Civil Services Mains 2020 Results: In or Out ? Way ahead, gratitude and Pain
The Civils Mains result has been declared. This thread is for sharing your grief , joy , mixed feelings - absolutely anything and everything.
musk,@kraantikaari Any date when the new calender would be out?
Failed mains this year. I was hoping that my optional may sail me through. But I kinda ruined it. But now I feel quite clueless about mains prep. What type of notes have you people make regarding static and dynamic portion? Might be a bit helpful for me.
My present condition is like floating in a raft directionless in this ocean.
The easiest way to go about it is to keep track of the topics in news. If there's an editorial, lets say IPR and WTO issue which making news right now, just think if it relates to the syllabus. For content, I usually rely on editorials themselves + Google. Apart from this refer to mains PYQ and note down the themes for each topic and have some content on them. Also, make notes for the keywords in the syllabus like investment models, infrastructure etc - not bulky but, mainly focusing on issues, govt initiatives, opportunities, etc.
EDIT: This is how I approach Mains. The qualified people here can offer better advise probably.
@Villanelle - How such a detailed and aligned preparation?
I have never got time to even revise my notes. And I am never able to make such good notes in the first place.
But does it matter? :P You've made it to the list once, that goes on to say that not perfect notes or perfect study but performance in the exam is what matters.
You are going to make it better with proper notes. Luckily I got selected, but my prep has always been haphazard, very haphazard. That is what I want to know, how to prepare structurally.
I had seen a topper's interview in 2018 -19 I think who prepared newspaper notes so perfectly. Tried that but always failed. Hence, the curiosity.
sstarrr,
@Villanelle well i failed two mains after appearing interview in 2017 mainly due to the same issue and underconfidence.now i have realised that whatever we study or notes we make it should be such that we are in a position to revise the whole syllabus in one day or so. for instance in FOMO, we just go on to add more newer and newer material, we feel that we can process it in few revisions but that do not happen.although i did not clear pre last time, but i just prepared with the notion of giving mains. what i discovered was that i can reproduce well and be confident together only if i can pullout multiple revisions of the whole syllabus. for example if i have to write a test on say gs2, i enure that i have enough content to revise the whole syllabus in two seatings a day prior to exam. now you would also know, how much notes we can revise in 2 seatings of say 5 hours each. so notes should be only such that you can revise the whole syllabus. so my whole gs2 notes are close to 180 pages. thats it, nothing more nothing less. and i am not going to add anything new in it, unless until very important issue comes up.more than notes, its the revision and that to of the whole syllabus. it has helped me to write good answers and made me more confident.in my two mains failure 2018,19.i did prepare thoroughly, read good materials made my own notes.but i used to revise in silos, for example- economy, security and so on. i just lacked that mental stamina to withstand whole syllabus revision, thats what matters the most. if you can sustain that, definitely your mains will go well. ad thats what i am going to do in 2021.so dont focus on FOMO of new mains issue and material, but on FOMO of whole syllabus revision.
Got it.
@sstarrr currently no info bhai
no 'bhai' :D ... you can youse 'bahen' if you want ... ;)
RAGNAROK,thewinner
to prepare well enough for mains do we need to make topic-wise notes of each word written in the syllabus ( static ) and the current issues ( current affair) .......does this much suffice or anything else ?? and since seeing you guys msg found, yeh hoga ya Bhi Nhi ........
and how to make these notes ( disclaimer - I am a beginner ).
+1
@Villanelle well i failed two mains after appearing interview in 2017 mainly due to the same issue and underconfidence.now i have realised that whatever we study or notes we make it should be such that we are in a position to revise the whole syllabus in one day or so. for instance in FOMO, we just go on to add more newer and newer material, we feel that we can process it in few revisions but that do not happen.although i did not clear pre last time, but i just prepared with the notion of giving mains. what i discovered was that i can reproduce well and be confident together only if i can pullout multiple revisions of the whole syllabus. for example if i have to write a test on say gs2, i enure that i have enough content to revise the whole syllabus in two seatings a day prior to exam. now you would also know, how much notes we can revise in 2 seatings of say 5 hours each. so notes should be only such that you can revise the whole syllabus. so my whole gs2 notes are close to 180 pages. thats it, nothing more nothing less. and i am not going to add anything new in it, unless until very important issue comes up.more than notes, its the revision and that to of the whole syllabus. it has helped me to write good answers and made me more confident.in my two mains failure 2018,19.i did prepare thoroughly, read good materials made my own notes.but i used to revise in silos, for example- economy, security and so on. i just lacked that mental stamina to withstand whole syllabus revision, thats what matters the most. if you can sustain that, definitely your mains will go well. ad thats what i am going to do in 2021.so dont focus on FOMO of new mains issue and material, but on FOMO of whole syllabus revision.
