How hectic is SFG 2022?
So some feel SFG is hectic, some people feel it is mageable, some people feel it is going a bit slow. What do you feel?
Take it from someone who has failed this year's prelims, if there is no prelims, there is no mains, no interview nothing. You will get 110 days to prepare for mains this time, enough to cover GS topics, seen my 2 friends who cleared this year's prelims do the same in only 2 months.SFG may help you clear prelims, but it will hurt your chances in mains. This will be just my opinion; feel free to discard it.
SFG targets are unrealistic. They may be attainable, but they come at the cost of physical and mental fatigue in the long run. And with no time to self reflect, due to it being a six-day program, the locus of control falls out of the hand of the aspirant.
Many people joined SFG Level 1 to help them cover the syllabus, and many freshers must have entered it too. But the targets do not reflect this. To give an example: asking someone to cover the entire Indian Art NCERT in a day for one who has not read it before will lead to more harm than good. Frankly, the targets appear poorly thought out in general.
What happens is that as Prelims approaches, SFG has drained all the energy out of them. However, if they indeed followed SFG rigorously, they may clear Prelims. But their energy after Prelims will be below par. It will take the person, days if not weeks, to get out of the Prelims rut. The primary battleground that is Mains will suffer due to this.
On a side note, the SFG is made to look like a selective program with SFG and RLG lists, but people who attempted 0 questions in the entrance test were allocated RLG. Why take an entrance test then?
Also, we received a mailer to join a program on Essay and Ethics and how this is the best time to prepare for it. But, I remember reading a blog, 'Is it too early to join SFG?', when the SFG was supposed to start on 15 Dec, which said that one should dedicate all the time in the world to Prelims, essentially scaring any rational being to join the program.
SFG may be good, but it is not the panacea it is made out to be. Berating students who are unable to keep up as not trying hard enough is uncalled for. This exam requires self-discipline and self-introspection. Develop these through whatever means. SFG is not the only way.
Bottom line- Prelims hai toh sab kuch hai
Overall, I feel SFG has a well-designed plan. However, if it would have been further spread i.e. 10 more days, it will give us more adequate time to cover NCERTs well, which is quite important in these months. Also, for subjects like History and Environment, the SFG schedule should give more time because they are factual in nature and needs time to memorize. @Neyawn Sir, It would be great if you consider it based on popular demand, and stretch it by 10 March. Then also, with a strong base, we will have time to pick other things in level-2, which probably starts by 15-20 March to 10-15 May, and in the last 15-20 days we can revise on our own.
Whatever plans forumias makes, i dont think we should stretch beyond may. My previous experience has been that the last month should be exclusively for revision and nothing new. Else it gets overwhelming.
If they consider the saturday break…we should compensate it by shortening the time between sfg1 n 2 and not extending into may. At this point of time, i don't think there should be an issue if we only have a small gap between sfg1 n sfg2.
In my case, i feel Daily targets can be done to a large extent if i push myself. Things start going south when i think about mains. At the same time completely switching to pre is causing anxiety.
Thumb rule is that if you have not cleared Prelims before like 1-2 times or more, you stick to Prelims. Matlab saal bhar chhor ke Mains ki yaad prelims ke pehle hi aati hai. Jaise ki some people join a Prelims test series next day after the Prelims is over and not before.
Having said that, extending the program by 10 days - our experience is that people will not be able to sustain a high-pitched preparation, so the shorter we keep it , the better it will be. You extend it by another months and you see commitment and energy levels drop. After 2 months of rigorous studying, you will need a break of 10 days or so, where productivity will tank. Level 2, Polity, you should sail through even in low productivity times.
Similarly, when Level 2 finishes, there will be a sudden drop in productivity for 10 days or so. After that, it has to pick up the pace, and you have to go full throttle for Prelims. The goal should be to finish off Level 2, 20-30 days before the Prelims so that you have a 10 day low study phase followed by 10-15 days of day night revision before writing the actual Prelims. In the end, we have to peak on the day of the Prelims. Not before or after it.
The peaks that you are expected to have during SFG are small hilltops.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
It is not that I am saying that it gets stressful but it would be more reasonable if it is for 5 day. Not able to find time for anything else. Actually targets are hefty if one is reading the ncerts also. We can score in test even by reading laxmikant but with ncerts things are piling up... being honest in all these test so far I never never got time to revise laxmiknt. I cannot say for other but I am finding it difficult. I may be appearing to all those reading this as someone incompetent but I am just being honest.
I am Trying hard!!
