Just a piece of my mind, I feel is that Prelims these days is more about temperament in exam hall. By temperament I mean your ability to maintain your composure when faced with unknown questions and I believe whatever best your level of preparation is, in the best case scenario you would be confident in maximum 40 questions. In rest of the questions you have to apply logic, reasoning, intuition, gut feeling and leap of faith to attempt. So, practicing tests especially without preparing too much can be very helpful as:
1. You learn not to expect questions from what you have studied (the biggest reason of stress as exam time approaches and one tends to recollect everything as if going for viva).
2. You can do reverse engineering as you can identify specific areas in static portions to focus more in second reading.
3. You will commit mistakes and there is a better chance that the mistake is etched in your memory for not to be repeated again (I have seen many students committing the error of correct vs incorrect statements).
4. You will learn how questions are framed from a particular topic and you will be able to orient your studies accordingly.
5. It is actually refreshing and motivating way of studies if you don't take too much stress about marks.
:)
I am just sharing my thought based on experience for science and technology portion:
1. In recent times, do focus on reverse engineering of past year questions of prelims of 5-6 years. They will give you some idea and sometimes questions also. Remember, ELISA in 2017 and 2020 or Mitochondrial DNA threrapy in 2021 and Pronuclearase Transfer in 2020.
2. Another assessment is that they are focusing on landmark developments in the field of biotechnology, space etc. which have significant impact on humanity as a whole. So, google landmark developments in physics, biology, biotechnology, space etc. Remember, merger of giant blackholes question 2019.
3. Do watch explainer videos for these technology themes. It will save time and questions need application of knowledge which one can learn from these videos.
4. Then if you want you can refer to monthly magazines for basic knowledge.
5. Lastly, practice MCQs to get rid of "All of the Above" syndrome.
Bol Bachchan :)
A small piece of my thought regarding prelims, just keep on studying without taking too much of load. You never know which question will be asked from which area. But, there is a greater chance that if you have wider knowledge, you will be in a better position to eliminate at least one option or have some instinct or gut feeling in any question, all of which matters in prelims stage.
So, utilize this lean period as much as possible in any way and it is going to be much more productive as against immediate months before prelims because of the extra pressure.
To summarize: Read less of more and more, of anything and everything. (Bol Bachchan) :)
December-January-February: The transition period of Mains to Prelims preparation.
This period of December-January-February seems most difficult for thousands of sincere aspirants as they are confused whether to focus on prelims or mains preparation. If both need to be done simultaneously then students face lack of clarity about how to create balance between the two. In this blogpost, we try to observe some points to bring focus and clarity in the preparation in these crucial moths.
It’s the end of the year, yet another year. For some, it brought happiness and for some it brought struggles. Both categories of people should be happy. For first category of people, their years of efforts were rewarded. For the second category of people, you have become stronger because of your struggles (remember the cocoon-butterfly story).
The new year is going to be about hope. It’s about gaining more strength to face the struggles. It’s about learning strategy and tactics to counter the new challenges effectively. So, in this blogpost, some specific suggestions have been given for this period.
Students should ponder over following suggestions.
1.Avoid peer pressure: Everybody is in different stage of preparation. Some may have or going to appear in interview or mains, some are going to give their first prelims and some have failed in prelims earlier. So, time allotted for prelims and mains can vary among students. Students should avoid peer pressure in this respect.
2.Something is better than nothing: More than thinking about prelims or mains, students should do something. In a content-centric exam, you never know which knowledge or perspective is going to be handy in the exam hall. Questions from Post-independence and world history are also coming in the Prelims. Similarly, Bose-Eistein condensate or McBride Commission
questions which can be covered most probably from prelims perspective have been asked in Mains.
3.One hour trick for optional: As far as optional is concerned, if someone has made some short notes, especially for topics like fossils and genetics in Anthropology, thinkers, public policy, personnel and financial administration in Public Administration or Contract, Tort and IPC in Law, diagrams in the optional or have isolated things in some chapters, they can devote 1 hour in the morning, specifically for cramming purpose at least till January.
4.Strengthen your strength: For GS, again revision of notes or model answers of good and static questions can be done for 1 hour in the morning at least till January. If someone is writing test series or attending any classes, he/she can customize and prioritize.
5.Prioritize-Optimize-Maximize: Lastly, if someone is unable to focus on anything i.e., puzzled whether to study for prelims or mains, just understand one simple thing. A person can attempt mains only after clearing prelims.
Students who are puzzled would be able to devote 50% of their focus on prelims and rest on mains besides taking undue stress. Just after prelims, especially in the evening of 28th May, if you are scoring good marks in prelims and fully sure of clearing prelims, you would be able to devote 100% of your energy on the mains afterwards besides the extra advantage of having momentum and motivation. The conclusion is,with good temperament, you can cover mains topics in 10 days after prelims equivalent to what you are going to cover now in next 30 days with a puzzled mindset.
So, these are just broad ideas for current conundrum of prelims vs mains debate in this transition period. Rest, everyone is the master of one’s own destiny. Micro-goals and baby steps, these two things are going to be the key. Remember the quote,‘life is hard by yard and cinch by inch’.
Dear all,
Happy new year. I just want to share few specific things based on my experience and interaction with n number of students.
1.Don't panic: Jo hona hai woh hokar rahega. So, doing something is the most important thing than thinking about irrelevant things like whether I am going to clear prelims or not.
2.Give yourself less time to think:Nhi toh baal ki khaal niklegi ya arth ka anarth hoga. Keep yourself engaged in content related thing by any means like peer group discussion (I used to cover government schemes and animals in environment over phone call with my friend), youtube explainer videos for science and tech, random wikipedia pages especially for environment and buddhism, jainism and medieval india and indian express explained (ultimate important thing).
3.Join test series for lonewolf warriors: For people who tend to overthink, this is very much essential. Such people would think about history while reading polity, polity while reading geography and current affairs while reading geography. This affects both quality of studies and mental temperament. So, join a test series to ensure that you are focussed on one subject at a time as per the syllabus of the coming test.
4.Practice, practice and practice: Solve market based multiple test papers just to develop the acumen of problem solving. This is the most important thing especially for people from academic background as they may be out of sync with the competitive spirit.
5.Don't quantify: You don't have to count the number of tests you have or going to practice before prelims. You don't have to narrate this story to your children and grandchildren. More than number of questions, it's the quality of outcome for you that matters.
6.Do hell with marks in mocks: The most irrelevant question is what is the ideal score in mocks. I have scored 30 marks more than the cut off of UPSC CSE when I was consistently scoring in the range of 50 to 75 marks in my mocks. I remember in my first attempt I was scoring 30s to 50s in many of the sectional tests and in 70s in full syllabus tests and finally I scored 112 in actual prelims. So, don't bother too much about marks. Only learn from mistakes and do reverse engineering.
7.Be happy: Nobody cares about your struggle. That is immaterial. So, enjoy the process. Do you really believe that government is going to give you a district to care about lakhs of people if you can't handle your own cute lovely life.
Overall my simple theme isSwasth raho, Vyast raho and Mast raho (Be healthy, be busy and be relaxed).
