Prelims 2021 Results Declared - In or Out ?

Out with a heavy heart . Gave it all in . Slogged too much . Was getting 130+ in mocks . Did almost everything right during preparation and did almost everything wrong in the exam . This is how it went : 

Art and Culture/ Ancient and Medieval are achilles heel for me . Got first quarter in Set B full of them . Exhausted 40 mins .

In last 15 mins , i was left with around 30 questions. Panicked and made such stupid mistakes that i wont possibly commit in my wildest dreams .

Learnt a simple truth , very hard way . In this exam , “Mindset matters more than skillset“ . I lost my temperament, that day at that moment i lost my chance .

Was getting 86-90 from various keys . CSAT was 150+ from all keys .

But silver lining is that I have made peace with my failure . I started with Mains preparation just 2 days after Prelims . Because till I am trying , I am struggling. I have not lost it .Try , Fail and Fail better .

I have a lot to say and lot to write , but that is for some other day . For now all i have to do is focus on the process . People might not mean it seriously but if you look in hindsight, “Really , safar khoobsurat hai manzil se bhi”.

On this note , i would like to wrap my emotional pour with these lines of Faiz ,

दिल ना-उमीद तो नहीं नाकाम ही तो है,

लम्बी है ग़म की शाम मगर शाम ही तो है |

In for both CSE and IFoS

Was getting 108.67 to 114 from various keys.

Few things which worked for me.

I will be glad if its useful to even one person.

WHAT WORKED:

1.Good  Luck

2.Past 25 year papers of history,geography and economy.

10 yrs of env Science tech others.

3.Solving less questions (max 80)

4.Less time to questions which i dont know(1 in 3 types or 1 in 4 types or even 1 in 2 types sometimes)

5.Strictly no to random guesssing in 1 in 3 and 1 in 4 

6.Even left many 50 50 Q bcz i knew i had no knowledge or logic to reach the answer.(eg right to property types)

Many times we waste plenty of time in these 50 50 Qs and end up marking some random answer due to guilt.

7   20 mocks in last 45 days and analysed each paper from various perspectives 

     #No of blunders 

      #No of violations of established logic

      #Did i actually thought something before             cutting any statement.

       #Degree of overthinking

       #Lack of revision

       #Spending right amount time on each                  question (too less and u will miss words             and too more u will overthink)

  8.Solving every mock in 90 mins to simulate exam like pressure 

Hope it will help someone someday. 

In ..105-110 with different keys.

5th attempt and going to be 5th mains (not actually something to be proud of, for anyone..it's mentally draining and every failed attempt takes a part of you actually..)

Real and the only battle is mains...

Going all in for one last time..and hoping for luck to turn around.

All the best to all for your upcoming battles .

Out 

This was my fourth attempt. Was looking forward to positive result most probably i lost in csat. Right now feeling completely dejected and lost. Continuously voices like why I couldn't get through is echoing. Bidding good bye to this preparation phase. Lets see what life has obviously not IAS. 

Thank You@Neyawn  for all those write ups. Those are gem even for non aspirants. Thought of meeting you in person after getting through. Guess that is not happening right now. 

Congratulations to all the selected ones. Make the most of this golden ticket. 

In. 3rd attempt. Will be my 2nd mains.
@Neyawn  sir my Ethics score was literally pathetic last year. How to work there?

A lot of in-service and working professionals actually do it because of the 7AM schedule. It is difficult or easy depending on your current preparation. If you have studied from before, you should be able to do it, and if not, you have all the reasons to do it.

Last year I had this SDM some 30 rank or so from Bihar who had joined job. He had less time. He very frankly said that the syllabus everyday was very less, and it gets done in 4 hours . Whereas a lot of people took whole day to do it and still were left with syllabus. So it completely depends on your current preparation.

There was one allied service candidate also in 2019 or 2020 , I cannot remember. She used to appear at 7AM, after clearing service in first attempt and flunking prelims over and over again. She did quite well.

My point is - it will take time? Yes and No. Depends on your current preparation.

If it is taking time,it means your prepration is not up to the level of other candidates, some of whom do not find SFG difficult - yes there are people like that who become very good at prelims with time. And you will have to raise the bar with your preparation. Give it your everything man! It brings out the best in you. It makes you something. Some of the top students from Forum are only there because of SFG. They cleared in final list after clearing prelims after like 4 attempts.

After the absolute shit year I had due to personal losses and three months of no studies(May-July) and then studies with terrible circumstances due to other responsibilities, clearing this prelims on border seems way sweeter than the last prelims when I had 110 marks. 

I honestly did not think I will clear mainly because of the horrible mistakes I did, especially in questions like Right to property( and I am a Law graduate), not reading instructions in Suba, Sarkar Pargana question and at least 4-5 more such question each in Paper I and II. Wasted last few days without studying, panicking about how to go about finding a job and all. Need to work really, really hard now. 

Out, shocked absolutely, was expecting to clear, was getting 92 from vision 98 from forum, 102 from toppers key. Obc candidate. CSAT was sorted too.

Worked a lot for mains since last 2 years. Don't know what has happened.

But have accepted it on. Perhaps i was not to lucky. Will have to pack the bags i guess. There's nothing more which i could have done for prelim preparation. 

You are not alone.

No one can figure that out!

I don't know guys whether I will pass the mains or not. This is my final attempt. I will tell you one small thing. Do you know how many mocks I solved this year for prelims? A total of ZERO. How many PYPs did I solve diligently and googled the shit out of? 5 years. After keeping all the controversial questions negative, got 99.xx and passed. Just letting you guys know out there. 

Edit: Adding on. I also didn't study any of the pee tees etc. Saved a lot of brain bandwidth that ways.

This is not to brag. But to tell you that as a community we have to seriously wonder these sources give us any return 

Kya strategy ?? This paper doesn't require a strategy to be honest.. Just pray and be alert in exam Hall....thats it... 

Welcome to the Russian Roulette

1) Is your answer easy to read for the examiner via-a-via your competitors . Write down the steps you have taken to address this 

2) Are you able to break questions into parts and sub parts and address each part, using the words of the question in your answer

3) If you have time crunch problem in exam, can you make up for it through well practiced flow charts and disagrees ?

If you are looking for an Interview call this should do it.

Everyone studied when exam comes. The goal is to take a leap of faith and study when others are in the guessing game.

It is true that there might be some deficiencies in your preparation but plz also keep in mind the arbitrariness of this year's prelims paper. The role of luck was very high this time. Although someone will get selected in any case does not mean there must be deficiency in your preparation. It can be simply a case where luck was not in your favor.

In for both. Was scoring 100(forum)-118(topper) from various keys. 

Regularity through sfg helped along with many other things. 

Now need to put herculean efforts with right planning and guidance. ATB to everyone 🙏