Toppers' Talk by Utkarsh Ujjwal, AIR 68 and Muskan Khurana, AIR 98 | UPSC CSE 2022

[Music] [Applause] Postgraduation from JNU [Applause] Good afternoon everyone [Music] [Applause] [Music] 68 no these are the marks of my three Mains, it doesn't matter much, but this is just to show that the marks are from 38 to 415. Everyone knows this. [Music] Let's quickly move on. Basically, as far as this year's Prelims was concerned, I haven't looked at the question paper thoroughly. So this is all up to last year. This year's Prelims hasn't been looked at properly. The most important thing for Prelims is PYQs. What can be the sources? There is a website called Exam Robot. What happens here is that PYQs are searchable. You can search, for example, if you type "Gupta" on their website, you can search for UPSC CDS, MDS, all exams. Of Gupta, Mughal, and repeating themes, you know them: Buddhism, Jainism, Vijayanagara, Mughal, Delhi Sultanate. So with this, you can prepare for Prelims. One more important thing is that you can make notes of everything that you read. For Prelims, you have to make very small, very crisp keywords and notes. Like I have a sample here. And as I said, you have to find commonly repeating themes. What are commonly repeating themes? That is, Buddhism, Jainism. If you analyze the PYQs, you will find that there are some topics which are repeated very often. It is necessary to do all the questions of all those topics that were asked in the previous years, because you have to understand that in Art and Culture, History, etc., no question is old. A question that was asked in 1998 can also be asked in 2023. Repeating themes should be prepared well. And as for elimination skills, I won't say much after seeing last year's questions. They went very well, and all three of my Prelims cleared. So I don't know about next. Yes, as I said, you have to be very specific when making notes for Prelims. By being specific, I mean writing keywords and trying to see if you can recall from those keywords. You have to train your mind to see how Prelims questions come from a keyword. For example, it has changed, but Prelims engineering will check your recall capacity, whether you are remembering that thing from that keyword or not. Therefore, you have to make your notes in such a way that you remember things from the keywords. Notes have to be made interconnected. What does interconnected mean? That if you have read about the Mughal Empire, then its parallel Delhi Sultanate also runs. Also, you have to recall once in your mind, okay, in the Mughal Empire, like Diwani something something, all these bodies were in Mughals. And yes, that's Diwani Khas, Aam, all these are related to Mughals. Then, similarly, a particular name will come, it was used in Delhi. So you have to see these links, which names. And always try to study common things, not separate things. For example, a very basic example is, tell me about the Indus Dolphin. So you have to remember it like this, not individually. Similarly, what is the common name for the spotted leopard, the normal one, and another leopard, the snow leopard? You have to remember them together. Always remember information in sets, not separately. Wherever you see a pattern, you will remember all of them together. Okay, you can make them both online and on pen and paper. It will take 10-15 days. And the reason for this was also that I used to give Mains from home initially, and when giving online tests, copy-pasting is easy. If you are giving tests, you can make them, but for making keyword-entry notes, and always try to use visual memory, because the brain's visual memory is good, so it will remember more if you have represented it in a diagram or a map. It is more beneficial to see that. Suppose you are giving a Prelims test, this is a bit important. Between 12:00 PM and 2:00 PM, you should finish making its notes by 4:00 or 5:00 PM. Because the more you delay this test, the more recent it will be, the better the mind will recall. The mind will know what it thought and took the answer. So make notes very quickly of whatever test you are given. And we have to make notes. In economics, what happens here is the tax rate, and here it is. It says that at an optimal tax rate, the most revenue is generated. If the tax rate is very low, then tax will not come anyway. So in Prelims, you can consider this as the number of questions attempted, and this as your marks. For a particular set of questions, your marks will be maximum. What you have to do is, after giving multiple tests, find out where your switch comes. For example, in all the three Prelims that I qualified, I attempted more than 95 questions. Because I knew that even if I solved fundamental rights, out of 10 questions, two or three would be wrong. So I have to understand that I have to attempt more questions. Many people attempt 70-80 and get marks, but we have to be very strategic in how many questions we attempt. And for that, you have to solve a number of tests, and it will come from iteration. You will know your strengths. If you give tests, you will realize that your questions are going wrong, or your Art and Culture questions are going wrong. And for every topic where you are making mistakes, there is a particular reason why you are making mistakes in that area. For example, if you are making mistakes in Art and Culture, it means you are not able to remember things, and you have to remember them by doing something. If you are making mistakes in Economics, it means your basics are slightly shaky. So like this, we have to understand what are strengths and weaknesses. And this entire preparation becomes such that we have to enhance our strengths and minimize weaknesses. It's okay if weaknesses don't become strengths, but weaknesses should be minimized. This is one thing I had a problem with in the exam. There are many variables, challenges, especially in a two-hour paper, and there are thousands of variables. Maybe your chair is shaking, maybe the air conditioner is making noise, so there can be 50 things. When you are giving tests at home, you have to ensure that you have informed your mind about all these things. It can happen, and it actually does happen. In a two-hour paper, all these things can be a big factor. So while giving the test, you have to ensure that you are properly preparing for exam-like conditions. First, so we can ask questions about how to revise. I have put a photo of my spaced revision notes. What does spaced revision mean? That you revised something, let's say you revised something today. Let's say today is the 9th of June. You revised something. After 6 days, its revision. If you revise this thing after 20 days, 30 days, the mind will only retain 15-20%. And the notes should be very special. Like you read, let's say someone wrote your notes. Okay, it was from two years ago too. That is, if you see a lot, then in your notes, let's say your notes only show a body, Maitreya. Actually, Maitreya was called the future Buddha. So you have to remember, what other Buddhas are there? So I remember, while reading this in the notes, actively recall in your mind, what else do I remember related to this? You have to recall at this point. It's not that I'll read about Bodhisattva 17 later. You have to force your brain to recall every other thing that you know related to this. Very good. It was in Mahayana Buddhism. What were the other divisions of Mahayana Buddhism? Remember related things that you can remember. And wherever you are making mistakes, like in Economics, Polity, it means your basics need to be slightly worked on. So you have to strengthen your basics again. You should make a notebook for quick revision, and this is for both Prelims. You should make a notebook in which, separately for Prelims and Mains, you have very quick revision notes. Does anyone have an A4 sheet? Give me an A4 sheet. [Music] So this was made from a notebook. I will fold it in half and staple it here. But revision on this means a lot. These are very crisp, small things. Write on it, and it's very easy to revise. Now, about this spaced revision I was talking about, look at my notes. Like I made notes from tests. Revision of open mock. Look at this carefully once. Notes of revision of open mock. This is from some other test. This is from some other test. Like this, I have notes from many tests. How will I revise this? At then 2979, all these are dates. I am revising this on this date. Then I will put this at the back of the booklet in the style. Okay, so the second booklet is now ahead. Then I will revise this. This will go to the back. [Music] At what point are my marks the highest? This is what I was talking about. And I did it on hard copy too, but still I went to the portal and attempted all. As you can see, 2002-3-4-5, I did all of them. I attempted them on their portal. It's free of cost, so you can do that. The