on tests and ans writing.What I believe actually helps is not how many tests u write(I have'nt written even a single prelims test and still managed to clear pre both times,this time wrote 1 optional tests and 0 gs tests-but read topper copies) but how many times 1 has revised before exams.Last year I could'nt do well not because of tests but because of failure to recall in exam due to lack of revision.
I believe the open secret is to revise entire gs course in the last 1 month before exam which no topper tells,no coaching tells nobody tells.I read saurabh dixit article on forum and l believe his 1 line sums up the entire prep-If u have'nt read anything tests and ans writing can't save one.Last year also I focused only on revising optional and scored decent there despite writing 0 tests.
Yeh koi kyun nahi bolta hai ki pura course 3 baar revise karo pre and mains ke beech main jahan last revision last 1 month mein hona chahiye.Agar kuch mugged up hai to apne aap jaldi recall hoga exam mein aur paper pura hoga.
I have written 2 mains and even secured interview call this time but I still can't figure out how ans writing helps.If one has internalised something,know how to write intro and conclu,has mugged up data and articles and sdg and arc and punchi one will write that in exam.How will ans writing change anything.It is beyond me.Isliye I to believe mug up 4-5 times entire syllabus and one can write things in exam with decent content and even finish paper.
Baaki abhi marks to nahi aaye hain.Isliye I don't know how much of it is true.Maybe all of it is false and I may be shooting in dark.But this is the change I made between these 2 attempts and result changed to positive.I believe ans writing is a hoax created by coaching to earn money.Nobody knows who check the copies,vision test questions are nowhere close to upsc questions.Agar test series ke question repeat ho jab to fayda ho,wo to hota nahi hai.Vision puchta hai ways to save water,upsc specifically puchti hai storage.How does ans writing helps.Only if 1 has issue in finishing papers 1 should go for tests else one should focus solely on finishin course and mugging it up 4-5 times.
If one has'nt revised laxmikanth 5 days before gs 2 one will not be able to recall articles and judgements.If I have'nt read nolan(which I did'nt last year)I can't figure out how writing tests could help.
All of this is my guess.Baaki aage dekho marks kitne aate hain aur kya hota hai.Best of luck to all of us.Hospital se aane ke baad pehla kaam yahi kiya hai.Best of luck again
I wish I could agree with you on this!
I did exactly what you described for this mains. No answer writing at all, barley a couple of questions here and there. (This was my second mains btw and I had done only 8 FLTs for last mains too)
My main focus was only on revision, revision and more revision. I did reproduce all the articles, reports and data wherever I could. Like I mentioned Article for the speaker in GS2 and revenue neutral rate in GST compensation issue in GS3. Also, I believe these are not isolated examples. In most questions,I thinkI did quote some data relevant to the question. Atleast this is true of most of the 80 GS questions.
But alas, I failed to qualify.
Now the reasons for failure could be many:
1. Bad optional (philosophy) performance. Agreed paper 1 was a bouncer but I think paper 2 was good and more than enough to compensate.
2. Essay is the culprit but to be honest, I think both of my essays were good enough to atleast get average marks.
3. Perhaps GS papers weren’t as good as I think they were. Or there are people better than me who mugged up more than I did. Also, I barely do diagrams. Never got the hang of it. Could this be the reason?
4. My handwriting sucks. Perhaps this is why!? I know there are rankers who have bad writing but perhaps there were the exception and exceptions don’t disprove the rule that handwriting matters a lot.
If you guys can throw some light on what could be the possible reasons for failure, I would really appreciate it.
I’m at wit’s end right now. Have no clue on how to proceed. I barely have any motivation left in me. Zero discipline to study too.
Hume to apno n duboya, gairo mai kaha dam tha ( philosophy optional 😔 )
Sankoza,
3rd Attempt,1st Mains Out(Economics Optional).I felt that I did reasonably good;attempted all questions with average quality.Was expecting at least interview call,but UPSC had other plans.
UPSC being UPSC,I have to be myself.Preparing with more zeal for the upcoming 2021 attempt and eagerly waiting for the Marksheet to find out who was theVibhishan.Till then trying to get into the groove for Prelims.
Kyuki iss baar Phood Denge..
nerdslayer,
Asmita_101said
Can anyone who has qualified IFoS cutoff or clears CSE cutoff with a big margin and could replicate that in prelims repeatedly tell me their last 2 months strategy or paper solving techniques. It's really difficult for me to cross that 110 barrier. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Is yourscience optional?
