How do you take breaks when studying? Weekly or after 10 days?

Everyday. 3-4 hours. Me time.

No day specific break. If feeling saturated, take break for a day. Ganga kinare baith jate hain. Barber ko visit kar lete hai. And since he knows me from childhood, he would ask everytime about my exams. "Jo last exam diye the usme hua kya...arre re nahi hua... Koi nahi... Ho jayega. Mehnat karte rahiye. Aur bhi exams dijiye". I mean, every damn time :p

1. Finish the paper on time. You should always do a reality check after every 30 mins.

2. Do not fill pages when you dont know an answer. If you dont know an answer and want to beat around the bush ( bluff), dont over do it and just write half a page to 1 page. People write 2-3 pages in questions that they dont know and less in qustions they know

3. Eat well, and be hyradted, You should not have low energy during the exam.

4. Last day studies dont matter much in Mains. It is also fine, if you leave studying 24 to 72 hours before your exam. If you are studying in that time also it is only to stop any distraction .

5. You should not be making it already, but see this once - https://blog.forumias.com/common-mistakes-in-mains-examination/

Hey you might have the issue of trying to do many things if you find a constant pattern of things piling up. Either you’re trying to do much or you’re not pushing enough on your regular sessions. Either way try to start with lesser things and slowly push yourself to add one more topic once you’re settled into your routine. 

I read a terribly demeaning self help book a while ago but one thing I really liked and implement on a daily basis is the “bare minimum rule”. As a rule try and keep certain things as the bare minimum tasks that you must achieve no matter what. Ideally limit it to 3 things, and be disciplined enough to do that, so that even if you’re having a bad mental health day, you know you’ve still gotten 3 things done, which is better than doing nothing.

Take a break whenever you feel like and maintain moderation in your daily routine. Hope this helps :)

Oh no, you quite overestimate Forum Team :( 

I had a hard time getting a graphics guy do it. Then I went all by my hunch. :(

Actually, like any organization, we work on a constraint - financial and human resources. We don't kind of burn money on anything but education as of now, not because of any moral reasons, but because we think its not fair. Not even tech spendings are given the due and I loath myself for this.

I mean If we had more resources we would first-hand make this website - this beautiful community more awesome.

I really don't have any break days, they make me really anxious and I feel like I am wasting my time. But then its not like I am working round the clock, everyday I spend like 1-2 hour doing things I like which is either cooking or watching web series, that helps me keep sane. 

And sometimes when I feel the urge to take break then its an unplanned break with me stopping studying the moment it feels I am exhausted and want to run away from all this. 

Guys I need genuine advice and your help as we learn from other experience currently entered into depression and developed anxiety .

Just writing my heart out civil service was always my desired goal so that's I chose to do BA from a typical govt . college with history as I wanted to prepare for this exam as soon as possible. In our institute we don't have to go to classes we have have to just compete the assignment and go and write the exam at the end of year .

Completed degree in 2018 and appeared for UPSC 

2018@ - failed pre  (88 marks )

2019 failed pre  ( 90 marks )

2020 failed press inspite of getting 102 in GS due to csat (62 marks)

2021 again failed !

This was my fourth prelims and plethora of failure for me .

I don't know what to do as I have completed 25 last month and my mind has lost all faith in me .

Being from humble with dependent on parents it is taking toll on my health .

Would it would be wise to take a break and focus on other exam for stability .

I am just shattered with my performance . 

Can any Senior would help me out ?

Lets be honest here. 60 marks means we have not completed the basic books and the revisions. You do it, you will make it.

Too often, we underestimate or overestimate the prelims.

My 2 cents is just give it 4 or 5 months dedicated, you will clear it. People do. 

At some point you will have to draw the line and give Prelims the respect it deserves. It is easy to be seduced by the cacophony that will make you believe that its a Russian Roulette, but its not.

I meanLifeis more a Russian Roulette than this.

And then they never ask about the Prelims phase.

@pgpt The thing with toppers is that they do not what to do when they don't top ( read succeed ). Your ability to succeed in this exam wll depend on how you handle disappointments .

Thank you for your two cents. 

I could either make that IAS thicker or the arrow slimmer. If I make the arrow slimmer it will not be visible. If I touch with the IAS thickness, it may be too much change ( my concern ).

Can you make a logo for us if you have time?  It could be a small gig? I would like to have infinity or something with some changes like the original firefox browser = inifity symbol and the new Forefox focus logo as the edited version of the inifinity symbol?

You would recommend having one single page for all the topper copies? 

I also believe ForumIAS should be left as it is, we've all built some sort of connect with this part of the logo. 

The addition has been the arrow part so we can possibly make changes on that. 

I would be happy to design a logo for Forum :) if I'm given a flexible timeline. 

The infinity concept sounds interesting. 

I come from tech background and was involved with startups for brief period of time. A startup named toppr have their logo also on the arrow concept. The arrow concept is appealing as it reflects 'upwards n onwards' sort of message. 

What I meant from a single webpage for all topper answer copies was something like vision(If I'm allowed to name). On a single page they've provided ans copies of all toppers across years, saves time for the user + one may also get some good copies of toppers whose name they didn't knew. 

But this is my view, others may think differently or you might have some others factors in mind while designing the pages. 

Spend a few hours daily on things that I like to do (Reading, TV Shows, Meditation and so on!). Once in 3-4 months I'll usually get super saturated so I'd then go visit friends for a couple of days. 

Tried to take a forced break after a good November but that made me lost momentum and I haven't been able to go back to the November peak yet. Counting on the new year to do its magic now :P

I have written 3 prelims and failed in all. There has been improvement in all, I missed the last two by a few marks. Among other factors, I feel burnout has been one of the significant ones. We are told to be in a constant problem-solving mode, but it is extremely crucial to manage burnout. Although I took short breaks during my preparation they weren't regular, and even when I took a break my mind was constantly thinking about the exam, the results and my future. Hence the breaks were almost ineffective as my mind was not well-rested. 

After speaking to you, I have decided to join the SFG and plan to do some targeted answer writing till February to make up for my sins of ignoring it until now. However, I fear burnout, I don't know how to manage it. I have been struggling with it, I am exhausted, almost depleted. I am trying to work on it albeit ineffectively. I request@Neyawn to make a video or write a long read on the same. Please share your experience and of toppers on how they faced burnout and how they overcame it/ managed it effectively. 

Thank you@Neyawn 

I take half a day break a week. On good weeks it is planned. Post the sunday drill of writing tests. 

On days I am not able to concentrate, which usually happens in the 2nd half of the day, I call that day off and take it as an unplanned break. I compensate that by not taking off on the planned day that week. 

On daily basis too i take out around 1:30 hour away from studies, which is mostly working out. 

You workout by going to Gym or you walk? I have been in this rut for some years now, and I have tendancy to gain weight. My weight has now increased to 89 kgs. Though I am not thinking of doing anything now, this new variant scares me, and i want to start with some excercise. 

How do you workout? How regualare are you with it? I am under extreme stress this year, and feel i need to sweat a little just to be keep sane. How would you suggest I begin?

Usually after 12 days and it’s a half day break. Because If I take a full day off I end up messing up with my studies so I don’t do that and everyday I walk on my terrace for 2hours or 1.5 hours and during that time I tend to watch online letcures of modern history as I enjoy history so it’s like a story time walking. 

More than that we have to know that if it is odd,question yahin se banega