question comes whether we have to solve mock tests or PYQs. How much relevance should be given to both? For Prelims, we are doing it for Prelims. Both have their own relevance. If you are in doubt, you should go back to PYQs, because PYQs are the way to know how UPSC is asking. So always keep PYQs and syllabus with you at all times when you are preparing. You should have both of them with you at all times. Should I solve all the mocks, or should I solve five of Vision, five of some other coaching? There is no unanimous opinion on this. You can do either. What I used to do was, I would solve four or five mocks from Vision, and then two from some other coaching, and two from someone else. Like this, standard coaching. Like this, you will do. So one of my friends attempted like 150 marks. And like some people clear with five or ten marks. We have to understand where your sweet spot is. It becomes important that you need to be mentally calm that day. Whose? Yes, both cleared. I got 130 marks. But the one who got 10 marks. I used to do one thing. Just listen to this once. It's its importance. It's very important on the day of Prelims. Whoever gave it this time, there is a lot of pressure on the day of Prelims. Because the preparation of one or two years has to be condensed into two hours, right? And then it was my exam. So there are many factors like heat. So I used to do two-three things, and these might sound silly. What I used to do was, in the morning, I would write my roll number on the black OMR. The pattern of the roll number is something like this. If you go to the internet, it looks like this. The roll number section is here. These are very small things, but they help in staying calm in Prelims. In the morning, what I used to do was, let's say I am giving the 2023 exam. I have done PYQs. Suppose you are giving it, you have done PYQs. I used to take last year's question paper in the morning. On Prelims morning, I would know the answers. But still, I would take an OMR and a UPSC question paper and do five question papers like this. This makes the mind think that in the exam, you are not solving the first question of the day. You are solving the sixth question of the day, because you have done five questions at home. All these things help in staying calm on the day of Prelims. And you should make mnemonics. We'll come to that later. You should make ways to remember things. As you are preparing, and on the day of the exam, the problem is that many people do not trust the strategy you devised while solving different tests. I don't think this is a good strategy. Because you have studied for a year and found a method that your marks are maximum at 80 questions. So if you change it in the exam, you are pretty much out of the race. In the exam, you have to trust your services. You have to trust your knowledge. You have to do all these things. Coaching is a separate matter. Those who don't solve tests, they think it's qualifying. Formula. And I will set this set at the end. This is a very big strategy. Because you cannot learn how to solve mathematics in 20 days. You have to keep doing it from before. In Mains, if you have done it, then the game of Mains, in my opinion, I took three Mains and in all of them, the marks increased. 338, I think, were in GS in the first Mains, and in the last, it was 415. And there was an improvement of 85 marks in Optional. So the point is, Mains is the most rewarding stage of the exam. What does rewarding mean? That if you are putting in the effort, you will see marks in Mains. In Prelims, you have to fill the OMR. There are many variables. In Interview, someone else is giving you marks. Mains is your playground. You have to do well in Mains. Mains analysis, speed, presentation, there are many variables. For example, question number two is written on the third page. Space is limited. Our speed is also a limiting variable because everyone's speed is different. You have content, that is also a limiting variable. In all these, introduction, conclusion, and the body. So Mains is a game of balancing all these four-five variables to create an answer. Not one answer, but 20 answers in 3 hours. So time is also a variable. So it's not just about knowledge. As you can see, how fast you are writing, whether you are putting the introduction, body, conclusion correctly, whether you are utilizing the space or not. Many variables. Because knowledge to complete the paper. So the person who wrote average content will get more marks. The pattern is the same, 10 marks on the third page. On the third page, a different question starts. I will tell you soon. By doing the basics, you have to read basic books. There are three, four, five basic books, or you can add value to them. Value addition is not done all at once. People say you should add value, you should do it, obviously you should. But value addition is not done all at once. I used to see it like this: suppose you have a wall to paint. There are two ways. Other coaching does it like this. First coaching, it doesn't get done well. Another way is, first light coating, then full second coating, then full third coating. In preparation, we should do this. We should not do half of it well and not even touch the other half. You have to ensure that everything you know, you have to do. First, you will do the first level of value addition for the basic books, then it will happen gradually. You will know tomorrow that in GS, I have to add Supreme Court cases. So you will prepare some Supreme Court cases. Then you read about more cases. So you will keep adding to it. So it happens layer by layer. You cannot sit and do all the Supreme Court cases that I can. It doesn't happen like that. Therefore, in the preparation process, you have to start everything now, and it will keep happening over time. Paper-specific keywords are a factor. What does this mean? That in GST, you have to use keywords like cooperative federalism. These are keywords that can be used. Decentralization. These are keywords. In GS3, if you are using it in agriculture, then use its keywords. If you are using it in economics, then use its keywords. If you are using it in security, then there are specific keywords for it. Like this, you have to use paper-specific keywords. This will also come with time. You cannot sit and do everything in one day. As you make notes, you will keep thinking, okay, this keyword can be used in GS3 in my answers. So you highlight it. Like this, over time, you will be able to use them. And this is the first stage. What is the stage? Once you have noted the keywords, the second stage is the third stage. In general, many people get stuck here. They get stuck here. Using them in the exam. In general, we should not leave any topic. Like I have written three Mains, and World. A question came, 3 months. Geography is also not very strong. More than 95 marks. Because 100 marks are for Geography itself. Therefore, you have to prepare everything. Topics like governance, and in general, for topics for which notes are not made, you can prepare them from here. Ethics becomes important. Because, as I said, GS1, 2, and next is GS3, 4. The fourth paper is Ethics, and you suddenly have to shift from 3 to 4. For example, for Ethics, if you have taken classes, then it's fine. I didn't take classes. So in general, I did it from the internet. From the Telegram channel of selected students. If you look at it carefully, many people share notes. And especially notes for Essay and Ethics, you can take them as your own. In GS2, there is subjectivity, but in Ethics, you can take someone else's notes and make them your own. Because keywords, examples, quotes, these will not change much. This will remain the same. So you have to see the Telegram channel. For example, last year, I think [Music] 16. Go to their Telegram channel, and you will find it. Search yourself for those who have done good work, who are doing good work. From this also, people pick up case studies. And in general, newspapers are important. But in general, I call them short notes. I used to make them before the exam. GS4, GS4 is done. They will help in recall. After the break for GS3, if I read them, the mind will know. So I randomly made that word, initials of everyone. I know GS4. And what do I have to do? If I see this, I have to put Supreme Court cases. I can put constitutional articles. I have to put SG. I have to write second year C. Theories mean the same thing, like John Rawls' theory and theories of other people. Examples, current examples, quotes, shlokas, Gandhi ji's seven sins. Ethics keywords. Apps like Domestic Violence Act. Trade max. Flowcharts. I know that for the Ethics paper, I have to sprinkle all these things. So the mind has got a mind map, right? That all these things should come in the paper. And it is very important to do this in the end. Because the first Mains that I

