Civil Services Mains 2020 Results: In or Out ? Way ahead, gratitude and Pain

cc: @nerdfighter

Replace the entire British curriculum with this Tick Tok :

Haven’t cleared the mains so take what I say with a pinch of salt. But i still felt that essay was one of my strong suits last year.

1. Start early on. Don’t wait for prelims result to be out to start your prep for essay. Now is actually a good time to begin.

2. Choose a wide range of topics to write on. Often we tend to stick to topics that we are comfortable writing about. But this approach can essentially hinder you. The aim is to try and write at least an average essay in the worst case scenario that we aren’t comfortable with any of the topics. This really worked because there wasn’t a single topic (except one) that I found difficult in the actual exam, because i had written one practice essay one all those topics. Basically, it was merely an exercise of reproducing my original essays from my memory.

3. When you start, take the time to brainstorm properly because this is a very important skill to be learnt. I used to take an entire day initially and later I condensed it down to 15 minutes. But this will determine how many dimensions your essay truly has.

4. When you brainstorm, instead of merely focusing on the keywords and explaining them, try and focus on the actual crux of the topic (especially in philosophical essays). I feel philosophical essays become a one-dimensional explanation of the topic in 1200 words when you skip doing that. Really try and explain the topic and find examples that help. It also helps to delve into the ethical issues in philosophical essay.

5. Once you get the hang of writing philosophical essays, they are actually the best. Unlike technical essays which have a defined limit, philosophical essays are quite limitless in terms of the possibility of interpretation. And often times, you’d stand a better chance of producing a more well-argued essay compared to someone else who doesn’t have a flair for it. This is especially true given that philosophical/ ethical topics are de rigeur these days. 

I hope this helps :)

Good morning folks of forum! Wanted to share something uplifting and moving:

Trans Community Kitchen is an initiative started in Chennai by some transgender women to provide meals to the most vulnerable during lockdowns. They do it with so much love and so selflessly, it made my heart happy to see it.

Hamra ek thooo sawaal tha !

So broadly, Ethics paper has two kinds of questions.

1. Questions which need thinking from an administrator's perspective and hence examples should have an element of service to public and overall public good.

2. Questions that ask you to narrate incidents from personal life/recount examples that showcase a particular value.

Now consider this question from 2014 !

"All human beings aspire for happiness. Do you Agree ? What does happiness mean to you ? Narrate with examples."

Now lets skip directly to the last 2 sub parts of the question.

The question specifically asks, "what is your idea of happiness" ?

Now here are two possible answers to this question. 

1. Although selflessly helping someone whenever the opportunity presents itself gives me a sense of immense satisfaction and happiness, what keeps me really happy in the long term is my ability to find joy in the small mundane day to day activities.

    Simple things like waking up early, exercising on a regular basis, feeding the dozen stray dogs near my home and sharing a meal with my parents help me stay happy. They help me keep my world shielded from any sudden or unfortunate events that might have the potential to throw me off balance.

2. Happiness for me means possession of moral values like honesty, integrity, spirit of sacrifice etc. which give me a sense of satisfaction. For example feeding a person asking for alms on the street or giving an anonymous donation towards a NGO that works for rehabilitation and de-addiction of children (DHAIRYA gives a smile :D)  make me happy. On Sundays, teaching underprivileged children in my locality also give me an immense sense of joy.

Ok, I hope you saw what i wanted you to see in those answers. The tone of the answer, the examples quoted and the imageries used to impress the examiner.

My question to the wonderful people of this platform. Am I allowed to write simplistic/honest answer of the 1st kind. Like straight from the heart ? 
Or do I have to create a list 10-15 examples (even fabricated ones) which showcase mysympatheticandempatheticside and use these examples based on the demand of the questions. As a reader/ examiner, which answer was more impactful ? and Why ?

😄

Same doubt

IMHO - 

In the above answer the philosophical part has to be addressed too. 

1.Elaborate on all humans seek happiness - why? How? Can add some leader/philosopher opinions, spiritual anecdoes. Brief. 

2. Yes I agree - I too seek happiness because - long lasting, meaningful life etc. 

3. Your idea of happiness - Link that philosophical elaboration with your personal examples. 

@Sherkhan1428 , I am no expert of ethics, but even I agree with@Celeborn . The first statement was more impactful to me, because it didn't seem fabricated.  
However, I feel that to make your simple answer stand out, you might use words mentioned like COMPASSION, EMPATHY, etc which you have mentioned in statement 2.  In this particular instance, I might have also added that Gandhi ji always taught us to respect animals. And practicing this in real life has actually given me a sense of satisfaction etc.  That way the answer will tend to look complete, I guess. 

