Only my opinions, not to offend anyone.
1) question on image - equap chances of reflection. Mathocrat and other maths coaching teachers think its reflection. Also a basic question like projection seems unlikely for 20 marks.
2) q 8a in paper 2 is not conventional. No solved question of that type is given as the problem was already in canonical form.
3) 8c paper 2 - no way one can do it in exam hall if similar type is not done in home.
True. I did not choose Q8 in my paper so solving in the exam hall is a different thing and solving it at home is a different thing so I trust your judgement.
My experience -
In P1, chose 1, 2,3,5,6
The p1 sec b was designed such a way you have to face 1 bouncer question of 15 marker.
So went with q6, as I thought will try to solve virtual work if time permits.
So , in last 5 min tried to do something, agr time hota aur 5 min ,could have solved (15 marker)
Q5e (ii) two principal normals - no idea
Rest I find it doable , so good attempt over 220+ , if image plane wala question we take like what mathocrat has solved .
Paper 2
I saw first question, relieved , then I saw q2, q3 and I shivered my deepest corner of my soul and I panicked , how i am going to attempt the exam.
Then thought to solve q5 compulsory, solved all 5 ( due to misreading - 5e went wrong, I started to find stream function 😭) and a silly mistake in one of binary
Then was relieved with Q7 and Q8
Q7a PDE , was unable to make c1 and c2 in one equation, so wrote separately both conditions
Q7 (c) , could not find pressure of velocity flow - bhut gnda calculation
Q8(a)- I had no clue how to solve it , as it was not reducible to canonical
8b and 8c were easy
Then went to q4 , all 3 were doable , surprised with space given in Reimann integral and Assignment problem( very less)
So , around 200-205 correct in P2 , could have been 220-225 .
200 to 205 in P2 is a really good attempt!
@tedmosby yes a decent attempt, but there was scope to do better , choice could have been better even for me and a few silly mistakes could have been avoided and score could have crossed 305 and even 310-315.Problem is even after scoring this much there is chance , one may not be selected. Gs+essay me 510-15 lane honge and I don't see that happening with me with math
Please don't assume anything bhai. The performance is relative in optional and GS. 200+ in P2 alone is extremely good this year. I know many coaching institutes (and the aspirant community) are promoting the idea that the scaling factor is 0.7 and 0.8 for Paper 1 and Paper 2 respectively but there's no basis to such claims. Your total score in Mathematics could be more than 320 (But that depends on performance of other optional subjects as well).
There was a time when Anubhav Singh scored 375 and Kanishak sir scored 361 in Maths opt. There used to be a time in Maths when "toppers" used to "leave" tough areas and secure nearly 270 or 280. But now UPSC has tried creating a level field among all the optional paper so that no optional has a distinct advantage (that's what I could 'infer' from marksheets of 2022 and 2023 which could be wrong).
So I know many people who have scored 270+ in Maths but couldn't clear Mains as they couldn't cross 400 in GS+Essay (Yes, the competition is that tough in this area). Balancing between both the areas is extremely difficult. And yes, some of them have completed all their papers. Even I used to complete all my papers and the max I could reach was 481 in 2022 but that came at a huge cost of loss of marks in optional.
And bhai, you will always have that hindsight bias about how things could have been better. How silly mistakes could have been avoided but take it from me, perfect attempt kuch nahi hota. Silly mistakes humesha honge hi, we can just minimize it.
@Animesh_Maths Yes correct, one of my friend did that using bernaulli , he chose 1,3,4,5,7 and did great job .
I also attempted 220 , I had no idea about canonical and just left at euler equation. Rest I think there was not a lot of scope in error in questions which I chose 1,4,5,7,8.
Personally I feel P2 220 was doable , some people I know who did it. Even in my scenario, I misread Q5e otherwise 215+ correct was possible.
This was my first attempt and have not got marks in maths so I am not eligible to speak about whether maths is good optional or not. But till now intrinsic voice is positive about it .
@tedmosby bhai , I agree with your every statement. I have the same fear , even after too much optimistic hypothesis, I get 300 in math there are. Equal chances not to be clearing Even mains ( I saw 2 marksheets like this of 2023). GS4 and Essay I fear the most .
Don't assume anything bas mai toh itna hi bolunga.
The best and the worst feature of maths is it's objectivity. Surprising results hote hai humesha. But yes, if you have done mocks+PYQs then you have a decent chance of clearing it.
@tedmosby Really, after spending many years with maths optional, I doubt whether it is even a good optional to take. I would have chosen something else if I had to start all over again. I did an okay job with maths this year, but GS was a complete disaster as maths gobbled all the time. Have to prepare GS2, GS3 from scratch this year.
Before giving the 2024 attempt, I was really really confident. I thought Maths opt would be my ticket to top 70. But then I just witnessed the randomness of maths questions in 2024. I was just speechless! Thankfully, I had strategized well across all areas and I stuck to it in the face of adversity, even for GS. Baaki toh no one can guarantee anything. Maths opt's RoI has decreased substantially anyways. People with Humanities opt have a lot of edge in GS w.r.t keywords and value addition. Personally, I feel PSIR, Anthro, Socio and Philosophy are good optional subjects.
I think@JaiBabaKi has done a splendid job in Maths opt. 200+ correct in P2 is just too good. 300+ toh aa hi jayenge bhai aaram se. GS1,2,3 ko bhulna matt bhai. Vo sab set ho jaye toh aap chakravyuh bhed doge. Varna the Pre-Mains cycle continues.
