Answer writing Strategy Session by UPSC AIR 01 Shruti Sharma at Vajiram and Ravi, New Delhi

Hello everyone, my name is Shruti Sharma, and in this year's Civil Services Examination, I got AIR 1. Today, I'm having a session regarding mainly answer writing, as to how I approached answer writing in my General Studies papers. I got a total of 494 marks in my General Studies papers, and there were a certain, there were a few things that I tried to do before the examination in terms of preparing a strategy for it, preparing, uh, some content for it. So, I'm going to try to share, um, what I did during this time. As to how this session is going to be structured, firstly, I'll talk about certain basic things that you can apply in all four papers, and then we're going to go subject-wise, or sorry, paper-wise, where GS1, certain questions will be seen, and I'm going to try to pick up a few questions from this year's Mains examination, and we'll see as to how they can be tackled. First, GS1, then two, then three, and four. So, um, without further ado, let me jump, uh, straight into it.

Firstly, is, uh, understanding the basics of answer writing. So, there are a few things which I think are important. Firstly, is the idea of understanding the question. Understanding the question, I feel, if you just understand the question to a certain extent and only answer what is being asked of you, then more than half, or at least half your work is done. Because sometimes, especially at the very beginning of our preparation, we just see certain keywords in the question and answer whatever we know of that specific topic. And that, some, in, in that process, somewhere the, the point of the question, we forget. And midway through it, we start writing anything and everything. And by the conclusion, what you're writing is completely different from what is being asked in the question. So, make sure that you have the question always in mind. Break it up into certain parts. Underline keywords in the, in the question. Sometimes, you know, um, you can divide it into an A and B part. Sometimes you can write it in paragraph form or in point form, but based on what the question is demanding.

Secondly, um, in corollary to this, and I think if you understand the question, also coherence in the question, in the answer writing, also comes. Because, um, some people have this, I think, needless debate on whether you should write in paragraphs or whether you should write in points. I feel, as long as you're able to express a good number of points and in a good flow with maximum coherence, point making does not mean that, you know, the examiner is not able to understand what you're writing. So, coherence is very, very important. Um, so, for example, with respect to this first point, uh, there was this question in GS3 this year about blue LEDs, about a Nobel Prize which had been given to the discovery of blue LEDs in the 1990s. But if, for example, you completely, uh, do not answer the question and answer whatever you, you know, about LEDs, the point of the question completely goes away. And it's very likely that you'll get very less marks. Even if you know whatever limited information about blue LEDs, try to shape your current knowledge according to what is being asked. So, try to write about blue LEDs and what you think they are, and how they can, you know, help us in daily life. So, this is understanding the question. Um, with respect to again, flow, legibility, and coherence, you can choose, uh, whatever you like, are more comfortable with, whether it's paragraph or its points. I personally was more comfortable with points, so I chose that because I felt I could include more dimensions in it. But the flow should not be hampered at any point.

Second, um, is again, a very, very important part in answer writing and a balance that many people find very difficult to sort of balance. Speed versus content. And I think no part of this should be neglected. If you're, for example, you have good handwriting speed, you can complete all your 20 questions, but you don't have the necessary content, there's no point in it. Similarly, if you have the content and you're writing, say, uh, the first five answers really nicely with a lot of good content, good handwriting, good pictures, but you're leaving the last five questions, or leaving the last three, four questions, then you won't get the desired marks that you want. So, a balance between both speed and content is required. Um, you need to understand that content building happens before you enter the examination hall. So, make sure that you have good content ready with you. And how will you have good content ready with you? You need to keep in mind the syllabus. You need to keep in mind the previous year question papers and have at least one or two pages of information and content based on the syllabus that you have. And keywords are mentioned in the syllabus, which you should definitely work on. And here, in terms of content, I think, say, for example, GS3 paper this time, there were a lot of questions which most of us did not know who attempted the paper. But at the same time, we know that there are certain low-hanging fruits which you do prepare. Even in GS3, you can get sort of good marks in those questions. So, for example, in GS1, there are social issues, clear-cut mention of our topics in the syllabus, which do come. So, for example, population, urbanization, women's issues, you can at least prepare one or two pages of notes. Similarly, for GS3 questions on internal security, four questions definitely, three or four questions definitely come on internal security, and you can definitely answer them if you have good notes prepared. And that won't take too much time. So, the effort you put in internal security versus the reward that you will get in GS3 are very, very commensurate, right? So, identify those areas where you can build good content, and that will help you. Similarly, cybersecurity. Um, similarly, say, in GS3, there's food processing. In GS2, there's governance-related issues, NGOs, SRGs, questions from those topics come necessarily one or two each year. So, prepare good content on them. Apart from that, also, uh, focus on building good content which you can use in your answers. At the same time, practice for good speed. If you have good content, doesn't mean that you can translate it into speed unless and until you practice answer writing. So, for speed, the only thing that I would suggest to you is do answer writing. Even in the three-hour paper, make certain internal, sort of, uh, limits on yourself. Put certain internal limits on yourself. Kia cha hunting, complete these many questions, half an hour, these many questions, and stick to it, right? So, this is a speed.

Third, once you have speed, you have content, you have understood the question, then comes structuring of the question. And the structuring can be of two types. First is the content-based structuring, and the second is the, uh, spatial structuring, right? So, in terms of content-based structuring, firstly, you know, there's an introduction, there's a body, there's a conclusion. So, this is usually the structure we follow in terms of how we, uh, plan out our answer. Sometimes this can, you know, change a little bit, that's completely fine. But usually, you should have a two, three-line introduction, then followed by a body with a certain number of points, or like, even if you're not writing in point form, but there should be a certain amount of matter, or more than one dimension only that you're looking at. So, the more the dimensions you have in your answer, the more it's likely to fetch you more marks, right? And then you have a conclusion, which can be forward-looking, which can include good terms, it can include good examples, it can include a way forward in terms of suggestions. So, all of that you can work on. Again, in terms of content, you should always go back to what the question is asking. And therefore, divide your main question into, say, two parts or three parts. If it has three parts, the question, divide it into three parts and answer accordingly, right? So, this is, uh, for content structuring.

For spatial structuring, I think you need to understand that, you know, this is the page which has been given to you to utilize it to the maximum possible. And sometimes people say that, you know, I don't have good handwriting, how do I, you know, then fetch good marks? The examiner will not want to read my copies. But the most you can do out of it is, for example, if this is the question which is answered here, start answer writing here, then underline keywords to, you know, uh, get the attention of the examiner. Then you can, you know, this is the first, um, see, the first part of the question is here. So, you start writing it here. Then within it, you start writing points here, right? And then if there's a further sub-point to it, you start writing it here. So, in terms of spatial structuring, you can start from here, then leave a margin, right, points here, then for some points, you can write it here. For examples, for example, if I had to write, I use a triangle for points. If I had to write, I write, I like to use like circles. So, these are little things you can do in terms of, you know, making your answer look more, um, utilizing the space which has been given to you in that one page. So, that is in terms of, uh, structuring.