The mind was given, I don't remember how to write keywords in such a situation, meaning I wrote an answer like GS. One has to tell the mind that if you haven't recalled the seventh sense, then it won't happen. You can't use SG if you haven't specified yourself. You can bring examples from movies, you can bring anecdotes, you have to bring laws, constitution, acts, statistics. What is an opinion? It's the opinion of a scholar. In general, ethics and essay have a lot of overlap because in essay too, we have philosophical topics. Only last year's topic was of a philosophical nature, and this year too, the same trend will continue. So, have examples, quotes, reports, slokas. It's something to do in the seventh sense. If you look at it just before the exam, you will recall what all you need to revise. How to do value addition? So, like on one page, just before the exam, on one page, just prepare all the schemes that you can have. There are so many schemes in health. What is important is that even if you don't know the exact provision of the scheme, you should know how to use it. Because the person who is checking your copy doesn't know if you remember the provisions of the scheme or not. And also, you don't have to. You won't even have that much space to write about the provisions of the scheme. If you have put keywords, then you don't need to do it. We have to ensure that schemes are in one place in your mind. Similarly, in one place in your mind should be, I have put them in one place, cases should be in your mind. On the internet, meaning everywhere you will find it. Just an example, I had taken it from Evernote before the GS paper. If you read this, you will remember that if you saw any relevant case, then you will be able to use it. Similarly, this is also like that. These are all value addition contents. After doing your basic books, this you have to do. Articles should be in one place. For example, 77, 72 and 161 of the Governor. And [music] before the exam, you should know that keywords are not to be done. Thank you. I was saying that if you have keywords just before the exam, and in mains too, the mental aspect becomes very important. As I said, you have to write 4-6-7 papers, right? Like GS 1-2. Besides this, there are Hindi newspapers. You have to write for a week, and in three days, there are five papers. So, the mental aspect becomes important here too. This time, what I did for the first time was that I wrote in general. So, I did not write tests properly. I used to give a three-hour test in three parts, one hour each. Meaning, in general, I did not write any test completely. This time I came to Delhi for mains and practiced simulation for the first time, giving GS 1-2-3-4 in two days. I did this for the first time, and it has benefits. So, engineering will become difficult, meaning speed won't come. Therefore, tell your brain that you have done it once before. These are all small things, but they matter. It depends on the student. I used Pilot V5. Pilot's is thin, to fill the page. I am writing with 0.7 mm. The benefit of this is that it writes a bit thickly, so the page is filled. I wrote with a ballpoint pen. Some papers were not even completed, and it was faint. The whole paper should be short notes. If you have written a presentation, like I have written here, like I have written here, if a question of ESG comes and I have written here, then there is a little variety. And this should always be done by putting it between two boxes and doing it like this. There should always be two boxes. And if possible, write what you have written. And this time, someone suggested to me that for every point that you write, you have to mention the point number also. Because [music] what is the meaning of the point number? That if last year there was a rank 6, Yash Yatri, he is my college senior. If you see his copy, you will see that everything is in points. Meaning, they give a lot of random things, like arrows, stars. Nothing like that. There are points, 1, 2, 3, 4. So, if you see the paper, you will think, okay, there are six points in issues, six points in challenges, points in the way forward, but there are two points in recommendations. So, the examiner will think that he has written a lot of points. I couldn't use it. To improve the presentation of the answer, go to websites. Many websites, you will find on Vision's website, you will also find on toppers' forums, and their copies will be available on their Telegram channels. What is working? What are people getting marks for these days? Just check, if someone has more marks in GS, then take out three copies of his GS and see. Then you will know what to do to get marks. And in general, you will develop your own design because you cannot copy someone else's entirely. So, if someone has written 1234 in points, you will do something else, but you will write. Meaning, you will develop a strategy. The blend of points, diagrams, maps should happen. It will happen from here. It is written, what is the importance of this scheme? So, your answer sheet should not have the word significance. Your answer sheet should have the word important only. Because the person checking is not paying that much attention to your copy, what is written, what is not written. If they see the word importance, and below it five points, they will give you marks. So, the keyword of the question should come in the answer. If it is importance, then importance will come, not significance. And in general, introduction, body, conclusion, framework, everyone uses. So, there is no need to debate much about it. After using that only, optionals are different for everyone. So, I don't have much to say. My optional was Anthropology. How many people have it? Three people. Inter-college optional. Okay. Whichever people have been selected, in their optional, you see 80+ marks. So, you cannot extend beyond the margin. In GS, you got 430, you got 440, but it is very difficult to get more than this. In optional, you can get to 90-100, and there your marks are 230. So, there is a margin of 70. And that 70 margin, you cannot bridge the gap. In GS, in GS 1-2-3-4, increasing marks by 10 or 20 will be very difficult. Therefore, the two papers of optional should be prepared well. If it is taking more time, then it should be. For optional, Narayan, Amit, Rohan, many people. You should see the copies of all these people. In this, if you have a humanity optional, then you will get case studies directly, diagrams directly. So, you have to see the copies of toppers, selected people, and from there, you have to copy whatever you feel is relevant for you. [music] Test series is not very important. Yes, one more thing. Now, this is the academic portion. Here, I will say a little more that the non-academic part, the mental aspect of the exam, is common. Preparation, everything is read, yet nothing comes, or there are so many things that nothing is read. Both these thoughts come. Therefore, to avoid burnout, it is very important that you take breaks. There is a Pomodoro technique. It is that you study for 25-30 minutes, then take a 5-minute break. Then study for 25-30 minutes, take a 5-minute break. This 5-minute break is important. You will not be able to concentrate continuously for one hour or one and a half hours. And in general, subject. Because that is marginal utility. The concept of variety in studies. What does it mean? Somewhere I opened Google Maps, suppose I have to revise the map. Then, in general, I looked at Google Maps, or I looked at diagrams. If I have revised Laxmikant many times, then next time I will revise from page 1, it won't go into my mind. So, what I do is just skip through Laxmikant pages. I will revise the tables. Whatever tables are in Laxmikant, I will revise them all at once. The second time, I will revise the chapters. It is important to bring some variation. Destination said, destination journey. I am talking about random content on the internet. Avoid destination. Because you are here, destination, and this is the journey. Suppose you are looking directly at this part. Perfection is also a big preparation. If you study well, the question will come from World War. [music] To keep mental health in check, it is important to talk to friends, family, mentors, whoever. Preparation cannot happen in isolation. I have done preparation, but it is not sustainable. I was at my home, meaning I was not in contact with any UPSC aspirant for around one and a half years. I wrote two mains like this, but it is not stable. There should be 1-2-3 people who understand you, and you should be in contact with them in general. You should not be extremely harsh on yourself also. Meaning, don't set very difficult goals. A quote is, you did very well. Don't overestimate what you do in one day, and don't underestimate what you can do in three months. The 18-hour one. And in three months, if I tell someone to do this, complete the optional paper one. How can I set a target? Right now, we underestimate what can