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[Results] Prelims 2020 Over - Gearing for 2021

Because of the corona virus issue? If it does not happen then worst affected will be people whose interview is stuck, around 600-700 such people I think are yet to appear for their interview.


@neyawn sir and others, what is your take?

This is the official Thread for discussion of Prelims Postponement, Please do not create new threads for the same.

jack_Sparrow,curious_kidand137 otherslike this
5.9m views

13.7k comments

@AbhishekV  You are not alone. 😅


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@PrinKed same here. there's no real way to guess anything though, there's simply too many factors. you and I will have to suffer this limbo for now.


Botanopu,
5.7k views
Any help anyone got from PT 365 
5.8k views
@gaurav_negi2115655 If you want to get selected now.. Read newspaper daily. and Have rock solid command on basic syllabus. That is the only thing that can save you. No coaching and no compilation. 


15.7k views
Deleted
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5.8k views

West Texas Intermediate question and ulgulan...I remember

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@skandaguptait is a lottery indeed. People who have prepared properly for an year or two should get back to a job and prepare alongside. This is nomore a paper of test of knowledge but luck. I left for the US after 4 failed attempts 2 yrs back and resumed preparation once I got established professionally.i thought 2018’s was the toughest but this ppr just exceeded that level too.   Would be appearing for one last time next yr but with no expectations and no pressures of sitting at home unemployed fortunately. 


Bro just wanna ask. You returned from US to prepare for this exam particulary or because of any other reason? I am asking this because I am myself considering migrating to Canada through their PR process, actually I have been thinking about this for many years now but this upsc thing is holding me back. Actually I have always been in two minds and chose upsc over Canada but this betrayal by upsc every time makes me want to reconsider my decision. I quit my job for this and regret now as you also said it it is not a test of knowledge anymore and after 25 odd questions (which you can find it standard books) rest is a game of wild guesses in which some will succeed and some will not which is obvious. So there is no need to beat yourself up over this.

@Tyler Durden hey i am still working here in the US. will be appearing next year. so havent 'returned' as such just to prepare again. i am preparing from here itself along with work. i dont think any sort of coaching is reqd, more so because i have already gone through the process for 4 yrs! and everything is available online, even the answer writing is possible online. if things go well, i will definitely choose getting into the services. staying away from my country, working for a MNC and earning dollars doesnt attract me much. :/

Tyler Durden,
5.9k views
@PrinKed honestly, very difficult to say. At the end it boils down to the sample size and moreover the sample representativeness. Two things -
1) Lesser number of participants in forum as compared to previous years. ( And hence the sample size is reduced)
2) The representativeness. Out of the people active here, many of us have been there on the platform since quite some time. So, the probability of a person scoring high in this group is also higher (more attempts...). So, don't entirely go by what you see here. The reality may be quite different. 
That being said, people in my friend group have scored better than last year. Viz: 2 of them (both 2nd attempt) scored around 90 last year, this year >110. 3/4 who have written mains twice the same. 


PrinKed,
5.9k views

:see_no_evil::grin::rage:...... maro bhaii muje maro..... nh hum yha pr kr ky rhe ....:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

GaryVee,Botanopuand1 otherslike this
5.4k views

Guys most of the people who are posting are getting 100+. Can it be inferred that most serious people did well and paper was not that difficult? Or is it that people who getting less are not posting .

I am getting 92-98. And this  is really delicate situation

Here we are just witnessing human tendencies to feel better by showing something which others wants or don't have. Barring few others quoting their marks (>110) are just want to feel better than others. I was in the same zone in last year and felt the paper to be easier. But I was quick enough to realise it would have been tougher hadn't I marked those 50-50 questions to correct one. These 50-50 questions this time brought me in the zone of uncertainty around 100+-3.

I can say for sure paper was difficult. People on various forums stating their marks more than 110 are around 200-300. Not more than that. So don't get disheartened, cutoff will go down even if for 0.33 marks.

We will find some answers by UPSC different from all coachings those will change the whole scenario.(last year answers variations were unexpected for everyone, which brought tha cutoff down ). So all those by any key if getting more than 90 please start preparing for mains now. 

Blueberry,Auroraand4 otherslike this
5.2k views

The question

constitution defines 

what is wrong with first statement . 

Is being grammar nazi ... and taking strict meaning of word *defines* as some sort of a proper definition to be given????

