Best wishes + Paper Discussion Mains 2024

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. 

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!

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... 

[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! 

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

Non -negotiables -

1.Don’t run to much after xyz current affairs compilations (most of them claim that almost all questions were directly asked from them 😂) instead focus on static.If you don’t have hold over it you are not gonna make it 

2.Stick to one source per subject,revise it multiple times (2,3 times doesn’t count as revision)

3. You must not get easy questions or questions directly asked from standard sources wrong .As it’s not the absurd questions or out of the questions but the direct questions which ensures if one is going to clear or not 

4 .PYQS - not only try to solve them but make them your friends as only they will show you the right directions as what is important what’s not ,where you should dedicate more time ,where you should not ,how upsc plays with mind of aspirants .Although probability of asking questions directly from pyqs maye be 2-3 but themes get repeated,so does many options.

5.Solve test as they will be the one to show you where you stand ,what’s going wrong and what needs to be done .So they are like practice drills before final battle,where you practice every possible scenario so that you don’t get surprised on final day .Don’t focus on scores but on the process and progress with every test ( Numbers mostly lies as data in upsc questions) 

5. You should be at your near prelims not before not after 

6. Despite being studying after everything and doing everything,always be open to surprises so that you don’t get anxious in exam hall and be calm,composed and confident that you  gonna fight till last question.

7 . Don’t neglect csat at any cost 

Game changer - 

1 . Practice ,practice,practice and practice.As we can go on revising and revising ,knowing almost everything but if we cant apply it there is no use of that knowledge 

2. In mocks put yourself under pressure like if its full length try to finish it in 1.5 hr or half length-45 mins ( this is what i do ) 

3.Knowledge can be transferred but not the wisdom,that can only be gained through experiences so first of all be truthful to yourself accept your shortcomings and work upon them 

Above learnings or strategy’s are what i have learned from my teachers@Neyawn ,special thanks and mention to @Sherkhan1428 for sharing this few years ago and many of my other friends 

Found this too good :) 

Exactly one week ago, on 26th of December you took the brave decision to get out of your bed and write a 7AM test at ForumIAS.

A BIG salute to all of you who took this brave decision and have stuck to your decisions so far or braving everything - right from Delhi winters, to stray dog menace to nearly every challenge that you may have faced in this journey.

But our biggest battles aren't to be fought in the classrooms of ForumIAS.

They are to be fought perhaps the night before when you go to bed. Or perhaps when you do not go to bed at all night hoping to catch some sleep after the daily SFG tests.

They are to be fought in our minds.

In fact, the biggest battles of our life are to be won in our minds before they are won on the battlefield of life.

Thank you.

For the perseverance you have shown all these days.

And as for our part, some of us will burn the mid-night oil to ensure that you write a good paper.

And some of us will continue to wake up at 4AM, so that you can write your paper peacefully at 7AM.

Remember, kites rise - not with - but against the wind.ntil next time,

I will say that don't classify people. Everyone has their own set of circumstances and the reality is quite complex. People don't understand a simple fact that it is one thing to "know" and another thing to "write and reproduce" in the exam conditions. For ex- everyone knew that CAG was from PYQs and they have asked about the body twice. But the twist is- you have to write the content in such a way that it will fit the demand of the question under 7-9 mins for 10M and 9-11 mins for 15M while having good presentation. Answer writing is important for this very reason. 

For the diligent aspirants, they know that the content is essentially coming from the PYQs and nothing else. The need is to do PYQ brainstorming "properly" and write answers from forum for PRACTICE. But still out of sheer FOMO, people start reading mountains of content to get that "unique edge" over others. I believe knowledge is like an infinite ocean and what you know is just a drop. So how well you use that drop of knowledge is the thing that matters the most. How well you express your knowledge matters. 

In my opinion, being logical and having a broad perspective matters more in GS rather than specialised content. 

Next, people want external validation for their preparation a lot so they think that scoring in mocks is an absolute indicator of that. In reality, it is only partially true. If you give a mock and do not analyze it, it was a waste of your time. Getting a 100+ score is irrelevant. It doesn't matter how much you scored, it matters how well you strategized after overcoming the mistakes you felt during that mock. But still aspirants are running behind "guarantee" which doesn't exist in real life. There's no guarantee for anything in life. We are trying to introduce objectivity in an exam which is based on subjectivity. 

Everyone learns all of these things at their own pace. Developing a logical mindset is not everyone's cup of tea which is why you would see very knowledgeable people not being able to crack this exam in their 6th attempt while some people are able to crack it in their 1st attempt. 

Again, that's how I view the aspirant community and demand of UPSC. It is subject to interpretation. 

My first attempt first mains,

Never expected to complete the paper even in dreams. Last FLT, took around 3hr 50min to complete. But in actual paper, attempted all the questions barring ‘Twister’ ( a page on ocean currents:) ). I don’t know how I wrote but just kept writing with@Neyawn Sir’s mindset of ‘one sword, 20 enemies’. And finished off all including Ethics paper that I never ever imagined.

Not expecting anything but with strong determination to conquer whatever comes ahead, will keep sharpening my sword! 

Best wishes to all for Compulsory and Optional! 

The Battle is ON!

First Attempt First Mains

I had started my preparation last year September after leaving corporate job and I had never thought that I would be writing my first mains within a year. So it felt amazing getting a chance to write mains. Few things were new - like the size of actual QCAB and verifying that you actually have to tear the question paper apart from QCAB XD.Time management in exam remained my problem till the very end and except for GS4, in all other papers I attempted 19 questions. Sort of satisfied with the content I had provided in my papers. Overall it was a fun experience. All the best everyone!!

19.09.2024

1 day before the exam.

Travelling to the city for exam.

Status update:

There are hits and there are misses in the last 3 months.

There is a sinking feeling that I didn't give my 100% yet there is some sort of calm.

To myself-

On 9th Aug,1942 when all the leaders were picked up by the British, there was a lot of chaos.No one out had the experience of leading a mass scale movement.It was in these times young leaders like Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kriplani and others rose to the occassion.What worked was the intent with which they had joined the movement.It was the 'lived' experience that mattered more than anything else.

3 months back I was not even sure if I would clear prelims.It was a pleasant surprise in itself.

For the exam-

The paper has to be written as if it is written by the people who are part of this great nation but have become invisible from our daily lives-  the women, the kids, the men who sleep in open in the ground.For those who are not sure of the next meal, the next gig.For the person I saw shaking in winter rain on the road side at a turn at 2AM in the unknown village.For the tribals who come daily in the evening for taking the cement mixture machine kept at the corner of the road and work whole night constructing before dropping the machine in the morning for a daily wage.Many being as young as 16-17.

Had I not studied for this exam I would have not developed this view.This is probably the reason I have a sense of satisfaction.

Finally, like Gandhiji said- the freedom from colonial rules is meaningless unless we secure freedom from our own ills.

May the nation take its great place in the world with actual implementation of FRs and DPSPs(with no repetition of events like today morning in Nawada)!

All the best to all.Until next time!

Not much satisfied with my performance. Attempted all questions except Twister in GS papers and Wrote essay on happiness and adversity topics. Upset with my inability to recollect dimensions of ethics in examhall . However I have done my bit and now it's the work of examiners to assess.

Hoping to do my best in optionals. It's not over unless it's over. 

Phew!! Time flies during mains. 

Wish you all the best comrades.