Then we come to, um, the fourth point, which is, uh, embellishments, which is like, I call embellishments in terms of, like, you're, um, adding things to your answer. Apart. So, there are certain people who follow all of these three things, still they're not getting the adequate amount of marks to make the top ranks or make a good cut in terms of Mains examination. So, what I think helped me this time around, and I tried to work on it, was working on adding additional things. So, it could include examples, which I personally, sort of, used to scour out the newspaper for certain examples which I could use according to the syllabus in each paper. Then committee names in, say, GS2 paper, or data in GS3 in economy, in environment. Then certain government reports are there. So, economic survey, you can cite that, you know, this is something that the economy survey said in GS3. Um, similarly, you can talk about, um, any key terms that you can find. So, anything which adds to the answer in terms of examples, in terms of, and also in terms of diagrams and maps, especially in, say, GS1 in geography, you can use that. I used some maps in history as well. So, anything that you can, flow charts, in GS3. So, have a ready collection of them. If you don't have, you can, there are certain materials you can access, or a certain copies, copies, or collections that other people have given. So, try to add stuff. If all of this work has been done, so remember that embellishments, you can't like just start by, uh, adding embellishments only, and that won't add content to your answer. Make sure that your basics are strong, your content is strong, uh, your structuring is fine, your speed is fine, and then focus on adding, um, the extra marks fetching things that, like that will make your copy stand apart from the previous person, right?

And then, based on all of these four things, what you have to do is, you have to practice. Practice means, you know, if you're doing, practice at home, writing a few answers every day, that is fine. If you're showing it to someone else, that is fine. If you're enrolled in a test series, uh, attempt those test series rigorously. Attempt those test series within the fixed time limit. Set those timeline limits upon yourself. Once you've written, then analyze your performance. In terms of that analysis, can be done, uh, say, whatever feedback you've been given by the mentor, by whoever has checked your copy. If you're showing to a friend who has written the examination and can give you some advice, uh, he or she can analyze the copy. Yourself can analyze your copy based on the model answer that has been given to you, based on any other material that you find on the internet. But that, that analysis should be done very judiciously. You need not take every advice that you get. You need not add every single point that you get. You need to prioritize the points. Even when you're writing points, uh, in any of the four papers, I think it's important to write the best point first. Because sometimes there are 10 points you can write in an answer, you don't have the time, you don't have the space for all of that. So, write the best answer, best point first, and then accordingly, uh, according to, uh, importance. And by the end, by chance, if you don't have enough time left, you can leave out the other points. But if you leave the good point for the end, then it's most likely that you won't get adequate amount of marks, right? So, analyze what you have to do. Analyze your loopholes. Analyze based on all these parameters where you're lacking. Work on it. And then, most importantly, just don't answer right, or just don't do answer writing randomly, but try to improve. So, the next paper that you're writing, based on this analysis, make sure before you're sitting down for writing the next paper, that you know, in this paper specifically, I will make sure that I will write an introduction like this. If I get a question on social issues, based on, say, secularism, this is something that I will use in the introduction. Last time, I did not, you know, write enough points. I will make sure that I write at least seven points in a ten-marker, something like that. So, make those targets for yourself and make sure that you improve the next time you write, and you're not writing the same thing again and again and not improving.

So, this is the basics, I feel, for all four papers that you need to follow. Now, I'm going to talk about specific papers and what you can do in each paper and how I, uh, went about it, right?

So, now we come to GS1. GS1, may, first is history, right? History, in terms of content, you would already have worked upon. Say, you would have gone through your Spectrum, you've gone through your, whatever books that you've gone through during a prelims preparation. Or if you're not, uh, doing that again, I'd like to say that for people who are giving the Mains this time, well and good, you consolidate your material. In news, or whatever tips that you can, uh, from this point. But people who are not giving their Mains this time, and who have their Mains, say, next year, or the year after that, make sure that you're doing all of this content building at least from now on. Because, you know, what you know makes a good answer, and this content building does not happen in a day. So, make sure that you're adding those examples, those committees, those quotes, and all those embellishments I talked about in the very beginning. Anyway, so history, we were talking about. Any history questions, again, you'll have an introduction, you'll have a body, you will have a conclusion. Now, people often ask, what do you write in a history question? Because sometimes, say, in GS2 and GS3, you can write committees, you can write data. But say, history of question is asked about the repercussions of the Nehru Report of 1828. And I remember us answering a question about, uh, the Nehru Report of, uh, Nehru Report was a bunch of uneasy compromises between A and B. Or say, if you, if we pick up two questions this time from the GS paper, GS1 paper, 2021. First question was, "Evaluate the nature of Bhakti literature and its contribution to Indian culture." And then the second question, um, was regarding social religious reform and its impact. The point that I'm trying to make is that how do you approach these questions and, um, how do you answer them? So, firstly, I believe in introduction. An easy thing that you can probably do, if you say, don't have a history background, or you think, how, how to make history introductions, you can start with talking about details of the question. You can, uh, mention years, you can mention, uh, say, key figures. So, if the question is asked about, um, Delhi, something, something about the Delhi Sultanate, its cultural history, or something about a particular, you know, maritime history, or something like that. You can just start simply, rather than, you know, getting too bogged down by the question. You can just start by saying, you know, the Delhi Sultanate was from this to this period. Key representations of this, being the ABC rulers, right? So, you can start with that. Or say, the Nehru Report question that I talked about. So, you can just mention that the Nehru Report, um, was, was compiled or made in 1928 by Motilal, headed by Motilal, in response to a challenge by, um, there was this, uh, particular vice, I can't remember right now, right? So, just start with these certain details. So, it gives a nice sort of beginning to the answer. Similarly, for this question, "Evaluate the nature of Bhakti literature and its contribution to Indian culture." So, I personally started, and these are certain things that you can prepare also beforehand. So, I started, I think, remember with, um, the, the word Bhakti, or the word Bhakti comes from the root word 'bhaj', meaning to participate in the divine, a movement that began in South India in the sixth to seventh centuries, right? So, this can be a starting point. Similarly, for the social religious reform, a movement, and if you look at previously question papers, it's a question that is repeated often. So, I had started something, uh, regarding, I don't remember the exact thing, but I used the word Bengal Renaissance in it, and I used, uh, key figures of Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Usher, and Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar in the introduction itself, in one line, right? So, these are certain things in terms of details, years, key figures, which can make your introduction nice and simple. You don't have to think too much about introduction in history, right?

