Dilip K Kainikkara AIR 21

Coming to the Essay paper, there's already an Awesome explainer by Anudeep Durishetti: https://anudeepdurishetty.in/writing-a-good-essay-in-upsc-mains-explained/ I don't have much to add except for a few small observations which I'll post later. Meanwhile do read Anudeep's article if you haven't already, and try to incorporate those tips into your own essay strategy. Also, never forget that there's no substitute for practice when it comes to essay writing. You might know all the theory and have all content in the world. But that counts for very little on it's own. You've got to practice essays on your own, get feedback on it from your mentors/peers, compare your work with good topper copies (look specifically for toppers with good essay marks, not high ranks), and incorporate all such feedback into perfecting your essay.

Post-prelims preparation (continued) 4)Ethics Being a mains only topic, adequate time needs to be alloted for Ethics prep and answer writing. Reference material: I used 'Lexicon for Ethics' as the standard reference book. It's not very well organized, but serves the purpose if one can suffer through it. DK Balaji's book has been used by multiple toppers with good ethics marks, I haven't used it personally. I haven't attended a separate test series for Ethics. Wrote 3 ethics tests this time as a part of the general MTS. Did some additional practice for case studies. Toppers copies are very helpful in understanding the demand of Ethics paper and getting the basic Case study template right. I'd especially recommend the copies of Visakaha Yadav, who was the ethics topper in her year. Answer writing: Try to write answers which are NOT too abstract. Even when the question is abstract (eg: what is integrity?), try to make the answer rooted in the practical world using real world examples and quoting best practices (eg: an officer refusing to be corrupt even after multiple punishment transfers). Above suggestion also applies to quote based questions. When you're asked to explain a quote, don't write a very philosophical and abstract answer. Instead, focus on what the quote means to you and what its contemporary relevance is. Try to have a few ready made examples and anecdotes for prominent keywords in the syllabus like integrity, non-partisanship, emotional intelligence, etc. Reading up a bit on famous thinkers and their moral philosophies (Utilitarianism, Virtue ethics, Kant, Bentham, Aristotle, etc) can add a bit of heft to your intros and conclusions. At the same time, don't overdo such references, and try to answer in a simple and straightforward manner meeting the demand of the questions. Case studies Have a basic template ready. I often use: Short intro -> stakeholders -> ethical issues/dilemmas -> options available -> course of action and justification -> short conclusion. But don't blindly use the template, adapt it to the demands of the question. If there are subquestions, make sure you've alloted enough space and adequate priority to all of them. Try to stay within the confines of constitution and the law when you're choosing your course of action. Be innovative and practical in your solutions, don't be too idealistic or dogmatic. Also, when you're evaluating the possible pros and cons of an option, try to think from the perspectives of maximum stakeholders. Identifying all the stakeholders properly in the first part of the answer can help a lot in content generation later. Time management Don't waste too much time on case studies, as the first section with direct questions has as much weightage as the case studies. Always keep track of remaining time and remaining number of questions (this can be a bit tricky without practice, as ethics paper format is different from the usual GS paper format), and manage your writing speed accordingly.

Hi everyone, a small request for information. Are any of you aware of any scholarship programs from Government or private institutions to aid the UPSC prep of financially backward students? Please reply to this post with any such information you've got. Asking for multiple aspirants who have raised queries about this to me, please help if you can.

An hour long session in English, where I answer some frequent queries related to UPSC prep: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7wPF3KTmFs

Dear aspirants, It has come to our notice that fake telegram channels are being created in the names of various UPSC toppers and being used for dubious purposes. Stay alert to such scams. Specifically, please note that Preetham Kumar (AIR 9) and Shubhankar Pathak (AIR 11) are NOT handling any official telegram channels. The channels in their names are fake, and are reportedly being used to swindle money from Maths optional aspirants. Please be cautious. Thanks.