Out. Guys, I need some advice. This was my first attempt and first mains. I somehow managed to slog and clear prelims but soon after I realized how grossly underprepared I was for mains. Except my optional I did not have any notes whatsoever, no multiple revisions and no writing practice. Consequently my performance in GS was very bad and in my optional Maths I did decent but scaling did me down I guess. I am considering skipping this year, ramp up my revisions and prepare topical notes. Have any of you skipped an attempt before? Your experience and advice would be appreciated. Thank You.
@Neyawn please guide. Also I am thinking of using MGP as a map for my gs prep, comments?
Out. Guys, I need some advice. This was my first attempt and first mains. I somehow managed to slog and clear prelims but soon after I realized how grossly underprepared I was for mains. Except my optional I did not have any notes whatsoever, no multiple revisions and no writing practice. Consequently my performance in GS was very bad and in my optional Maths I did decent but scaling did me down I guess. I am considering skipping this year, ramp up my revisions and prepare topical notes. Have any of you skipped an attempt before? Your experience and advice would be appreciated. Thank You.@Neyawn please guide. Also I am thinking of using MGP as a map for my gs prep, comments?
https://support.forumias.com/why-cannot-i-seek-or-publish-coaching-review-on-forumias/
AzadHindFauz,Ok but@Neyawn can you comment if people have skipped and whether it has worked?
1st post. Silent spectator untill now.
Personal Profile:
2nd Attempt, 1st Mains. Not Selected
Job Ex 2.5 years (left in dec 2018)
Exam Overview:
Essay moderate to Difficult
GS 1 moderate
GS 2 moderate
GS 3 Easy
GS 4 Difficult due to Case studies
Optional (Sociology)
1st one Easy, 2nd one Difficult
Exam Experience:
Attempted all Questionsin each paper
Used flowcharts, diagrams and spider format in most questions.
Used SC judgements, Commitees/Commissions, Articles, Data, SDGs in almost every question especially GS2&GS3.
Optional was also well managed (some apprehension about paper 2 but used sociological terminologies extensively)
Did daily answer writing of PYQs (2017-19) without fail along with comparison of model answers.
Wrote 12 GS FLTs and 6 Optional Tests b/w pre & mains, analysed toppers copy also.
Before pre already wrote 12 GS & 8 Optional Tests (total 24 GS+ 14 optional) and had all my notes ready (1 pagers/crisp) for each topic of syllabus before pre itself.
Feedback for tests mostly good w.r.t content, context (especially) & presentation.
Basically ticked all checkboxes as most toppers says, literally.
Thought I would at least get interview call, though secretly thinking my marks will be in 850s +/- 20
Now back to Zero. Feeling disgusted and humbled at same time.
However, we must 1st accept the idea there would be some scope of improvement, otherwise for next mains no motivation for self improvisation.I learned
-we should not oversimplify inherently complex things (like calculating marks above).
-Smartwork NOT equal to Shortcuts.
-Complacency at any stage will kill your chances.
(If i compare my prelims hardwork vs mains, the ratio would stand 2:1)
-Never showoff your gyan untill final selection.
-Own your mistakes, rest assure there will be. Right now i am not good enough, not yet.
- Time to focus on Prelims and only when marks come, will improvise on my shortcomings. (May include some overlaping aspects of gs mains but not beyond april)
After looking many posts here, I feel i am not alone who is feeling the same way. Let's get rid of this worst hangover of lifetime and start afresh with new perspective. The caveat here is after this upcoming 3rd attempt, will take up job and prepare side by side as most things are done and incremental efforts are less.
Ok but@Neyawn can you comment if people have skipped and whether it has worked?
People do use a test series for a chartered preparation. However, I would also suggest you to take some modular classes if you don’t have content and don’t have the habit of making e notes from various sources + ability to make it concise for revision before exams. Any classes will help you develop the base material for individual topics of the syllabus.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS| No Coaching Review / Rant / promo / Complaint Allowed including ForumIAS Academy. All such threads will be deleted. I am working to rebuild ForumIAS Community in the limited time span that I have. Coaching threads attract wrong crowd / people. ForumIAS Academy will run limited support threads on the community. No new course launches will be announced here.
I've been asked by many community members to share my experience. I didn't want to comment on anything with conviction without seeing my marks. Now that I'm writing about what I did, this in no way means to be a write-up on 'what is the ideal way'. Take this with a pinch of salt and do your own analysis in objective manner. This is going to be a long write-up as I'll try to be as comprehensive as I can about my approach.
