CSE 2021: Plan / Strategy / Daily Routine
Hello 2021 aspirants. I thought it would be nice if we can share what we are doing and intend to do with one another here.
This could be a thread for discussing everything prep for 2021.
No one method fits all but to see the plans and progress made by fellow aspirants might help with the finer details of preparation and also keep one on track.
Moderator Update: This thread has crossed 1 million views and has thousands of comments slowing down the website. We are closing this and moving to the next thread
Purplesunbird,
@Purplesunbird how to get a hold of these? Are these paid? Please reply
https://forumias.com/channel/EPIC
Just scroll down on this page
Pam123,Celeborn@brownianMotion Uniball UB187s if you have a tight grip. UB157 if you have a light grip. If you want a lower budget option, Adgel Achiever and Trimax (Original ones) may be used. A lot of people do use Pilot v5s - I honestly am scared of tearing through the paper with it. Anything lower and you risk ink smearing and smudging. Key points to look for: It should as Dark as dark blue gets, be waterproof and every pen you take to the exam hall must have written 2 answers before during practice. To summarize, in my opinion 187s >157 >v5 >Trimax >Achiever. In the end, write 8 pages (800 words) with each pen before finalizing. Cheers. Hope it helps!
If someone is looking for budget pens from Uniball itself, you can check out UB215. They come with refills too. Effectively cheaper than trimax.
BD,Did not know where to post.
I have few questions and doubts regarding mains preparation (one silly). People who have written mains please answer if you get time.
1. If comfortable, What was your score in previous mains and what did you learn from it- what mistakes should not be made ?
2. Which pen to use? I had seen a poll here but still could not decide. :(
I scored 323 + 132 and 331 + 120 in GS + Essay (in 2019 and 2020 respectively). These are really low marks if one has any ambition of getting into the services. Here are some things I learned.
1) Mains is as much a test of your temperament and mental strength as it is about your knowledge and writing skills. Don't lose this battle. No matter what you have done in the past, a lot depends on how intensely and seriously you work in these 2-3 months. Atleast 9-10 hours of sitting are required are every day to boost your chances. Learn how to manage your anxiety. Learn how to be resilient (that is, how quickly you can bounce back after a setback - like a poor test score, a bad start to the day etc.). In the past two attempts, I felt these are the areas where I lacked mostly.
2) You can't just write general answers in easy to understand words. You have to use the keywords specific to the subject + substantiate with data & figures. I made this mistake in society, social justice and governance. I just studied them from newspaper and current affairs compilations. This time I've prepared from standard sources.
3) Practice writing. Take as much tests as you need. And write all of them on time, a) because it prepares you to be able to write answers to questions you didn't know, and b) if you postpone even one test because you're not ready, you'll postpone the subsequent tests until you end up not writing the last few tests. Again even though I enrolled for MGP+ last year, I just wrote the first 5 tests. Affected my performance in the exam hall.
4) Don't take anything lightly. Give adequate respect for every paper. I made this mistake with the essay. Since it was supposedly my strong area, I just practiced 2-3 essays (to spend leftover time for GS + optional). In the exam I wrote a beautiful first essay. But managed my time badly plus got mentally tired. So lost a lot of marks in the second essay.
5) Keep adequate time for revision. I'm keeping the last month exclusively for that.
6) Decide what you're gonna do for the remaining days, fixing your sources as per the time left. Don't chase new material, compilations no matter how attractive (until and unless you feel you genuinely need it). Don't expect to cover every aspect of every topic. It's a good practice to allocate yourself the time you'll do something and then move on, even if you haven't finished.
7) Also the answer writing video uploaded by Ayush sir last week is gold. It's a must watch. And it has showed how much was wrong with my answers. I'm working on everything he mentioned. Hoping it pays off.
These are thoughts highly influenced by my particular failings. See what seems useful to you. Ultimately, everything depends upon how you execute what you planned, in these coming days.
Write your comment…