happen in three months and overestimate what we can do in one day. Avoid this. This is a very random energy. This helped me a lot in staying sane. What is this? When I started preparation, I was looking at the mark sheets of different people. In that, it is seen that someone got very high marks in essay and very low in ethics. For example, very low in ethics, and they didn't get selected. Someone has very high in essay, very high in ethics, low in GS, they also didn't get selected. Someone has low in everything, they also didn't get selected. Someone has high in everything. The point is, every combination has already occurred. Millions of people have given UPSC before you. So, if your situation is bad, if you have a health problem, family problem, any problem, millions of people before you have cleared the exam in that condition. Suppose 1 lakh people are in your condition, out of them, 20,000 people have cleared the exam, 80,000 have not. So, this thought that it won't happen to me, how will it happen? But if I say, go to the moon, then it doesn't seem impossible for humans. And it shouldn't feel like I am alone in this journey. And it shouldn't happen to anyone. You shouldn't come into that mindset. Rewards are also important. You should reward your brain for doing something good. 10 hours. Meaning, you should know where time is being wasted. You know time is being wasted, but you are still wasting it. So, don't make that mistake. If you have studied properly for 2 years, then [music] you have to reach 80% level, not 60%. To clear the exam, he reached 60% and cleared the exam. You didn't work hard for a year, and you are at 60%. The exam didn't clear. Then next year, you will go to 65%. The exam won't clear. Next year, you will go to 70%. It won't clear. Fourth year, you went to 81%. Your exam cleared. The point is, why is it not happening? Because you are not working hard due to laziness. You are taking breaks. You are chilling in between. It took you 4 years to switch from 60 to 80. The one who did it in one year got selected. In one year of hard work, it took you 4 years. Cumulatively, look at how much hard work you have done. 120, 190, 270, 276. Meaning, you had to do 80, you did four times the effort in four years. There is no point in not working hard. This is my point. Work hard for one year, get selected from here. In general, there are some things. I will just take 5-10 minutes more. Where there is difficulty, syllabus and PYQ should be your best friends. Look at the syllabus, look at the syllabus. Always keep these as anchors for our preparation. If our preparation is in this range, these syllabus and PYQs are keeping the entire preparation in this range. You are reading random booklets and wandering around. Selection is not here. It will be here. So, you have to ensure, again and again, that the syllabus is also demanding that from us. One more thing is that it is very important to pace the preparation. What does pacing mean? Like the exam date, the exam, and today's date. A person's peak, one or two weeks. In my opinion, the peak for Prelims is around one week. We cannot sustain half of that. Art and culture topics. If you remember, they will stay in your mind for a maximum of 3-4 days. They won't stay beyond that. So, how much you revised art and culture here is not important. Did you revise art and culture 2 days before the exam? That is important. To pace yourself so that your peak comes here, not here, or not behind. People who work hard are everywhere. But the one who is working smart, by peaking at the right time, its importance is that you tell yourself. Writing a negative conclusion, so this has many benefits. The things you can control, you should control. There are websites. It suddenly occurred to me. There is a website called Lizard Point. What does it do? It will give you a map, like a quiz. It will give you a world map, and Africa. It will randomly say, tell me where the blue is, and you have to click. Just if you do Africa five times, you will remember the countries of Africa. If you do India five times, you will remember the countries of India. Therefore, in general, you have to see. You have to know how to use Google Maps. And the Telegram website of selected people. Revision holds the key. Spaced revision, as I said. Revision should not be like, I will revise everything in one day, and after four months, another revision. Spaced revision should continue. If you are attending a class, then you have to ensure that the things from the class are revised regularly. Because I have seen people who did not revise their class notes for six months, and in the seventh month, those notes seem like someone else's. If you take a chance, you won't read the book again. Your own notes won't feel like yours. Those test, I am talking about your class notes. You have to revise them. Then you have spent hours in your class, you have made your notes, so don't let them go to waste. You have to do this. There is inertia. Very bad inertia. What does inertia mean? Inertia means the mind doesn't want to write tests. The mind doesn't want to read newspapers. The whole game is mental. Fighting inertia is very important. There are no shortcuts. General preparation is this. So, you have to prepare for all four papers. You have to prepare for optional, essay, all these things. What does delaying gratification mean? Delaying gratification. Gratification is that temptation we have. If something is kept in front of us to eat, there will be temptation. But if I say, eat it after studying for two hours, then it is delaying gratification. Success is gratification. But you have to delay it. Because you have worked hard. Without it, you will not be able to get there. This is it. In the end, some things matter. Some things don't matter. If something has to be done, then you don't have to give 20-25 days to it. Give two days. In general, even if you are doing it, then thank you. What will I do if it comes? That's all I had. [music] Thank you. I am sharing whatever I am getting, and I will share it more. This is my email ID. Please do contact me if you need any help. Thank you for listening to me. My friend Muskan will tell you more. [Applause] Good afternoon, everyone. Sir has already explained everything in great detail. And I am sorry if I repeat the same thing, then half the people are already tired of listening. I am from Panipat, Haryana. After doing my schooling from Haryana, I did my graduation from Indraprastha College for Women, Delhi University, in Political Science Honors. I also did my Masters in Political Science at JNU, School of International Studies. My PhD started in April itself. So, this was my third attempt. My optional is IR. I gave my first attempt in 2019, the year my graduation was ending, meaning it had ended, and the civil exam was one month after that. At that time, my preparation was not much. Like most graduation-level students, I thought of going and writing once to know what happens in the paper, to get some idea. And at that time, I had also taken coaching for my optional. And during graduation, I attended a GS classroom course to understand what happens in the paper and also to utilize time a bit, because at the graduation level, there wasn't much pressure. So, after that, I gave my first attempt. I didn't even practice much for Prelims. I just went after reading the syllabus a little bit, some general books. Some things I learned from my graduation subject, Political Science. So, what happened was that my paper in Prelims was not even completed. So, in the first Prelims, because I didn't practice, I just went. I don't know, some people say it's a good idea, some people don't think it's a good idea to just give it. People think, let's just go and give it. But somehow, it kind of gave me an idea that there is a lot of deficiency in our preparation. So, from that, I realized. I gave my second attempt. I wanted to give the second attempt during COVID. During my Masters. But one month before the exam, I got dengue. So, I didn't give that attempt. Also, I felt that I was not in a good state mentally to write that paper. And I thought of stepping back and thought, I won't write this year. I gave it the next year. In that also, my Prelims did not clear. So, by then, I was feeling very demotivated. Whether it will happen or not, I started thinking that a Plan B is needed. So, at that time, I thought, let's keep a Plan B. Let's do my Masters and PhD. Because I felt having a Plan B would give me peace of mind and confidence to work on my planning. And a lot of people ask me this question, that should we have a Plan B? I feel like it's up to each one. If someone feels that Plan B is important for them so that they can do Plan A properly, then you can do it. But it should not be that because of this Plan B, your Plan A is compromised in any way. So, I kept my Plan B as academics. Meaning, if my Plan A is not working, then Plan B is also helping me. In a way, it is helping with planning.