So, this, uh, what becomes the introduction. Then, what is the body of this question? So, "Evaluate the nature." So, this is not just asking about, uh, Bhakti, Bhakti tradition. So, again, coming back to what I had talked about in, in the, in the beginning, understand the question first. Part of the question is, "Evaluate the nature of Bhakti literature and its contribution to Indian culture." So, you can clearly identify there are two parts of the question. First is understanding the nature, and you have to evaluate it. And the second is contributions. You begin with your introduction in terms of, say, this is it, started at this period. Then you have to talk about. So, again, in terms of making your answer better, what I did was, and this is something that I had practiced before in one of the test series answers as well, I made a map. Oh god, I'm, I've gotten out of the practice of making a map. But again, these, these things also you can practice. Practice making world maps, practice making Indian maps, so that you can, uh, make it quickly, right? So, then I here I plotted down certain things. So, here, for example, I'll just say, Lal Ded, and then whatever, and then I'll sort of put your Meera Bai here, I'll put Kabir Granthavali here, I'll put, say, Gita Govinda, and all of that, right? So, I used to jot everything down. So, what you're talking about is, in, in one small thing, you're not talking about Bhakti literature, because that's not necessarily the nature of the question, but you're just plotting as to what all are the Bhakti literature in India. So, in a, in a very small space, you're talking about a certain part of the question. Then, so, introduction side, may this. Then, first part, nature of Bhakti literature. And then you can jot down points, one, two, through. What can be the nature of Bhakti literature? This is not asking what Bhakti literature was, but the nature of Bhakti literature. So, you can talk about, um, devotional in nature, right? Devotional nature. Then you give certain examples of, say, so, one thing that I tried to do in my answers was, when I was giving a point, I used to write that point and then tell you why that point, uh, I'm writing, right? So, give an explanation or justification of what, what that was. So, first, uh, the nature was, it was devotional in nature. Example, this person. Secondly, say, um, what can be the nature of Bhakti literature? It was, say, in simple language, so it could be easily, sort of, recited. So, you can give why it was simple, this thing, and then give an example of, sorry, give an example of, say, um, the Alvars and Nayanars in their, this thing, they were relatively simple. Then, thirdly, you can write about how, uh, they were in regional and vernacular languages. So, this can be a nature of this thing, right? So, this is the first part of the question. Then you can talk about its contribution. So, this is the second part of the question. So, give, give equal weightage to both, right? So, then you talk about the contribution in terms of, say, and remember that, you know, I am right, right now making it like this, but this is going to be your page. So, this is the question. You start writing here. This will be the intro, where you start wrote whatever. Here, I drew a map. So, this will be the map. Here, you start writing about nature. So, this is point one, example. Point two, example. Similarly, point three, example. By chance, you're done with this page, then you go to the next page, because it's a two-marker. Then you talk about the contribution, right? So, contribution, you can write about, say, it led to development of, [Music] Bhakti, [Music] temple tradition, say, right? Because this happened. Then development of, say, then again, example, how, uh, if you can, then, um, culture of, uh, with this thing, um, [Music] saints, sainthood, and, uh, challenge to a Brahmanical Hinduism can be one. Then, um, say, in terms of vernacular, so we talked about the role of vernacular. So, contribution can be development of vernacular languages across India and, uh, development of regional cultures overall. So, the Bhakti tradition would lead to development of regional culture. So, make sure that each point is a little different. Don't repeat points. Keep thinking of new ways in which you can approach it. And sometimes questions, these are questions which you may not have, like, prepared beforehand. So, try to think a little in that time period and make sure certain questions are different. And then you end with this conclusion in terms of the impact of Bhakti in India, or how the impact of the Sufis, and link it to a further, sort of, thing. So, in terms of conclusion, I usually used. So, we talked about intro, we talked about body. In terms of conclusion, what you can do in history is link it with the next period. If you can't think of something else, make it forward-looking. If you're talking about world history, you can link it to India. If you're talking, say, if you're talking about the Cold War and some of the question is something like that, you can link it to India. Or you can, if you're talking about the Cold War, talk about the post-Cold War period in the, in the conclusion, and try to link the question with the, with what happened later, right? So, link it with, make it forward-looking. Make it, if it's world history, can you, you can make it about India. Another way is linking it with the next period. Um, sometimes you can link it with, uh, post-modern India. So, if you're talking about pre-British India, link it with what happened there, to what happened post-independence. Link it with constitutional values. So, something about Mahatma Gandhi and non-cooperation, linked about how that led the basis for the constitution that was made, or the makers of modern India, right? So, these are certain things that I think you can use in a history question. Two questions, we roughly may. One question, we talked about. The second question, social religious reform. Again, these are things that you can prepare. And I already talked about what can be the introduction for such questions. Uh, in terms of answering such a question, make sure that you have multiple dimensions. And make sure you put a lot of data. Whatever you've read in Spectrum, you don't need to go through a lot of books. Spectrum, or any other sort of coaching material that you're using. Just stick to whatever you've done with that. Just keep on revising whatever you've read before the prelims, right?

So, this was history. Next, we come to geography. In GS1, geography was never my strong point. I did the basic minimum. I just did the 11th and 12th NCERTs mainly for it. Sometimes just going through other books to look at examples or recent monthly or the early compilations for any recent things that may have happened in geography. But again, I decided to make sure that, like, for the introduction here, I, uh, mainly use definitions because I didn't have too much to use for the body. Again, what was being answered, a direct, uh, answer to that, I would use. I tried to use maps in this. I tried to use diagrams. If I had, if, if there was a possibility to make a map or a diagram in a geography question, I would not leave it. So, if at this time, there was this question on, so, I, there were two questions in terms of physical geography, which I've just, uh, mentioned. There were more questions. First was, "Differentiate causes of landslides in the Himalayan region and in Western Ghats." So, the question was landslides. And if you have good content developed on landslides, which is a very normal question, comes in disaster management, also comes in GS1 also, then you won't have too much problem. This question will not take too much time, and then you can move on to next, more challenging questions. To make sure you have good content on questions that will, that are like easy, right? So, this was a, easy question, relatively in geography. You just start with what you would, just start with a basic introduction of landslides, or what you can do is, I had a certain data on landslides as well. So, I just started with, say, GSI, according to GSI, 12.6% of the land area of India is prone to landslides. And I had this, like, very rigorously burnt into my head because I had prepared this and had written certain questions like this, right? So, this is the introduction that you follow. In terms of, you can use certain data. Then I drew a diagram, again, of a map, again, of, uh, India. I, uh, circled, basically, this, this, this place, which was basically the Himalayas. And then I underlined or shaded this place, which was the Western Ghats. And then I wrote reasons for both here and here. I think this is something that I did in one of my, um, papers as well. And then I think later here also, or sometimes you can just draw, say, this is one, and this is two, and then you can write it later. So, if you make a chota map side me, and you don't think you can't write as quickly as possible, so just mark one, mark two, and then write one each reasons, and two key niches. So, this is something that you could do in terms of structuring as well. So, "Differentiate causes of landslides and Himalayan, Himalayan region, Western Ghats." Talk about both. And if it's talking about just causes, if this is only the question, it's a ten-marker, make sure that causes occupy a major part of your answer. But at the same time, don't just leave it there. To make it a slightly better answer, also talk about solutions, right? If only the causes are answered, it will be an incomplete answer. If you only write about the causes, even if it's the only thing which is answered in the question, little bit, little bit, at least half a page, write about certain solutions here. You can mention again differences, so Western Ghats here, and Himalayas here, and different approaches that can be followed. So, I remember in the Himalayas, there was a separate committee called Chopra Committee. So, mention that here. Right? In the Western Ghats, there was this committee called Kasturirangan Committee. So, mention these names. They'll fetch you sort of extra. That will show you have some sort of knowledge about both these areas and how their problems are different. So, talk about certain solutions in terms of mitigation, general guidelines, whatever you're saying, try to back something back it with something, whether it's a committee, whether it's certain guidelines that you think are there. So, NDMA guidelines, certain schemes by the government. So, this is a landslide susceptibility mapping in the Northeast. So, talk about that with respect to the Himalayas. So, these are certain things with respect to the question demand of the question, you can do. Okay? So, this was, uh, geography. Similarly, there was this question on IT industries this time around only. So, IT industries, it was talking about socio-economic implications, right? So, although the question was about social economic implications, I drew, uh, after the introduction, I, I think I talked about the importance of the service industry and how the IT industry, service, service sector in India, with respect to the global world, and how the IT industry is under the central focal point of it. Then I drew, again, a small map here, and I drew, uh, the IT industries. This is a bad map, but basically, you understand, I just jotted down the IT industries within the map, that's it, nothing else. I talked about it. Then I moved towards the part of the question where it was asking about the socio-economic implications. So, then I talked about, say, uh, the implications in terms of, um, migration, because it was social economic implications, remember keywords of the question. It was not just asking about economic implications. So, social economic development of slums, development of certain industries, cluster of industries, uh, development or issues of out-migration, in-migration, um, female, female sex ratio in the areas of out-migration. Then basic, are lots of other things that, you know, I can't think of right now. But socioeconomic implications, make sure that are answering what is being asked in the questions, right? So, these are the two types of questions that can be answered in geography, physical geography and mineral or human geography.

