UPSC Mains 2024 result out. IN or OUT?

Dosto, I am out. 5th attempt, 3rd Mains! 

I did my best and I was so proud of the answers I wrote and the Interlinking I did in this Mains examination.  My UPSC Journey will end here for I believe I did my best in this attempt and I couldn't have done any better.

No 6th attempt for me! Probably, I will turn into a teacher or maybe I will continue my legal journey as a lawyer ! I will have to take that call soon

This is something I wrote on my telegram channel. I hope that it gives strength to at least some of you or anyone who has faced failure :

"I have got so many of my friends who were crying for me even when I am not at all crying. 

Out with Maths Optional. 3rd Mains. 

I will be back! 

Update: 14.09.24 

Scored quite above average in Maths. Made really silly mistakes in formulas and lost almost 20 marks in both the papers. Lack of formula revision is the culprit. 

Reasonably confident in Essay, Opt and GS4. 

What I improved this year? 

• Studied with absolute discipline with an average of 12 hrs+
• My mock status: Essay- 4, GS1-2, GS2- 2, GS3- 2, GS4- 3, Opt- 4.
• I think I could have given more mocks for Opt but I tried my level best to balance between GS and Maths. 
• Solved PYQs diligently. 
• Improved my sleep schedule 
• Did mock analysis and strategized per paper. 

Certain shortcomings (with honesty): 

• I wasn't mains ready before Abhyaas. It was one of my targets but I couldn't as I was preoccupied with Maths opt. 
• I couldn't give simulators this time around because I had to remedy my mistakes I had identified in Abhyaas and ofcourse, the revision part. 
• Couldn't do modern algebra everyday as planned. 

With just 6 days left for Mains, if my future self looks back to this day and wonders if I did my best during prep. My reply is "Yes, I did". I have pulled off 15 hrs study sessions as well. Finished 3 answer writing notebooks for GS and finished almost 4 large notebooks for Maths. Analysed PYQs and mocks diligently for GS and Opt. 

So today when I look back to the broken person in Jan 2024, I can't believe I got through that phase. The question of hoga-nahi-hoga is something I will leave to the future because I am happy I could make it this far. Picking myself up after Mains 2023 rejection was not easy but still somehow I pushed through all of this one day at a time. At this stage, my fear of rejection is gone. [This is my 7th year of prep (I started at 19 by self-prep) so the thought of "what if I get selected" and external validation of someone telling me that I will get selected is long gone]. 

So my final message to people attempting Mains 2024 and my future self is "Itne durr tak aa gaye ho toh aage bhi hojayega.. bass ladte rehena hai". All the best. 

To all those who are in their higher attempts and have failed. I know a lot of you would not want to hear this. But I have a responsibility to say this 

1. It's absolutely foolish to keep working hard mindlessly after an exam that is RANDOM. I am telling you, some of you may feel like it's a post failure rant. But I am speaking this from a sense of responsibility. Even those who get in don't know what worked and what didn't. 

2. People like @tedmosby who are brilliant and hardworking may inspire you. But I hope you know that he doesn't have a single gap year and has successfully secured a job. He is just 26! I am so happy for him that he made smart choices. That's exactly how smart people hedge their risks. 

3. Most of you have entered this field only because of the AURA and hawabaazi. Hence, just be mindful and speak to the young who are in service as to how their life is. Meaningful life is far important than external validations 

4. What's the point? The point I am making is no coaching person will tell you to exit bluntly due to conflict of interest. 

The point is create backups, make money and you can contribute to your and other's well being. Ethical wealth creation is the biggest service you can do to this nation. 

5. If you get in by sacrificing your Twenties in a rut. Do you think it's worth it. The sunk costs of a brilliant candidate continuing into UPSC are far far far higher. Your life will be wonderful outside in other field. 

Don't think that in UPSC exam, X effort translates into X result. However outside this randomness, you can be fairly sure of your effort being rewarded and recognised. 

Eg: one of my friend who got into ISB (I have mentioned him earlier as he had failed the 2022 Mains and decided to discontinue UPSC) got a 33 lac placement this week. This shows how you're rewarded outside while the Randomness of UPSC may not reward your effort AT ALL. 

6. 99% will still stay here and keep giving attempts mindlessly. That's fine. It's your choice. My aim is only to tell you the costs of it. If you accept them, then wonderful. 