For reading, because I am studying, I was not preparing for any CAT. I was doing my optional subject, you know, Masters and PhD. So, if we talk about Prelims, sir has already explained in great detail. There is no point for me to repeat everything. First of all, you have to analyze your personality and find out what your weaknesses and strengths are. So, I clearly knew that my weakness was Prelims. Earlier, with 67 marks, my paper was not even completed. That was the biggest problem. So, I worked hard on Prelims for 5 to 6 months. I am not ashamed to say it. People do it in 2 months. I did Prelims properly for five to six months, and even then, I secured only 89.5 marks in my Prelims. 88.2 is the cutoff. Okay.

And then in my, so my writing skills are pretty good. I have always known that. In my 11th and 12th, I believe I was, you know, 95% and like, state topper in Political Science and all that. I knew I was good at writing. My essays and all are good. Like, I should, I will give you a brief of my marksheet. I did not make a PPT, sorry. GS 1: 112, GS 2: 110, GS 3: 80, GS 4: 103. Optional, first paper: 129, second: 130. My optional score is 259. In Essay, I got 138, and in Personality Test, I got 193, which makes a total of 995. So, I knew that Prelims was my weakness. So, I studied for Prelims for 5-6 months. And somehow, I also used to think that my Maths was very weak. Right. For Maths, I always had to push hard, even in school time. So, I did my CSAT and Prelims preparation very well. Do not think you can do Prelims 2 months before and crack it. It would not have worked for me.

And what worked. So, after giving my Prelims, my Prelims also did not go very well. So, I thought that maybe this time it would not happen. So, for 15 days, I started preparing for ACS or something, thinking, "Man, this Prelims is going to happen anyway, let's do something else." And then, thankfully, the result came in 15 days because the result has started coming a little earlier than last year for Prelims. So, my Prelims cleared, and after that, I started my Mains preparation. So, I did not even prepare for Mains in between. Like, in those 15 days, I just looked over the optional superficially because I thought it would be useful in other states as well. So, after that, I prepared for Mains in those two and a half months, and I was confident that I would be able to do it because I knew my capabilities. I knew I could write. So, I managed it in 2 months accordingly.

