[Offical] AWFG 2.0 - The SFG for Mains 2021 | https://blog.forumias.com/AWFG21 - NOTICEBOARD

@Neyawn @farejul @forumiasacademy  Sir, Ayush sir hinted that there is possibility of covering a part of  gs 1 syllabus before prelims itself. 

Sir, kindly take up that idea as it will help by leaving more time for optional post prelims.  Also wont affect prelims prep as we will be doing MH and culture which coincides with prelims anyway. Thank u sir.

The Pain has Purpose.

If you can complete what you are writing tests on, that is enough work for the day. Look, many people are managing this with ease, while some people are struggling and having a burnout. Others are simply not able to complete in a week what is being done in a day.

What can we learn from it?

Can we safely say that there are people who have lesser and more gaps in their preparation, which they become aware only when they go through something like this?

Secondly, do you realize that this burnout, on one hand shows that you are doing this with sincerity, on the other hand shows how much you had to do and were not doing? 

Rest assured, if you do it well, you will have a decently robust Mains preparation.

@manojreddy21041096  I think you are one of those people who do well under pressure and competition. I am seeing your name in the list nearly three years after your name used to be in SFG toppers list. All your folks have been selected, and I sincerely hope that this is the point where you get out of your comfort zone and go through the grind that is needed to accomplish in few weeks which we sometimes take months to finish off - and make it. 

We become what we write. Keep up the performance and consistency.

#whateverittakes. 

A few people who have asked me and other fellow aspirations here about preparation, kindly note these 

1. I am just an aspirant like you all and like I said I am learning the trade too. I dont have authority to suggest on preparation. Moreover many students are performing better than me consistently and must have better idea on how to go about this

2. Mentors like@Neyawn are best placed to suggest on how to go about this. And he is one of the best in the business. Moreover he helps students when approached.

3.@farejul sir considering the difficulty most of us are facing on finishing syllabus, balancing optional and managing fatigue and burn out in this intensive process, Kindly see if you can arrange a session with Ayush sir or other mentor for half an hour. That will help all of us. In Sfg we used to have Ayush sir coming weekly to give his pep talk that motivated us. If sfg needed that, awfg needs more. Kindly consider.

Hi dost, do multiple revisions.

Practise orally on UPSC PYQ. See question, try recollecting in mind what would you write.

I believe 90% have same handwriting speed, but recollection of points vary for many. 

Good luck : )

@forumiasacademy @root 

Sir / Madam,

while I can see other questions posted here were addressed, mine was left unanswered. 7 people liked it, it meant they were also seeking answer for it.

In case, answer is ‘NO’ from your side, please convey before last date of few payment is over. Let us take an informed decision before investing ₹6k, no ?

Regards

@farejul @forumiasacademy  sir kindly upload more 'good copies' of those who finished in time (before 9:30) so that we can learn what can be improved within time limits. They will serve the real purpose. 

It would infact be better if only the copies written within time limit are uploaded.

Thankyou sir. 

Spamming mailbox by payment reminder countdown emails kind of leaves bad taste in mouth, please please don't do this. I had to say this because same thing happened with registeration countdown too, also same was the issue in SFG.

It is so unlike of ForumIAS!

@forumiasacademy@Farejul 

@forumiasacademy ,@farejul @Neyawn , sir can we have similar kind of program (like AWFG for GS) for optional also? as in this way

1) we are covering every topic

2) 1hour test does not create fatigue and we are continuously doing writing practice

3) only few topics in every test give a breathing space and also opportunity to bounce back even if we miss a day

Draw a line somewhere. For every topic / dimension write three to five points or arguments. Also on any topic read 3-4 articles on it, that’s it. 

Also once you know what you are looking for, and develop the mental slots for it, you will be able to put things in that bucket whenever you read something.

Please ask me if you need further clarifications.

Hello All,

You can now tag@farejul  for any concerns. He is among the most powerful persons in our organisation :) He joined us as a 21 year old like five years back, entering mgp marks for students. He is the most well connected person in forum, given that every time an online student who has become a "topper" has come to forum office, i have seen that farejul is among the first people they have wanted to meet. :)  This includes former students right from Anudeep to Kabira / Surana :)

You have any sarkari work in any state/ district, he is the person :) 

On a serious note, 

#1 Good Copies will be be shared publicly

@forumiasacademy @Neyawn @root @Farejul 

Sir/madam, in case you can provide marks secured per question, it would be of immense help over next two monhs in seeking what works, what not.Otherwise same mistake would keep on repeating over next two months and beyond.

Since individual answers are already evaluated, I am sure it won’t be a big issue uploading them on excel and bringing to us.

Regards.

@Neyawn@forumiasacademy@Farejul 

It looks like the generic QCA provided for entrance will be the same for writing tests as well. It has space for 7 questions with 2 pages for each question. This roughly translates to 7 questions of 10 mark, with no 15 marker questions.

I feel it underwhelms the 1 hour practise session which was pivot of  earlier AWFGs. I have been part of two. As you will be knowing, we used you have judicious mix of 10 and 15 marker questions which translated into unmatchable 1 hour practise sessions of answer writing helping students improve speed, thought process and on the spot improvisation. It very well mimicked 1 hour of actual mains. Mains was just extrapolation of AWFG test.

I personally know people who were able to complete paper only because they wrote those 7 questions which were exactly proportionate in manner they are to be written in 3 hour papers. Doing away with this mix of 10 marker and 15 marker the programme is loosing the most significant advantage it used to have.

I also understand that questions are not marked but are graded so this division of 10 marker, 15 marker may seem like artificial. So let it be, do away with with this distinction, and have mix of 2 page questions and 3 page questions. Because doing away with 3 page questions means, if we calculate, writing atleast 2 pages less per hour, which is equal to atleast 1 question less! ( I hope you got my calculations..)

Also, in GS 4 schedule, we used to have, in earlier AWFGs, atleast 2 case studies each day for 1 hour paper. This was exactly proportionate to 3 hour paper. This year it seems like there won't be any case studies everyday and  only one day is dedicated to case studies, as per the calendar. I feel earlier pattern was superior as it gave equal weightage to part A and part B of the paper. Everyone knows case studies is sure shot 120 marks part of exam and allocating only 1 day for case studies seems poor and unreasonable. We had better model, more suitable and highly beneficial than this. Why fix if it ain't broken!

Does it happen that the day you don’t prepare you write what is asked. And the day you prepare, you wrote what you have read /know?

There is nothing to worry about here. Do not adopt the wrong philosophy of not studying because you don’t currently see a direct correlation between effort and marks.

Your preparation will definitely help you after a time lapse when things will be more evened out, such that you will not have some areas /  points unduly highlighted as answers in your memory.

One thing, please remember, that invariably we see that whoever has a bhara - bhara copy has conventionally gotten marks in the exam. This was even before the introduction of QCA booklet in 2013. Content dense answers tend to get rewarded.

With respect to word limit, I am personally not aware of anyone being penalised for it . Three years back, an old forum members had texted me about her SI's daughter being penalised in Mains exam.  I could not speak to the kid back then because of time committments.

Last year ( in fact last to last given that last year things were closed, and I think I am losing sense of time due to the lockdown, merger of weekends with weekdays ) I finally met her before her Interview, and i specifically did ask her if she was penalised for the breach of word limit, to which she said no. She thankfully scored 30 rank in the interview. 

There is an article about it below, but for some reason the images are missing.

https://blog.forumias.com/common-mistakes-in-mains-examination/

@curious_kid  Can you fix the images?