CSE 2021: Plan / Strategy / Daily Routine

Hello, lovely humans!

The weird thing about Prelims is that, the stress and that "eerie-feeling" I get is immune to the number of attempts I have given at this monster. It's completely okay to feel anxious (especially, if you are giving this exam for the first time). We are all in this together.

With only 7 days left for the big day, the time has come to give one final crack at revision. What better way to sustain the momentum rather than to join my fellow aspirants in setting daily targets and trying to achieve them.

7 days remaining –>5 days + 2 for backup.

Day 1

• Environment –>considering the share of marks it commands
• S & T –>the dark horse of CSP

I have to complete Environment today and will give my best to strike-off S&T too. 

I will report back at 9pm.

Marks the end of Day 1.

How did it go?

• Completed Environment revision
• Was able to complete only the diseases, chemistry, and defence parts of the S&T

Yesterday, I took my second dose and I attribute my general sluggishness of today to that. I hope I will bounce back tomorrow.

Day 2

1. Complete S&T
2. Revise Economy and Modern India

It feels good to be a part of this wonderful initiative.

Good night, peeps.

End of Day 2

Surprisingly, today turned out to be a pretty productive day. 

Completed revising Economy, S&T (the leftover portions from yesterday), Modern India, and IR.

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Targets for Day 3: Have to tackle the dry stuff tomorrow.

• Ancient India
• Medieval India
• Art and Culture

I hope the momentum will be sustained. I hope everyone's giving their best too.

Good night, people.

A disappointing day comes to a close.

Couldn't complete anything apart from Ancient India.

Yesterday, made the mistake of drinking a super-chilled soft drink to beat the "October Heat" just before a nap. Ended up waking today with a sore throat. *facepalm*

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2 days to go (+2 reserve days)

• Complete today's pending items
• Try to finish Geography and Polity

Fingers crossed – for tomorrow and my sore throat.

Good night, everyone.

Another day comes to a close.

Have not read a single page today. Tossed in the bed until 1pm. Zero interest in revision.

@Shailputri I felt the same today. You are not alone.

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All of a sudden, it struck me in the evening that I have to post here at 9pm about what I have accomplished today. The thought of me abandoning this "daily exercise" has crossed my mind. 

What should I post if I haven't done anything?

Then, I realised how important, cathartic, and honest this thread keeps an aspirant every day. At least, we are not lying to ourselves during this marathon. Not every day is perfect. Some days we just feel like not studying – at all.

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At 6pm, I figured that I can do some non-academic stuff to take my mind away from CSE.

• Deep cleaned my room
• Spent some quality time with my puppies
• Cycled for 15km with Poets of the Fall and Linkin Park accompanying me on Spotify

Now, when I sit here at my table, typing this away, I wonder, "Did I not have a productive day just because I couldn't revise?"

@Shailputri To answer your question, I think it is okay if we do not feel like reading. I don't think our Prelims ka score depends on what we study in the last 5 days. I think the studying wala part is already over. Let's take one day at a time and give our best on Sunday. 

Do watch a movie/read a book – whatever interests you :)

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Considering that Saturday would be my journey day, I have 3 days left.

Will revise acche se, kal. I hope I have a "productive" day tomorrow.

Good night, Forum-ites. It's lovely being a part of a small pack.

PS. Sore throat is gone. XD

Today was a good day.

• Woke up at 8am (1pm, the previous day)
• Did NOT take a nap in the afternoon
• NO coffee in the afternoon
• Felt alert the whole day
• Maps and Geography are the only portions remaining

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Last couple of days remaining for me.

I hope to start another super-quick revision from tomorrow and fill in any holes that I might have left.

Good night, fellas.

Hello again, lovely people!

Well, October 10th was a shit-storm, to say the least. It took me more than 24 hours to cope up with what actually happened and my optimism took a nosedive bit-by-bit with every succeeding minute.

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Paper 1

• In the first one hour, I thought this was the easiest paper ever
• Went overboard with attempting all 50-50 questions –>ended up attempting 90, at the end
• Out of the exam hall, Googling my educated guesses, I realised that almost all of them were wrong!
• The ones I left unattempted with some hunches turned out to be correct; fml

Paper 2

• For a moment, I thought I was giving Banking ka Pre/Mains
• Now, I realise that UPSC has taken that "laughably low" 33.33% seriously
• Ended up attempting 51/80

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My previous Prelims scores were 130 (2019) and 109 (2020).

I am scoring somewhere around 97-100 this time. I am in a state of shock for the past 40 hours or so; having never been in this border situation before. But, we just have to collect varied experiences in this one life we have, am I right? (cries internally)

Anyway, after having countless phone conversations with my close friends, I came to the conclusion that, there's nothing in my hands right now. I would love to undo some of the silly mistakes I have done. But, my OMR is somewhere in transit – heading to UPSC.

Yes, this hurts; but, kya kare?

Worst case scenario, I am not clearing Pre; which makes me a 27-year old unemployed Indian youth (there's no dearth of this category in our country).

On the flip side, what will happen if I scrape through? by the barest of margins? by 0.33 marks?

I think I need to be prepared for that.

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I know that this post of mine deviates from the purpose of this thread, and should be ideally posted in the 2021 Pre discussion thread. I am just too petrified to even open that thread.

I hope you understand.

I owe each and every one of you who posted on this thread daily to the run-up to October 10.

I hope we will re-group again. 

I second this.

Hello, everyone!

I have made it too. :)

Whoever hasn't made it, take some time off and come back with full vigour.

Congratulations to the many familiar usernames on this thread who have made it to Stage 2.

I have made a rough outline on what to do for the next 30 days. I hope that I would implement it.

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NEBULOUS NOVEMBER

I have got 30 days –>dividing it into two slots per day –>gives me 60 sessions.

I have 6 papers in my hand (excluding Essay) –>10 sessions for each paper.

Ideal scenario: Putting 5-6 productive hours in each session; writing at least 4 full-length tests by November 30.

Realistic scenario: My daily posts detailing how I made it or couldn't make it that day.

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NEBULOUS NOVEMBER – Day 1

• Allocating both my sessions to GS2
• Aiming to writing at least a few answers (Lack of mock tests sunk my previous Mains)

Good luck everyone.