What is the 1 thing you learned from your Prelims failure?

I realised something,correct me if I'm wrong. I was not able to clear prelims because I was never done with my mains syllabus. Actually the temptations during prelims to complete mains never let me focus full fledged on prelims. Even when prelims got postponed I took optional for a month. Seeing my condition it was a suicide. 

I think doesn't matter how much time it takes, one has to be done with his mains syllabus if he has this tendency of getting distracted by the left mains syllabus and then to focus for like more than 5 months on prelims if u r weak at it. 

And relying on just one institute for questions solving is also a huge mistake which I did. We must do minimum 2-3 institute question papers. And to have like a question bank for things we don't find on basic books and should revise it again and again.

Plus 20- 25 years PYQs. (Did just last 10 years). Upsc repeats itself. It is the best guide.

Fill in the gaps. My preparation was never complete because of the gaps and lack of discipline to fill them on my own. So maybe some classes or test series to help bridge the same.

And understanding that I am not smart enough to do this with less studying like some people do. I have to put in more hours than what others are doing.

Could you type in your specific queries with respect to the topic? 

I'd be happy to help.

I beg to differ here :

1) I haven't met even a single guy who has completed his complete mains syllabus before prelims, instead try to cover a substantial portion of the mains syllabus and decide a deadline after which reading mains stuff is a crime.

2) Fill the gaps, but don't expect that your preparation will be complete. As former NSA SS Menon says "foreign policy is a game of minimaxing" same goes with UPSC prep minimize your weaknesses and maximize your strengths. 

3) Believe in your preparation, most people fail in the exam hall, not in the preparation stage. Prepare for the exam, not for having a perfect preparation. Solve lots of questions and try to answer questions with your peripheral knowledge and intelligent guessing.

4) Regarding UPSC PYQ 25years is ideal but even 10 years would do. 

Thankyou :)

Backing up yourself and reducing any negative self talk DURING the actual exam. Know that one may suffer, may be hard pressed but can still clear if you implement your learnings from prep.

Failed to realise this and missed out with 95 score in 2019. In 2020, similar fate awaited me, with me not knowing first 8-9 history questions and confidence dipping. But this time, above wisdom prevailed upon me and scored 127. 

Take away is not to look at 127 but, if you can withstand pressure and willing to suffer and carry on for a little while more, you will be rewarded for your efforts.

Prelims paper on D day is like a tsunami wave hitting, scrambling/disorienting minds and then it says, common lets play the game now. So need to devise a counter plan and play the game in head before (my perspective)

PS: Luck is another dimension that's always present. 

Do spectrum it's imperative.. I would also suggest to do partial reading of sonali bansals modern history it is v good

Afaik there was no official answer key concept before 2011-13. 
I've referred to La excellence pyq compilation for the answers, they also provide detailed solution for each question thus their answers holds some credibility. 

I see. Thank you! I will refer to that. I'm a bit taken aback by the fact that they didn't even have official answer keys back then, but considering how UPSC operates even now, that checks out.

its all aboutthe 2 hrs.however good is your preparation. (considering the UPSC pattern lately)

exam hall tactics-

-- keeping calm

--minimizingsilly mistakes(most imp; can't make easy Q wrong)

--maximizing the available knowledge base  

before exam-

all subjects- good preparation (can't avoid any major subject ) 

any onetest series-for confidence building and developing Q solving abilities aka Tricks.

(fresh Test series isindispensableeven if you have cleared pre in your last attempt)

True . Mujhe bhi same feeling aayi . 

Zara Socho agr Upsc 2-3 saal koi vacancy na nikale to coaching walo ke business ka kya hoga,,sabki dukaane bnd,students alternative career options explore krenge,coaching wale bhi frzi useless history geography polity padhana bnd krenge kuchh productive creative work krenge,,kitna sara positive externalities honge human capital ka ,,Modi announce kr de ki ab Se har collector ke kothi/collector Bunglow will act as district incubation centre for startup’s,half of the Bunglow premises will be occupied nd used by selected startsups. And every day all serving civil servants will promote one startup a day through their media handles ,people will get rid of their useless stale motivational quotes,instead of that their fans nd UNpadh janta will get to know about innovative business ideas. LBSNAA shall be renamed as “institute of excellence for startup’s” for grooming entrepreneurs. UPSC dhaulpur house shall be renamed as “ Govt endangered shark tank” whether they will invite startup’s for pitching and grants loans n invest govt money into these startup,upsc chairman nd its members salary n pension should be linked with the return on these investments taaki jaise interview me kaamchori krte hai Waise waha worthy startup’s chunne me na kre nd unke interview ko doordarshan nd prasar Bharti par live kren. Officers shall be promoted nd given posting based on how many unicorns he has helped to create or how many unicorn startup’s he has supported directly. If an officer couldn’t build a single startup for consecutive 5 years then he should be removed from his service,ho ske to usse pakistan bhi bhej diya jaaye,,dowry shall be replaced with angle investing (despite of all govt efforts it couldn’t be eradicated so better to remodelled it for good social cause,,stree dhan will be called “seed money” nd dowry shall be called angel investment,filing a dowry cases after marriage fallout shall be treated as “filing for IPO”.

I won’t be surprised if upsc asks terms related to startup lingo in prelims paper —eq

MVP,saas,pass,unicorn,dragon,alpha release,beta release,P/M fit,acquihire,evangelist,SEO,churn,cash burn,CAC,cliff,vesting,api,wire framing,white label product sweat equity ,term sheet,runway,roi,etc

I think I have official keys till 2011, maybe 2010. I'll find and link it here.