Post-prelims preparation I hope that those of you who have even a small chance to clear prelims (say 80+ in general category) have already started your mains preparation in earnest. Otherwise, please do so ASAP, don't wait for the results to come out. Here are a few pointers that have helped me in this stage of the prep: 1)Answer writing Join a reputed institute for Mains test series, regardless of how confident you're about your answer writing. Getting into the Mains mindset is as important as developing your content. In addition to the test series, practice Answer writing regularly. It is only by practice that we can develop our answer writing skills. Make good use of topper copies. Try to adopt their best practices into your answers. Initially focus on developing a proper answer structure (Introduction, well organized content, short and clear conclusion). Develop a collection of good statistical data and other factoids that you can use as introductory snippets. Also try to gradually increase your writing speed to acceptable levels. I use the thumb rule of using only 7 minutes to finish a 10 marker and 10.5 minutes to finish a 15 marker. Don't worry if your current writing speed is slower than that, it can definitely be improved with time. Make sure to use a pen that you're comfortable with and also looks neat on paper. I used Pilot V5. 2) Builidng content You will already have a solid base in most topics thanks to prelims prep. Don't neglect revision of mains only topics like post Independence history. At the same time, don't waste too much time on any single topic; use PYQs to analyse the relative importance of different topics in Mains paper. Syllabus should be key to your prep. Go through it thoroughly, and make sure that you have a decent amount of content in every mentioned subtopic. Simply googling up the topic can help you in augmenting the content to an extent. 3)Optional Prep It's very often the optional marks that differentiate the toppers from the rest of the pack. Join a good test series for your optional, and make sure you're allocating sufficient amount of time for your optional prep. The recommended split of time between GS and Optional varies based on demands of various optional subjects, take guidance from toppers and mentors regarding your specific optional. Having chosen Maths as optional, I used to spend a considerable amount of my time in problem practice and Maths PYQs, besides attending the Mains test series from IMS. I'd recommend spending less time on theory prep and most of the time on actual problem practice, given the PYQ trends. You'll have to allocate atleast equal time for both Maths and GS. I actually spent much more time on Maths than on GS in my third and last attempt, but that was possible only because my fundamentals were already strong from previous attempts. (To be continued)

For those of you conversant in Malayalam, a brief outline of my prep journey. Others please excuse. https://youtu.be/cOWF-hofQU8

GS Booklist I'd like to share a small list of standard books and other material that I've found helpful over the course of my preparation: Current affairs: Reading The Hindu newspaper daily. Monthly revision using Vision's monthly current affairs compilations, and final revision using PT365. (Depended on compilations because I'm not that great at making notes by my own). Polity: Laxmikanth obviously. Have revised it multiple times, and have used the latest bare Act of the constitution as a supplementary resource. PRS India has been a very handy reference material for latest legislative developments. Environment Have studied Sankar IAS book in my first attempt. Depended on PMF IAS material later. Both are content rich, PMF IAS scores higher on readability. History Spectrum for Modern History, old NCERTs (essentially books by RS Sharma and Satish Chandra) for ancient and medieval. Art and culture Selective reading of Nitin Singhania's book. Early chapters are more important than later ones. Economics Shankar Ganesh's book on Indian economy basics, and basic NCERTs (class 10, Macroeconomics, Indian economy) Summaries of Economic survey and budget essential to be covered. Science and technology Haven't studied any standard book, depended on my engineering background and current afffairs materials. Geography GC Leong and basic NCERTs (class 10, Indian Geography, World Geography, Human geography). Used PMF IAS geography material during later attempts. Ethics Have studied Lexicon for Ethics once, but haven't got a high opinion of the book. Have been depending solely on Mock tests, online ethics notes, Rau's Mains compass for Ethics, etc during my last attempt. Final observations Don't try to cover too many sources, and don't waste too much time comparing between various sources. Get opinions from a few trusted sources, and then decided on a booklist based on your own interest and comfort. Try to restrict yourself to a single source per topic, and allocate sufficient time for proper revision using the source itself or notes prepared from the source.

The Mathocrat YouTube channel and telegram group which I've mentioned above: https://t.me/mathocrat https://youtube.com/c/Mathocrat PS: this is not paid promotion. I declare that I have no association whatsoever with the Mathocrat team.