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
SFG is helping me to get out of my comfort zone. I am putting in way more hours than I usually did. It's not giving me a chance to think about fear of failure since I am busy in covering the targets.
I am able to cover NCERTs and Laxmikant too and I am daily analysing the test too and doing newspaper and watching daily current vdo too.
After all this I'll take Saturday as a break day.. but I am worried about my monthly magazine coverage and my revision (because after Polity in jan.. there will be no space for polity till feb.. this worries me.
Amazing first week experience..After failed 10th October 2021 battle I'm trying to get back into the momentum but failed again and again then decided to join SFG ( earlier though will start from level 2 😀) then first week result..
1. Wake up early in the morning 6.30am ( chilly weather/fog..doesn't matter )
2. Almost completed polity which I'm trying to complete since last month
3. Increases daily hours of study ( as need to give time current,optional)
4. Improve productivity as pressure to get good marks and rank as well
Overall great experience and will assure myself that SFG will bring me back into the battle of 5th June 2022🤘
SFG may help you clear prelims, but it is a flawed program. This will be just my opinion; feel free to discard it.
SFG targets are unrealistic. They may be attainable, but they come at the cost of physical and mental fatigue in the long run. And with no time to self reflect, due to it being a six-day program, the locus of control falls out of the hand of the aspirant.
Many people joined SFG Level 1 to help them cover the syllabus, and many freshers must have entered it too. But the targets do not reflect this. To give an example: asking someone to cover the entire Indian Art NCERT in a day for one who has not read it before will lead to more harm than good. Frankly, the targets appear poorly thought out in general.
What happens is that as Prelims approaches, SFG has drained all the energy out of them. However, if they indeed followed SFG rigorously, they may clear Prelims. But their energy after Prelims will be below par. It will take the person, days if not weeks, to get out of the Prelims rut. The primary battleground that is Mains will suffer due to this.
On a side note, the SFG is made to look like a selective program with SFG and RLG lists, but people who attempted 0 questions in the entrance test were allocated RLG. Why take an entrance test then?
Also, we recently received a mailer to join a program on Essay and Ethics and how this is the best time to prepare for it. But, I remember reading a blog, 'Is it too early to join SFG?', when the SFG was supposed to start on 15 Dec, which said that one should dedicate all the time in the world to Prelims, essentially scaring any rational being to join the program.
SFG may be good, but it is not the panacea it is made out to be. Berating students who are unable to keep up as not trying hard enough is uncalled for. This exam requires self-discipline and self-introspection. Develop these through whatever means. Clearing prelims is essential for mains and interview, but SFG is not the only way.
I can answer each part of it, pointwise. But you see in the past what I have seen is that when one has created an account with the sole purpose of writing something negative, it does not merit a resposne.
You have no participation and activity other than this.
I can either spend an hour typing out a response that will help nobody, or I could do something useful. If you plan to have a constructive criticism, make suggestions.
Or else this will be marked as a troll account . This is common on the internet.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
Sfg isn't hectic in and of itself. The study plan is giving reasonable targets everyday. On the days I haven't been able to complete targets it has been due to time mismanagement and other unrelated issues. The problem is being able to handle mains and optional prep alongside. Most people will have to put an absolute stop to mains work by Jan or Feb end at the latest. Having saturdays off gives everyone a full day to dedicate to mains (and one day for backlogs, rest) even if daily targets need to be increased a little to make up for lost time.
Yup agree with this….i am trying to balance similar gs mains topics with sfg….but it gets very stressful…
It is not that I am saying that it gets stressful but it would be more reasonable if it is for 5 day. Not able to find time for anything else. Actually targets are hefty if one is reading the ncerts also. We can score in test even by reading laxmikant but with ncerts things are piling up... being honest in all these test so far I never never got time to revise laxmiknt. I cannot say for other but I am finding it difficult. I may be appearing to all those reading this as someone incompetent but I am just being honest.
I am Trying hard!!
Thoroughly agree. We could have it for 5 days if we began in December. But with Jan beginnings, its difficult.
Also, you see when we did plan it in Dec, a lot of people wrote to us asking ( basically shared) that they think its too early, even with the 4 day plan. Even with poor prelims performance before.
I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS
I will just reiterate that you should aim 100%, but even if you meet 70% of the target you have set, you should be good to go.
Sir, you talked about 70%. I'll talk about 100%. These targets are completely doable provided that we are given Saturday and Sunday off. Thereby cumulative daily targets of a week would be done on a weekly basis.
Because after studying like a maniac for initial part of day, our mind stops absorbing things for the later part of day.
Consider remodeling the schedule.
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