Third is social issues. And social issues, I feel, if you work on a little before the Mains, I think it can be, um, very helpful. And here, this is the part of the question, part of the paper, apart from GS4 and essay, which you can be a little creative with, because the questions are also a little creative. One thing that I need, you think, I, uh, you need to focus on, and which can you fetch you more marks, is dimensions. As many dimensions you open in this answer, because they're sometimes quite open-ended, sometimes they're not. But the questions that are open-ended, if you open as many dimensions as possible, it is likely to be a good answer. Similarly, for intros and conclusions, I had, uh, certain ready templates. So, for example, if it be, if it would be secularism, I had, say, um, something else that I would either use in the introduction or the conclusion. Communalism, something else. Um, diversity. I remember I had written down 'Thali', the concept of India's 'Thali' as compared to, say, melting pot or salad bowl model. So, this is something that I, uh, used to 'Thali' model for diversity. Then, similarly, for population, um, there's a unit, urbanization, there's a unit. So, urbanization, high, I had good data points on different, on different aspects of urbanization, different sub-points which I could use in a question on urbanization. For that, I had prepared matter already. Um, for population, I remember a good conclusion that I had already prepared, which I used in this year's paper, was also about how education is the best contraceptive. And there was a Sucheta Shrivastava judgment which talked about reproductive choice in the context of the population debate and population control debate that was happening. So, these are things that you can work on already. Um, there are some, uh, 10 or 10 different subheadings. Make sure that you have good content on them. Make sure that in the final paper, you're trying to look at various dimensions. So, if there's a question on, um, I remember last time, or in this paper, there was this question about social values and, you know, influence of, of, of, um, of foreign cultures in India and India on foreign cultures, right? So, you can only write one or two points about it and explain it a lot, or you can, uh, write points in terms of, say, language, then dress, then, you know, art, and all of that. And don't just write it like that, try to give examples of how these things are there. Similarly, globalization is a topic. So, global in local, and local in global. How does globalization affect local cultures? And how do local cultures affect globalization? There are a lot of questions which are asked on globalization year after year. So, make sure that you have, you just sit, sit down one day and think of things that you know are there. So, for example, uh, something like, um, PUBG was there, and PUBG car, there was this Indian version which was FAU-G, right? And, say, something like 'Converge'. So, Slumdog Millionaire and, uh, 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire' was the, uh, inspirational story behind KB. So, so these are ways in which globalization is affecting local, is affecting Indian culture, and it's somehow, um, how it's also shaping in culture, foreign culture as well. So, something like sitar music, so Anushka Shankar has taken the sitar outside the foreign world. So, they extend that pop culture outside is being influenced by fusion music. So, think of these examples. Sit down and prepare certain topics for social issues, which can make your answer a little more interesting and different from the other person.

So, this was a GS1. Now we come to GS2. GS2, um, comprises three things. First is polity, second is, um, governance issues, and third is IR, right? For polity, um, what you can do, again, I'm gonna talk about in terms of intro, body, conclusion. Make sure that you, uh, use a lot of articles. Whatever you've read, say, for example, there's a question about elections, you can answer the question directly also, whatever it is, but it will make the answer better if you start by writing, you know, that, uh, the Election Commission is one of, say, the four bulldogs. The Election Commission, under bracket, Article 324, is one of the four bulldogs of the constitution, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Or the Supreme Court, um, under, say, Part X of the constitution, Articles, this and this, is one of the four bulldogs of the constitution, something like that, right? So, make sure that you use parts of the constitution, articles of the constitution, so that you seem like a student of polity and not just a layperson. So, try to use articles, try to use, um, committees. So, especially in the way forward. So, conclusion, may, especially in polity, economy, all of these, GS2 and GS3, in conclusion, it's always good to have a way forward because you're not only here to talk about problems in the system, but also solutions to the system. So, even if it's not asked, make sure that you have certain solutions. And this way forward, you can, you can write your own opinions or own suggestions, but it's always better if you write something which is backed by a committee or, um, some government report or something. So, try to use committees in your way forward. Again, try to pick up these things from, say, Laxmikanth. There are things which are already there in terms of, say, recommendations of Punchhi Committee or Kher Committee, any other monthly compilation you're seeing, try to go through. Second ARC, key, key things for ethics and for, uh, GS2 as well. So, committees is something that you can do. Uh, go through the 17, uh, SDG goals as well. And these SDG goals, um, you can use, uh, anywhere else, right? You can use these SDG goals in GS2, you can use it in GS3, you can use it in ethics, you can use it in your essay as well. Make sure that you remember all of them and use it wherever it's necessary. It's often a really nice conclusion to have, even if you can't think of anything. So, if you're talking about, say, uh, infrastructure also, so something like sustainable infrastructure, or say, SDG 13, climate justice, or, um, you know, sustainable cities, I think is SDG 11. So, these are things that you're talking about urbanization. If you talk about SDG 11, it's something that will be nice. SDG 5 for gender justice, and so on. So, these are things that you can use in the introduction, you can use in the conclusion. In terms of the body of a polity answer, I think, uh, there are certain headings you can make. So, after this introduction, whatever you body you have, there are certain headings that I use, that I did, that you can also use to think in. So, something in terms of, say, problems, if you are having a problems of a certain issue, what are the problems? Or solutions, whatever it is. The question is legal issues, or the legal part of it, uh, the constitutional part of it, the institutional issues that are there. So, these are certain headings in which you can use to think and therefore structure your answer better. And it gives the examiner also more clarity and more coherence in the answer, right? So, um, say, for example, this time there was this, uh, question, "To what extent, or in your view, the Parliament is able to ensure accountability of the executive in India?" Right? So, how can you start this question? In introduction, "To what extent in your view, the Parliament is able to ensure accountability in the executive in India?" Starting, you can just write about how, uh, the constitution makers, and massage, India is a parliamentary form of government in which there are checks and balances. Checks and balances, you can, sort of, uh, denote by making this in terms of, say, the executive, the parliament, and the judiciary, right? And then you can just say, check, check, or whatever. This itself, sort of, even this shows that this is your, and try to box, they said, something I told people, told me to box whatever I was, any diagrams or anything that I was making, right? So, you draw this sort of thing where the executive, the parliament, and the judiciary are putting checks on each other. And this is something that this thing mentioned. Or I remember whenever there was a question on checks and balances, I used Montesquieu's Spirit of the Laws, where he talks about checks and balances in a democracy. So, these are certain things that you can use in introduction. Uh, then, "To what extent in your view, the Parliament is able to ensure accountability of the executive unit?" So, the first part of the question, this is something I've done. First part of the question will be, the parliament does hold, sort of, is able to ensure accountability through various measures. So, these various measures can be, again, uh, divided into various ways. So, say, um, uh, the measures that have been given, provided to them in terms of, say, uh, you can talk about the motions, no confidence motion, or then other, uh, are like question hour. There's this, there are various reasons you can talk about. Then you can talk about, say, parliamentary committees, this, that, this, that, and then, so, there are various points. These are a few that I can remember right now. But firstly, talk about one side of the question. Then the question is, "To what extent?" So, then go to the other part, that, you know, yet, uh, it has not been able to, uh, properly, sort of, do this. Why? Because of ABC reasons. Here, try to give examples. So, for example, a certain percentage of, uh, the bills have only gone to the parliamentary committees. This is something which has happened. The issue of, um, having a large majority in the government. So, the parliament is majorly comprised of the executive only. So, things like that. So, try to make, so, at least if there are two parts of the question, make sure that you have at least five points here, at least four to five points there as well. And write in one line only if you, if you can do that, and if you can make it legible and coherent. If you're writing in points, if you're writing in paragraphs, that is also fine if that works by you, right? Um, so, five points here. Other part of the question, five points there. And then end with the conclusion in terms of certain suggestions that have been made by certain committees. Stay, Second ARC, say, uh, you know, uh, the NCRWC, National Committee to do that, or certain NGOs have made certain recommendations that, you know, all bills should compulsively go to the parliament to uphold the spirit of democracy. So, with certain positive words like spirit of democracy and committee recommendations, you can end this also, right? So, this is for quality. Some things you can do.

