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[TEST SERIES] How effective are Test series for prelims? I find the questions unnecessarily complicated and out of context in most of them just to appear tough.

Aren't they are mostly a market strategy to induce inferiority complex so the products will be sold more, just like the rest of the market appears to do so?

Mettle
10.9k views

8 comments

I am answering this in a personal capacity.
When any course or test series is created, generally there is a vision for it. This vision could be based on
  • how will this help in preparation of the exam
  • how relevant it is from the examination perspective
  • does it add enough value that someone will pay for it?
What you are talking of is having
  • (a) a test series experience, where you find difficult questions, and often complicated. This makes you wonder,
  • (b) is the objective of this test series to create a inferiority complex or fear of missing out such that you end up
  • (c) subscribing to the product? 
I do not think that any person of institution ( Let us call him / it "X" )  would begin with the assumption that let me create a course or a test series so tough that people will subscribe to it by way of fear of missing out. 
However, "X" may still produce (a) because of several reasons
  1. "Obvious Reason" to scare students for subscriptions.
  2. X may run out of new questions, or of of imagination to produce new questions.
  3. Students may be clamouring for solving new questions and there could be "market" for something like this. 
  4. "X" feels that the paper must be tougher than the actual examination.
X may run out of new questions, or of of imagination to produce new questions.
This may be a genuine  case where teams that do this work have small number of members - say 1 or 2 members. So they may start asking hard questions. This is possible.



"X" feels that the paper must be tougher than the actual examination.
Note that this is a common feeling among most people who were to professionally set a paper. But then UPSC in past few years has increasingly been creating tough papers, so the upper limit for setting a tough paper is kinda in a flux.



Students may be clamouring for solving new questions and there could be "market" for something like this. 
Given that the Internet is flooded with so many questions already, and the exam has increasing competition, a large number of students have already solved the "first level" questions and are looking for something tougher - even if a little irrelevant.
Secondly, some students may feel that because they are "paying" for something, therefore what they need is not "selection grade" questions but "questions that they have paid for." When this feelings are transmitted to "X" they respond accordingly.
What is the way out?
I personally believe that there are only three things to do as far as prelims is concerned
  1. Read Basic Books as Many times as possible - and Revise them - Priority #1
  2. Solve previous Years Papers - and Revise them till you know them - Priority #2
  3. Take anyone Test Series and do it religiously and an additional one from the market - And at least know those questions 100% - Priority #3
If you have time left, you do 1,2,3 again.
I have been writing articles since 2012, ( you can check them here and here, and these basic things are what I would have stuck to in most of my posts ) 
As someone who designed the SFG program of forumias, this is what I had in mind, and this method has fairly delivered results. Having said this, I would also point out that since there is a tremendous load on the teams, that create test papers etc, they are always afraid of what you call "market feedback".
I will give you an instance.
Few weeks back while goring through a feedback Isaw this posted.
Obviously, the candidate was googling while writing the test ( not recommended ) or during post test analysis ( recommended ) .
When investigated , it tuned out that all the questions which were "copied from other websites" were upsc questions which are available in public domain. 

Also the candidate - after 1 month of writing tests, was unable to know this that previous years papers are an integral part of the SFG tests and SFG tests reward people who solve previous years papers. In most circumstances, people / teams making the paper, will get jittery with such a market feedback and will quickly try to exclude PYQ - even it harms the student, because a lot of people doing dailychapter-wise tests wont do PYQ if they know that it is not asked .
If the team is  not very sure about what they want to do , they are likley to not ask PYQ's - something that I think is crucial for prelims. 
( I strongly believe that anyone who does not do previous years papers is not committed  about the exam. he is just dreaming of it, and will quickly settle for PO job, IAS is just another job for him / her. Or he may sincere , but does not have the maturity and may develop this maturity over a few years. )

This is Level 0 strategy. You begin from here. If you are not doing this, you are either foolish, or you simply don't understand how things work. 
It is something like you want 6 pack abs, but you say.- Oh, I cant take proteins, I love my white rice and biryani, hate to do cardio and cant work out for more than 15 minutes - and please - no planks and crunches please !
And when a paid Gym instructor tells you to do Planks or Ab workout, you sign him off saying, but I already know this. 
Its like asking someone
"Hey, You are a great driver. Can you tell me what should I do to stop my car if I my clutch plate  fails while I am driving in 4rth gear."
"I can tell you the best that can be done, but tell me something. How would you normally slow down your car of the clutch plate DID not fail."

