What are some mistakes you made in your earlier Prelims ?

Voyagersaid

I have seen that external factors like the bench is not proper ( Last year, I got to sit on a chair with very short table which kids use) , or say invigilator whispering/ talking very loud  have been very irritating . The attempts in which I could not clear prelims , made me think in the exam hall that  these factors are ruining my chances of clearing. But some how makes me feel ,that lack of systematic preparation makes us vulnerable to get distracted by these things which are not in our control.

When I had cleared prelims with comfortably good score, mostly such things did not matter much. 

Staying as calm as possible helps .

fortarach63said

Sorry for hijacking this thread with a question, but this seemed like the most appropriate place to ask. The Pre instructions ask us to not write anything on the question paper. Does this also include making ticks/crosses/dots/circling/striking through on the options or questions(other than in the rough space of course)?

And if yes, how strictly is this enforced? Do the invigilators care? What do they do if they see you doing any of the things that I mentioned above?

Neyawnsaid

I got an email from a member, who did not want to disclose his/her identity and yet wanted to contribute.

Here it is

I have failed all 3 Prelims (2018,2019,2020) which I wrote.


Background : Have been a so called topper during school days. Got into decent college. Basically, my downfall started from there. After getting into college I started having inferiority complex because, almost everyone who came there was a topper in school and most of them had better jee performance than me. I used to get taunts for my achievements as well my failure whole life by society as well as few family members but i never let them affect me because i was so naive to think that educated and broad minded people from the college where i'm going won't be like that but  one incident which happened during 1st semester's interaction with one senior changed my whole life and, I believe i'm yet to get out of that zone completely though I have made quite a progress. And I passed out of college as one of the last rankers of my stream in my final year. 

Now coming to my UPSC attempts

1st attempt:
Attended all the classes diligently and made proper notes and tried to revise them daily but didn't touch them after that [Mistake 1], [might have missed only 1-2 classes which i felt weren't useful at all and skipped entire Biology module because I felt sleepy in the first class itself]. So, I didn't re revise my notes and since classes ended less than 2 months before prelims i couldn't finish all the reference books also properly [Mistake 2]. Current affairs I barely touched and revised [Mistake 3], though i used to read newspaper daily till 2 months before prelims. Did look at some Previous Year Papers superficially without any proper analysis. [Mistake 4]. Didn't practice a single Mock [Mistake 5]. I knew I won't clear the exam but still somehow pushed myself after looking at the sacrifices my mother was doing for me. I finally gathered the courage to tell her the night before the exam that i don't think i'll clear it because i haven't given my 100%. But she said i trust you, it's the exam fear only otherwise you are prepared i have seen you this whole year you didn't even skip classes, you studied daily etc. But i tried convincing her again but she said okay fine but atleast go and give the exam because if not this time then you will clear it next time for sure. [Mistake 6- I thought I'll clear it next time for sure and this time i'll give it to have a feel- And please no one has to judge my mother, she's the best mother and she trusted her child that's why advised me this]

Exam Day: Went with under confidence and lots of stress and past baggages [Mistake 7]

Result: Failed 2018 prelims miserably. 


2nd attempt: Did not bother to analyse 2018 paper even after few days.[Mistake 1] Did not even bother to take a break for few days.[Mistake 2]Directly started watching infinite number of toppers interviews, strategy videos, motivations etc. Started searching for best test series, best classes (yeah again, see), best this, best that and what not.[Mistake 3]Ended up joining so many modules and test series, downloading infinite number of pdfs from internet, but, didn't bother to join any optional/ethics/essay module and didn't even bother to study those (though in my first attempt's classes ethics and essay were covered but they didn't cover whole syllabus, and in my first attempt i bought optional notes but didn't get the time to read those even once )[Mistake 4]. In this attempt also i didn't focus on gs mains, essay and optional at all despite joining few gs modules and didn't do any answer writing, didn't write a single test despite joining test series [Mistake 5].In this attempt i did not read newspaper daily and didn't read any monthly magazine also[Mistake 6]. I read all the basic books properly except complete history, culture, (because of my fear of history) and environment (because i thought i don't need any basic knowledge for environment and only current would be enough) [Mistake 7]. I did solve previous year questions diligently and but didn't analyse them properly [Mistake 8]. I read Current PTs (not all but important ones like ir, polity, env, s&t) but because i didn't read newspaper so i thought of doing 2 institutes PTs which was a terrible idea because in the end i couldn't even revise one properly [Mistake 9]. I did not solve pre test series despite joining it [Mistake 10]. I could not revise all the static subjects also properly [Mistake 11].  Didn’t bother to focus on csat [Mistake 12].

