The things that push your name in or out of the pdf are "Essay, Ethics and Optional". Without any doubt. Go through the marksheets, plot all the graphs that you want to. Do all the data analysis you can and you will arrive at this same conclusion.
"Essay, Ethics and Optional" determines your selection.
" GS 1,2 and 3" determines only your rank.
Pehle selection to pakka karlo, if you have the any attempts left. Work like a crazy person to ace "Essay, Ethics and Optional". And then, rank toh improve kar hi sakte ho. It's a mad game, make your moves wisely. Do not try to pluck all fruits at once, pluck the low hanging ones, eat them, enjoy them and then think about reaching at the top to pluck those fruits.
But it's the opposite that happens with the aspirants. They go crazy over GS 1,2 and 3. Attend all the lectures, mug up multiple notes, handouts and compilations. Saara time isi mei nikal jaata hai. And then, you do optional in a hurry. Essay and Ethics are like traffic lights in GTA, nobody cares about them. Give them adequate attention, lagao yaar bees bees din in Essay and Ethics pe and see the output.
It's all about clarity and strategy. Jab tak GS 1,2 and 3 aur current affairs ke piche bhagoge for Mains, you will always be disappointed.
I'll tell you another honest thing, if you have done your prelims preparation well and read any Mains CA compilation once for GS 1,2,3. You will score above 80 on any day. You just need to keep focusing on the basics, the foundational concepts and presenting them well in the answers with a logical flow. They will bring your scores to near 100. Bas itna hi karna hai. Don't spend months on writing all those GS answers everyday when you can spend the same time to ace your "Essay, Ethics and Optional" papers.
And also, Optional papers are not cakewalk. The syllabus is as vast as what studies in 3 to 4 years of graduation, if not more. You really think you can ace it by not giving it the respect and attention it deserves? Think again. Sit, think deeply and you'll understand what i am trying to say.
Essays likho yaar, write at least 3 times in a week. Essay ke standard techniques hote hai, practice them, and improvise it with your own style. Practice so much that you should be able to write an essay on any damn topic. If you can just do this, you have your 150-160 scores in the marksheet.
Ethics ka kya hi bataye. The whole hype is around the case studies but the real bonus / heavy marks lie in the theory section. You don't spend enough time in understanding the core concepts of ethics, reading all the required resources and more to gain an edge over everyone and then get disappointed with low scores in ethics. Case studies jitna bhi accha likhlo, your marks won't jump over a limit. If you write really good answers in part A, you will see the scores making a significant jump. Seedha 140s mei aayega.
I know this was unsolicited, but then I felt like sharing it.
- Just another Sandeep Bhaiya.
@Spectrum1 This year's Ethics paper stunned me. Any tips for prep? I read "Red book" for Ethics prepared by ForumIAS. And took some reference from D Subba Rao. But struggled in writing this year's paper.
You can share the questions where you faced difficulty and also mention the type of difficulty you faced while answering those questions (like content, writing speed or structuring etc), i'll be able to share my views effectively.
Regards.
Dear co-aspirant, i absolutely empathize with your situation and understand how it feels to go through it. In fact, I've been through something similar that I cannot disclose here.
But I congratulate you for the fact that you've realized one of the most important things in the adult life and that is "Parents can sometimes be wrong, and only I'm the master of my fate. Nobody can decide things for me". It may sound too rebellious for most people, but I and you can probably understand why we hold this idea in our head.
Also, i would like to humbly suggest you something. Do ponder upon this and decide in your best interests.
A good parent is one who takes the responsibility of allowing the kid to develop into a well functioning adult (by providing resources, opportunities, knowledge and liberty to oneself) and not make/influence decisions on their behalf. If a parent is just responsible enough to understand the kid, in my humble opinion he/she is one of best parents anyone can have.
Similarly, A good child is not the one who always agrees to what the parents say. A good child is one who decides things as an adult either in agreement or disagreement but in-spite of that, takes full care of the needs of a parent during their second half of the life. After 60s, parents need support so that they have a comfortable retired life. You need to take care of their health and well-being, by also providing enough financial resources for their leisure. If you can just fulfill this, you are perhaps one of the best children out there.
In short, a good parent or child is one who supports each other during their tough times, in-spite of all the disagreements or confrontations. But unfortunately, our society does not understand this. It has created this idea that the child is the worst child if the child does not agree with everything that the parents say.
I fully agree with your anger of sharing your story on twitter, you have every right to do so. But in-spite of that, i only urge you that, while you may show your dissent, do not forget your responsibility as a child and do take care of your parents in their post-retirement life. They need your support and do not leave them alone. You can always show your dissent but let there be enough mental space/empathy to always take care of your parents like an adult, especially when they need you the most.
In case I've typed anything wrong, I would humbly apologize in advance. I've only shared my humble views.
Take care. :)
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 ?😄
The question is about "Eudaimonia". It's a part of the syllabus. Central point ye hona chahiye, the rest can be our personal thoughts. Like everything else in GS, linking the question with syllabus is important while we frame answers in our mind.
people scoring in 110's 120s in ethics, what are your sources. how do you write your answers? do you use a lot of examples? how do you tackle case studies? wats the structure of your answers likeContact Local52 and reach Point Pedro.
Local group toh suna tha ye local52 kya hai
You are questioning the old dogs.
Just found it randomly on internet so felt like sharing.
This is the reply which Einstein got for his thesis paper(Special Relativity). This was after his 'miracle year' of 1905 in which he published 4 breathe taking papers.
Just to give you a brief background about the sheer brilliance of this paper(along with his General Relativity of 1915)he never got a noble prize for this. But till now more than 30 people have got noble prizes by using this work. It is one of the two pillars of modern physics.
Learning:- Even the best of the best gets rejected. So just hold on to whatever you have, whoever you are, wherever you are.
I have read about it when Einstein delivered it's speech about relativity(general theory) no one in the room could understand at that time what Einstein was saying
Aaah, UPSC style rejections in those years too.
I appreciate the message but unfortunately, the letter is fake. :(Just found it randomly on internet so felt like sharing.
This is the reply which Einstein got for his thesis paper(Special Relativity). This was after his 'miracle year' of 1905 in which he published 4 breathe taking papers.
Just to give you a brief background about the sheer brilliance of this paper(along with his General Relativity of 1915)he never got a noble prize for this. But till now more than 30 people have got noble prizes by using this work. It is one of the two pillars of modern physics.
Learning:- Even the best of the best gets rejected. So just hold on to whatever you have, whoever you are, wherever you are.
P.S - If it were true, Einstein be like - Thukra k mera paper, 30 nobel prize dekhoge !! :p
Yaaar, I forwarded it to a few people. :(
