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Channel Posts
| 2 |  Another non upsc post - Happy to share that I have received another letter of appreciation, this time from the G20 Secretariat, Ministry of External Affairs. G20 has been a great learning experience and as aptly said in the letter, a golden chance to be a true ambassador of Kerala and India. | 0 |
| 3 | Non upsc post : Happy to share that I have received appreciation from Indian Sherpa for G20, Shri Amitabh Kant for my role in G20 Sherpa meeting held at Kumarakom in Kerala. Just want to say that if you are destined for opportunities you will get them one way or the other. Happy learning | 0 |
| 4 | Percentile scores and Legend used | 0 |
| 5 | What makes you a topper at Mains Stage
————————————————————
Last year, I had analysed 57 marksheets available in telegram of rankers from 1 to 250 and made some observations
//▪️Scoring top 10% Marks [darkest green shade] in any three papers out of seven takes you to the overall top 10% (<10 in Mains Rank) provided you do not fall below average in other papers - target : Peak in 3 , average in others
▪️Range of Marks is highest in optional paper 1 and 2 , then GS 4 and then essay in 2020 Mains - which means peaking in these papers will give a better boost than peaking in other papers. Now GS 4 is more of an anomaly here, earlier people used to score more in GS 3 or other paper - the point is that GS 1,2,3,4 peaking cannot be targeted as it depends upon UPSC Marking policy of that particular year - that leaves Essay and Optional, so target : Peak in Essay and Optional
In a nutshell - you don't have to be in top 10% in all papers to reach final top 10% at Mains Stage, you need to do that in 3 papers at max to reach there. And peaking in Essay and Optional rewards you more than peaking in GS - So push in Optional and Essay , hold in GS - you will reach the top //
Fortunately this time around , some gentleman named Asif Sir had compiled the excel and shared promptly which made things easy. The dataset used is from Rank 1 to 251
Observations :
▪️Top in 3 papers and average in rest and you will be still in top 10% [within 8 out of 81 marksheets] like last year
▪️Reinforcing the above statement, no one else tops in three papers after the top 8 (10% of available data set)
▪️Range of marks is still highest in optional papers and Essay. So if you peak in these you will be rewarded more
▪️Rank 1 Shruti Sharma topped in 4 papers [more than requirement of 3 as per analysis] and held on to good performance in other papers giving her the edge in mains stage. Her performance is more balanced than last year's mains topper
Again the take away remains same as last year : Top in 3 papers and hold on in rest of papers to get into top 10%, Essay and optional paper rewards you more for becoming topper | 0 |
| 6 | No text... | 0 |
| 7 | No text... | 0 |
| 8 | It is quite normal to feel tensed when prelims is near , especially if you have not cleared prelims yet.
So here are some ideas from my side
1.Analyse your performance in mocks. I have written about it in detailed here : Prelims Mock Analysis
2. Plan your revisions of static/basic CA - most of us cheat ourselves here - after each prelims a lot of debate goes on about how prelims is tough , questions are from non conventional sources and all. but most people dont realise or conveniently forget how they made silly mistakes in static portions - for eg. I asked many if they got the FRA ministry right once they start talking about bouncers , a decent number of aspirants got it wrong - so don't miss it, if u miss the simple ones, you will be out.