So, the meaning of telling all this is that you have to assess yourself. What sir will say or what I will say will not work for everyone. So, you have to find out what is your strength and what is your weakness, and work accordingly. For Prelims, I took around 20-25 series for my paper. I took many tests from different coaching institutes. The scores were not always good; sometimes they were good, sometimes not. But the point is that you have to push through. Even if you are getting bad scores, you have to think positively that if mistakes are to happen, let them happen here. It's better to learn from here. So, how to study for Prelims and what resources to use, you will know that only when you analyze previous year questions. I feel there is no better guru in this exam than PYQs. For every stage of the exam, you have to sit with the PYQs and analyze which topics are being asked, what kind of questions are being asked. UPSC is not really asking what, it is asking how. It is asking analytical questions. So, if, for example, there are some questions in culture, topics like Buddhism, Jainism, or the Bhakti era, for all these, whether it is Prelims or Mains, you have to sit and analyze which questions are being formed so that you study accordingly. Otherwise, you are studying something else, and UPSC is asking something else, then there is no benefit, nothing productive will come out of it. Sometimes some coaching institutes do not have relevant questions. So, you know that even if my numbers are low, I should not get demotivated because what UPSC is actually asking, I have already covered through PYQs. Right. So, do PYQs very well, and I cannot, however much I emphasize this, because I also used to ignore it.

Also, whatever test series you are giving, do not just highlight or underline the answer key in the back and leave it. Because we feel that it will take a lot of time to write, highlight, analyze, and then we will pick it up again later and read it, which will never happen. Take my word, you will not pick up the test series after three months, four months, and then you will not revise it. Nobody has time. We also do not remember anything. So, whatever Prelims question of yours was wrong, and its answer in the test series answer key, write that wrong answer in a diary in brief, in two-three lines, and that is all UPSC asks. UPSC does not go into such detail. So, write it in a small diary, very briefly, and revise it repeatedly every month, every few weeks, because in the end, you will not be able to pick up those. So, this was a start. This was it that one of my seniors gave me, and it really worked out for me. After that, the basic resources, you all know. For Prelims, I would say, like sir said about World History, I don't think there is any topic in Mains that you can afford to leave. I studied World History for a week, 10 days, not in between Mains, but in the time before Mains when we have time. So, you cannot miss any topic in Mains. But in Prelims, you can emphasize areas that need to be emphasized, like based on your understanding of PYQs, you will understand that more questions are asked from Modern History, so it makes more sense to study Modern History than to focus on Ancient History for one or two questions. So, that is something you have to understand. You know, like good questions come from Polity, Economy, Modern History. You have to understand that you need to give more time to these subjects because they are scoring subjects. In the end, your marks will be counted, right? No one will look at how many marks you got in which paper. You have to identify based on the PYQs which subject to give more time to, which subject to revise more, which subject's Prelims to solve more. So, I think that is one thing that I felt is important. CSAT should be done alongside. CSAT should not be left for the end. Even test series should be done alongside. Do not think that after the syllabus is completed, we will give the test series. There is no benefit in that. You have to give it alongside so that you can analyze your performance and also know how to study. If you give test series alongside and give it at the end, time will be over. In the test series, you will realize later that this is how I should have studied, and then there is no time to go back. So, try to do it alongside.

And because I told you, I had only 2 months during Mains that I could use productively. I could write well. I had done writing practice before. I had taken test series. I had read the basic books before Mains, all the NCERTs, etc. I had made some notes when I was coaching. But alongside, I really tried to use the market resources well. So, if GS 3, for example, I had not prepared anything myself for GS 3. So, I looked around whose notes were available. Like, I took the notes of Sanyam Dwivedi, who was a topper last time, for his GS 3. They are available on Telegram, and they helped me a lot. My score is 80. So, the syllabus was covered from that because he made those notes very systematically. So, because of the nature of the examination, you know, it's so vast, I would suggest you to make your own notes. But when you feel that there is a time constraint, refer to the notes that are there in the market. I mean, don't look at everyone's. Pick one or two whose reviews are good and see. For example, I will tell you how I prepared my GS 4, Ethics. I had taken coaching for Ethics. I had made notes, done everything. But from notes, you don't know how to write the answer. Notes are only to provide you knowledge. So, I picked up the copies of toppers and just looked at them to see how to write answers. And I followed them. Because you sort of have ready-made answers. In the test series, they cover the entire syllabus. Whatever test, suppose it is Vision's test, it covers the entire syllabus. So, suppose last year's topper gave all the tests, then he has written answers for almost the entire syllabus. If you pick them up, you are getting ready-made answers with examples. And I am not saying you have to incorporate everything from them, because they are also candidates like you. But there is something that you certainly learn from them. And I picked up many examples from toppers' copies, and it made everything so easy for me. I did not have to go to any Telegram channel. I got ready-made answers. I got ready-made examples, and I used them in my tests. So, I think you have to do this smart work because hard work will only take you a little further. Because after that, there are many people who do smart work and hard work.

Apart from that, regarding optional subjects, my background is Political Science. Along with that, I referred to coaching notes, like all candidates do. But coaching notes are not sufficient. Coaching notes create a base because there are people who come from engineering backgrounds, also medical backgrounds. So, for them to understand what Political Science is, those notes are made. So, read those notes, see what syllabus is being covered. Apart from that, find other resources in the market and cover your syllabus with them. It is very important. And then how you are able to use those notes for giving test series is also very important. I think in optional, it becomes even more important to refer to the test series of toppers because the syllabus is very vast. So, how to present it, you will understand very easily from the optional test series of toppers. So, I cannot emphasize the fact that you should take test series for your Mains and for your optional. You should take it first, or if you want to take it after Prelims, take it and do them sincerely. It is important that you give both morning and evening papers. Because I used to give them. I had only two months, but I made sure that I completed all the tests for Mains, and the morning and evening ones as they were meant to be. I did them at home because coming to coaching wastes a lot of time. I did not live here; I lived near JNU. So, I did them sitting there. And also, this time, make this entire journey enjoyable. You have chosen it yourself, right? You want to do civil services. Most people do it at the age of 24-25. If your parents are pushing you, then you agree. I don't think that happens much. You have chosen it yourself, so you have to make this thing that you enjoy the journey. I don't think anyone can crack the exam by considering it like a golden cage or a punishment. I don't think so. You have to make the preparation enjoyable. So, what I used to do, I did my entire preparation sitting in the library. I used to go to the library at 9 AM. The library was open 24 hours. I used to return from the library after 12 AM. In between, I would play or walk for two hours. I used to take a two-hour break every evening. And that break was not to go to some cafe and eat, because that is counterproductive. You will gain weight, and it will have some consequences. So, if you are taking a two-hour break, try to do something unstructured. Go for a walk, maybe join a game, do some physical activity because that has good effects on your productivity in general. So, if you look at it, it is very important that you do not make your preparation a burden. Otherwise, I don't think you will be able to sustain it, because it is not a matter of one day or two months. So, to make it stable and to make it a fruitful journey, try to do something that gives you positivity and happiness every day. Do some sort of physical activity. I think that really worked for me, and I can just share my experience.