However to the rest 1% and all those who are brilliant ones who have full confidence in their abilities, don't let talent rot in ORN rooms. You WILL be rewarded outside. One can be 99% sure. But in UPSC, 99% failure is ABSOLUTELY GUARANTEED. 

It's going to be a gamble. A lot will STILL think that the hardwork will get rewarded somehow. Yes it will be. Your critical abilities, perspectives and ideas will shine. But don't think the UPSC process will reward you. 

7. The ultimate message is: Take a backup. Do well and return back for attempts if you want. Don't sit and wait for UPSC to happen. Things will work for you even with a job if they have to. 

When I was in my earlier attempts, I felt this is yet another loser ranting out of failure. A lot of people reading this will feel the same and the loop shall continue. 

8. My responsibility is to make you aware of the risks. I inherently Will be rewarded from mentorship that I will offer in future. But that doesn't mean, we lie to young ones. 

Hence be aware of the risks. 99% failure is GUARANTEED. If you decide to stay, make sure other aspects of life : Health, alternate income, Parents, travelling, friends, love life are not sacrificed for the sake of 99% of failure 

9. Work like a Nishkama Karma Yogi and be a pragmatic pessimist (Like I was) so that failure doesn't push you into extreme depression. 

I would say being aware that you MAY fail no matter how much hard you work put in an exam where failure is guaranteed is not pessimism but realism! 

10. If anyone wants to know my answers, my Notes and my efforts, they are openly available on Youtube. I had recorded what I wrote the next day after GS 4 in my phone. 

You can see my telegram channel for my notes. 

11. Another final point is just because our luck didn't favour us doesn't mean it won't favour you. However it will always be randomness that will decide your fate. Again, If you're happy to accept it, wonderful! Go ahead. 

12. UPSC addiction will continue to addict people till the next 10-15 years till the point that the people from our generation who chose private sector jobs will appear more successful in their 40s and 50s in terms of material wealth as avenues for corruption will starkly decline in coming years 

To all the materialists out there : Be ready for the fact when you're posted in Gurgaon, your friend who nobody knows right now will drive a luxury car. And trust me nobody on the road is going to look at that Innova you sit in but it is going to be the Luxury car that will turn the heads. (Only Meant to deter the materialists, who may have wrong expectations from the IAS/IPS) 

To all those who are wise : Prefer work life balance, lesser money (if need be) and your family /friends above fame/ambition. Chose to spend time only on things that drive you and help you find meaning in yourself. 

The only reason one should enter this CSE exam is : To serve the nation, serve the people and make things better for others. Anything else may create troubles even if you enter the service ! 

13. Find a good mentor who can help you reach the "I COULDN'T HAVE DONE ANYTHING ELSE BETTER" in the first few attempts itself. They won't only save your attempts but also your life. Right guidance is the MOST, MOST IMPORTANT thing in this preparation. 

Wishing you Nothing but SUCCESS (Fulfilling my responsibility to let the young ones know some realities like many others who walked this path before me) 

Good evening everyone.

Wasnt feeling so well.

Was going through some old pics and found this.

In an aspirants room. Had clicked it back then. Like 5 years.

Made my day.

To all those going through tough times.

Sharing.

And happy Diwali!

Dear forum, thank you for being my companion in this difficult and very excruciating journey. I need a break from this exam, career or perhaps life. Will work for sometime and reconsider my priorities and values which drive the life. 

Leaving the exam is as difficult as clearing it. And all the hard work and sacrifices which I have made are flashing in my head. Fromneglecting health and getting hospitalised to not changing my branch despite being eligible for it to skipping college life, placements to crying till my eyes swell after failing prelims. This 4 year long journey comes to an end. This exam cycle is a chakravyuh!

This is extremely relatable! On the occasion of Diwali, I would like to share my journey in this context-

As a 19 yr old "kid", I used to get excited to study more because of this dream I had once seen. I remember writing answers in the freezing winters of Dehradun. I clearly remember writing one answer every day (bare minimum). I would deliberately write answers at night because my hand would get cramped due to the cold weather and I would challenge my own self to overcome that. All of this in the anticipation of that dream coming true some day. I used to be excited to solve mocks and see how much I would score.

