CSE 2022: Plan/ Strategy/ Daily Routine

fortarach63said

Late start but here we go. Targets for the day:

1. News

2. Pre material revision (1 booklet)

3. Laxmikanth (1 hour)

4. Bare acts: 1,2,3

5. Optional short notes (45 mins)

6. Wind up by 11 no matter what

Naadan_Parindasaid

I’ll also start from tomorrow maybe. I’ve been away from forum to detox myself from virtual world. Failure at prelims level was also a setback for me, needed time to recover fully. I had almost left this preparation cycle. But some success results of my friends and classmates motivated me.

For next 7-8 months, only prelims specific and optional (as I changed it this time) preparation. This time, I don’t want any excuse from myself. 

Here’s how it’ll go:

 Morning- Optional (3-4) answers daily + Ember & Ember (or other optional book)

Afternoon- not expecting too much (as I feel sleepy, and other commitments). But I’ll try to read CA and Newspaper.

Evening- Revision of the previous day tasks.

Night- GS part for Prelims. Expecting to cover all subjects before SFG starts.

 I am very poor at consistency. Hope that doesn’t happen this time.

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

What does this mean? Can you please elaborate. What premises? Which principles?

Yashwanthsaid

@Neyawn Can you please elaborate on what to do in those 5 months?

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

Neyawnsaid

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

What does this mean? Can you please elaborate. What premises? Which principles?

So you will be cluttered with too many inputs. Somebody will say do this. Somebody will say do that. When you are surrounded by noise and lose direction, identify what are the “things that haven’t changed” or “things that you know to be definitely true about this exam” . 

List down those things. Things that you will hear every topper say, or if you follow someone , if your mentor, what is the thing that he always says. Those become the first principles or the basics. You begin with them.

For example, you can be assured that 

1) Exam demands revision . How many times? Refer to Apala M”s interview. She didn’t make it through prelims twice before she cleared it.

2) Exam requires solving PYQs. That is something that a topper in 2004 was also saying. How many years can we/ should we go ?

And so on..

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

What does this mean? Can you please elaborate. What premises? Which principles?

So you will be cluttered with too many inputs. Somebody will say do this. Somebody will say do that. When you are surrounded by noise and lose direction, identify what are the “things that haven’t changed” or “things that you know to be definitely true about this exam” . 

List down those things. Things that you will hear every topper say, or if you follow someone , if your mentor, what is the thing that he always says. Those become the first principles or the basics. You begin with them.

For example, you can be assured that 

1) Exam demands revision . How many times? Refer to Apala M”s interview. She didn’t make it through prelims twice before she cleared it.

2) Exam requires solving PYQs. That is something that a topper in 2004 was also saying. How many years can we/ should we go ?

And so on..

What if feels like having huge gap in preparation even after few attempts. Basic things like rivers still haven't heard of, Getting Modern History wrong etc. Till when this trial and error method should go on. Failing and then exploring one more area to fill in. What should be advisable for such students who ain't able to sum up things by self study. Feels like test series and SFGs are even not able to suffice to this gap. Maybe due to lack of due diligence or discipline. But how come it will arrive if it hasn't in these three years. What should such people do? Should they go for classes? Or leave upsc? 🥺

Naadan_Parindasaid

 I categorise the preparation in following parts:

1. Content building: First to cover some basic books, which everyone is referring. There should be multiple revisions before exam. Since the syllabus is huge, we need to specify the boundaries. The boundary will decide core, over which the peripheral concepts can be built. 4 sources to gain knowledge: teachers, self study, friends and time.
2. Preparation for the exam: Multiple revisions of books and simulating exam like conditions through test series. Though test series will be very different from the actual exam, but attempting them is important, to fill the knowledge gaps and to prepare ourselves for the D-Day. Analysing PYQs to identify pattern is the most important thing. CSAT is important too. 
3. Actual exam: Gauging the toughness level of the paper to attempt optimum number of questions, Presence of mind, minimising wrong attempts. (Sabse pehle hame ghabrana nahi hai). 

Neyawnsaid

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Sheepsaid

Neyawnsaid

Naadan_Parindasaid

@Neyawn Okay. Thank you sir. 5 months then; January onwards.

I’ll focus on mains topics for now.

Can you jot down the first principles about the prelims? Things that you to be 100% true about the prelims. Work on them. No blame game. Just premises which you know are 100% true about prelims.

What does this mean? Can you please elaborate. What premises? Which principles?

So you will be cluttered with too many inputs. Somebody will say do this. Somebody will say do that. When you are surrounded by noise and lose direction, identify what are the “things that haven’t changed” or “things that you know to be definitely true about this exam” . 

List down those things. Things that you will hear every topper say, or if you follow someone , if your mentor, what is the thing that he always says. Those become the first principles or the basics. You begin with them.

For example, you can be assured that 

1) Exam demands revision . How many times? Refer to Apala M”s interview. She didn’t make it through prelims twice before she cleared it.

2) Exam requires solving PYQs. That is something that a topper in 2004 was also saying. How many years can we/ should we go ?

And so on..

What if feels like having huge gap in preparation even after few attempts. Basic things like rivers still haven't heard of, Getting Modern History wrong etc. Till when this trial and error method should go on. Failing and then exploring one more area to fill in. What should be advisable for such students who ain't able to sum up things by self study. Feels like test series and SFGs are even not able to suffice to this gap. Maybe due to lack of due diligence or discipline. But how come it will arrive if it hasn't in these three years. What should such people do? Should they go for classes? Or leave upsc? 🥺

Look, writing SFGs is not enough. You have to be at the top of your game. If you are competing in CS, you have to be at the top of your game. Getting a top score in SFG consistently is a big insurance against failure in Prelims IMO. That’s because something like SFG requires a commitment that is not easy to have. That itself sorts you out.

Second, people know how to conquer new territory. In fact when an army marches conquering new territory, it’s not a real win if they do not secure the area behind them. What if the enemy has withdrawn and will regroup on the area behind you ? Soon the army will be surrounded from all sides, because it did not secure area conquered by it.

Many people will do an SFG / do a part of syllabus, but will be seduced by something new , instead of going and revisiting the same old things.

You don’t crack the exam because questions in Mains are repeated from the test, but because you know how to solve the test, you have developed the mental acuity and the ability to bear a certain mental stress.

You could possibly clear the exam if you could get the low hanging questions wrong instead of focusing on / banking on the  ambiguous questions . How do you guarantee that basics are not wrong because of confusion ?

if you are scoring 80+ by any key, you are close and “in” the competition. If you are between 60-80, you have not done basics well- you get easy questions wrong. If you are below 50, you have not been paying attention to the exam. Maybe the optional, maybe gs, maybe essay, but not prelims .

In that case you were not in the game even if the paper was easy as the cut off would adjust to make way for it.