Few inputs from my end.
1. Whatever you are doing, do it well. Developing poor study ethics / habits in foundational year is what gets most people stuck in exam loop, or exhaust attempts. In short, try to excel academically. You need not be topping, but be robust with what you are doing. This is not going to be easy.
2. Focus on finishing your MGP tests. About 30% questions in the commission may have questions on which you may not be aware of all dimensions or even the major dimensions. Hitting them now, and geting demotivated is not going to help. Answer the PYQs which you can answer and note down the ones you cannnot, if at all.
3. Do not do any Mains prep in Feb, if you have not cleared Prelims before. Give prelims 5 months time. You will have people saying, I gave 5 months and cleared prelims, but my mains was not prepared, and its my 3rd attempt. What lesson you pick up from this line is important. The person is finding mains tough not because he gave 5 months to prelims, but because he didn't give mains the time it needed in the 3 years. This was easy to understand in the hindsight but sometimes difficult to fathome when seen from the windscreen.
Thankyou for the response, consider this as an accountability/seeking reform measure (post 12 days of progress)
Background - Final year student at IIT Delhi (B.Tech in Biotechnology), 8 months into the prep done with : -Polity, Economy, Geography (World Map, Indian, Physical, Human), (Morden, World, PI) History.
Optional - Philosophy (about 60% done), test series starts from 13th Oct.
Enviorment 33% done - mostly pre centric mapping (national parks TR,BR etc.) (10/30)
Mains centric topics - governance (3/12), DM(3/7), Society and SJ (2/19), IR (2/21)
Topics Remaining
A&C, Ancient and Medivieal Hist, IS, and Ethics.
Done includes watching lectures, making notes for revision (and pre centric mapping in geo), weekly pre tests and daily Prelims - PYQs/Practise MCQs, and a few answers written (each)
- Using MGP as Revision and for reading the books (more on that in the problems section)
1) Goals and Tracking -I try for
Bi weekly tests - on for Prelims (usually weds evening) and one for mains (sunday)
Prelims mock - only to identify the weak areas and write it on the notebook cover for better revision later.about 2 lectures daily - one optional (philosophy) and one GS (about 5hrs a day - mostly watch the lectures in 2x/1.5x, but making notes, and sometimes thinking within the lectures consumes about the same time as of the duration)
Newspaper - a signature for consistency - have been following daily since June (after 4 months into the prep) and started with forum CA quiz recently (2-3 weeks)
Answer writing - did a DAW program with Sunya for GS2 in July, and started with MGP in August.reading before sleep is for self - helps me sleep better. Spill over of targets is allowed (other than read before sleep)
i) a good/decent week -
ii) a below average week due to college work (733/732 are course codes)
2) Ended up analysing the questions because came across some very oddly specific questions - (Cite four examples of NGOs, Briefly discuss any three such technologies, etc.) To better accommodate value addition from news papers such as : -
The antimony example. (Have divided the keywords from the syllabus to collect unique points, form any source i get outside of course material.)
3) In the best case scenario - syllabus (watching lectures) gets over by jan 26 and attempting a full length mains test (most prolly the 2024 mains) in a time and place bound manner GS on 1st weekend (31 jan, 1 and 2 of Feb) and optional and compulsory language on (8th and 9th of Feb) and then shift to pre centric mindset (revise all the weak topics written on the notebook covers), start revising current affairs from the magzines, and daily pre tests, etc. (i am not sure what all is included but will try to do all that i can)
Problems ArisingPrep Related :-
1) Books - Haven't read any books from cover to cover (hoping to read a few topics (if not all) with MGP and pre centric books such as Laxmikant and Spectrum for revision before pre (Having trust on my teachers that they have taught me all the important stuff and the books are for revision and reference)
2) Mains PYQs - haven't exclusively alloted time to solve Mains PYQs rn (in the pre to mains period the plan is to only do PYQs, Tests, Value addition and Revision.)
3) Syllabus v/s Frequency of tests - Almost every week have to make a choice between completing the syllabus (lectures) or revise notes/ read a new topic to give MGP tests - mostly end up watching the lectures (because the are easy), and convince myself to give tests the next day with full energy.
Have attempted 3 HLTs till now (September was a college exam and assignments month thereby the tests have piled up)
HLT1 - 45.5/125 (rank 250/1500 ig) - couldn't give it in one go (did 5+3+3) had to look up notes for specific article numbers etc.
HLT2 - 42.5/125 (rank 600/1500 ig) - gave it in one go too 2hrs and 20 mins to complete.
HLT4 - yet to submit. (Also coudnt complete in one go had some new topics that i had to read up)
Prelims objective tests don't give me much sweat - can consistently score about 50-60% in revision tests and 70-80% in freshly read topics.
4) Current Affair magsines - not reading any now (relying solely on newspapers) plan to read them in pre prep period.
