Subscribe to ForumIAS

what worked for you in mains 2026?

What worked for you in this mains ? And if it didn’t work out last year, what mistake had you made ?

No coaching promo pls !
tedmosby,Incomingand6 otherslike this
2k views

2 comments

The real issue most aspirants face is getting bogged down in passive newspaper reading. For Mains, you need to move from 'reading' to 'extracting'.


Here is what actually works:

1. Syllabus Mapping: Stop reading news linearly. Only look for news that fits into GS1, GS2, GS3, or GS4 keywords. If it doesn't fit a syllabus point, skip it.

2. The Three Pillars: Every news point you write in an answer must have a Constitutional article, a hard statistic, or a specific committee recommendation. Without these, your answer lacks authority.

3. Efficiency: Don't waste hours making notes. Use ready-made summaries that map news directly to the syllabus to save time for answer writing practice.

PaulAtreides,
618 views
To the people who cleared mains this year and were not able to see favourable result last year, what you did differently and does making short notes now is advisable or during prelims to mains short notes of awfg and mgp is better 
872 views
Write your comment…