Then again, governance. I would like to say that go back to whatever I had said for social issues. Make sure that you have a certain amount of notes prepared for all of this. My personal strategy was to also use a lot of examples. So, say, 'Odeshaka Mo Sarkar' initiative for education, the Delhi school initiative which are there, a happiness curriculum which can be a new thing. I, I also use certain examples of other countries. So, Netherlands and, uh, say, Japanese Chi Tokuta is something that they follow in terms of maintaining a balance in a children's education. So, anything that you pick up from the newspaper, have a ready collection of that in various areas. So, governance is certain things, NGOs, SHGs. Make sure that you have examples of, say, an environmental NGO which is doing good work, or SHG, or say, um, in in the area of political awareness. Have these examples so that you can pepper your answers with them. Because these are questions that come every year. SHGs, NGOs, role of civil services in a democracy. I have certain templates ready for, for say, a role of civil services in a democracy, or a question on civil services. I usually started with, say, Sardar Patel, um, and his quote on how it is the steel frame of, of India. So, have certain things ready so that you don't have to think too much in the final paper, right? So, um, this was, um, on governance.

Third is, uh, third is IR, right? IR, um, there are again, I would say, um, usually questions were asked on, uh, neighboring countries. Uh, that this time, there was, I think, there was this question on August. So, um, questions on, say, regional organizations. So, if whatever is there in the news recently, make sure that a couple of regional or world organizations, say, the WHO, WTO, figure out what its main issues are, problems are, how to solve them, what its solutions are, and a way forward. So, have certain templates ready of neighboring countries as well. Um, say, I, for example, I, there were certain things in, uh, say, China or US and the neighborhood, neighborhood policy. These are things I worked on already. You can, if you're using, say, um, any yearly compilations, read notes on that. Figure out something in some introduction that you can start having for those. Um, say, for example, Nepal, I remember quotes like 'Roti Beti ka Rishta' is something that I used. Hindi-China, so that the difference and the shift from, say, where 'Hindi-Chini Bhai-Bhai' was used, the Malaparum summit. Use these keywords in terms of, um, having a positive outlook in the future. And so, I think the conclusion should be something, especially in IR, to be a little positive, forward-looking, and, uh, talk talking about cooperation and, uh, using and putting India at the central focal point of the world in terms of the new world order. So, have, remember, like in IR, try to have a positive, uh, India-centric view at the end. Okay? So, this is something that I did in terms of, um, an IR answer, which is usually about cooperation and relations between two countries. With respect to that, there are certain headings in which I used to think of. So, uh, these things that you can do before, in terms of, say, uh, defense, or trade and economic ties, or even before that, historical ties. So, if you're opening something, if you're talking about relations between two countries, don't just talk about one or two things that have happened in the future. To make, to have more dimensions, think along these in terms of historical lines, defense baselines, trade or tie, uh, trade or economic ties, then cultural ties, then even in a new sense, uh, science and technology-based ties, or say, newer technology which is happening, then environmental sort of relations that are there between these countries. So, open IR or questions on all these different levels and have, um, sort of good tags or beginnings at the end. So.

The moving from an Asia concept to an issue of cooperation is something that you could use, and I think I did use because it was used in one of the um summits that happened. I can't remember. So, whatever, uh, keep an eye on whatever is happening in the news and one or two taglines which are usually there, uh, based on the summit. Say, uh, the Glasgow summit, if something was there, why not two taglines? Just remember so that you can use in the introductions and conclusions. Keep writing, keep collecting all of these things. If you're saying not writing them means right now and plan to do it in the future, okay? So, forward-looking conclusions for this. This was JS2. Now we come to GS3.

Now, GS3 is a challenge because it is, it has a lot of information and it has a lot of subjects as well. So, what are the things that cover that are covered here? There's economy, there's environment, there's science and tech, there's disaster management, there's internal security, right? Um, what all you can do and remember in GS3, especially if you look at this year, in the last couple of years, there are two types of questions that are asked. One are very specific questions which it is likely that either you know or you don't know. So, say, uh, this time, a question on, say, WHO guidelines about a very specific thing, or say, S-400 missile system, a 10-mark question completely on the S-400 missile system, on its workings, or, um, say, the difference in GDP, um, calculation, pre and post, or 2014, or, um, something about, uh, very, very specific questions, basically, that you know.

And on the other hand, there are certain questions which are slightly open-ended. Say, for example, the, um, ways in which nanotechnology can be used, or robotics, or AI can be used, or say, ways in which robotics can be used in, um, in, in, in agriculture. Say, something like that, right? Or, um, if you're talking about urban flooding as a phenomenon in disaster management, or you're talking about security questions which are, say, about terrorism, or what are the uneven threats, or something, something was that about asymmetric warfare, or something about terrorism, which are more or less the same, right? So, there are two categories of questions. One has very specific questions which come only a single year and they're very unlikely to be repeated in any of the coming years. And the other sort of questions are more open-ended, which are more theme-based, which are sort of mentioned in the syllabus. And with at least, I think, at least half the questions, if not more, or less, right, are based on the syllabus entirely. So, make sure that at least those open-ended questions which are clearly mentioned in the syllabus, which are likely to be repeated, uh, more or less, say, every alternate year or so, at least those you make really, really strong in GS3. And for, for me, those questions are usually from, say, disaster management, internal security. These two, make sure that you are very, very strong with. You have very, very good content so that in the question that everyone knows, your answer is much better than the person before and after you.