I remember scoring 41/200 when I first attempted the Pre 2018 paper at home. Surely I was demoralised but I would get excited thinking about how I can improve, what more things I could learn and the subsequent effect on score. Next year, I scored 98/200 in Pre 2019 when I attempted it at my home. I was happy that I had improved. I would often get excited thinking about being closer to "the dream". In my final year, I had three job offers in hand, I had cleared GATE  and CAT (with a decent percentile). I gave up all of it thinking that I am closer to that dream now so why waste time in side quests? Excited, I would slog harder and harder every single day, scoring 120s in GS mocks. All my focus was on Pre 2020. But then CoVID happened and my mental health took a nose dive. I panicked during Pre 2020 and scored 79. I was out of the list. The dream which seemed so near was now pushed further away by one year. But still in the excitement that one day I will achieve this dream, I picked up my pen again and wrote an Essay FLT the next day of the Pre results. I was among the top scorers. I was pumped. The excitement was back!

*Few ways down the road* Oct 2021 - "0 results found" flashed on my screen. I had failed Prelims again. My friends told me "Bhai 0.3% baccho ka hota hai yaar. Shayad luck saath nahi diya hoga". I replied "Arre toh ye luck mera saath kyu nahi deta?". I later found out that I had failed Prelims by 2 marks that year. The dream I once saw felt like a Mirage. No matter how much I ran towards it, it just goes farther away. I sat down and found out the blunder I was not acknowledging was my emotional impulsiveness. In the last 5 mins of Pre 2021, I had marked 5 extra questions which turned out to be wrong. That year I learnt the importance of emotional intelligence. I knew I had to learn the art of emotional self-regulation. I was excited to know if I was correct. I formulated strategy for that. When I came out of the exam hall after CSAT, I told my friend "Bhai lagta hai mai cutoff hi chase karta rehe jaunga". The result of Pre 2022 came soon enough and this time I had cleared. 

The excitement of writing Mains 2022 was immense. I got UPSC Bhavan as my centre!!! The feeling of standing in front of the Dholpur House was unimaginable. I thought the dream of that 19 yr old kid will come true. My batchmates in PG thought I would leave the course midway.

*Fast forward to Dec 6 2022* "0 Results found". I looked at my admit card and tore it in half. Still next day, I was in the institute library slogging hard again thinking about the dream coming true "some" day. 

*Fast forward to Dec 8, 2023* Placement season was on and I was rejected from a job because of a small technicality. Almost everyone was placed in my batch. Now in this context, I desperately needed a "win". I needed the Mains result in my favour. I opened the pdf. "0 results found". I turned to my friend, nodded my head and mouthed "No". My friend shouted "Arre bhai, galat roll number daala hoga wapas se check kar". I re-entered and the result was the same. Then my friend said "Apni girlfriend ka check kar". I entered her roll number (as I remembered it) and she had cleared (now ex and got selected eventually). 

I hit rock bottom that day. I was left behind. I was not jealous of my then gf clearing Mains (I had always supported her in this regard) but I was sad that I couldn't clear. The dream flashed before me. I thought that I would never achieve that dream "ever". I had lost faith in myself. My confidence was at an all-time low. I had lost my appetite. 

So when I sat down to analyze my mistakes, I could clearly see where I was going wrong (Discussed in another forum comment after final results of 2023). The excitement to improve upon them and implement them motivated me to try again. I wanted to see if I do improve upon all of my mistakes and formulate a strategy then will I be able to achieve that dream? 

In this context, I really liked this quote: "Failure only means we are one step closer to success" - Rocket Boys (2022)

So for the last 6 months, I worked for more than 11 hours per day hoping that some day I will get closer to that dream.@Neyawn 's image just made me recall all of this. 

During my preparation days, I was happy simply because of this element of "excitement". Charting out strategy on my whiteboard, passionately debating on how I could implement innovative ideas in an effective way, listening to my friend criticizing the quality of answers in my mocks and getting tips from him etc. Everything was in the pursuit of this possibility of having a dream come true. 

When I look back, I am happy how far I have come while pursuing this dream of mine.

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

(From the Darkness (of Ignorance), make me go towards the Light)

Happy Diwali everyone! 

