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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

https://forumias.com/post/detail/Official-How-was-Mains-2021-Paper-Essay-and-GS-Discussion-1641542963#main_comment


jack_Sparrow,rootand121 otherslike this
1.8m views

6.6k comments

@TwoFace I don't read newspaper. Shankar Hindu DNA is substitute of newspaper. The 01.02.2021 video was a bit long, because of covering budget concepts and articles in detail, that's it. Generally, factly + shankar hindu dna takes like about 1.5 hours in total. There is much overlap, with many current affairs articles appearing in the newspaper and consequently, in the analysis video. 
Yes, I am preparing for 2021 Prelims. 

Do you suggest not to be intensive on the current affairs, and focus on static material instead?

Hitman09,
3.9k views

06.2.21

1)Last day reading of env. Trying to cover as much.

2)25 Env qns

3)Dec ca 

4)Places /species in news update

HotBloodPrince,IamThatand1 otherslike this
3.9k views

06-02-21

1. 9:30 to 1:30 - optional

2. 2 to 4 - Newspaper and CA

3. 6 to10 - SFG test 7

HotBloodPrince,IamThatand2 otherslike this
3.4k views
06.02.2021
Ca
mental health
Digital india
Geo opt
-settlement geo...
Misc..
HotBloodPrince,IamThatand1 otherslike this
3.8k views

06.02.2021 Updates:


Shankar Hindu DNA - :white_check_mark:


Forum Factly daily ca - :white_check_mark:


Vision septermber ca - :negative_squared_cross_mark: (reached till page 75 only)

Poor day again, much distractions. Hope to cover up in the next few days with doubling the study hours.


07.02.2021 Targets:


Shankar Hindu DNA 


Forum Factly daily ca


Finish Vision September magazine


Vision October magazine - 40 pag

HotBloodPrince,Vinay12and1 otherslike this
3.7k views

Target for 7.2.2021

Eco- agri + mk yadav video on schemes

Polity- 3 lectures of m puri along with Laxmikant

Maths- percentage (remaining examples)

HotBloodPrince,IamThatand2 otherslike this
3.2k views
07.02.2021
Finally managed post at 6 am....happy me...
Ca
Rev of whole week
Geo opt
Perspective geo...
Misc..
peelu,HotBloodPrinceand2 otherslike this
3.6k views

7th Feb

Morning - 25 Env qns+ pyqs 

Ca related env facts

Env pre test

Late Evening - check answers + revision 

peelu,HotBloodPrinceand1 otherslike this
3.7k views

@TwoFace I don't read newspaper. Shankar Hindu DNA is substitute of newspaper. The 01.02.2021 video was a bit long, because of covering budget concepts and articles in detail, that's it. Generally, factly + shankar hindu dna takes like about 1.5 hours in total. There is much overlap, with many current affairs articles appearing in the newspaper and consequently, in the analysis video. 
Yes, I am preparing for 2021 Prelims. 

Do you suggest not to be intensive on the current affairs, and focus on static material instead?

Do you make notes/compile screetshots of factly+dna ? Your CA strategy is bit unique, and MAY become overwhelming in last 2 months of prelims. 

you also read vision monthly after factly and dna. do you also plan to read pt365?

you can think about following one ecosystem like say if you believe in vision content then you may do daily CA of vision, then weekly issue of vision, monthly mag of vision, and yearly pt/main 365. same for any coaching of your liking. 

peelu,IamThat
3.5k views

Hopefully full time today onwards

7/2

CA backlog 20Jan till today!

IamThat,
3.4k views

@TwoFace I don't read newspaper. Shankar Hindu DNA is substitute of newspaper. The 01.02.2021 video was a bit long, because of covering budget concepts and articles in detail, that's it. Generally, factly + shankar hindu dna takes like about 1.5 hours in total. There is much overlap, with many current affairs articles appearing in the newspaper and consequently, in the analysis video. 
Yes, I am preparing for 2021 Prelims. 

Do you suggest not to be intensive on the current affairs, and focus on static material instead?

Do you make notes/compile screetshots of factly+dna ? Your CA strategy is bit unique, and MAY become overwhelming in last 2 months of prelims. 

you also read vision monthly after factly and dna. do you also plan to read pt365?

you can think about following one ecosystem like say if you believe in vision content then you may do daily CA of vision, then weekly issue of vision, monthly mag of vision, and yearly pt/main 365. same for any coaching of your liking. 

I do make notes of shankar hindu dna (mostly short facts relevant to prelims perspective) - daily 1-1.5 pages. I revise these notes along with the underlined portions of factly of each day in the week (I do so in the first reading), at the end of a week. 
As for the vision daily ca suggestion, I did try but found them lacking in quality content for daily ca. Their monthly ca is quite relevant, and is indeed treated as gold standard by most aspirants, but I find that their daily ca contains too much irrelevant/unimportant material, while not containing important events that occured during the day, contained in factly. Plus, the amount of content is almost same (maybe a little bit more in factly), but they cram it to look like it is only 2 pages, while forum gives 7-8 pages daily. So, visibility is another challenge. 

I do vision monthly magazine for revision, and don't revise the collected factly notes. Yes, I do plan to do vision pt-365, but I doubt it will contain anything new, as I plan to revise the monthly magazines 2-3 times before prelims. 

Last time, I didn't fare too well in current affairs, hence the additions. Last time, I didn't do newspaper nor daily current affairs, hence I look to benefit from the useful explanations given in the shankar dna videos about the various news, and misc. items like from environment (out of book material) and polity. Its working out fine for me till now and I think I have made useful additions in my memory.