A brief background first. This year was my 2nd attempt. I wrote mains in 1st attempt. It was a disaster. I left around 120-130 marks blank. This event itself was a big turning point in my preparation. I was devastated after the optional paper. So, I did not waste much time and started preparing for mains straightway with a few learnings. These will be beneficial especially for people who'll be writing their first mains this year-
Do not blindly follow the advice of writing too many tests if you don't even have your mains notes ready.
(If you're a first-timer, you just read something that can save you the hassle of repeating attempts. This advice is not to be taken with a pinch of salt. Read it again and again. Internalise it. If someone says otherwise, he's not your well-wisher. Give him a big F-word and keep on following this advice.)
2nd attempt. 2nd Mains. Few things were clear by now.
To ace Mains:
1) Write all questions.
2) Must have 4-5 points for every sub-topic on the tip of the fingers to handle the bouncers.
With these two goals in my mind, I began preparing for mains.
- I revisited the idea of not writing tests after tests. The key lies in revising again and again. After a point, the revision was so intense, in my head, I actually had phrases ready to open and conclude, if a question were to be asked on water, agriculture etc.
- I had identified thematic areas that are UPSC's favourite. I did this exercise for both prelims and mains. This helped me score in 120s in Prelims too.
This was the bedrock of my strategy. So, I gave more emphasis on these areas-
- Favorite themes of UPSC
- PYQs
- All the sub-topics mentioned directly in the syllabus.
This made my life simple and super-easy.
The D-Day:
Essay:I chose 'Being human.....and being humane' and 'Patriarchy'. The idea was to stick to the demand, no matter how average the content was.Kept on revisiting the topic questionafter making arguments after arguments in the body. Used a lot of linkers and rhetorical questions to maintain the flow. Expecting above average in Essay.
GS1:I think I have a fairly good command on static subjects. Prelims reading helped me answering Pala empire, Persian literary sources etc. type questions. Made a few maps. (Learn to draw India's map. It leaves good impression). I have a fair drawing skill so, my map work is good. Presentation does matter here. In my first attempt, I scored 85 marks after leaving 50 marks worth of questions. Presentation was neat. Answers were crisp.
GS2: I do not know how will I fair in this paper. The questions were analytical like last year. Despite PSIR background, it was difficult for me. When paper becomes difficult, I generally feel I get an edge over others. This is so because, I do not write irrelevant content and bogus words. I write only what is asked. In GS2, I wrote 1 page for 2-3 10 markers and 1.5 page for 2-3 15 marks. These were questions where I didn't have much content, but whatever content I wrote in those pages were hitting 'bulls' eye'. This is how I finished my GS2 paper 5 minutes before the stipulated time.
My GS2 marks will probably be a good yardstick to ascertain whether it's possible to score fairly good with less content if you hit the demand well. I really wish it breaks the myth associated with filling pages to get more marks. I do not believe in that practice anyway.
GS3: This paper was all about data crunching. I used a lot of data in my answers. Drew beautiful maps in questions like potential of renewables, water and agri etc. This paper was loaded with content since the questions were straightforward unlike GS2.
GS4: If there was a paper I was really concerned about, it was Ethics. The case studies were unconventional. Ate away lot of my time. I could not write one 10 marker and wrote 2 for namesake. The paper where I faced mismanagement of time.
However, I wrote decent case studies. My approach was bit unconventional. I wrote them like short essays to strike a conversation with examiner. Except for the one on arms trade, all were written in Essay format. So, I was worried whether it would be liked or not. I guess I have gotten okay marks, not too bad.
Overall experience after 2 Mains ( 1 successful and 1 unsuccessful):
1.Understand the demand. If a question is asked to show how a certain 3 laws affect federalism, show the 'how' part. No points for mentioning the features of those laws!
2.Revise more, Write less tests.I will commit the crime of repeating this idea again. Do not trade off the time for revision and write tests.
3.Mains is fairly predictable. Analyse the pattern. First timers can be excused, but if you're someone who's repeatedly failing mains, you should consider doing this exercise ====>>>
- Favorite themes of UPSC
- PYQs
- All the sub-topics mentioned directly in the syllabus.
That's it. It has been a long read! This is what I did this time and was able to see the light at the end of the tunnel. In no way, I intend to show this as the best possible strategy. This is simply what helped me. I'd try to elaborate more about this approach once I get to see the marks. Until then, this is it!
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