[ Official ] How was the Prelims 2021 paper?

HUMBLEF00L

| 3 year(s) ago

How was the paper guys ?

jack_Sparrow,curious_kidand28 otherslike this

4.8k comments

RAGNAROK .

commented 3 year(s) ago

EUROPOLsaid
@Everest

Yes, I still have my last year's excel file answer key analysis. I compared that with my original marks and in CSAT only -0.01 deviation was found with Vajiram's key. In GS, however, it deviated +4.16 (overestimated my marks).

isn't nextias answer key for csat reliable ??i am complacent after checking it from it hence asking

sjerngal .

commented 3 year(s) ago

Ronaldo777said
sjerngalsaid
Hoping to clear prelims with 102 +/- 5 marks... I had a pretty goood csat paper as welll..
I am shivering.. I hope the answer keys that I checked are not wrong...

which Key for GS

IAS baba, Shankar, Clear IAS and BYJU's.. Just checked forum also, scoring a little less than 102, but I would not bother about that, because clearly there are many ambiguities and only UPSC knows the answers for them

THE_MECHANIC,

EUROPOL .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@RAGNAROK In my case, Next IAS had a deviation of -6.68 (underestimated my marks than actual) last year. Last year, I checked with Next IAS, Vaji, Rau, Vision. Rau's topped from bottom (-10.01 deviation), but in GS Rau's actually topped.

Everest .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@RAGNAROK Yes if Vajiram key is close to accurate, nextias seems near to accurate too..I am getting 63.4 from Next IAS and 66.66 from Vajiram.

sjerngal .

commented 3 year(s) ago

EUROPOLsaid
CSAT_Pre_2021_Keys.pdf

Vajiram's CSAT key is here.

Oh Come On.. !!
Vajiram has got the easiest reasoning question of the paper wrong...
Even a kid could have answered that correctly..
I dont even want to trust their keys for reading comprehension..
Futile exercise.

JSMill,

upsc_prep_ag361 .

commented 3 year(s) ago

Hi guys.

2nd attempt. Didn't clear prelims in first attempt.

Scoring 110 ± 2 from various keys like Forum, Drishti, Shankar (not Vajiram lol). 90+ in CSAT. So hopefully, I will be writing mains.

My Mains prep level.
1. GS1 – History and Geography done basics for prelims (except ancient medieval); Society not done.

2. GS2 – Have made decent notes on Polity and Governance. Not done IR (except for Prelims basics and newspaper readings).

3. GS3 – Economy and Environment for Prelims. Done Mrunal, so decent knowledge on Mains aspects of Economy too. Have good notes on Internal Security. Not done Disaster. S&T only from Prelims perspective.

4. GS4 – Made good notes with conceptual clarity.

5. Essay – Not touched at all.

6. Sociology – Have decent coaching notes for both papers.

In all of the above, I have not written a single answer till date. However, I have decent writing skills and in few answers I wrote, I got good feedback.

Please guide how I should go about further. Some specific queries.

1. How to deal with Essay paper? Any good resources which are short and beneficial?

2. Any advice for other GS papers, considering my prep level.

3. How to deal with Sociology paper? The current aspects of it and the answer writing part. Please recommend a good test series for the same too.

4. How to go about language papers?

5. How to manage time in this short window? Any specific or generic advice? Please consider that I am currently pursuing full time MBA from MDI-G. However, since I have already secured a job offer, the work pressure is not enormous. So time will be a severe constraint.

6. Any other generic, which you as a first time Mains candidate wished to have gotten earlier.

Thank you in advance.

Tk17,nerdslayerand3 otherslike this

EUROPOL .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@sjerngal any other reliable keys?

Tarkikyogi .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@upsc_prep_ag361 what helped you score this time? What you think work for prelims this time? Please share.