[Update: 27.08.2024]

Absolutely tanked in Abhyaas. I moved away from my old strategy to try something new in my answers. Couldn't manage my time plus lack of revision pulled my performance further down. So botched up my implementation. Missed almost 3 to 4 questions per GS paper! Again, I could not have time to finish Current Affairs because of my optional. Anyways, no excuses.. time to get back to work. 

• Learning: Though I figured my mistakes out, I need to implement a strategy to remedy them somehow. 
• Current mock status: Essay (3), GS1 (2), GS2 (2), GS3 (2), GS4 (3), Optional (2)
• New aim: Concretize my attempt strategy for GS in the next 7 days and give Forum simulators to see if I could implement them correctly. 
• New aim for Optional: Manage 50:50 time between GS & Opt now and I need to increase mocks for Maths as well. I need to finish off CP&NA PYQs (The loss of almost 40 marks in this section last year hit me hard), FD & Mech and S&D notes consolidated, Torsion part left to practice in Vector Analysis. So aim is to get this work done. 

• Anyhow, a story to share with the community (from the inventory of my stories)- 
  
  

  Mike "Iron" Tyson v. James "Buster" Douglas Tokyo Dome, Japan, 11 February 1990:

  Tyson was the undefeated and undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world and was very popular at the time. Most considered this fight to be a warm-up bout as he had scored a 93-second knockout against Carl Williams in his previous fight. On the other hand, Douglas was considered an underdog going into this fight and up until that point, he had achieved mixed success. He was recovering from the loss of his mother who had died just twenty-three days before the fight.

  HBO boxing analysts Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley expected to see "another 90-second annihilation." When asked by a Japanese customs official how long he expected to be working in Japan, Ed Schuyler of the Associated Press replied, "Oh, about ninety seconds."

  Just before the fight, Tyson was seen partying with singer Bobby Brown and he refused to sleep early for the fight, deeming Douglas "an amateur" he could beat "if I didn't sleep for five weeks."

  The fight:

  From the outset, Douglas showed no fear. He moved with agility, throwing punches whenever he saw an opening, using quick jabs to keep Tyson at bay. Douglas finished the second round with a snappy uppercut to Tyson's chin. Seeming to regain his form, Tyson landed a punishing left to the body that had Douglas look at his corner, but still somehow Douglas seemed to dominate the middle rounds although Tyson managed to land a few of his signature uppercuts. Tyson was wobbled by a chopping right during the fifth round. Soon, Tyson's left eye began to swell from Douglas' right jabs, preventing him from seeing his opponent's punches well. Tyson's cornermen were caught unprepared; they were so confident Tyson would easily beat Douglas that they had not brought an endswell or ice packs, usually standard equipment for a fight. Instead, they filled a latex glove with ice water and held it on Tyson's eye between rounds.

  Within the last ten seconds of the eighth round, Tyson, who had been backed onto the ropes, landed a big right uppercut that sent Douglas to the canvas. Although the knockdown timekeeper began when Douglas' backside touched the ring's surface, the referee was said to have started his own count behind by two beats. Douglas rose as the referee signaled nine, but the bell ended the round.

  In the tenth round, Tyson pushed forward, but he was still hurting from the accumulation of punishment he had absorbed throughout the match. As Tyson advanced, Douglas measured him with a few jabs before landing an uppercut that snapped Tyson's head upward, stopping Tyson in his tracks. As Tyson reeled back, Douglas immediately followed with four punches to the head, knocking Tyson down for the first time in his career. In a famous scene, Tyson fumbled for his mouthpiece on the canvas before sticking one end in his mouth with the other end hanging out. The champion attempted to make it back to his feet, but referee Octavio Meyran counted him out. Buster Douglas thus became the new undisputed heavyweight champion, engineering one of the biggest upsets in boxing history.

  During the post-fight interview, Douglas broke down in tears when asked why he was able to win this fight when no one thought he could. "Because of my mother...God bless her heart," said the emotional new champion.

Each one of us has a Buster Douglas within us and each one of us is fighting their own demons. Let's fight hard for these last three weeks before Mains. All the best! 

Best wishes everyone!

Do awesome!

Update: 22.09.2024

Phase 1 GS papers over. 

