CSE 2023: Plan/ Strategy/ Daily Routine

DancingMastersaid

GaneshGaitondesaid

TheNotorioussaid

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GaneshGaitondesaid

Life update for all those kind souls who care about me : Not giving the exam this year. I am focusing on completing my LLB. Telling this because while we are in this preparation, it is so damn easy to forget that there exists a huge & beautiful world away from the civil services examination 

Today, I am here as I thought of sharing some of my learnings as a lot of my friends have started shifting gears towards prelims prep. I felt a I should share my learnings with you all For that I need to give you all a background as well. Here we go : 

I am someone who has failed prelims twice & also managed to clear prelims twice

2019 :I couldn't Crack it mainly due tolack of revision(didn't have short notes + obviously first attempt naiveness), blunders in Economics (Static part) & lack of what I call thestillness of mind. I attempted around 78 Questions & fell short by 4 marks 

2020 :Attempted Vision tests + Revised throughly + Kept still during exam + Made short notes. I attempted 87 questions & cleared by a narrow margin of 2 marks 

2021 :This was the attempt that pained me the most. This is where I was most prepared but still I choked. I was so shocked to see sports questions & I couldn't digest that questions were still so difficult for me despite putting in so much efforts. None of my friends & even I till this date cannot believe that I attempted only 68 questions. I fell short by 4 marks again. This is the attempt that made me realise about the need for a strong mental state and how "Losing your mind in the face of a crisis(here - shocking prelims paper) is a good way to become crisis itself" 

Then began the roughest & the toughest phase of my life from Nov 2021 to June 2022. This year I decided to Join FORUM IAS test series & thoroughly analysed the PYQ. I realised medieval history including name of kings is bound to increase given the trend from 2020. Thus, I made short notes from Satish Chandra as well. This time, I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. 

I focussed more on understanding & inquisitively thinking about things that appear. I used YouTube, watched a lot of documentaries to FEEL things. This time I also decided to completely ditch Vision (despite massive FOMO) . I just couldn't stand the dry language. Instead I relied more on PMF IAS Current affairs notes & Only IAS Videos. Another thing I focussed was on being anti fragile (concept by Naseem Taleb) & develop nerves of still. I gave all Forum tests at center & attempted Abhyas. While Vision did simulate UPSC in terms of toughness , I still found Forum SFG & Test series question, the most relevant. Vision's questions irritated me a lot. I still don't know why 😒

Again in this attempt, I could only attempt 81 questions. I had only one principle : I will not make any random Tukkas (But do know that in my humble opinion - Prelims cannot be cleared without taking risks & making intelligent guesses. Hence I was satisfied with even 81 questions. As per keys, I was scoring around 102-106 and cleared the cutoff 

While this was my journey, following are my learnings 

1.Short notes + Revision: For me, it was impossible to revise anything without short notes.So if you believe you have time, please do invest on making smart & short notes

2.Practice for Randomness. After the COVID shock, countries are moving towards developing resilient economies. UPSC aspirants too need to develop anti fragility & resilience. This can only come by facing shocking papers. Then come back & analyse how you could've fared better. List those things down & try again 

3.You MUST know what NOT to study. Prelims test series provide a lot of random stuff. You must learn to separate the chaff from the grain. I don't know how a new aspirant can develop this skill. But I believe this is a very very important skill and Seniors are able to do this very easily. They are able to eliminate the FOMO & still carry massive confidence 
Also, I never studied any frog species that was discovered or random facts. I knew I won't be able to remember them. Hence eliminated them completely. I never focussed on Polity current affairs as UPSC has stuck largely to the static part only. For rest, I believed that TS would make for it .

4. Method in madness :Develop a method & STICK TO IT TILL the end. Which test series you'll practice, how you'll Revise & how you'll analyse. Understand WHY are you practising or WHY you are reading a certain book/chapter. Once the objective is clear, your efficiency would increase a lot. For eg- I never focussed on making notes out of Vision Abhyas as I felt my only aim was to simulate & not develop content out of it especially it is held in April end & May. But with Forum & SFG (Till April), I did make notes

5.Do what works for you: Vision current never worked for me. I found it very very dry. Even for Mains, I couldn't stand the document (Still don't know why) 

6. Study everything (especially biotechnology) withinquisitiveness & interest- In all my 4 attempts, this has always helped me solve some questions easily. Watch youtube videos to understand concepts (Discussed above too) 

7.The last learning (for life & not prelims) that is very close to my heart is I began to appreciate ALL those around me who were putting their heart and soul in to the preparation . It didn't matter what score or what result they got or whether they would make it or not. I began to respect them solely for the efforts that they were putting in. I don't know how relevant this is for the exam. But whenever, I went to write Prelims test, I felt very very proud of all my peers who sat along with me, each going through their own struggles, and coming back test after test. Maybe some of us were not moving in the right direction but all of us fought like fierce warriors and that's what mattered !  