So, this was something that I personally did. I had good notes on disaster management, good notes on internal security with a lot of examples, good introductions and conclusions. Science and tech also, maybe not this time, but say, make sure that you prepare notes on nanotech, you prepare notes on AI, on space, on robotics, on, say, biotech. Okay, this is a topic which is regularly repeated, biotech, biotechnology, nanotechnology. So, make sure that you have good notes on them. With respect to disaster management and internal security, um, how you can sort of structure your answers. So, say, disaster management, uh, specifically, you can talk about, apart from certain examples which have happened in the future, you can do that. And then, in terms of solutions, before a disaster, do, because then, there are, say, 10 suggestions you can make as to what to do during landslides, so what to do during an earthquake, or what to do in urban floods, because urban floods is something that has come many times in the last, in the last few years. But in terms of how to structure that answer, you can divide it into, say, before disaster, during disaster, after disaster. You can use the Sendai framework divisions, uh, to also answer that. So, try to use. And if, for example, if there are two disaster-based questions, make sure that you're not using the exact same structure and exact same solutions in terms of, say, build back better and all of that in both answers. For in one answer, you write the conclusion as being build back better according to the Sendai framework and ABC guidelines. And another one, you try to use another example or another committee's recommendation. Say, for example, if it's on landslides, or if it's about Himalayan sort of anything, talk about the Deepak Chopra committee and how, um, you know, development needs to be in a certain way, or the Madhav Gadgil committee, which talks about not developing recklessly and conserving thoughtlessly, something like that. So, try to, um, have certain differences and have one or two things which I, which you can use alternately in the answer.

So, this was, uh, disaster management. Uh, there are five to seven disasters, uh, that you can, um, sort of have notes on or prepare accordingly and have a certain structure to it. In terms of, say, introduction, you can talk about, say, the Chamoli, um, um, thing, flooding which happened here, or say, uh, the, uh, the oil, the oil spill that happened somewhere else. Whatever the question is, or say, say, I remember there was this question on urban floods which came in one of the test series questions. So, one way in which you can talk about this is, say, talk about flooding, um, across India and the difference here. So, for example, if you're, it's happening, it's because of, say, over-flooding of the Brahmaputra, right? When it happens in Bihar and the Northeast, right, it happens because of this. When it happens in Chennai, it's because of something else. If it happens in, say, Mumbai, it's because of unplanned, um, unplanned urbanization. If it happens here, it's usually because of glacial outbursts. So, you can just talk about flooding here and use maps and diagrams to show how different flooding is happening in different places. So, disaster management, uh, this was there.

For security again, if you're talking about solutions, talk about solutions that the government can take, talkable solutions, and the armed forces can take. Talk about solutions that the local people can take. So, try to divide everything in terms of solutions, causes, and even within that, subheadings, right? So, even, um, anything that you're doing, legal steps, institutional steps, as we talked about in polity here, uh, community-based steps, army-based steps, local-based steps, and examples of that. So, in GS3, in the way forward and everything, I think you can use a lot of government schemes, government steps that have been taken. This is one space, even in GS2, in the governance part as well. Talk about government schemes, government steps, government committees which are there to make your answer better. So, disaster management, security is done.

Then, um, environment. Environment may, uh, again, apart from, uh, examples, uh, and there are enough, uh, you can use various sources for that as well. So, say, Down to Earth. If I, if I was like really free and I didn't feel like studying anything, or I was getting too bogged down, I used to just like open Down to Earth videos, the magazine videos that you get, and any new example of something that has happened nicely in some part of the country, someone is doing good things for the environment, I used to just remember them and write them down and use them in the conclusion or in the main body of the answer. So, examples is something that you can use in environment. Even in terms of, say, something, the Italian hydropower project and its influence. So, based on whatever question is being answered, this time there's this question, say, on water crisis. So, in terms of an introduction, in, in environmental questions, the, uh, it can either be an example of, say, a water crisis, say, the Chennai water crisis, um, which has led to issues there, or you can talk about data, right? So, data and examples are certain ways in which you can start it. Data, water crisis, say, the NITI Aayog report about, you know, these many districts, 70 will be in water stress, this thing by 2022 or something like that. So, remember these few data points. Say, for plastic, for water, for soil, for all of that. And in the last seven days of your, um, before your Mains, make sure that you're just going through all of this data, these examples, and use it in your answers, right? So, water crisis, um, or anything that was there. I think this time the question was about micro-irrigation and water crisis. But anything which is that, you can talk about, um, the issues, uh, in the introduction. In the introduction itself, through an example or through in data to catch the attention. In terms of body, divide it in however way you can. So, uh, I haven't written the question here, but the question, I think, was about, in light of the current water crisis, how far do you think micro-irrigation can benefit? So, firstly, in terms of water crisis, you will just show after this thing, uh, that, you know, water crisis, uh, is something that is affecting. So, this is not a main part of the question, the water crisis. It's seeing in the light of the water crisis. So, after an introduction about, say, the, the part of India which is under micro-irrigation, I remember I did use this data. I don't remember the data right now, but the area of the, of India which is currently under my, under micro-irrigation, which is very, very minuscule. You start with that introduction. You just talk about part of the question. In terms of, can micro-irrigation, uh, solve it? So, micro-irrigation, you can start by little by, by what it is, just in terms of one line, and say, one, two, three, four ways may it can help. Then you can also talk about, say, micro-irrigation will help in this way. At the same time, it is not a silver bullet. It is not the only thing. So, the next part of the question, you can talk about other ways as well. And then, in the conclusion, you can talk about, see, having a holistic approach, having this overall sort of thing will help us solve the water crisis. And may you can talk about, say, the Mihir Shah committee, which especially talks about water and treating it as an entire system rather than having a piecemeal approach. So, this is a way in which you can handle environment-based questions, using data, using examples, using committees which give suggestions, especially as the way forward.

Then we have economy. And economy, especially recently, it's been become very tricky as to how to approach this because sometimes random questions are answered. But make sure that whatever is at least mentioned in the syllabus, you have enough data points on that. Here also, you can begin, uh, with certain data that is being there. This time, there was this question on, say, um, GDP was there. There are certain questions on, say, budget and also those things. I think you can't sort of predict if those are there. You have to tackle them as they come. But if there are certain questions about, say, macroeconomic indicators or anything, start with data. Anything you have about that fact. If it's about agriculture, say, so talk about, say, what is the amount of food grains that have been produced in the country, or the percentage of farmers, uh, in India, the percentage that is still dependent on, say, the secondary sector or the tertiary sector. So, start with that. Again, you can also use, say, according to the Economic Survey, if something has been given, whatever data you give, try to back it up. Otherwise also, if there's a certain thing that the Economic Survey is saying, beneath the Aayog agenda for 75, at the data 75 is saying, you can start economy questions with this. It can give a good introduction. Body, whatever is the, this thing will depend from, um, question to question. But see, there are certain things in the syllabus, say, uh, railways, say, ports. Make sure that at least on these things, although the questions this time are more current-based, whatever is coming in the news, but railway, ports, so have certain content on that ready. How much, what is the ratio of railways, uh, safe freight, uh, and versus passenger? Similarly, say, committees, uh, in terms of way forward. So, the Anika Kordkar committee or the Bibek Debroy committee. These are things that you can, uh, work on in economy answers. Export policy, right? Export policy, it was in the news recently. I remember this from one of the test series questions that I answered. So, one thing that you can start with in terms of the government aim is to, uh, double it from, say, two percent to four percent, or the aim of, you can start by saying that the aim of $400 billion of exports in this, this year have been met, and this is something which is there, right? So, these are things that you can follow for economy.