1. I was a bit slow in GS1 and 2. Attempted all the questions and I did not completely bluff in the unknown ones so I partially attempted them (Twister wala). But I implemented my strategy to the point. 
2. Satisfied with GS3 and 4. Completed both the papers and executed my strategy properly. 
3. I wrote on topic 4 and 8 for Essay. I am completely satisfied after attempting the paper. 

Overall, I am completely satisfied with my efforts and performance in the exam hall. This is the max I could do at the moment. The battle is not over. Now time for maths optional. All the best everyone! 

डुबकियां सिंधु में गोताखोर लगाता है

जा जाकर "खाली हाथ" लौटकर आता है

मिलते नहीं सहज ही मोती गहरे पानी में

बढ़ता दुगना उत्साह इसी हैरानी में

मुट्ठी उसकी खाली हर बार नहीं होती.... 

कोशिश करने वालों की "हार" नहीं होती... 

@JaiBabaKi Good to see that you qualified bhai. :) My best wishes to you. 

I am really happy that some of my friends qualified Mains this time after so long. 

For others who couldn't, I won't say much but I will say that all of you fought well. It takes a lot of courage to prepare for this exam year-after-year. 

I knew that my Maths Opt papers didn't go as per my expectations, I ranted quite a bit about it on Forum and I had told some of my friends that I am counting myself out this time. 

I am glad that I got a job right after Mains which is why the shock felt a little less. 

After my trial-and-error for seven years (a journey which would have been shorter obviously), it is time to step back for some time. I need to live life a bit and then I will get back to this prep after a break. I don't believe in giving up but I think I need time to switch my optional subject and regain the strength for another attempt at this exam. But I will come back strong. I was happy with my efforts in Mains 2024 and surely, I need to get the implementation right. 

That's my final take on this. 

अभी इक शोर सा उठा है कहीं

कोई ख़ामोश हो गया है कहीं

है कुछ ऐसा कि जैसे ये सब कुछ

इस से पहले भी हो चुका है कहीं

तुझ को क्या हो गया कि चीज़ों को

कहीं रखता है ढूँढता है कहीं

जो यहाँ से कहीं न जाता था

वो यहाँ से चला गया है कहीं

आज शमशान की सी बू है यहाँ

क्या कोई जिस्म जल रहा है कहीं

हम किसी के नहीं जहाँ के सिवा

ऐसी वो ख़ास बात क्या है कहीं

तू मुझे ढूँड मैं तुझे ढूँडूँ

कोई हम में से रह गया है कहीं

कितनी वहशत है दरमियान-ए-हुजूम

जिस को देखो गया हुआ है कहीं

मैं तो अब शहर में कहीं भी नहीं

क्या मिरा नाम भी लिखा है कहीं

इसी कमरे से कोई हो के विदाअ'

इसी कमरे में छुप गया है कहीं

मिल के हर शख़्स से हुआ महसूस

मुझ से ये शख़्स मिल चुका है कहीं

Update: 29.09.2024 

Mains over. Maths optional papers were extremely tough. I had scored nearly 300 in Abhyaas in opt and I had worked extremely hard in this attempt. 

I don't think any number of mocks would have prepared me for this kind of paper. It was extremely difficult.

But anyhow, I gave my best. That's all I could do this time around. If I fail this time, I am ready to start again. 

‘राह पकड़ तू एक चला चल,
पा जाएगा मधुशाला’

“External validation of someone telling me that I will get selected is long gone  “ reminded me of these lines by Rashtrakavi Ramdhari Singh Dinkar ji

शून्य और दीवार, दोनों एक हैं

आकार और निराकार, दोनों एक हैं,

जिस दिन खोज शांत होगी,

तुम आप-से-आप यह जानोगे,

कि खोज पाने की नहीं,

खोने की थी।

यानी तुम सचमुच में जो हो

वही होने की थी।

Best of luck 🤞🏻 

WordleMastersaid

In recent days, I've noticed two types of people when it comes to preparing for the Mains exam. One set (we'll call them Group A) says, that Mains requires average content with good answer writing practice. They don't have the best content. If you read their answer scripts you'll find nothing special, yet you find some of them clearing this exam. The other group of people (Group B), are the ones who are usually in their senior attempts and who have gone above and beyond and prepared their own 1-2 pager notes for the entire syllabus, list of special keywords, written multiple tests etc. They, too, clear the exam, usually with very good ranks, but not always. We have seen many brilliant candidates (from forum community itself) not getting through despite their efforts.