At the end I would say : Feel free to ignore anything that you're not able to connect with. I am just posting this because a lot of peers messaged me that they had benefitted in some ways from some of my posts. Hence even if one of you benefits from this, I would be content. All the best to ALL OF YOU. Go get it this year ! 😁

P. S : Putting it here as I couldn't find the relevant Prelims thread. If there is separate thread, do let me know please. 

This is good stuff. The first two lines of the 3rd pointer wrt “You must know what not to study” are so relatable ngl. Even I struggle to separate the chaff from the grain, when it comes to analysing test paper solutions. FOMO ke chakkar mei I end up spending double the amount of time I decided initially to spend upon, by reading everything, thinking padh hee leta hu kahi isse in future koi question na bann jaaye!

P.S AzadHindFauz bhai tried reviving the Prelims 2020 thread. Udhar copy-paste maar doe if possible. 

Here is the link: https://forumias.com/post/detail/Prelims-2020-Preparing-Repeatedly-Asked-Questions-1599284307?page=20

FOMO end karo. Think like this 30 questions in total are doable from standard materials - You must not miss out on them at all 

Now from the rest 55-60 questions, even if you have 50% accuracy, You'll make it. Any serious aspirant who has studied well and also mastered intelligent guessing is able to increase accuracy in these 55-60 questions to >60%

Also, Thank you for the link. I have copied the post there too. All the best :) 

Fomo ke karan, pre and mains ke 1000 classes lagi hai. Epic clown era chal raha hai mera upsc prep mai.

Ghostwalkersaid

DancingMastersaid

GaneshGaitondesaid

TheNotorioussaid

» show previous quotes

GaneshGaitondesaid

Life update for all those kind souls who care about me : Not giving the exam this year. I am focusing on completing my LLB. Telling this because while we are in this preparation, it is so damn easy to forget that there exists a huge & beautiful world away from the civil services examination 

Today, I am here as I thought of sharing some of my learnings as a lot of my friends have started shifting gears towards prelims prep. I felt a I should share my learnings with you all For that I need to give you all a background as well. Here we go : 

I am someone who has failed prelims twice & also managed to clear prelims twice

2019 :I couldn't Crack it mainly due tolack of revision(didn't have short notes + obviously first attempt naiveness), blunders in Economics (Static part) & lack of what I call thestillness of mind. I attempted around 78 Questions & fell short by 4 marks 

2020 :Attempted Vision tests + Revised throughly + Kept still during exam + Made short notes. I attempted 87 questions & cleared by a narrow margin of 2 marks 

2021 :This was the attempt that pained me the most. This is where I was most prepared but still I choked. I was so shocked to see sports questions & I couldn't digest that questions were still so difficult for me despite putting in so much efforts. None of my friends & even I till this date cannot believe that I attempted only 68 questions. I fell short by 4 marks again. This is the attempt that made me realise about the need for a strong mental state and how "Losing your mind in the face of a crisis(here - shocking prelims paper) is a good way to become crisis itself" 

Then began the roughest & the toughest phase of my life from Nov 2021 to June 2022. This year I decided to Join FORUM IAS test series & thoroughly analysed the PYQ. I realised medieval history including name of kings is bound to increase given the trend from 2020. Thus, I made short notes from Satish Chandra as well. This time, I didn't want to leave any stone unturned. 

I focussed more on understanding & inquisitively thinking about things that appear. I used YouTube, watched a lot of documentaries to FEEL things. This time I also decided to completely ditch Vision (despite massive FOMO) . I just couldn't stand the dry language. Instead I relied more on PMF IAS Current affairs notes & Only IAS Videos. Another thing I focussed was on being anti fragile (concept by Naseem Taleb) & develop nerves of still. I gave all Forum tests at center & attempted Abhyas. While Vision did simulate UPSC in terms of toughness , I still found Forum SFG & Test series question, the most relevant. Vision's questions irritated me a lot. I still don't know why 😒

Again in this attempt, I could only attempt 81 questions. I had only one principle : I will not make any random Tukkas (But do know that in my humble opinion - Prelims cannot be cleared without taking risks & making intelligent guesses. Hence I was satisfied with even 81 questions. As per keys, I was scoring around 102-106 and cleared the cutoff 

While this was my journey, following are my learnings 

1.Short notes + Revision: For me, it was impossible to revise anything without short notes.So if you believe you have time, please do invest on making smart & short notes

2.Practice for Randomness. After the COVID shock, countries are moving towards developing resilient economies. UPSC aspirants too need to develop anti fragility & resilience. This can only come by facing shocking papers. Then come back & analyse how you could've fared better. List those things down & try again 

3.You MUST know what NOT to study. Prelims test series provide a lot of random stuff. You must learn to separate the chaff from the grain. I don't know how a new aspirant can develop this skill. But I believe this is a very very important skill and Seniors are able to do this very easily. They are able to eliminate the FOMO & still carry massive confidence 
Also, I never studied any frog species that was discovered or random facts. I knew I won't be able to remember them. Hence eliminated them completely. I never focussed on Polity current affairs as UPSC has stuck largely to the static part only. For rest, I believed that TS would make for it .