Exam Day: Went with positive mind but couldn’t sleep the night before the exam because of weird sleep cycle I had during preparation days[Mistake 13]

In this attempt I was struggling through infinite number of family issues. Everyday seemed like a nightmare, a never ending nightmare. But one thing which helped me keeping my sanity was my Never Give Up attitude. Though whatever has been happening around me was never related to me at all but it was ensured by few people that I should be the one who has to feel guilty about this, I should be the one who has to feel the pain, I should be the one who shouldn’t be allowed to show my pain because of course that would be an excuse for not studying. If I would try to express my frustration then they would be like that people who live in the most noisiest surroundings and disoriented families also clear the exam you are just making an excuse. I had lost track of my days and nights, my sleeping habits, my health everything 2 months before the exam because I was somehow trying to study whenever there was peace, whenever I was not being constantly watched (because a certain someone in my family always used to think that how can parents believe her to study only when she’s alone in her room, maybe she’s watching movies, maybe she’s reading novels, maybe she has a boyfriend. That person always used to think that despite her failing in 1st prelims why she’s not being mentally tortured by her parents). It was made sure that I should be tortured every single day, I should be taunted or scolded and my parents also should be taunted because I was studying late nights and sleeping in the day and spoiling my health (because of course according to few people only physical health matters and there’s nothing called as mental health), I’m not talking to my family much etc. To summarise it, I had to account for my every breath. But I have very good friends and supportive parents. Though I couldn’t interact much with my parents without being overheard. But I used to hide and talk to my best friends and they were my constant support. But my most important companion was I myself. I have been tested to limits unknown, my self respect, my character was blown to pieces but it was known by everyone that I value life a lot and I never for once tried to give up on it. But I couldn’t give my 100% and I take full responsibility of my failure.

Result: Failed in 2019 CSAT in quantitative terms, by 1 mark only. But in qualitative terms, by around 25 marks. (Though we have to score 66 only in this paper but still we can not go to the exam hall keeping 66 as the cutoff in my mind, we have to keep at least 90 marks as our target to be at peace after the exam)
Failed to clear general cut off in paper 1 (though cleared my ph category cut off but that was not my aim in the first place)


3rd attempt : This time I corrected Mistake 1,2,7,8,11 to a great extent. And mistake 4,5,9(to some extent but not completely). I repeated mistake 3,6,10. In this attempt I partially covered mains portions but nothing completely completely, no answer writing done. The huge mistakes I did in this attempt were not solving mocks again, and not revising PTs properly. I did focus on csat but I still felt something was lacking which again showed in the result. In this attempt I tried to conquer my fear of history and read the old ncert for modern and new certs for all portions of history and culture but I think I did not revise them properly.

Exam Day: Went with positive mind and confidence but couldn’t sleep the night before the exam because of weird sleep cycle I had during preparation days

In this attempt again the never ending torture continued and it became worse because of corona situation which lead to more disturbances in the house. And a week before the exam a big drama happened which shook me to core but I still kept going even though I was constantly disturbed because of it. I again take full responsibility of my failure.

Result: Official marks not yet announced for 2020 prelims. But, I for sure know that I failed in csat again. And in paper 1 in general cut off for sure I failed again.

4th attempt 2021:

The never ending torture continued but, in this February I got a chance to shift to my relative’s place who moved out of country. Though shifting here was not smooth because there was lots of drama again. And after shifting my mother fell ill, I too fell ill many times (not covid). I have recovered. But my mother is still not well but nothing serious but she had to move back home.
In this attempt I have decided to go for other exams as well but I’m not giving up on cse. But before moving onto something else I want to give my 100% to this pre in these last 40 days.

I still haven’t done optional, answer writing and gs mains completely. Was again not regular with newspapers. Doing PTs now. But have covered all the static subjects and pyqs properly. Will give few mocks in September. I’m also doing csat seriously.

I know most of you might be thinking that most probably I’ll fail in this prelims as well because I’ve resumed prelims preparation very late. But still I’ll try to give my 100% to this pre.

Summary : I know most of you don’t have time to read this whole write up, so I want summarise it for you by giving you an important message. Don’t ever let anybody get into your head, I did this and didn’t give my 100% to the past 7-8 years of my life (my btech and my last 3 attempts as well as most of the preparatory phase of this attempt), though I’ve introspected and improved a lot since moving out this Feb. You and only you are responsible for what is, was and will happen to your life, take full responsibility. You can not change people and situations but you can mould yourself according to the situation and make everything work in your favour and if it’s not possible then detach or move out etc. Don’t let failure affect you too much, accept it, learn from it and move to the next step of success. I have accepted that I am, was and will always be judged by people even after I succeed because according to them everything I have achieved is because I belong to a certain category. And I am also judged by people, my co aspirants, when I take my cut off for prelims as general cut off. According to few I’m trying to show off, according to few others I’m taking unnecessary burden. But this is a special concession given to uplift people like me, and give that equal status in society, it isn’t there to stop us from giving our 100% percent. People think and say so many bitter things but I’m not here to prove a point to anyone. I and people close to me know what I think.