For science and technology, I think I've more or less talked about already. I just like to say that last time, I think there was this question about biotechnology and agriculture. A possible question can be on nanotechnology in other aspects, or in agriculture, or anything like that. Make sure that you have as many dimensions as possible when you're reading the newspaper. Say, in The Hindu, I remember there's a specific page for science which comes. In Indian Express also, sometimes there are certain things. Make sure that your eyes and ears are open for all of these examples. You don't need to read the entire thing, but even if there's just one line seeing nanotechnology used in, say, making fabric of a certain kind, or artificial intelligence used by Google to do this, or say, there's this collaboration between Uber and the Karnataka government regarding artificial intelligence, about, say, road traffic, just make sure that you write that down, jot that down, and next time when you write an answer, use it. So, opening as many dimensions in, in, uh, science and tech questions, I think, is likely, uh, to fetch you good marks. And these are things that you can prepare beforehand.

Lastly, we come to GS4. And GS4, may, uh, again, there are two parts. First is the first part where there are, uh, usually 10-marker questions, and the second part where there are case studies. And both, both of them have different approaches. In terms of a certain question that was asked this year, in terms of the first part of the question, so in my ethics paper this year, I got 139 marks, which was a relatively good score. But relatively, I think at that time, I didn't know it'll be fine. But looking back, I feel that it was the use of examples, apart from, say, the basic definitions and the, you know, things of attitude and, say, ethics, role of ethics, dimensions of ethics, that you anyway learn for. Apart from that, it was use of examples, use of quotes, uh, use of, you know, um, say, mythological incidents or characters of stories that I tried to incorporate in my answers, which got, got me those extra marks. And these, I tried to employ both in the first part as well, in this, as well as in the second part, right? So, for example, uh, this time, there was this question, the first question which was there in GS4 this time, on "Identify five ethical traits on which one can plot the performance of a civil servant and then justify." So, this was the question. The second question, I remember, was something about 10 ethical traits or something of that same sort, only, right? So, these are questions that no one can say that I know or I don't know. Me, the person after me, and the person after me, all, all of us know the answer and will write something on the other. The question then now becomes, how to get more marks than the person before and after you, right? So, in this question, uh, those five ethical traits would more or less, uh, be sort of similar only. People will pick up any five traits, based on the Nolan committee or anything else. So, I picked up five traits, but I tried to also, whenever I was using any point in ethics, I tried to show as to why that was there. So, for example, first ethical trait, I would say, selflessness, right? Selflessness, and then I'll link it with, based on orientation, service orientation towards the public, blah, blah. This is something that can be, uh, judged on. For example, um, um, [Music] say, uh, Ms. Lakshmi Priya, on, in terms of, say, um, working day and night for, say, project some Pune in Bangal. Or, secondly, a another ethical trait would be courage, but I then back it up by saying, see, the example of, uh, Sanjukta Parashar in border militancy areas, right? Or here, selflessness, may I can also talk about, uh, Tamboli and his, um, you know, building of a hospital against, uh, many, many odds in Maoist-affected areas where, you know, there was danger to his life. So, I don't need to mention that in as many words, but say, something, explain why, and then give an example. Say, something, explain why, and then. So, in terms of the second part of the question, which was justify, I'm actually justifying why it is there and why those ethical traits are, um, sort of, uh, one can plot the performance, right? Because, and then, at the end, you can sort of justify it in terms of all five states as well, that, you know, um, these ethical traits are important because, apart from say, uh, merit, or apart from, you know, efficiency at work, emotional intelligence is something also which is important, and, you know, humaneness is something on which, uh, the public judges the people, and the import, and the importance of say, um, civil service is orientation towards the public. So, at the end, you can link all these five points together as well, in terms of why these are the only, the five that I have chosen, and not any other five, right? So, this is something that I could do. I think I wrote selflessness, courage. Another one can be honesty and transparency. So, again, uh, try to show why that is the case, and where it has been, uh, used or seen, uh, uh, has been using, has been, uh, by used by a civil servant, right? So, this is certain things which I used to do. Is write something, give examples.

Similarly, for, um, quote-based questions. So, sometimes there are three to four, uh, quote-based questions where what is given is just a single quote, is given, and then you have to say, what, what do you basically understand by that? So, um, apart from if I knew who the quote was by, so sometimes, say, for example, the quote is, "The only thing for, uh, for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." See, if this is the quote, so if I identify who the quote is by, then I can say, you know, this quote by, uh, Edmund Burke, or someone else, is some, is something which tries to show, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, whatever I'd like to, uh, uh, state by that. And in these quote-based questions, because this is something which people don't understand as to how to approach them, there can be other ways of approaching it. But I personally try to approach it by explaining it through various real-life examples, and also linking it to other philosophical quotes and other philosophical sayings by other people as well. So, say, this is a quote, I try to say, you know, this means that as, as good citizenry, we must hold our people accountable, hold our leaders accountable, and constantly question them. So, for example, Lokpal agitation was there to make sure that anti-corruption stance was taken, right? So, through, once I, I say something that what I mean by it, then I can use something else. Then, um, another example would be, um, about self-reliance. So, um, I would then talk about, uh, self-reliance in the context of environmental ethics, uh, that, you know, rather than pointing the blame on someone else, we should try to change our own lifestyle and talk about these things rather than, you know, going along with it. And here, I would use again the example of Mahatma Gandhi as to "Be the change you want to see in the world." Right? And at the end, I would probably say that, um, three reasons. And sometimes these quotes are there. So, I, this, I, there's not necessarily something that there's a, there's a counter to. But sometimes the quotes, you can't completely agree all. So, you can say that, you know, these are certain A, B, C reasons why it can be implemented and why it's the correct thing. But at the same time, there is an alternative picture also which can be shown, not necessarily contending it completely, but saying that, you know, it can be seen in this way also, at the same time, or yet. So, in these quote-based questions, you can, uh, sort of divide it into, say, um, 75 percent, 25 percent, in terms of 75 agreeing, 25 not agreeing, or completely, so even 90 or 10 also, sometimes, right? And, um, yeah, and then I think I ended this with, uh, a quote by Kant, where he was saying that, you know, one, what one ought to do, one can always do. So, using one quote, and then interspersing those things with other quotes, as to what, see, other people have also said the same thing in different words, and also linking it to real-life examples where, say, the local agitation happened because of this, or for example, a historical example, say, in Hitler's, in Hitler's Germany, a lot of for a long time, people did not say enough, and this is why certain atrocities happened, and those people are also equally complicit in that. So, you can use historical examples, you can use real-life examples, you can use mythological examples. So, for example, I also used in this, uh, question, uh, that, you know, um, even people like, um, Dronacharya, they did not say anything, so they were equally culpable as, uh, said, or the Kauravas. So, merely sort of not seeing anything, it makes you equally culpable in the act. So, using different varieties of examples, that I think makes it, makes your answer a little more interesting in ethics. So, rather than just thinking that, you know, I'll only use ethical values and only use what I read in the books, try to be a little more creative in, in the ethics paper and the essay paper. This is something that I tried to do, and it did give me some sort of positive results. So, you can also try it while you're writing and practicing answers. Okay, so this was the first part of the question, the first half of the paper, GS4, which are relatively 10-marker short questions. So, I think there's a lot more opportunity to be more creative.