Keep tracking the available time throughout the exam and adapt accordingly. Don't worry too much about handwriting or presentation during the actual exam, but do try to improve legibility during your practice sessions. Also take note of the space available to you before starting your answers. UPSC mostly provides adequate space to compete your answer, but there can be rare exceptions. In such cases, adapt your answer to fit into the available space. Use rough pages for extra calculations. Calculator: devote some time to learn all the various features of the calculator, being strong in calculator usage can save a lot of time during exams. Especially useful in numerical methods, linear algebra etc. Refer to YouTube videos to learn equation solving, matrix manipulation, etc if required. Final observations: Maths is definitely not a small or easy optional. But it definitely provides good returns if you invest enough time and effort into it. It was pivotal in my good performances in both IFoS (AIR 18) and Civil Service (AIR 21) exams. If you have reasonable interest and aptitude in the subject, there are adequate resources and guidance available to take you to a 300+ score in Maths papers. Best wishes!

Maths optional prep basics: I largely depended on self study for Maths optional. Since I'm from an engineering background, I was already familiar with a significant part of the syllabus (from Maths electives, IIT prep, Job requirements, etc). So already had a basic foundation in this subject, which I found very helpful. Reference: I mostly used IMS notes to study the various subjects and gain basic problem practice. Updated IMS notes are available online, I mostly used their soft copies. I have also used YouTube videos from Mathocrat channel, especially to gain conceptual clarity on the Physics heavy parts of the syllabus. He strongly prioritises PYQs, which aligned well with my prep strategy. The G20 google drive is a very comprehensive source for Maths optional material, and I've selectively used the various study materials available in there. I'm not good at self preparation of notes. I largely depended on notes by Kanishak Kataria to revise the core formulae and theory. Yogesh sir's notes were also helpful. (Both these notes can be found in the G20 google drive). Problem practice: This is in my opinion the most important part of prelims prep. Every serious Maths aspirant will have covered the basic syllabus topics, it's regular problem practice that elevates our marks from average to 300+. I primarily focused on PYQs, since the Maths paper is often repetitive and static in nature. Used problems from various sources like Krishna series and Schaums series for additional problems. The bulk of my Maths prep time after prelims was spent on problem practice. In my opinion, speedy problem solving is the fundamental skill that a Maths aspirant needs to develop. UPSC evaluators actually forgive minor quality issues in your answers, but failing to complete the paper is absolutely fatal to your chances. Test series: I have attended the post-prelims test series offered by IMS Delhi twice. Question quality is fine, and their feedback was helpful in aligning my answer presentation to the UPSC requirements. There was a considerable delay in getting the answer sheets evaluated. Peer group: Having a good peer group is vital for maths prep, especially self study. I had a few friends at Tvm who were also preparing with Maths as optional. I'm also a member of G20 and Mathocrat telegram groups, which were helpful in discussing difficult problems and concepts. Prep methodology In my first attempt, I tried to split the syllabus into smaller chunks and to set weekly targets such that the whole syllabus could be covered in 6 months. That went fairly well, and I was able to cover the basic syllabus and do a reasonable number of practice problems in that period. I almost exclusively depended on IMS modules at this point. After that first round, I realised that the IMS modules weren't providing me adequate conceptual clarity to solve the difficult problems in Physics portions (Fluid dynamics, Mechanics, etc). That's when I started following Mathocrat, and his videos were very helpful in bridging that gap. Once you get the knack of it and gain adequate problem practice, the physics parts of the syllabus can help you perform exceptionally well in Paper 2 (I got 164). Modern algebra was another portion which was personally difficult for me. I bought Khanna & Bhambri book to supplement other sources in this subject. I'm still not entirely confident in this subject, but was able to do all the problems from this topic this year. Exam time: Make sure that you're using the question selection (only 5 questions to be attempted out of 8) intelligently. Try to choose problems that aren't too lengthy, time is a major constraint. Each question will have multiple sub questions which are from different subjects, so it's risky to completely leave out any subject during preparation. However, do try to compare and choose questions which are largely from your strong areas.

Hi folks, enjoy some well deserved rest after the hectic prelims schedule. Check keys from a reputed institute once you feel like it, no hurries. I still feel that the cut-off should go down a bit, especially given how CSAT felt tough to many aspirants. Also, even reputed keys aren't 100% accurate. So if your marks are within the rough ballpark of last year's cut-off minus a few marks, start mains preparation in earnest after a short break. There's nothing to be lost because of some extra prep anyway. Answer writing is key to your GS performance (and most optionals too), so give adequate priority to it. Join a good Mains test series and - I can't stress this enough - attend it regularly. I'd share some pointers on answer writing later, and for now I'm sharing some of my mock test answer copies.