3. Plan your mock taking approach - i always read the 100 qstns casually to understand the level or area they are asked from within 5-10 mins [dont take more time for this - it is just to know what themes are coming in paper and where - not to answer it] - this is very important to ensure you dont miss the low hanging fruits - a friend of mine used to get more marks than me in all mocks we attempted together but in real exam he couldnt clear pre because he didnt manage time well. sometimes the simple questions will be towards the end and if u plan to do it at end, in the pressure towards the end you will make mistake there also.. 2020 polity was simple but he missed most of it as it was coming after 80th question in his set
4. Multiple rounds - always go for 2 or 3 rounds of attempts . if you have already read the prelims analysis link shared in point 1 you will realise X,Y and Z category -[if not read that first]. marking 100% sure questions in first round and calculating a possible marks u will get with your accuracy found from analysis will help u find your base marks , it will invariably boost your confidence in the hall and you will do better in rest of the questions , this approach will also help u to plan how much blind guess you may have margin to make
5. Momentum - keep doing good number of mocks - dont loose the flow now - 2 months is the right time to be on track
6. PYQ - try to do PYQ atleast 2 rounds in between , the language and option setting of upsc and institute mocks vary at times so going through cse pyq will get you into the most realistic mode closest to actual exam
7 Balance between CA and static - vision or insight or sunya - whatever you do - it will not get you all CA questions , so balance it with static - dont loose out this clarity
8.Mocks as study material - I used a set of test series just to learn and another set for mock giving - meaning in one set u solve all 100 irrespective of your knowledge - you have to sharpen your elimination skills in it, marks will be low but the idea is to practise elimination skill and to revise or learn facts in maximum cost benefit ratio - nothing teaches me faster than learning, making mistake and rectifying it from mocks, it is more active learning than reading books for me
9. CA reality check - similar to the above idea - if you are reading vision , give insights quiz or shankar ias quiz [i prefer this] to see how well you can do after reading the CA material month wise - dont read insight material and give insight quiz or sunya material and then sunya quiz itself - you will obvious have an unfair advantage in that way | 0 |
| 9 | With philosophical essays becoming more common in essay paper having a basic understanding of philosophy would be beneficial. This is a decent introduction to philosophy in app format. Only negative part is the ads which is the revenue for the developer. Give a try
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brain.develop.philosophia | 0 |
| 10 | What takes you to the top in CSE Mains?
———————————————————
Doing analysis over 57 marksheets available in telegram of rankers from 1 to 250 , the following were observed
▪️Scoring top 10% Marks [darkest green shade] in any three papers out of seven takes you to the overall top 10% (<10 in Mains Rank) provided you do not fall below average in other papers - target : Peak in 3 , average in others
▪️Range of Marks is highest in optional paper 1 and 2 , then GS 4 and then essay in 2020 Mains - which means peaking in these papers will give a better boost than peaking in other papers. Now GS 4 is more of an anomaly here, earlier people used to score more in GS 3 or other paper - the point is that GS 1,2,3,4 peaking cannot be targeted as it depends upon UPSC Marking policy of that particular year - that leaves Essay and Optional, so target : Peak in Essay and Optional
In a nutshell - you don't have to be in top 10% in all papers to reach final top 10% at Mains Stage, you need to do that in 3 papers at max to reach there. And peaking in Essay and Optional rewards you more than peaking in GS - So push in Optional and Essay , hold in GS - you will reach the top | 0 |
| 11 | No text... | 0 |
| 12 | As you can see, I have neglected many highlighted parts since it felt not highly specific to the topic of Urban Floods - it does not mean that they are irrelevant in preparation, they are not needed in this specific topic.
The crux of the article is mentioned in one line at the beginning - this could become introduction or even a body point in a wider question on floods.
Also try to make notes close to mains answer format. As you see, I have tried to cut down the body points to 3-4 words whenever possible , if you can cut down the point to 3-4 lines in the areas I could not, it would be better
Also try to write a way forward along with the issue if possible - In answer you may be writing it after mentioning all the issues, but in notes you can write along with the issues itself. Helps in revision and making connections
As someone who believes a well written conclusion does make a difference in marks, made a conclusion from the highlighted part from the channel | 0 |
| 13 | Urban Floods
Need to recognize cities as waterscapes instead of only land-centric urbanization
Issues :
▪️Missing storm drains - eg. As per NGT Committee, Delhi lost 44 out of 201 drains from 1976 to 2015
Way Forward - restore disappearing urban waterways
▪️Poor design - not based on peak flow or intensity of rainfall
Way Forward - more localised scientific planning
▪️Open spaces, wetlands, floodplains encroached making cities impermeable
Way Forward - mapping and monitoring on regular basis
▪️Poor maintenance of drainage leading to choking with debris and sewage
Way Forward - improved maintenance
Urban Floods are not just products of fickle monsoons or unruly rivers but also lack of scientific and holistic approach | 0 |
| 14 | This is an article from https://t.me/hinduhighlights. I have taken this to show a demo on how to make very specific notes. The notes for this article can be found below | 0 |
| 15 | 26/11 Attacks : What created an extreme customer-centric culture of employee after employee staying back to rescue guests when they could have saved themselves at Taj Hotel
▪️A Values-Driven Recruitment System: The Taj Group prefers to recruit employees from the hinterland because that’s where traditional Indian values still hold sway [example for value system importance]
▪️Training Customer Ambassadors: Trainees are assured that the company’s leadership will support any employee decision that puts guests front and center [changing to civil service - Civil servants should act as ambassadors of public to the government and not the other way around]
▪️A Recognition-as-Reward System : Recognition should come from immediate supervisors, who are central in determining how employees feel about the company. In addition, the timing of the recognition is usually more important than the reward itself , within 48 hours in case of Taj | 0 |
| 16 | Let us talk specifics : How to plan reading and revision of any book
Can I finish Laxmikanth/Spectrum in X months ? This has been one of the most common queries I have faced from new aspirants. Even I had the same question during my initial days. Most of the answers to this question is a specific answer like 2 months or 3 months or so, but what I received as an answer was actually a task from my friend (Aman Gupta) :
Read for one hour and find your reading speed. Repeat the same for another topic from same book. Do it again for a third time. Now you have your average reading speed across the different topics from the same book.
