Mains 2019 Preparation and Discussion Thread

speculations and only speculations galore !

how much those feedback suggestions by test series evaluators were helpful in the actual mains exam?

@RagsI wrote same quality answers in optional paper 2 and one gs paper.....same attempt,same writing style,no specific optional ans writing style.... still got 35+ marks more in optional thn the gs ppr....it seems checking of optional is liberal thn that of gs...thus it is more rewarding to focus on optional which can be mastered rather than gs which might throw surprises like gs2

@abhishek_p
No benefit at all.

Thanks all for your valid comments.

You mean, same answer and content fetches more marks in Geography optional than GS1, if same question comes in both the papers.
Means optional papers evaluation is liberal always? Doesn’t depend on person who evaluates and other factors?

@abhishek_psaid inMains 2019 Preparation and Discussion Thread:

how much those feedback suggestions by test series evaluators were helpful in the actual mains exam?

Always found them vague and generic, plus always found difficult to analyze ans copies

@Ragssaid inMains 2019 Preparation and Discussion Thread:

Thanks all for your valid comments.

You mean, same answer and content fetches more marks in Geography optional than GS1, if same question comes in both the papers.
Means optional papers evaluation is liberal always? Doesn’t depend on person who evaluates and other factors?

I think more marks in optional is because of fixed syllabus, expected ques, less randomness(than GS); apart from that I also feel efforts from aspirants has also forced examiners to give more marks(very few put so much efforts in GS), mostly applicable for PSIR

@abhishek_pmost of their feedbacks are very generic. so not much helpful. also they check copy strictly as per model answers. so if your answer matches withh model answers then they will give five out of ten. otherwise 4 n so on.

essay test series too are of no use. on one hand they charges around 1500 per essay test bt give poor feedback. peer and self review is much better than test series. test series is good only for time management and finding left contents/important topics.

@abhishek_pUploaded toppers' copies can be the most helpful. It showed me how to directly address the question instead of beating around the bush, no need for definitions unless specifically asked.

Test copy evaluations are mostly rubbish. I wrote a visionias test on gs paper 2 polity part and there was a question on separation of powers. Somewhere in it I specified how president is a part of the executive as well as legislature (overlapping of personnel- given in laxmikanth as well as visionias value added material) but the checker wrote as a correction "Please don't write factually incorrect information - president is not a part of legislature" and I was like kahan se pakad ke laate hain aise namoone copy check karne ke liye

@Caesarsaid inMains 2019 Preparation and Discussion Thread:

I think more marks in optional is because of fixed syllabus, expected ques, less randomness(than GS); apart from that I also feel efforts from aspirants has also forced examiners to give more marks(very few put so much efforts in GS), mostly applicable for PSIR

can you elaborate this?What do you mean by less randomness in PSIR?

@K_9copy correction is generally done by mains appeared or interview appeared..but with many taking up.test series .even non pre cleared people are checking it..random corrections...aur ye toppers copies most of them hve been in non exam.environment..read karne se hi pata chalta hai...mug up model answers and then write the tests...or hve a open book exam....

@LeoMessimost of them are given in coaching notes and test series ...he meant that...but then all write frm same source leaving average marks up for grabs

@ranyo_asokaNo- by toppers' copy i did not mean good copies that vision ias uploads after every test. Those are useless. I mean copies of actual toppers uploaded by vision - like those of kanishk kataria, akshat jain, srushti deshmukh etc. I looked at atleast copies of 20 toppers from 2015 16 17 18 to try to understand how good answers are to be written.

@K_9yes ..but i found most to b written in non exam hall conditions..nevertheless one can see presentation and structure part

@ranyo_asokaThat is why i looked at so many of them. Atleast 5/20 would've written in actual exam conditions. Those who fill up all pages for all questions obviously took 4 hours to write the paper.

@K_9most of them appear unrealistic..also y dnt they upload with marks or comments..only plain copies are uploaded

@ranyo_asokaHaha because visionias probably don't want to embarrass themselves. I read somewhere on forum itself that kanishk kataria used to get marks in 60s in vision gs tests. Now how poorly would it reflect on vision if people found out that someone who vision checkers thought was good enough only for 60s topped the upsc exam

@ranyo_asokaits same for every other paper..same booklist/tests/ca magazines..its upto you how you are going get those extra points to be in top 150..is not it?

@John_TitorShameful. They are attacking litigants, media and random pedestrians. Is it just more social media coverage or has lumpenism in all walks of life burgeoned over the course of last few years.