Covering the syllabus is very important. Like I said for Prelims, focus on some subjects. It is not like that. You have to see World History. If there are fewer days, give fewer days. But at least try to cover the PYQs that you have studied. So, completing the syllabus is very important. I had made notes for most things before Prelims, so I referred to them for my Mains preparation. I referred to toppers' copies, gave test series, referred to their answers, read newspapers, and along with that, for some parts of my syllabus that were still lacking, I used ready-made notes. I used Vision's Mains 365 very well for GS 3 and many other papers. For Security, I read only from Mains 365 because it not only covers current topics but also static topics. For GS 3, I also covered many portions from market notes. So, it saves time and reduces effort. So, use those notes constructively. As I said, giving test series is very important because it gives you confidence, both in Prelims and Mains. There is enough time. Some people used to do this: while taking Prelims test series, they would set their watch to 9:30 so that they would remember that by 10 o'clock, this section should be completed, meaning by 10-15, I should have read one paper. So, to get that 9:30 to 11:30 pattern in mind, many people would practice like that. You know, by 11 o'clock, I should have done this much. I should be on the second revision. So, you can do that. You can find your own ways. Also, in Prelims, I am sorry, I am saying Prelims up and down, it's a little confusing. If you practice, you will know how many questions to attempt. But my belief is that you should attempt 85 questions. Meaning, I think you should do that much. Others, some people clear with 70-75 as well. I attempted 90+ this time, and only then did I almost clear the cutoff. [Music] Apart from that, I think because we have already covered a lot, I will give you more time. I got 193, which is a good score, primarily because my dad and I did not give out marks. I gave around 13 marks because the time between Mains result and interview was too long this time. So, I gave many mocks. I worked well on my weak areas and revised my Mains. I stayed updated with current affairs. I revised my optional. So, and I thought of trying to give direction to my interview. You can take your interview in the direction you want to take it, to some extent. So, those are two things that you learn after giving a couple of mocks. So, I think the key for all the aspirants remains that you should first, because UPSC is a very predictable exam, especially for Mains, not so much for Prelims. So, Prelims is what you study and go. Mains is very predictable. So, I would say that you should consider previous years as your guru. When you have any doubt, refer to them. Also, try to make this journey enjoyable. Do something active during the day. Have a good group of friends. Take breaks from your family. Sometimes the family environment feels toxic to people, so they study outside, which is fine. You know, whatever works for you, do not think that if it works for them, it will work for you too. We will not take questions because the technical aspects of the exam are very, very difficult. Thank you so much. [Applause] [Music] You invested in your optional against me. So, I had coaching for optional before. So, at that time, I studied well during coaching. When there was class, I would revise it afterwards. In the 3-4 month period of coaching, I made sure that I revised what was happening in class simultaneously. Every day. I did not procrastinate. I used to look at the PYQs as well. There is a booklet, which everyone must have. PYQ booklet also comes. So, I used to look at it. I used to revise what was taught in class and then see if those PYQs could be solved or not. And as for the 2 months after the Prelims result came, I gave 50% of my time to my optional. I gave 50% of my time to GS. Because that is what people say, no matter how much you work on GS, there is a limit to scoring very high. Because most people get almost equal marks. I mean, I will not generalize, but I feel the bandwidth to actually make a cut is more in your optional. So, I gave 50% of my time to my optional, half a day to GS, half a day to optional. And that is a good strategy too, because you need a break, you know. It is important to differentiate subjects. I used to do that. And I used my optional a lot in my Essay and Ethics. Meaning, I scored 138 in Essay, which is a good score. And I did it, I could make it happen because I feel my optional was my strength. So, I put many philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, etc., in my introduction. Suppose, like Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of Singapore, I put his theories in my essay. So, I feel you should spend a good amount of time on your optional so that you can score well in it too. You can give it 50% of your time, and so that you can...

You will also be able to incorporate it into other things, so that was me for asking how many revisions would be sufficient to attend the magnet of marks which gets off through 300.

[Music]

I had read my notes and repeated them quite a lot, at least five to seven times, and after that, I gave the test series, so that is also a revision of it because the answers to the test series are also linked to it and are formed from it. So I don't think however many numbers I say, it will seem less to you. You have to revise it again and again and give the test series. If you want marks, you have to revise it 5 to 7 times in one way or the other. It could be you reading the notes or it could be you solving the test series and then looking at the answers and looking at the toppers' answers. So repeat it 5 to 7 times so that it stays with you and you can use it elsewhere. So 5 times.

[Music]

The thinkers, what is the context of [Music] understanding to actually understand what their thought because simplified language is also available in the market. Where are you reading the context about the thinkers? What resources are you using? Coaching, but not that which you referred to. You talked about. I also took coaching from here.

[Music] [Music]