Tk17 .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@EUROPOL

Thanks for sharing , I was eagerly waiting for Vajiram csat key

Although one or two discrepancies are there ,Vajiram csat key looks much better in comparison to others even shankar csat key was dubious at times , hopefully shankar comes with a revised csat key

EUROPOL,

upsc_prep_ag361 .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@Tarkikyogi I just read the basic books of 5 core subjects – laxmikant, spectrum, geography class notes (which cover most of NCERTs), mrunal for economy, and environment forum red book. Apart from that, I was really in a time crunch, was fully involved in my placement process. Got placed on 28 Sep, so just had 12 days to revise. For current, I just did Target UPSC 12 hr current affair (although it didnt help much). As for advice, I will be honest that I got little lucky. Had there been 5-10 questions on schemes, reports, national parks, or species, I would have been out of race probably. But one thing I can definitely comment on the tremendous importance of PYQs. I couldn't solve a single mock, but only did 2011-2020 papers thoroughly. At least 5-6 questions were ditto repeats, another 5-6 questions had partial repeats. It also helps indirectly in improving elimination technique. Also keeping high number of attempts helps. I attempted 95. It gives space in case of errors and even one right answer neutralizes 3 wrong answers. A net positive almost every time. So 2 takeaways, PYQs and increased number of attempts. Apart from that, just basic books and conceptual clarity. And a little bit of luck.

Sunflowerr,Archandand5 otherslike this

Thomas__Shelby .

commented 3 year(s) ago

@TH14 you remind me of my friend who left a good job and preparing for UPSC from past 2 years...he gave interview last month but couldn't make it to the final list just because of below average interview marks..only difference is he's not from that good family background and about to exhaust his savings he made in his 2 years of job.

Now the thing is, he was my batch-met in engineering and been topper since his schooldays...

Failing interview brings you back to level 0 and you have to climb the mountain again...

And believe me, UPSC is the most addictive thing than any other drug....

You know it's a rat-race...it's crushing your self confidence and all other stuff...but the reward doesn't let you let it go....

Tarkikyogi,

chandlerbing .

commented 3 year(s) ago

hello everyone

being a forum user since 2013 , almost always silent user reading comments on some important threads .. miss all those post prelims, post mains bakar and all ..

this is my last attempt ..

working aspirant, took 2 years break from upsc in 2019 and 2020

after yesterday paper, koi feel hi nahn aa paa raha, about the paper kaisa huya

marks count karne ki himmat nahn ho raahi ..abhi 2 week baad state pcs bhi hai, uske padhne ki himmat hi nahn bachi hai ..:(

Aurora,RaGaand2 otherslike this

Thomas__Shelby .

commented 3 year(s) ago

Vijays123said
Cheera (My girlfriend's cat): Standing near the door meowing wanting to be let out to another room.
My girlfriend: Everyday this poor thing does this knowing very well that the door will not open. He has great perseverance.
Me: It is not perseverance, its just that cats and dogs have very short term memory.
My girlfriend: I think that door is UPSC and you are the cat.
Me:

Man...your creativity level is top notch....👏

Mariposa27,

Aurang_mirasudar .

commented 3 year(s) ago

Dalinarsaid
Purplesunbirdsaid
Sujaydubalsaid
Can virus be created artificially/synthetically??
I marked yes.(All of the above)
Virus can't be, it's a pyq.
someone above shared an IE article from 2020 regarding culturing of viruses in a lab, idk. I ticked all too.

Culture is growing..the catch word is culture by synthetic or artificial means...so yes virus can be cultured in artificial medium involving cell lines..i think everyone is taking culture as making it

But dunno what the official key might have

by the way which year PYQ is this

Aurang_mirasudar .

commented 3 year(s) ago

Aurang_mirasudarsaid
Dalinarsaid
Purplesunbirdsaid
Sujaydubalsaid
Can virus be created artificially/synthetically??
I marked yes.(All of the above)
Virus can't be, it's a pyq.
someone above shared an IE article from 2020 regarding culturing of viruses in a lab, idk. I ticked all too.
Culture is growing..the catch word is culture by synthetic or artificial means...so yes virus can be cultured in artificial medium involving cell lines..i think everyone is taking culture as making it

But dunno what the official key might have

by the way which year PYQ is this