Strategic issues
1) Unplanned college interventions - Usually the reason for spillover of goals (MGP tests and pilling up of lectures which makes me watch lectures on sunday the dedicated day for Tests) (and 2nd)
2) Sleep routine - no consistent sleep routine - usually try to follow a biphasic (4am - 8am and 2pm-6pm) sleep routine (works good for the productivity) but somedays due to extra work the cycle keeps changing and it becomes tough to be accountable on what goals are achieved for which day.
any feedback/suggestions (any red or green flags) that you can spot or anything that i shall incorporate to omit out the unnecessary or prioritise doing (mostly between completing the syllabus v/s the frequency of tests)
any advice from the experienced peeps (not limited to) @Neyawn @tedmosby @GaneshGaitonde @Rashmirathi would be really helpful. Thanks in advance.
You seems to be sorted from your post .Just keep going with respect to advise i am not good at writing so very difficult to write long post ,but if you need any help you can dm me i will try my best to help you in whatever capacity i can 🙏🏻
@Neyawn I was exploring the possibility of changing my optional after my 2023 attempt but I had to make some amends because I knew that there were certain blunders I had been committing in my optional prep. I remember you had written a post about it. This time I did everything possible and I am completely satisfied with my personal efforts for Maths but again 2024 has shook me and I had to rethink on the aspect of optional.
I always had this aim of breaching the 300+ barrier in 2024 which "I" don't think would be possible for me if the present marking pattern persists. What plays out in reality is a different thing. "Few" silly mistakes in the real exam can pull your score down to below 200 (That's how extreme results are in Maths. I personally know a lot of brilliant people whose score have ranged from 140s to 300s).
Why did I choose Maths? When I started prep in Dec 2017, I was in the 3rd semester of BTech. I had a CGPA of 9.97 (till my 4th sem) and I had a near perfect score in Maths-based courses. Also to back it, I had several gold medals in Maths Olympiad. I used to think that UPSC Maths is something which is based "just" on knowledge (A perception I didn't shake off till after seeing my 2023 Marksheet). I had tremendous knowledge about the physical significance of the concepts (Thanks to 3Blue1Brown and other such YouTube channels) but Maths in UPSC is all about following SOP as the questions had been standard till 2023. In addition to this, the 2017 results were out in 2018 and Anubhav Singh had secured AIR of 8 with 375/500 in Maths. Next year, even Kanishak Kataria scored 361 in Maths. I was naïve back then and I didn't know the dark side of this optional. Some of the brightest minds in India have wasted attempts after attempts because of this optional.
Reason for continuing with it: If I changed my optional without doing PYQs and mocks properly, I would have committed the same blunders in my other optional as well. So to make amends, I solved PYQs from 1992 onwards (for CSE) and 2000 onwards (for IFoS) since Dec 2023. I identified important concepts and practiced the standard questions in this attempt. I gave my mocks and I scored decently under strict conditions.
How 2024 changed my perspective: Mostly non-standard questions were asked in 2024. A person who has done "only" Maths this attempt would have scored more. Balancing it with GS was extremely difficult. Now the sunk cost fallacy has sinked in and I am finding it tough to switch.
In this limited time since my Mains, I analysed my Maths attempt and yes, I have been in self-doubt because of variables like scaling, relative performance and so on. I would not like to comment on these variables because I am not competent enough to do that. For now, I have shortlisted Philosophy and Anthropology as "possible" substitute to Maths for now but I do not know how to go about humanities optional from scratch.
For that purpose, I would need suggestion from people who have written multiple Mains- @GaneshGaitonde @Rashmirathi @Steph_Curry and others in this regard.
dm karta hu
Those living in Patel Nagar, female aspirants especially (but all insights appreciated):
Is the area safe, especially if I have to go to the center possibly alone on winter mornings to write 7 am tests? How much travel time would I have to set aside?
What would you choose between ORN/NRN and Patel Nagar? (Saraswati Vihar GGN is not an option for me).
Go for orn
@Rashmirathi Thanks for your reply. What makes you recommend ORN?
Just pavolian conditioning
You had me in splits!
And I am not supposed to laugh or speak due to a throat exertion. ( Part of occupational hazard exacerbated by the Delhi Pollution )
Why haven;t I seen you since Mains? How is IFoS prep going?
Not writing Ifos this time so just enjoying life outside books but continuously thinking 🤔
जिधर भी देखिए इक रास्ता बना हुआ है
सफ़र हमारे लिए मसअला बना हुआ है
वह मुसाफिर क्या जिसे कुछ शूल ही पथ के थका दें
हौसला वह क्या जिसे कुछ मुश्किलें पीछे हटा दें
वह प्रगति भी क्या जिसे कुछ रंगिनी कलियाँ, तितलियाँ
मुसकुराकर, गुनगुनाकर ध्येय पथ, मंज़िल भुला दें
ज़िंदगी की राह पर केवल वही पंथी सफल है
आँधियों में, बिजलियों में जो रहे अविचल मुसाफिर
पंथ पर चलना तुझे तो मुस्कुराकर चल मुसाफिर.