And here lie aspirants like myself. This person who is very weak at answer writing, is struggling to complete the paper, or has not yet revised his own notes multiple times assumes that once he reaches the level of Group A, he will get through mains. He convinces himself that mains is easy, by following the perception built by Group A. But, slowly, a fear grows inside them, too. A fear of losing out to Group B. And, so they too end up collecting more value addition, nicer keywords, attending specialist module courses, current affair classes etc. This, of course, comes at a cost. 

And therein emerges a set of aspirants who are not even at the level of Group A but aspire to be like Group B. They are what I'd call half-baked goods. Not good enough to fight alongside Group B, and not even skilled enough to keep pace with Group A.

In my opinion, such candidates are the ones who do not stop and introspect. And they are a lot. And so they take a bite so big that they can't even chew it. And so they end up throwing up that unchewed bite onto their Mains paper, and then they wonder why they didn't get rewarded. Or if they do get rewarded for that big bite, they get it only after they have chewed and digested it all, which is only after a couple of attempts and when their head is slightly greyer than before.

So, in the opinion of the esteemed readers of this post,@Neyawn @Rashmirathi  @Ganesh_Gaitonde @tedmosby and others, do you resonate with the above line of reasoning? Will it be better to block out Group B from our minds, and try to become as good as Group A? Or is Mains really that difficult that we have to reach the level of competence of Group B, to even stand a chance at winning this race? 

I want to ask one thing: By doing answer writing, what exactly do people learn? 

How does answer writing lead to better marks? I just want you to ask this question. 

The idea behind answer writing is to

1. See how you are able to put the things you learnt on paper 

2. Whether you understand and address all parts of Q

3. Whether you write dense keywords oriented answers 

4. Presentation is neat or not 

5. Good Intro and conclusion 

6. Some value addition

7. Lastly, Time management 

Now, I might have missed some goals above but broadly I could think of the above. Let's Use common sense, is answer writing some magic pill that automatically boosts scores without application of mind? 

I mean people say do answer writing! And then? What exactly happens? Is it some spell that automatically makes you a great student? 

Whatever helps you in delivering above goals should be the path you must follow. Don't underestimate the power of short notes that higher attempt people make. If you see them just before the real mains, they can create a MASSIVE difference. If you have written Mains before , You must be knowing this. 

For essays, answer writing will help you hone your organic expression and write straight from your heart. 

Hence you must chose your path accordingly as per your strengths and weaknesses. I would suggest a Madhyama Marga of doing both. 

1. Prepare short notes for EACH topic (Base notes) 

2. Write answers from topper copies & compare answers (Exact same questions in 7-9 mins or 11-13 mins for now) 

3. Add some pointers that you feel are relevant. Don't add everything because you might have some value addition that a topper might not have. 

4. Also go for some real time based simulation near the Mains examination. 

Once you do the Vision Abhyaas kind simulation, you'll automatically understand what is needed and what is practical in those end days. You can't remember everything and everything gets reduced to keywords and basic common sense in GS. 

I just want all of us to use COMMON SENSE and ask the WHYs please! Don't run after some magic bullet that everyone talks of until you understand the reasoning behind it. 

The issue is we don't have handholding mentors. Even if there are some, a lot of people don't have good communication skills. In UPSC preparation, the role of mentorship is paramount but sadly we have a great deficit of it. You need constant feedback loops to keep the candidate in check and on the right path. People like me had to do everything through hit and trial and then maybe learn a thing or two. 

There is huge noise in the UPSC world. A method in the madness can make a huge difference. So keep talking to your mentors and even show your higher attempt seniors, your notes. Keep seeking that guidance again and again especially in this period where Mains has to be prepared.

For people who are giving Mains 2025, you have absolutely no time to kill. 8-10 hours daily right now is the path to success given that Mains is in August next year. Nothing should be left for post prelims days

Out. 4th attempt,1st Mains. Tbh,messed around big time in the duration between Prelims and Mains. So,had least of expectations.

Though, relieved by the fact that was somehow able to get into State Civil services very recently.So that acts as a solid backup. Don't really know if that acts as a stopover or the ultimate career destination.Baaki,ab energy toh kam hi bacchi hai.

Also,Best of luck to all those who qualified.