Mains 2019 Preparation and Discussion Thread

Pubad was quite subjective, especially P2. Question selection was also difficult. Much will depend on the whims of the examiner.

@zombielandnice bro.

@abhishek_peasier papers mein in general scoring bhi decent hota hai

@abhishek_paisa nahi hota, top mein scores aate honge, haan vo baat alag hai engineering/maths/anthro type score na aye. 230-250 mein toh interview call bhi mushkil hai

@paranthapijjayes it's very common, people write vision tests for 4+ hours. Some write at home even.

Insights GS1 model answer ne mood kharab kar diya hai, ab lagraha 80 around ayega.

@Raja123agar exam day hi nikalte model answer tab dekhta, ab toh itne dino mein mai unse better model answer nikal sakta hoon

@Shubzit's same with pubad as well. Very few cross 300.

Anyone who has experience of attempting all the questions in a GS paper and leaving 1-2 in other GS paper, how much difference did it really make?

@TeddyWestsideyes bro, especially anthro

@dr-ahmednaaz8567only quantity is also not worth it. Many people write all 20 answers but not all can score decent marks across the papers. So leaving 1 or even 2(10 markers) is not a deal breaker

@dr-ahmednaaz8567in my last mains, I got equal scores in both my optional papers when I attempted all in P2 and left 35 marks blank in p1.

UPSC is strange. When I was most worried regarding my gs3 answer quality, I got highest in gs3 among my GS paper scores. GS1 went decent and yet marks didn't reflect it.

I don't even remember a word of what I wrote, but definitely not as good as the answers posted above.

@White_Dustkoi nahi fail hota language paper mein, very few, don't stress over it.

Word limit naam ki bhi koi cheez hai.

A lot depends on handwriting font size and spacing between the lines. So the words written in 1.25 pages by a candidate can be equivalent to the words written in 1.75 pages by someone else.
If one has small writing then in order to fill 3 pages will need to write 300 words, which is not possible.

Happy Diwali everyone

@sat_009how can one compare 2016 scores with 2017 and 2018 marking pattern? If you have any idea then plz shed some light

@sat_0090.75x is too less, maybe that was the case with GS3. But people did score in GS2 and gs4 last year.

Every year 1 GS paper is evaluated strictly, was GS2(2016), GS4(2017), GS1 last year probably.

@RavsSomeone sent me for some services, can't vouch for it though.
IAS 180 [UR 73 OBC 49 EWS 18 SC 27 ST 13]
IPS 150 [UR 60 OBC 42 EWS 15 SC 23 ST 10]
IFS 24 [UR 12 OBC 6 EWS 2 SC 3 ST 1]
IRS IT 63 [UR 27 OBC 17 EWS 6 SC 9 ST 4]
IRS CCE 41 [UR 19 OBC 10 EWS 3 SC 6 ST 3]

@pmishra997125I think UR seats are less than last year.

Moral of the story is one needs to be in top 5% in their optional to expect a rank.

@sat_009I'm saying this based on the success rate of optionals(5-15% for most) released by upsc in their annual report. Although I agree exceptions do exist, like those who score 550+ in gs+essay and/or very good interview scores.

In with pubg.