Thank you for the advice. It is much appreciated. I think I have been comfortable with this strategy till now (following from about Nov - Dec onwards), so maybe I will continue this till prelims. But, please do point out any other fault if you see so, I am in need of advice, as I prepare isolated (no library + no coaching), so don't have any peer group to compare what others are doing. This is the primary reason I joined this platform.

HotBloodPrince,
3.6k views
@IamThat  Include static portions in your routine. While mostly our focus is on current affairs but I believe we cannot chase everything under the sun. It is the basic textbooks and solving mocks which gets us through prelims. See PYQs and make an assessment of how you will reach the right answer through your current knowledge base. Do whatever you are comfortable in but make sure to align it with the exam demand.
P.S. I don't read newspapers or daily CAs from websites. So, cannot comment on its utility. 


No 1,HotBloodPrinceand2 otherslike this
3.4k views

@TwoFace I don't read newspaper. Shankar Hindu DNA is substitute of newspaper. The 01.02.2021 video was a bit long, because of covering budget concepts and articles in detail, that's it. Generally, factly + shankar hindu dna takes like about 1.5 hours in total. There is much overlap, with many current affairs articles appearing in the newspaper and consequently, in the analysis video. 
Yes, I am preparing for 2021 Prelims. 

Do you suggest not to be intensive on the current affairs, and focus on static material instead?

Do you make notes/compile screetshots of factly+dna ? Your CA strategy is bit unique, and MAY become overwhelming in last 2 months of prelims. 

you also read vision monthly after factly and dna. do you also plan to read pt365?

you can think about following one ecosystem like say if you believe in vision content then you may do daily CA of vision, then weekly issue of vision, monthly mag of vision, and yearly pt/main 365. same for any coaching of your liking. 

I do make notes of shankar hindu dna (mostly short facts relevant to prelims perspective) - daily 1-1.5 pages. I revise these notes along with the underlined portions of factly of each day in the week (I do so in the first reading), at the end of a week. 
As for the vision daily ca suggestion, I did try but found them lacking in quality content for daily ca. Their monthly ca is quite relevant, and is indeed treated as gold standard by most aspirants, but I find that their daily ca contains too much irrelevant/unimportant material, while not containing important events that occured during the day, contained in factly. Plus, the amount of content is almost same (maybe a little bit more in factly), but they cram it to look like it is only 2 pages, while forum gives 7-8 pages daily. So, visibility is another challenge. 

I do vision monthly magazine for revision, and don't revise the collected factly notes. Yes, I do plan to do vision pt-365, but I doubt it will contain anything new, as I plan to revise the monthly magazines 2-3 times before prelims. 

Last time, I didn't fare too well in current affairs, hence the additions. Last time, I didn't do newspaper nor daily current affairs, hence I look to benefit from the useful explanations given in the shankar dna videos about the various news, and misc. items like from environment (out of book material) and polity. Its working out fine for me till now and I think I have made useful additions in my memory.


Thank you for the advice. It is much appreciated. I think I have been comfortable with this strategy till now (following from about Nov - Dec onwards), so maybe I will continue this till prelims. But, please do point out any other fault if you see so, I am in need of advice, as I prepare isolated (no library + no coaching), so don't have any peer group to compare what others are doing. This is the primary reason I joined this platform.

Yeah you're right. Continue this. Actually why I felt this was because in your schedule mostly CA is the main highlight of the day. 

Personally while doing all this I.e. newspaper, monthly, pt365, etc never in my head i considered it as the main highlight of my day (except now when I'm more chilling in the garb of CA). For me it was always the optional, some gs portion, some test or like that has been the major thing for the day.

So I can only advice you to make a judgment that your balance is right. Coz static portion quite a lot, just that ca question makes the most noise.


IamThat,Vinay12and1 otherslike this
3.4k views
@Sadhika I understand. Thank you for your feedback. Actually, I am proceeding in a sequential pattern. First all ca magazines upto january magazine, then I plan to start the static and stick with it till some time. 


Hitman09,
3.5k views
Deleted

07.02.2021 Updates:

Shankar Hindu DNA - :negative_squared_cross_mark:

Factly daily ca - :negative_squared_cross_mark:

September Vision magazine - :white_check_mark:

October Vision mag. - :negative_squared_cross_mark: (12 pages only :( ) 

08.02.2021 Targets:
Hindu DNA for 07.02.2021 + 06.02.2021

Factly (06.02.2021)

Weekly Hindu DNA Notes Revision

Weekly factly revision

October vision magazine (if time permits)

3.3k views

07.02.2021 Updates:

Shankar Hindu DNA - :negative_squared_cross_mark::negative_squared_cross_mark:

Factly daily ca - :negative_squared_cross_mark::negative_squared_cross_mark:

September Vision magazine - :white_check_mark:

October Vision mag. - :negative_squared_cross_mark: (12 pages only :( ) 

08.02.2021 Targets:


Hindu DNA for 07.02.2021 + 06.02.2021

Factly (06.02.2021)

Weekly Hindu DNA Notes Revision

Weekly factly revision

October vision magazine (if time permits)


(pressed delete by mistake on the previous comment, wanted to just edit it)

Vinay12,Hitman09
3.4k views

8.2.21

Check answers of ystday test 

Rest day

IamThat,Hitman09
3.4k views

08-02-21

1. 10:30 to 1:30 - optional

2. 2 to 4 - newspaper and CA

3. 6 to 10 - SFG test 7

 

IamThat,Vinay12and1 otherslike this
2.8k views

Target for 8.02.2021

Economy- Micronotes of Financial institutions and Banking ( will refer vision for important schemes)

Polity-2 lectures of m puri notes + same topics from Laxmikant

Maths- profit and loss

Experimenting a lot nowadays...



IamThat,Vinay12and1 otherslike this
2.6k views
Deleted


2.7k views
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