"I do not know that, I do not know how to drive. I am planning on learning driving later this year. In fact, I have never seen a clutch plate before" )
A faculty of a Big Institute has answered this question on Quora and you can read it here, The answer also offers a perspective, but again, i think that his opinion is biased by his personal experiences. 
There could be the above thought process with some people, but i do not think that the above thought process can make for a successful program. Also, I do not know of any successful teachers who follows this thought process. Nearly everyone remotely successful I know has focused on doing one thing - helping people get selected.
( There is a small minority that have clarity that not selections, but claims to selection matter , but then core IAS aspirants dont join them. ) 
Having said that, for you as a young student, always keep your mind open and never attribute something to "some vested motive" . What can be explained by negligence or ignorance, should never be attributed to malintention.
And to demonstrate this, let me ask you a simple question
- Why are roads in Eastern UP and Bihar poor compared to the rest of the nation?
Summing it up, also remember that markets are not very good at promoting good. They merely adapt as per user behaviour and consumer demand. When Delhi had air pollution, the markets didn't say we"ll shut shop so that that pollution reduces. The Newspaper, TV and Internet was flooded with air purifiers.
P.S. Please readthe conflict of interest clause here, before accepting anything.

I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS

curious_kid,Deepak802and14 otherslike this
9.1k views

Having said that, Most people I know do solve at least one Test Series and it  is something that we have to do for correct assessment and sometimes to develop problem solving skills. So you do not have to be a complete nihilist at this. In the end since you alone will have to bear the consequences of your decisions ( we all do ) , you must make an individual choice as to what you want to do. No one can make that decision for you.

I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS

Blueberry,Mettleand1 otherslike this
9.1k views

Sir, the generally poor condition of Roads in Eastern UP and Bihar can be attributed to the following reason

 Lack of Socio-Economic Development of the region. 

I think all reasons like strong monsoon zone and softer soil and other environmental reasons do not hold. Neither do a political will or lack of industrialisation are very solid reasons. They are very legit issues but the very crux is the human resource of these areas has not been transformed into human capital.  Take Japan, for example, a land devoid of natural resources and prone to earthquakes but is a leader in world affairs. Only due to high HDI index. 

There is no coincidence that eastern UP and Bihar are at the bottom in many Human Development rankings and also have bad roads.  With high levels of human development, other things follow I believe.

8.3k views

And, is there any minimum threshold beyond which I should care less about the marks and focus more on my errors? Like if I am getting above 90 consistently, should I not let marks bother me that much?

8.3k views

I have attended the classes of pavneet sir, and he didn't mean to say that one should not attempt test series. In his last class he had told us to solve a test series, but only after being thorough with the subject. 

The point he wants to make in the Quora answer is that there is a tendency with students to leave certain subjects. The point of solving PYQ is to find out the important areas from the subject and atleast prepare them well. UPSC has this habit of allotting more number of questions/marks to a some subject, leaving others. They surprise students.

For example, there is a perception that UPSC doesn't ask questions from Medieval history, but it can happen that in one particular year it may ask more questions from that subject.

So, the point here is, that one cannot read everything, but can read important areas from every subject, and PYQs helps in identifying those areas.

Mettle,
9.1k views

Naadan_Parindasaid

I have attended the classes of pavneet sir, and he didn't mean to say that one should not attempt test series. In his last class he had told us to solve a test series, but only after being thorough with the subject. 

The point he wants to make in the Quora answer is that there is a tendency with students to leave certain subjects. The point of solving PYQ is to find out the important areas from the subject and atleast prepare them well. UPSC has this habit of allotting more number of questions/marks to a some subject, leaving others. They surprise students.

For example, there is a perception that UPSC doesn't ask questions from Medieval history, but it can happen that in one particular year it may ask more questions from that subject.

So, the point here is, that one cannot read everything, but can read important areas from every subject, and PYQs helps in identifying those areas.

Actually, Civils Prep has a very wide level of subjectivity. Unlike the Sciences and Maths, there is a huge variation in preparation strategy for everyone. So it becomes really difficult for one advice to work on another, given that different people have different levels of preparation and often assessment is also not very objective.

I am no knight. Do not call me Sir|Philosophy behind ForumIAS

7.3k views
@Neyawn Agree. UPSC has become more unpredictable these days. So, nothing is sufficient.


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