The second part is the case studies. And case studies also, you can approach in different ways. Uh, I can't exactly share, uh, the entire long questions right now, but in terms of, so sometimes there are certain things, there are also differences in terms of how the case studies are there. But usually there are, say, A, B, and C, or sometimes A and B. So, there are usually two or three, uh, sub-questions in the, in the case study, and they're around four to five pages to answer the case study. Uh, up before answering, say, this is question number seven, right? If this is question number seven, A, B, and C, while answering, I used to at least write one paragraph or more before I started answering 7 A, B, and C, right? So, this before wala part could either be started through some nice quote, it could either be started through a nice anecdote related to what is being taught, what is being talked about. It can again be started through, um, listing the ethical dilemmas that are there in the case. So, say, I, the above case, uh, talks about the ethical dilemma, uh, certain ethical dilemmas A, B, C, in a certain line, you can start with that. You can start with the quote. You can start with an anecdote. You can start with, say, both. You start with the quote and then you link it with, you know, these are the ethical dilemmas being faced. You can also, um, if the question says not asking. If the first question is about stakeholders, identify the stakeholders, then you won't use stakeholders here. But if, say, it's not asking about stakeholders, then you can start the introduction also, apart from whatever the first line you're seeing about a stakeholder analysis, these are the following stakeholders there. Okay? So, these are various ways in which you could start your introduction. You could also start it by linking it to any recent events that are there. Okay? So, um, if there's a question about, say, farm laws, a farm, farmer agitation, or, um, a certain protest, or certain rights somewhere else, so you can say that, you know, the above case, uh, is similar to, or highlights a recent case which happened here in this, this thing, where certain ethical dilemmas of ABC were there, right? And certain questions of, uh, freedom of expression, ABC were talked about. So, you can link it to any recent event which has been there. So, it shows that you're aware of what is happening, right? So, these are various ways in which you can start these introductions. There are five to six case studies, so make sure that, um, you're not using the exact same template in all six of them, otherwise it gets a little boring. So, try to change a little bit also. If you think that, you know, it's, I think it's slightly better to change it, uh, but no, don't like do it unnecessarily. Also, if you think the demand of the question is such that you don't need to change it, and if there are certain quotes that you feel are nice and you would like to use into three things, then it's fine. But again, don't try to repeat the same quote also in more than two to three questions, because then it feels that, you know, this is the only quote you know, and you're just repeating it again and again. So, any sort of examples in quotes you use, you can't repeat it once or twice, but not more than that, because it feels a little done.

So, this is the introduction. In terms of the body, again, uh, you can do a little, uh, have a little diversity. Certain things that, you know, again, in, in terms of the introduction or the preliminary part, uh, say, if you're writing seven, I've just written the introduction and other parts. Again, one thing you can do in terms of analyzing the question is making a table like this, where you're talking about fact and value, or when you're talking about, say, if it's a major part of the question, talking about what are the values shown in this, or what are the ethical issues, uh, in this case. So, then you can talk about fact, or you can talk about value or issue here. So, if say, say molestation has happened, right? Or molestation of, say, ABC, or say, second part of the question is, um, censorship of newspaper ABC XYZ, right? So, these are certain facts of the case study, and fill it in with exactly the, say, the name of this person, name of this person. This is the fact of the case. The value of the issue involved would be, say, gender justice, right? Then, right to equality. So, then here also, I think you can mention, so here you can say, mention SDG 5, if it's something else, maybe here it's not SDG 5, but like SDG 5, you can mention here, right to equality, Article 14, 15, right? So, uh, try to use. I tried personally, uh, to use, I wouldn't, uh, I mean, ask you to do anything, but I personally try to use articles of the Constitution, my knowledge and polity in governance in these questions as well. So, right to equality, this, similarly, censorship may you can write, you know, right to freedom of expression, so Article 19, uh, can be highlighted. Certain DPSPs can be highlighted. So, fundamental rights, DPSPs, these also, apart from the ethical issues per se, honesty, integrity, brotherhood, cooperation, I try to use these things as well in my ethics answers. So, this is one thing that you can use in one or two ethics answers as well, if, if it's asked in a certain way in terms of highlighting ethical issues.

Another thing that you can do is stakeholders. I already talked about ethical dilemmas. Uh, you can use in terms of, say, suggestions that you are giving. I also try to use, uh, apart from whatever suggestions that you have, you can link it with the governance examples. So, if it's a question on, say, Maoist areas, so I remember using this example of, say, I think it was Abhishek, somewhere. Similarly, there was this, uh, Swabhiman Anchal, which had done really good work in, um, in the most affected areas in terms of bringing development there. So, don't shy away from using these additional examples from governance, from GS2, in these papers as well. And again, for the conclusion or the ending, you can have a forward-looking quote. You can even, you can use quotes. You can use, you can just list down whatever ethical issues were there in terms of key terms, key ethical terms. See, ideas of professional integrity, uh, or there are certain terms, I think, and I used toppers' copies. I've started, I forgot some of them right now. I haven't written this down here, but there are certain terms that you can identify from toppers' copies in terms of, say, you know, um, good governance, ethical good governance, or certain SDGs, or Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas. All of these terms, I think you can keep peppering your answers with. And especially in the conclusion, make sure that your conclusions are very forward-looking in all four papers. And these terms are certain things which can help you in, in doing that, right? So, this is basically it for all four, four papers. And me, I'd just like to say that overall, for questions you don't know, don't worry in the final paper because everyone here, there would be on the same page as well. Everyone would be at the same page. So, make sure that whatever you know, try to fit it into those answers. Don't leave answers blank, or try to fit it into the subheadings of the question that are being asked, to the best of your ability. Be confident whether you're writing those answers. At least when you're writing them, be confident. Don't be overconfident when you're analyzing your answers. Make sure that confidence is only when you're writing the answers. But when you're analyzing and there's the space for improvement, make sure that you constantly improve based on the feedback that you're getting. Um, overall, identify, uh, so, for example, if there is a certain comparison that you need to do between A and B, and it's given clearly in the question, see if you can make a table for that. See if you can do something different for that. If there's a small part of the question which is not the main, main part, try to, say, for example, the advantages of certain thing, and it's not a major part of the question, try to like answer it through this, right? If there's a comparison, try to say, use this to sort of save space where, say, if you're talking about moderates and extremists, then say, talk about in terms of method, this, or aims, something else, right? So, try to keep, uh, innovating in terms of how you're, uh, answering, uh, these questions. And, um, identify certain key terms for each paper which you can use in the, in the end. Say, SDG, say, five trillion dollar economy, say, Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, ethical good governance, idea of New India, Asia of tomorrow. So, these things, I think, can help you in writing better answers. And, um, I think this was mainly it. And only, I think these are things that I, that I personally try to follow, and I try to personally cultivate before my Mains answer writing. I hope some of it, uh, helped all of you, and, uh, try to incorporate only those parts which you think you can, and which you think will help you. If you think there are certain things which do not match your style and it's only inhibiting you, it's not helping you, good. Write good answers. Leave those parts out. But whatever I think you could incorporate from today's session, I hope you did, and I hope all of you would implement it in some way in the future. All the very best for all your endeavors. Thank you.