Got it.
Your commitment towards thinking in memes is the level of commitment I aspire to. :)
@Master @peterparker my friends cleared mains with just mains365 + standard coaching notes.
They told me, the main difference between getting interview call or not is whether do you complete the paper in 3 hours or not. Everything else is secondary
I also relied on this advice. I completed all GS papers barring GS4( screwed a case study ). But didnt get a call. Waiting for marks to give more clarity.
Oh.
In my case, it was first attempt for everyone and I know they don't have any "perfect notes" either. We made a list of probable topics, from which many questions came. Maybe that might've helped.
Btw, what's your optional?
Mathematics
Haryana,Purplesunbird@Patootie Hi, what's your strategy for world history & post independence? In mains 2020 I read vision world history notes first part full and second part half (because of the paucity of time) and in post independence I saw some videos and that's it. I am unable to plan better for those topics as the weightage is so less, kindly guide me.
YouTube/ documentaries in my free time for World History. If I get time, I’ll make short notes. Highly doubt I will get time.
Post independence, there is a very small book by Sonali Bansal. It’s a condensed version of fatter books with just the bare essentials.
I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Simply because these are the areas most aspirants are weak in. I pretty much skipped them last time. It isn’t an ideal strategy or a good one. It’s actually my lack of a strategy. Taking my chances with it.
EUROPOL,
@Patootie Hi, what's your strategy for world history & post independence? In mains 2020 I read vision world history notes first part full and second part half (because of the paucity of time) and in post independence I saw some videos and that's it. I am unable to plan better for those topics as the weightage is so less, kindly guide me.
YouTube/ documentaries in my free time for World History. If I get time, I’ll make short notes. Highly doubt I will get time.
Post independence, there is a very small book by Sonali Bansal. It’s a condensed version of fatter books with just the bare essentials.
I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Simply because these are the areas most aspirants are weak in. I pretty much skipped them last time. It isn’t an ideal strategy or a good one. It’s actually my lack of a strategy. Taking my chances with it.
In addition, one can also look for following:
World history- There is this book recommended by Anudeep Durishetty on his blog. Have given that a read, and I found that very good. If you can prepare notes strictly by observing PYQ, nothing better than that. Else, AD has himself prepared a crisp 70-80 page summary of that book. Found that helpful.
Post Independence- Two options. Read this NCERT which goes by the same name. Extract meaningful information out of it. And then use Google to supplement it. Example- If you read about Shimla Agreement, then note it down, and supplement all relevant info from google. In most of the cases, you won't require additional help, as NCERT is self sufficient.
Or, you may look at the last chapter in the book Plassey to Partition, by Shekar Bandyopadhyay. Have not read it thoroughly, but looked manageble. If any one has done SB, you may ask them about it's futility over and above NCERT.
This is the NCERT I am referring to- https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?leps2=0-9
And this is the SB's book- https://1lib.in/book/5905134/089f4c
@Patootie Hi, what's your strategy for world history & post independence? In mains 2020 I read vision world history notes first part full and second part half (because of the paucity of time) and in post independence I saw some videos and that's it. I am unable to plan better for those topics as the weightage is so less, kindly guide me.
YouTube/ documentaries in my free time for World History. If I get time, I’ll make short notes. Highly doubt I will get time.
Post independence, there is a very small book by Sonali Bansal. It’s a condensed version of fatter books with just the bare essentials.
I wouldn’t worry too much about this. Simply because these are the areas most aspirants are weak in. I pretty much skipped them last time. It isn’t an ideal strategy or a good one. It’s actually my lack of a strategy. Taking my chances with it.
In addition, one can also look for following:
World history- There is this book recommended by Anudeep Durishetty on his blog. Have given that a read, and I found that very good. If you can prepare notes strictly by observing PYQ, nothing better than that. Else, AD has himself prepared a crisp 70-80 page summary of that book. Found that helpful.
Post Independence- Two options. Read this NCERT which goes by the same name. Extract meaningful information out of it. And then use Google to supplement it. Example- If you read about Shimla Agreement, then note it down, and supplement all relevant info from google. In most of the cases, you won't require additional help, as NCERT is self sufficient.
Or, you may look at the last chapter in the book Plassey to Partition, by Shekar Bandyopadhyay. Have not read it thoroughly, but looked manageble. If any one has done SB, you may ask them about it's futility over and above NCERT.
This is the NCERT I am referring to- https://ncert.nic.in/textbook.php?leps2=0-9
And this is the SB's book- https://1lib.in/book/5905134/089f4c
Yeah this world history book is really good and easy to follow. But again, cost/benefit ratio doesn’t add up. Maybe you could use world history in essay as well if you know it well enough; I’ll simply have to work around it.
peterparker,
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