Q23. Consider the following statements

  1. The constitution of India defines its basic structure in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy
  2. The constitution of India provides for the ‘judicial review’ to safeguard the citizen’s liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the constitution is based....



what i mean to say is - Define has various synonyms ... and it is usually taken synonyms to as GIVEN.   Also .. Court recognized and identified and keep this doctrine evolving. Even court later  in few judgement s gave meaning to what is could be like .. and that too even vague. Also, The court just found doctrine not defined or .. they recognized as they discovered. 


My take is - By general reading First statement is correct enough because ... If you just focus on word *defines* ... then only it is wrong .... Otherwise it is a perfectly correct and fluid statement written by someone setting paper !! 


That's why - I took it as right. what are your views on it. 


My argument in support : 

According to the Constitution, Parliament and the state legislatures in India have the power to make laws within their respective jurisdictions. This power is not absolute in nature. The Constitution vests in the judiciary, the power to adjudicate upon the constitutional validity of all laws. If a law made by Parliament or the state legislatures violates any provision of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the power to declare such a law invalid or ultra vires. This check notwithstanding, the founding fathers wanted the Constitution to be an adaptable document rather than a rigid framework for governance. Hence Parliament was invested with the power to amend the Constitution. Article 368 of the Constitution gives the impression that Parliament's amending powers are absolute and encompass all parts of the document. But the Supreme Court has acted as a brake to the legislative enthusiasm of Parliament ever since independence. With the intention of preserving the original ideals envisioned by the constitution-makers, the apex court pronounced that Parliament could not distort, damage or alter the basic features of the Constitution under the pretext of amending it. The phrase 'basic structure' itself cannot be found in the Constitution. The Supreme Court recognised this concept for the first time in the historic Kesavananda Bharati case in 1973. Ever since the Supreme Court has been the interpreter of the Constitution and the arbiter of all amendments made by Parliament !!







15.3k views

UPSC wants random 15000 folks to write mains every year.

If you are in the random 15000 make sure to convert else you may not get a chance.

Instead of such a prelims paper, UPSC can take the aadhar number of all applicants, randomly select 15000 aadhar numbers to write mains every year like the H1-B lottery. That would probably be more fair than this sham paper asking about elephants pregnancy gestation period.


Or prepare random stuff like the pregnancy period of chimpanzee, distance from Hathras to Hubbali or Balrampur to Bangalore and see the coaching classes claim that it came from their material since Hathras was mentioned.

GaryVee,Tyler Durden
5.4k views

The question

constitution defines 

what is wrong with first statement . 

Is being grammar nazi ... and taking strict meaning of word *defines* as some sort of a proper definition to be given????

Q23. Consider the following statements

  1. The constitution of India defines its basic structure in terms of federalism, secularism, fundamental rights and democracy
  2. The constitution of India provides for the ‘judicial review’ to safeguard the citizen’s liberties and to preserve the ideals on which the constitution is based....



what i mean to say is - Define has various synonyms ... and it is usually taken synonyms to as GIVEN.   Also .. Court recognized and identified and keep this doctrine evolving. Even court later  in few judgement s gave meaning to what is could be like .. and that too even vague. Also, The court just found doctrine not defined or .. they recognized as they discovered. 


My take is - By general reading First statement is correct enough because ... If you just focus on word *defines* ... then only it is wrong .... Otherwise it is a perfectly correct and fluid statement written by someone setting paper !! 


That's why - I took it as right. what are your views on it. 


My argument in support : 

According to the Constitution, Parliament and the state legislatures in India have the power to make laws within their respective jurisdictions. This power is not absolute in nature. The Constitution vests in the judiciary, the power to adjudicate upon the constitutional validity of all laws. If a law made by Parliament or the state legislatures violates any provision of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has the power to declare such a law invalid or ultra vires. This check notwithstanding, the founding fathers wanted the Constitution to be an adaptable document rather than a rigid framework for governance. Hence Parliament was invested with the power to amend the Constitution. Article 368 of the Constitution gives the impression that Parliament's amending powers are absolute and encompass all parts of the document. But the Supreme Court has acted as a brake to the legislative enthusiasm of Parliament ever since independence. With the intention of preserving the original ideals envisioned by the constitution-makers, the apex court pronounced that Parliament could not distort, damage or alter the basic features of the Constitution under the pretext of amending it. The phrase 'basic structure' itself cannot be found in the Constitution. The Supreme Court recognised this concept for the first time in the historic Kesavananda Bharati case in 1973. Ever since the Supreme Court has been the interpreter of the Constitution and the arbiter of all amendments made by Parliament !!