This gives you a value like 10 pages/hour or maybe 15 or 20 or more. What ever be the value that is your comfort level. Do not try to cheat yourself by trying to increase the page number. This is not a competition. You are competing against yourself, not anyone else. Quality preparation over quantity. The reading speed should reflect how many pages you are able to understand at your comfortable pace.
Assuming there are 1000 pages in the book, now you have an approximate idea of how many hours will be required to finish the book. Say if the speed is 20 pages per hour, then you will take 1000/20 = 50 hours to finish the book.
How this measurement will help you ?
1. Realistic timelines : No two person are the same. Not their strengths and weaknesses. So try to make plans suitable for you. Toppers strategy needs to be personalised as per your personality. This exercise helps you find the realistic time needed to complete a first reading. And here we are talking in hours, not days. A working aspirant can devote only less time daily than a full time aspirant. So this will help make plans as per your situation
2. Quality of Revision - Do not read a book if you cant revise it, else jolt down the points in first reading itself in some safe place. Revision is what makes or breaks your preparation. Give it the seriousness it deserves. You will realise during revision - your reading speed increases. If the reading speed is not increasing in revision, that is a red flag. You might need to give it more time to improve.
3. The last day revision schedules : Ultimately all comes down to this. How well you plan your last days before any exam. Suppose you have prelims on 30th June. Have you planned what you will do on 29th or 28th ? Most likely not. Most people plan forward. But the better way is to plan backwards. What will I learn on 29th,28th,27th and so on. With reading speeds almost at high end after multiple revisions, now your end day preparations are more realistic. Now you know you require say 6 hours to complete Book A , 4 hours to complete Book B. You can makes slots accordingly and see when should you begin your final round revision if you wish to finish it on 29th or 28th for an exam on 30th.
In a nutshell.
Learn.Measure.Revise.Measure.
Plan as per your measurements | 0 |
| 17 | //I had decided to prioritize State PCS Mains exam over UPSC Mains when they overlapped as I personally felt it was easier to crack and more realistic. It has paid off partially since I could reach the interview stage in State PCS and final results will be out soon. Fingers crossed for that one. //
Final Results are out. I have secured 18th Rank in Kerala Administrative Service. Will get service with this rank. Thank you for the wishes | 0 |
| 18 | "The basic idea of governance is to hold the society together so that it can develop and march towards certain goals" - Lal Bahadur Shastri | 0 |
| 19 | Rough work for 2020 Mains I made after essay paper 👆🏼👆🏼 | 0 |
| 20 | And that was UPSC Mains 2020 for me.
For chemistry, there is no surprise. Expected to do poorly. Lived up to the reputation.
I do not have any excuses to make for the poor performance. I didn’t prepare. I didn’t get marks. Its as simple as that.
As for the rest of the papers – I am pretty much satisfied with my marks.
I had decided to prioritize State PCS Mains exam over UPSC Mains when they overlapped as I personally felt it was easier to crack and more realistic. It has paid off partially since I could reach the interview stage in State PCS and final results will be out soon. Fingers crossed for that one.
With very little time left for UPSC Mains I decided to focus on Essay Paper. I had a gut feeling that the essay was going to fetch me decent marks in the otherwise poor UPSC Mains attempt after the exam. And it turned out to be right with decent marks of 139 when the top marks known for essay till now is 153. Scope for improvement is there but still decent marks. At least one paper is sorted out.
As for GS Papers. I had left around 50 marks in each GS Paper. So these marks look good given the minimal preparation I did exclusively for mains and less number of attempted questions. Still a lot of work to do nonetheless.
Take away from 2020 Mains: Essay approach, answer writing approach worked
What needs attention : Optional preparation , more answer writing practice and maintain/sharpen essay | 0 |