Happy New Year to everyone,keep going 🙌
well well long time no see. ngl karol bagh has kept me on my heels, couldn't find the motivation to post reality checks, but cheers to the anonymity.
The sleep has decreased thanks to@Neyawn 's SFG orientation (+the ranks in the tests). Wasn't able to keep stoic and attempt them test raw footed to mostly focus on finishing the Mains tests (so added a slot to study for the SFGs) a basic revision to not make silly mistakes that bring the morale down.
I feel this was required- maybe my objective answering skills are not as strong as i thought them to be thanks@DancingMaster to recommend joining the tests now - had to find the right balance between pre and mains as it will be my first pre.
Heres the progress for for them (the goal was to identify weak points - turns out everything is weak)
Gonna be all in from mid feb - definitely getting into the top 100 in level 2 ain't gonna stop before that happens (for now priority is still completing the remaining topics and MGP+optional tests). also the feeling of offline tests and filling up the omr at 7 in the morning is totally worth it.
They are consuming me from the core bhai 😭, the stamina is catching up for the full mains stimulator in the first week of feb (gonna attempt two optional paper tommorow)
After the mains paper evaluation i some times feel like this is my escape mechanism and i am not preparing for anything properly - "Not scoring in SFGs cause preparing for the Mains tets" bla bla but unable to score in them too. I feel like maybe i am fooling around/not made for this - but have to shut up the evil enemy (myself) by studying more so we good.
all rant aside heres the progress for the past three weeks
ngl the pressure here and seeing people study on 1st jan was motivating (i thought i was gonna be the only one in the library) but yes.
The decision to shift here is making a lot of sense (atleast it has in the past two weeks, maybe for short term myopic view) the avenues for physical activites are less so might harm in the long run but we'll figure out. like we always have .
ONE LAST LAP,
FLY You Fool!
You seems to be data freak and well organised ( seeing the excel sheet ) 👌
well long time no see? long time no see.
Hows the prep going? i don't know lets see. - Kinda slaggy focus these days due to forcing my self to stick to the morning routine. (my body keeps going back to the night routine i don't know how)
Currently troubled cause wasn't able to do enough for mains heres the update on those tests.
the main struggle is to finish 4 sectionals of optional paper 2 (done with 4 sectionals of paper 1)
Mentor recommends doing ethics and essays sunday to sunday along with prelims prep cause he thinks the score in sfg was decent enough.
so speaking in terms of data@Rashmirathi,i come here to seek advice again.
Polity - was without revison + few chapters read from laxmikant - scope for a lot of improvement afte reading it.
Economy - was reading mains material + whatever i could recall. (concepts clear - scope of improvement after precentric revision.)
Env, Geography, SnT - did kinda fair prep for them - revising notes + books (about 2-3 hrs per day) (slight improvemnt posible after cover to cover reading of sources)
History - Weakness, not that much - kinda fair with the ideas of mains and flow but have to organise prelims centric facts. wasn't able to revise before tests (fell sick) (only place to go is up)
so thats about it from the past 50 days of Sfgs, sustained through the program (ofc would have if i had to say my one strength it would be consistency.) 800 people remain in the offline with the odd 2300 starting - percentile almost remains same about 50-60% (barring few anomalies).
Started this as just the practise of MCQs with no revision or reading stuff (about the first 7-8tests) - soon added a slot just before sleeping to revise notes of the topic as much as possible - improved the overall marks (about 2hrs of study for them per day)
Really wanna prepare for mains till end of feb - the confidence is kinda back for pre because the recent tests were of logical domain (SnT and Geography), but maybe thats not how@DancingMaster or@Neyawn would advice for the first attempt.
Target for pre -
1) Attempt Full length paper 2017-2024 - identify heuristics and themes
2) read the standard books cover to cover
3) Make Quick Revision notes
4) Current Affairs - Mentor recommends PT365 (due to time constrain and as I have read newspaper about consistently from june 2024 so majorly revision) + i would be solving the current affairs MCQs (monthly compliations of insights) - realised its better to learn through them.
yeah thats about the changes in the routine for prelims.
For remaining mains -
1) got about 10 lect of society and social justice to cover (haven't watched them since jan 20 because had to complete tests) by feb end.
2) Finish 4 Optional papers (by feb end)
3) Maybe write few essays on mentors recommendation (Sunday to sunday) - wrote 1 yet scored among the top 20 so not bad - kinda confident of writing skills.
