[Results] Prelims 2020 Over - Gearing for 2021

@Thanos_ even I am in my last attempt according to age and attempt.postponemnt of exam is not a solution .if somebody doesn't want to appear ,then he/she can drop and competition is always same like every year.if upsc is going to conduct the exam,it should be..life should come to normal gradually .this situation will continue even after 8 months.you can't postpone the exam all the time .appear the exam or drop it for next year.

Some “gyaan” in an attempt to help you (and others if any) of being anxious post result announcement. 

1. There exist 3 major causes why anxiety builds up at such a time

A. Role of availability bias- The IITians, farmers son, model who also is academically brilliant, 1st attempters etc,  flood the success story post result. That’s mostly because they have a better story, somewhat inspiring story and hence they stand out or our printed the most. This makes our mind think that most of the top rankers will be equally brilliant/unique in their story. Hence making us anxious.

       - The fact is, UPSC like always selects a wide bunch of aspirants based purely on merit. Every coveted pdf will have the silent aspirant who has a very generic life story and has given more than 1 attempt. So don’t let your mind play tricks based on few success stories.

B. Role of comparison- In the book “Pyscho Cybernetics” Dr Maxwell Maltz writes that most common reason for anxiety in today’s world is comparison of oneself with others. This holds partially true for post result anxiety among aspirant. Comparison is good up until it motivates and inspires you, the moment it becomes a cause of stress it needs to be let go off. Every year there are hundreds of unique aspirants clearing this exam, applying different method-strategy with varying level of intelligence and sociology-Economic background. Comparisons is ill fitted, comparison should only be done at an appropriate level. Eg Strategy of toppers 

C. Last major cause of anxiety is when a small part of us deep inside knows that we aren’t really studying at an appropriate level. The anxiety is nothing but expression of guilt and part shame. This is good if used to fuel our preparation by studying appropriate number of hours everyday with quality. Let the anxiety kickstart focussed study, and don’t let it put oneself in a viscous cycle where anxiety begets lack of studying which begets more anxiety.

The result should motivate to study harder and assuage us that UPSC does not discriminate, a farmers son an IITian or an average student, all clear the exam. Just work hard and work smart. Roughly 150 days of studying (up until mains starts), not very demanding for the benefit it could potentially reap. 

CSE 2020 and 2021 should be merged into a single exam..Panchayat hi khatam ho jayegi

Bhai ek dum Dil, Dimag, Kidney, Liver sabki baat boli. I 100% agree with you. Few stories are printed. The rest even don't care if their story becomes a story or gets out in the market. Good eg. adding to that, The model was also 1st time attempter and definitely a very good academic record though only the model thing is being so much highlighted in newspapers and social media by Senior Ias officers esply, similarly stands for others, and we never do any background check. We assume everything to the word they say. If we delve deeper there are some other supplementary stories to them. eg. in 1st attempt qualifiers we don't know how many years the person has put in, some start since 12th class or from college 2nd/3rd year. Some are academically brilliant-means studious throughout who have a lot of experience about competitive exams.  Some have better amenities or from a much better socio economic background.  Nonetheless from every aspect and circumstances people are selected as UPSC is unbiased. 

We assume everyone is either anundisputed championoran underdog.

and that guilt thing is to the point. Comparison is always the enemy. Thanks for clearing this up. Out of 100 stories we focus on only those 15 stories who wethinkare brilliant, just like prelims we tend to focus on those 15 questions which are teaser questions and we extrapolate the whole paper to it  and even for next year. 

Thanks buddy@rashivfor saying it out clearly. And don't believe what all stories are printed or said. Already qualified people can ascertain this fact. 

Keep preparing 

Edit: adding to that what if those role/ideal aspirants had to go through your circumstances. Means - all facilities, socio economic circumstance, family problems, past mentality, education background ,break ups etc. their results might have been different or at least not similar. Most of these stories are tweaked/modified for market success. 

https://forumias.com/post/detail/Seeking-additional-attempt-at-UPSC-due-to-pandemic-2019-and-2020-batches-1594123083?page=7#comment_28671

I'm not worried about Oct-4 exam - there wont be a great deal of improvement in Prelims performance after a point. My worry is about getting infected at the exam center - in which case your Mains exam will get royally screwed. And you'd lose an attempt as well for having appeared in Prelims.

Karnataka HC recently ruled that - you cannot stop students with a valid hall ticket at the examination hall even if they have Covid symptoms. They also struck down the rule requiring medical examination for those with symptoms. So basically a lot of people with symptoms would be sitting in the hall with us. 

@Albatroos1989 ,it's not about postponing boss. I am having few more attempts and years on my side...

But we should also be empathetic to those corona warriors who are in their last attempt.what about them..so it's better if they give an extra attempt to them.