No matter what happens. Never Give Up on your goals.

Summary of Prelims Mistakes:
- Not revising properly
- Not focusing on Csat
- Not reading newspapers regularly
- Not solving mocks
- Bad sleep Cycle due to which didn’t sleep properly the night before pre
- Unnecessary focus on pre CA. (One pt per subject is fine)
- Not integrating Static, Current and Contemporary portions of a topic while revision.
- Downloading n number of materials from internet and joining n number of courses and test series and not following them properly.
- Letting external factors affect me (Most important reason for my failure)

TsarBombasaid

@fortarach63 bhai/behen 

Seriously dont take so much load.... generally invigilator nahi bolte ye sab ke baare mein especially in UPSC... kabhi kabhi kuc jyada talented aur padhe log invigilator ban jaate hain....dont worry... jab wo aapko aise krne bole tab bol dijiye sorry sir/sorry mam unke jaane k baad phir karne lago... rangna padta hai paper and at times ganda bhi ho jaata hai

Rambo93said

I became complacent and lost track during the CSAT paper! Lost it there.

Learnings from my previous attempts which has always helped me

1. Strictly doing pyqs only. No coaching mocks. 1 or 2 just to get  feel sometimes. Pyqs has to be done very seriously, its just like laxmikant everytime you read it you get new insights, so i have also discovered some patterns in their options framing and important topics which are repeatedly asked.

2. Reading static more, even if you are bored of reading same books try to spice it up by active recalling. Scribble concepts on a piece of paper, try and list down say Gandhian principles of dpsps. Or features of biosphere reserve. Sometimes auch practice helps in internalising well.

3. While reading current affairs, just read get a general idea, no need to get into minute details, you won't remember in the exam!! That's how the process is designed 

4. Integrate static and current, best strategy.

5. Have 3 strategies about how you will solve the paper. Be prepared for a very different yet lengthy paper. Tell your mind that paper is not going to be difficult, it would just be different which will put you in an uncomfortable position and that's where your real test will lie.

6. Be courageous yet confident! You have to attempt 90+ irrespective of how the paper is, and its ok if you get even 25 questions incorrect, paper is designed in such a manner that you are bound to commit silly mistakes. Idea is not to panic. Be bold enough to mark that damn option. If you can eliminate one option you have to attempt the question.

7. Dont overthink, its always counterproductive, even if you get the question correct, you eat up time of other questions! So just go ahead mark that bloody option with confidence and gut feeling.

8. Plan the last week today, what you are going to do in those 7 days. It is very important, it will actually help in finding a path in times of chaos and uncertainty of last week.

9. Get into examiners mindset now, what would have they thought before framing questions and options, where is that hidden hint? 

10. Don't be anxious on exam day, i know it's easier said than done. Being anxious before the paper is fine, but once you get the paper, you have to go all guns blazing.

Rambo93said

I became complacent and lost track during the CSAT paper! Lost it there.

Learnings from my previous attempts which has always helped me

1. Strictly doing pyqs only. No coaching mocks. 1 or 2 just to get  feel sometimes. Pyqs has to be done very seriously, its just like laxmikant everytime you read it you get new insights, so i have also discovered some patterns in their options framing and important topics which are repeatedly asked.

2. Reading static more, even if you are bored of reading same books try to spice it up by active recalling. Scribble concepts on a piece of paper, try and list down say Gandhian principles of dpsps. Or features of biosphere reserve. Sometimes auch practice helps in internalising well.

3. While reading current affairs, just read get a general idea, no need to get into minute details, you won't remember in the exam!! That's how the process is designed 

4. Integrate static and current, best strategy.

5. Have 3 strategies about how you will solve the paper. Be prepared for a very different yet lengthy paper. Tell your mind that paper is not going to be difficult, it would just be different which will put you in an uncomfortable position and that's where your real test will lie.

6. Be courageous yet confident! You have to attempt 90+ irrespective of how the paper is, and its ok if you get even 25 questions incorrect, paper is designed in such a manner that you are bound to commit silly mistakes. Idea is not to panic. Be bold enough to mark that damn option. If you can eliminate one option you have to attempt the question.

7. Dont overthink, its always counterproductive, even if you get the question correct, you eat up time of other questions! So just go ahead mark that bloody option with confidence and gut feeling.

8. Plan the last week today, what you are going to do in those 7 days. It is very important, it will actually help in finding a path in times of chaos and uncertainty of last week.

9. Get into examiners mindset now, what would have they thought before framing questions and options, where is that hidden hint? 

10. Don't be anxious on exam day, i know it's easier said than done. Being anxious before the paper is fine, but once you get the paper, you have to go all guns blazing.

Rambo93said

@Neyawn Absolutely, this time around i have done CSAT seriously. More importantly have given the respect it deserves.