4. Method in madness :Develop a method & STICK TO IT TILL the end. Which test series you'll practice, how you'll Revise & how you'll analyse. Understand WHY are you practising or WHY you are reading a certain book/chapter. Once the objective is clear, your efficiency would increase a lot. For eg- I never focussed on making notes out of Vision Abhyas as I felt my only aim was to simulate & not develop content out of it especially it is held in April end & May. But with Forum & SFG (Till April), I did make notes

5.Do what works for you: Vision current never worked for me. I found it very very dry. Even for Mains, I couldn't stand the document (Still don't know why) 

6. Study everything (especially biotechnology) withinquisitiveness & interest- In all my 4 attempts, this has always helped me solve some questions easily. Watch youtube videos to understand concepts (Discussed above too) 

7.The last learning (for life & not prelims) that is very close to my heart is I began to appreciate ALL those around me who were putting their heart and soul in to the preparation . It didn't matter what score or what result they got or whether they would make it or not. I began to respect them solely for the efforts that they were putting in. I don't know how relevant this is for the exam. But whenever, I went to write Prelims test, I felt very very proud of all my peers who sat along with me, each going through their own struggles, and coming back test after test. Maybe some of us were not moving in the right direction but all of us fought like fierce warriors and that's what mattered !  

At the end I would say : Feel free to ignore anything that you're not able to connect with. I am just posting this because a lot of peers messaged me that they had benefitted in some ways from some of my posts. Hence even if one of you benefits from this, I would be content. All the best to ALL OF YOU. Go get it this year ! 😁

P. S : Putting it here as I couldn't find the relevant Prelims thread. If there is separate thread, do let me know please. 

This is good stuff. The first two lines of the 3rd pointer wrt “You must know what not to study” are so relatable ngl. Even I struggle to separate the chaff from the grain, when it comes to analysing test paper solutions. FOMO ke chakkar mei I end up spending double the amount of time I decided initially to spend upon, by reading everything, thinking padh hee leta hu kahi isse in future koi question na bann jaaye!

P.S AzadHindFauz bhai tried reviving the Prelims 2020 thread. Udhar copy-paste maar doe if possible. 

Here is the link: https://forumias.com/post/detail/Prelims-2020-Preparing-Repeatedly-Asked-Questions-1599284307?page=20

FOMO end karo. Think like this 30 questions in total are doable from standard materials - You must not miss out on them at all 

Now from the rest 55-60 questions, even if you have 50% accuracy, You'll make it. Any serious aspirant who has studied well and also mastered intelligent guessing is able to increase accuracy in these 55-60 questions to >60%

Also, Thank you for the link. I have copied the post there too. All the best :) 

Fomo ke karan, pre and mains ke 1000 classes lagi hai. Epic clown era chal raha hai mera upsc prep mai.

@Ganesh_Gaitonde sir This is a great write up with covering multiple issue regarding prelims. Thank for this.. 

And if possible then, also write about mains yours experiences.. And struggles. 

Thanks in advance ! 

TomiokaGiyusaid

Past 4 days have been very bad.

Things to do from tomorrow:

1) Post targets on this blog, and post completion status.

2) Go back to using YPT

3) Study at the same time everyday.

Goals for tomorrow:
1) SFG test

2) 24 sessions of 25 minutes pomodoro

TomiokaGiyusaid

Targets for today:

1) SFG

2) 24 sessions: mainly environment and a bit of history

DancingMastersaid

@mightyraju @Morticia All best for your Mains! 

I'll be active over here now, till pre.

Got an IIM interview on 24th of feb, that'll be my first ever formal interview. Getting chills already. 

Ajao@TomiokaGiyu will ace pre noww.

  

DancingMastersaid

@mightyraju @Morticia All best for your Mains! 

I'll be active over here now, till pre.

Got an IIM interview on 24th of feb, that'll be my first ever formal interview. Getting chills already. 

Ajao@TomiokaGiyu will ace pre noww.

  

TomiokaGiyusaid

Day 1 of consistency building

1) Exercise: Done

2) 27 sessions of 25 minutes (9 done)

3) Use YPT (done)

4) Post targets on Forum (done)