Not to blame you but if you analyse so much for such a question you are no way gonna complete the paper. For most such questions UPSC answers are the simple way out.

The judiciary defined the Basic structure so 1 is wrong.


2 is right because judicial review is part of the constitution (w.r.t procedure established by law and laws ultra vires to basic structure).

Peace.


gauravbrly409,
5.2k views

Just a thought. 

It is not fair to discount the importance of monthly CA magazines. Questions may/may not be directly asked from the compilation but it helps you gather and read about issues succinctly. It's easy to discredit it due to the nature of the paper. But there's a long road ahead of Mains and Interview. And UPSC is never about - Maine yaha se padha yahi se question aaye. It's about what you read and internalize. 

Having said that, It's always been advised that CA compilations should be used as a supplement and in no manner should be a substitute to the newspapers that we read. 

As far as 2020 is concerned, atleast the paper was not ambiguous. UPSC is notorious to set such close options that the next 2 months would be wasted wondering ki c hoga ya d. 

There is no set pattern, there is no one best way of Taylor. Get the basics right, trust the wisdom of few, and leave the rest to fate. We cannot know everything under the sun

Aurora,GaryVeeand7 otherslike this
4.9k views
Send Nextias ke owner ko next time to check live difficulty level when u r sitting in hall. 

Bahar aa kar to hume bhi samajh aaya itna tough nahi tha ... but bahut wierd aur Jungly paper. tha

Jungle me chod .. Kisi ko 50 question baad dikhai kuch nahi de raha tha ... but people still firing... ki kahi to target pe kuch lagega. 

appyfizz,
15.1k views
Haa bhau ... Knowledge ka makhaul uda rahe hai... under the garb of being more and more informed. 

khaa jaau kya 4-5 newspaper daily .. kya karu .. Ya Dimaag ko replace kara ke isme computer ki hard disk laga du. 

Kitna correct yaad rakhega banda . Data bhi roj change hota .. Notes banaye to vo bhi bekar. 
For  ex - merchandise and trade deficit wala economic survey ke according. 1,3,4. Mai survey pada cover by cover  .. notes banaya data ka .. rata usko ... aur yahi answer lagaya. 

In the meantime pata chala... Covid baad july ... Bahut tiny saa trade surplus aaya hai. 
Ab kya karu mai .. matlab ... Had hai bhai ... !! 
15k views
I apologize if this is a repeated question. So is there any agreement on the most accurate keys for Paper 1 and Paper 2 among the keys available till now? So many people have checked multiple keys and might be able to give some idea. Will be helpful.
5.4k views

These coaching walas coming with random cutoffs need to be confronted with. Without a very good sample size u can't predict cutoff. 

Also many who are in the 90s may not provide their scores to them just coz this 90s range cause a sky high frustation

gauravbrly409,
5.3k views

Anyone getting above 105, you guys not only prepped well, but you also had mad luck. I thought I had an okayishly good exam at 60 61 correct and 30 wrong (take into context that I don't appear for IFOS so not interested) but seeing you people I have to reevaluate my position I guess. 


Also, if you people are still shilling for PT I think you should stop. Pt has become irrelevant since 2018. I mean there's so much more chance that if you memorize the wiki pages of all national parks and sanctuaries you will at Least get 3 4 questions out of it. That would be like 500 pages, but that's more effective at Least than the 500 pages of PT we study every year.


And ancient and medieval are damn difficult. Back in 2016 17 questions like dwarasamudra and deuskar and dronvapa would be ranked as difficult. Today they are ranked as moderate. 

Yes people have guessed. Some like me got the stick. Some went lucky. But even in the toughest and most absurd questions, there's always 25% chance that even a class kg kid would land up with correct answer. There's nothing "amazing" about it tbh.

Rise from Ashes,upsc2020and14 otherslike this
7.4k views
I am not clearing the prelims this year but even if I top someday, I won't be proud of myself. UPSC has lost all respect of being the most coveted exam and test of intelligence. All it checks is ones guessing skills and that too not intelligent guessing but random chance. 
Aurora,GaryVeeand9 otherslike this
6.3k views
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