Most of the aspects are covered by some members comprehensively. I would like to add something. Have very concise content for each topic of syllabus of all 4 GS papers. By concise, I mean not more than 1 A4 sheet per topic. Cover each topic in format- Intro, Pros, Cons, Examples/Case study and Conclusion. Don’t use more than 2 sources for making these notes. You can refer to syllabus wise compilations of a good coaching institutes. Leave some margin and add only very important current affairs points in thess notes. If you prefer e-notes, that’s even better- helps a lot in editing and re-arranging points.
This is the labour part. More important task is to memorise. Yes, literally mug up these 40-50 sheets. You should be able to reproduce around 75% of the content.
Third aspect is answer writing. Nature of mains is such that there’s almost no time to think while writing. If you follow first two steps, you will have quality content at your disposal. Therefore, need to pause and think will hardly arise while writing. Sometimes, notes may not suffice to answer questions with very narrow scope. You will have to be creative while answering them. With practice, this aspect can be improved.
Wonderfully said. I found answer building through notes as more important than answer writing especially for predictable topics like security, disaster etc(But you must do answer writing as well)
I would like to attach a sample for the larger benefit of community
What to look for in the sample above
1. A Good intro & conclusion that can be used anywhere no matter how twisted the question is
2. Densely enriched content : With committees/Data etc. As one of the Forum members had guided us "each word should be pregnant with meaning"
3. High brevity : Write as short as you can with as little words as possible. Long sentences cannot be written in the final answers. Strictly, Write only what you can actually produce in the Mains answer
4. Focus on what is reproducible : This has been the most important thing for me. Please don't rattofy 1000 narrow data sets (It's the duty of Vision, Dipin Sir & MK Yadav to give such stuff but you have to be selective) , rather focus on 100 data sets that can be used across answers. Why? : Because you don't know what kind of question UPSC may ask. Narrow data sets should be learnt only for highly predictable or hot topics in news. Eg - For Agriculture, food processing, NGOs & Security , you can learn even narrow data
P. S : Again no authority TILL MARKS ARE RELEASED. My peers can add to my understanding. I am Posting this now because post result, its going to be a little chaotic and since some of our younger friends are genuinely interested in seeking some form of direction.
Also I believe its my responsibility to give back given that I have benefitted a lot by the posts of members like@Patootie and others (I had saved their comments and read them after prelims once again)
Thanks for sharing these samples. I have a few queries:
1) Have you concised the content from a particular source like vision mag or some CA class notes in IBC format or selecting a topic you've brought in content from multiple sources?
2) A lot of these may not be asked in actual exam so your strategy of ans building is for recurring topics or CA ones?