Again giving a disclaimer that I am no expert.  Please take my opinion accordingly. :)

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I liked 1st answer, reason being it was natural and it introduced ‘yourself’. Also, it was not bookish. The content that you wrote in 2nd answer would anyway be there multiple times in your answer sheet. So, answer 1 was good for a change : )

@Sherkhan1428 I also had this same doubt, and then I thought the best way to handle it was to not make it an either-or. The most natural, personal, simple things can also be extended to the general society or country level perspective. The common thread between the personal and general can be identified.

This can be done even with the points you mentioned in both answers. In your first answer you mentioned helping others at the beginning, with "although" - you can do away with the although and explain both ideas in both a personal sense and a general sense. The personal sense has the advantage of making the answer unique and authentic and natural. The general sense has the advantage of being relevant to society as a whole and showing that we can think in larger, even structural terms. So we can try to get the best of both. 

This can be a good way to combine them as points in the same answer:

----

1. Simple things like waking up early, exercising on a regular basis, feeding the dozen stray dogs near my home and sharing a meal with my parents help me stay happy and keep my world shielded from any negative or unfortunate events that might have the potential to throw me off balance.  Many thinkers have elaborated on the value of a simple life well lived. (A few can be quoted here). The values of simplicity, discipline, and sharing tasks which give me happiness in my personal life, are also important for a cohesive society, for stable and efficient administration, and ultimately for a happy and prosperous country. (Can elaborate here through examples)

2. Also, Happiness for me ameans possession of moral values like honesty, integrity, spirit of sacrifice etc. which give me a sense of satisfaction. Selflessly helping someone whenever the opportunity presents itself gives me a sense of immense satisfaction and happiness. For example feeding a person asking for alms on the street or giving an anonymous donation towards a NGO that works for rehabilitation and de-addiction of children make me happy. On Sundays, teaching underprivileged children in my locality also give me an immense sense of joy.

----

I tried to do this for ethics answers wherever a personal touch was required. Started with what the topic really meant to me and what I was getting out of the statement, but then tried to also see how that could be applied to society as a whole and not just my own life. The second part doesn't have to be unnatural or fabricated - enough connections exist between our personal lives and public life! We just have to find them. I think that will come with practice.

EDIT: Totally forgot the actual question while writing. Lolol. Since it was asked what happiness means to you, too much general perspective isn't required. This idea works for questions that are more about values.

"All human beings aspire for happiness. Do you agree? What does happiness mean to you? Narrate with examples."

I believe that while asking,"what does happiness mean to you", the examiner wants to know the value or idea from which you derive happiness rather than the actions which make you happy. 

I would have approached this one by writing that, happiness for me is a sense of contentment, which is a direct result of imbibing the values of honesty and temperance. Since there is no end to desires in this world, a happy person is a content person. Therefore, If I am able, to be honest with my needs and am able to separate them from my desires, I will be happy. Greed makes one do sometimes wrong things, temperance would save me from such misconduct and bolster my conscience, further inducing a state of bliss. 

For example, I would be far happier spending more time with my family rather than slogging extra hours at work just to buy that new car which my colleague just bought. Similarly, doing something I like even if I earn less rather than doing a high paying job which I dislike will make me far happier.

Disclaimer sabki tarah mera bhi yahi hai: namak swad-anusaar. :)

I also find first answer more appealing. To me, second one looks a little odd, for the lack of a better word.

But my answer would have been different than the given two.

Think about this from an examiner perspective. I doubt anyone is really interested in knowing how an apparent stranger receives their daily dose of dopamine. They are more interested in knowing if you are the right person to be selected in the Civil Services Examination. If yes, they would want to give you more marks from their side. As simple as that. They want to get their job done.

But they can't ask us directly, will you be empathetic towards people? Will you be devoted to your duty? Will you be able to effectively manage the complex tasks of administration? Through these type of questions, they want to test the ethical aptitude of a person. 

So, these values, even if fabricated, have to be displayed in the answer to psychologically compel the examiner to give you more marks. But there is a fine line where one has to be reasonable about it. 

Now coming to your more nuanced question of how to display these qualities in the answer. One can say that, "happiness is a state of mind. I don't know what is happiness, but I certainly know what is that unhappy or uneasy state of mind. When one lies or cheats to gain undue advantage, when one misbehave with others or when one is unable to deliver on their commitments one becomes sad. I have felt this too. So for me.. happiness is being empathetic towards people, being devoted to my duties, being committed to my values of honesty and always trying to become a better person, that is, progressing towards the goal of self-actualization."

Well, as@whatonly said, it comes with practice. 

And yes, the disclaimer holds true for any advice, like always : Just another boat sailing in this ocean. Not knowing where it would land.