4) Brain storm few ans (about 2-3 per day) and maybe write 1 - kinda fearing ans writing cause the tests have started again taking more time than allotted + brain fog while brain storming. (about 30 mins per day to keep in touch?)
i keep going back to kanishak sirs topper talk - kinda feel similar to him (ofc won't be able to score 370 in opt but about the objective and statistics based approach)
what say friends and senior players should i take the mains prep along? or its time for full fledged prelims? based on data above feelings ofc - to go by feeling i want to do mains, need a 3rd person pov on the scene.
the 89 days in between and about some many tests remaining i feel scared.
This was taking a lot of mental space so had to dump to get back to focus. Looking forward to advice.
PS -@Fairyflu @AdiTea @mango all good? where the consistent postings of targets at?
heres my prev few weeks
also where the forest people at? started using this recently its kinda fun (just to be clear this is not full true picture - i dont use my phone anyways so i sometimes forget starting it or closing it + i don't believe in the number of hours theory for me its more of things completed therefore excel, but yeah using this cause its cute + helps in rebound.)
No disrespect to your mentor as he /she may have more experience but in my personal opinion this is the right time to completely shift to pre if this is your first attempt 🙌
Ah I remember we met. How is work then ? You know sometimes I feel that you are working too hard on the job compared to other aspirants. If needed , take a sabbatical, go full throttle.
Stress at the workplace has reduced a bit.
Yes, I have been working too hard on this job.
Last Mains was an eye-opening experience, though I think I improved in GS (353 to 381 (1: 93; 2: 93; 3:80 ; 4:115) [still not enough]) but the shock of performing poorly in Essay and Optional was something which made me rethink fundamental aspects of my preparation (Given the fact that I had worked very hard for these two specifically, a terrible fall in Essay from 126 to 86, and my continuing low score in GS2, although I had scored 112 in my 1st attempt).
For prep, I took your advice regarding changing my optional and I have taken a break to work on those points properly (in addition to GS).
So yes the progress is slow. For now, I will just stick to your advice and I will be back to the exam cycle soon. :)
We need to sit and talk then. This 350 to 380 isn’t an improvement. You can’t have that slow progress.
I am not sure how much you will understand me. Look there are people who have scored 360-380 types for 5 mains, and then they have crossed that 420-430 barrier. I am talking about 7th , 8th attempt people- not from gen category - who felt they could never get that much - and then they did.check For 3 things
1. Are you updating your content for gs2 and 3 by taking some classes
2. are you reading new books / content ( not base level mass coaching that may aid in prelims )
3. Do you have a writing legibility problem
4. as a last resort are you integrating current affairs from newspaper.
Do this and you will shoot upwards 450+
Yes surely I will come to meet you again.
I have realised that -
1. Optional was not working for me as I couldn't balance it with GS. I was extremely good at maths all through out (getting olympiad medals, state trophy, perfect 10 in Maths-related subject in college) but in UPSC, I could never get the balance right. This made me change my optional and I took your advice on starting with Opt Foundation course (which I did not do for Maths because of my arrogance and sense of complacency).
2. The brutal truth is that getting 280+ in Opt and 420+ in GS with a 110+ Essay score is non-negotiable. If the score dips in any area, you would have to compensate it with a higher score in other areas. If not in Mains then the pressure on interview marks grows. So yes, the score of 381 is not an improvement in the real sense.
3. Honestly, 3 continuous Mains on self-prep mode has exhausted me a lot. I have taken some time off to recharge and give one last try. It's not that I am not doing anything, I am preparing my optional.
4. I had never utilized the Oct, Nov, Dec months and due to that, I always got stuck in that Pre-Mains cycle. I broke that cycle this time.
5. Due to personal reasons, I can't give CSE 2026 too.
On the checklist-
1. I have not joined any classes for GS2 and 3 yet. It's difficult to squeeze in time for it after office hours (giving more time to Opt for now). But yes, I will get enrolled for them. I do not want to overburden myself with three things and end up with nothing.
2. No. I had done a lot of reading in my UG days but after a certain point of time, I realised that the content I have to read and prepare 'must be' PYQ-based. So even if something is new, I am mostly sticking to coaching magazines & IE for dynamic content and revising my notes for the static content. For leisure, I do like watching documentaries and reading non-fiction books.
3. No, I do not have writing legibility problem. Well in real-life too, I have learnt calligraphy. :)
4. On integrating current affairs from newspaper, I have strictly kept it PYQ and mock-based for now.
I feel that my lack of mock practice is the culprit here. 'Knowing' and 'implementing' are two different things.
I remember you had asked me a question on inflation and I gave you an unstructured answer. That's how you gauged I lacked mock practice and I remember you asked me how many tests I wrote when I enrolled in MGP and I said a number which made you say-
Listen Ted, I am saying this again but UPSC is a conventional exam. Ghisai karni hoti hai and you have not done that.
I have done some course correction to that extent but I have to give more time which is why I am planning to take a sabbatical soon.
You will get through this time 🙌