The background itself comes out to 65. So sorry, the okay. How are you performing in the optional? Just can you solve the previous questions from what you are reading or not? You will know from this. Because in the exam, you have to solve that thing, and the optional is very conventional. What has come in the last 5 years, expect 80% of the paper to be the same, nothing different. If you are doing well in that, then you will feel that okay, some questions can be solved from what I am reading. Give the test series, from that you will know the right path. They will correct you based on how your marks are coming. So we will go back to the PYQs. Also refer to reference books. Political Science, refer to some reference books. There is a book on Political Theory, I referred to it a little bit, but largely I used online resources, searched online for toppers' copies and notes, and gave them. Because even if you read the books once, you don't get a chance to revise them, so there is no utility in that. So I did not keep too many resources. I tried to make a conscious choice that I will limit my resources and revise them multiple times. So I did not try to read several books because you won't be able to revise them, so there is no benefit. That is my Instagram requirement. They asked you, suppose they asked about the Quad, you should have a basic idea that okay, this is the Quad, it is made to tackle China, to tackle China's rise in a way, to balance it. So what is its impact on the South Asian countries? How are they dealing with it? You should know the basic crux. They will not ask you in extreme depth. Now, we are not here to become specialists. We are here to give a generalist exam. Right? Even the optional does not ask in depth. So if you are doing Mains 365, if you are referring to Vision, I feel the depth in it is sufficient. Or if you want to go a little deeper, you can watch some channels, some shows. They explain the IR content very well. So it is enjoyable to listen to, and you also get some depth. I think that much depth is enough. There is no need for the depth of reading books. You can watch a little bit of YouTube, watch Rajya Sabha, watch the crux of it, and read your normal study material. Don't go into too much depth. The question for you, the thing is about revision. It has been four months since we started classes, patiently, and even for myself, I feel that I should have revised two to three times with the passage of classes. So what should be my strategy for the 4 months that I have missed? Should we also focus on the newspaper? Also revising newspaper topics? I got your question. Classes should not go on for too long so that what is happening after the next three classes is solidified in the timeline in the mind. It is difficult for that. I understand it is difficult because seven days a week your classes are happening, and also because you are doing it for the first time, so it is difficult. You have done okay. So it should not be difficult for you. Working as a career, I delayed it so much in 2020, and I had to go with the time. I did not give that exam, and then for 2 years you have been out of classes. Try to make one to two-page short notes out of it. Meaning, condense one class into one page. If you can recall what happened in the class. If you are not getting the time to revise the entire notes, just one-page notes that you have, try to condense it into one to two pages. If you have like 10 classes, you will revise that class in 10 pages. So essentially, you don't need much time to revise, and that can also serve as last-minute notes when your Mains are approaching. And about the newspaper, which you mentioned, I think the inertia of the newspaper is very big. So if I start reading the newspaper now, it will take me a lot of time. But once you get into the rhythm, newspaper reading is not very time-consuming.

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You should have, but the routine is such that you don't get much time. Try to go through half to three-quarters of an hour. Even if you don't make notes, not making notes is not advisable. It will become too much. There will be 50 articles on one article, one topic. So just go through the newspaper. The habit also has the benefit that you saw this time in the Prelims question, standard books were not enough. So one-liner notes for every five articles. Write the five lines for that. But ensure that you map whatever notes you are making to the syllabus topics. Because your brain won't know where to use it, so it will be worthless. You won't be able to use it. If you read something, it is very important to look at the syllabus. You have to tell your brain that this line or data will be used in GS, or if you tell it that it looks good, it will be used somewhere, then it won't be used anywhere. So map it to the topic. Wherever it looks good, map it to the topic, like I keep telling you for GS 1, 2, 3, 4.

[Music]

Newspaper. If you really liked an article, if a thinker said something, Pratap Bhanu Mehta said something, and you feel you should put it here, that I will make complete notes of the newspaper today, there is no benefit in that. Because why are you doing monthly magazines then? Don't read them. You should read only one of them. So if you are getting ready-made in monthly magazines from any institute, then I feel that is a very good substitute for making notes.

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Five months, and I don't know until what time these double classes will happen. So how can we submit the same, revise the syllabus, and focus on the optional? It is really very tough, and we are suffering a lot. How to manage time? Seven days, sometimes on Sunday too. So even I am missing my Mains and Prelims tests. What Vision is asking, so it's tough. If you can, I think this was the reason why I didn't do the foundation. I honestly don't know how you should manage time because you are doing 7 to 8 hours of this. You are getting two to three hours more, and it is difficult to find that self-study time after class. Just ensure that you are studying well in class because you have to study those things. If you are teaching you something, it is important. So make good notes in class. Make notes in class in such a way that you are able to understand them when you read them later. Because after 5 months, this will serve as the bedrock of your entire preparation. This is again a little bit of trouble. Like we are doing Geography, Economics, History, Polity, Science and Technology for the first time. You are reading, and then the optional too. So it is very difficult. I am really, I am not able to understand how to manage and how to clear the exam. We are in a very short time. So I respect, I feel the classroom teaching made my work very easy. So you feel that your self-study time is going away, but you also have to find time for self-study. Suppose if I sat down to study Geography myself, understood the NCERTs, Class 11th NCERTs, I don't know how much time it would have taken me. But in class, if someone explains a concept by drawing a diagram and also makes you take notes, then don't think that it is taking your time, your self-study time. It is making things easy for you. So you have to do your self-study, and the time for that is also becoming very easy. So don't think it is one against the other. I feel that like I did the entire classroom course, and I feel it really helped me. Because okay, I didn't give the attempt that year, I didn't give the attempt right after it ended, but it made things very easy for me. I knew what I had to study, how to study it, because sometimes they literally tell you to just read this chapter because they have such a reservoir of experience. So don't consider them contradictory. Don't think that if I am doing this, I can't do that. Try to learn what you can from here. Because it will make your things, your problems, easier. You will understand. If you are studying here, you will have to give less time to it yourself. And I think managing time is the challenge that we have to deal with, right? Just think, if you revise for 2 hours every night, it is easy and necessary because it takes less time to revise. Then if you revise the same thing after a month, it will take you a lot of time. If you revise daily, it won't. So try to revise for half an hour to an hour daily, what you studied in the morning, so that as the class progresses, your revision also continues. So that is the challenge, but I feel the sooner you revise, the fewer problems you will have. Normalizing these windows in your mind is important from this point. Because your preparation will not be smooth. You have multiple things to revise. In Mains, it feels like after giving GS, you come home, and the next day there are two papers. It feels like how will you revise two papers tonight? So your mind, after 5 months, you have all the time to revise. Self-study, all the time will be saved. It's not like this topic is left, or this is not done well. You will have everything done. So this 5-month phase, you have to sustain. A good thing is, if you are studying so many subjects, you will be able to cover them. So that will help you a lot in Mains. Because that is what they really appreciate when you are trying to connect Geography to Polity. It will help you. So if you see it in a positive way, it will be a sort of melting pot for your preparation, which will give you a multidimensional view of every topic. So I don't think it's a bad idea.

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Hello sir, hello.

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First time with my graduation only, and I did not make it. Marks. So I want to ask how you keep yourself motivated that you give a third attempt, a second attempt also. I am not thinking I will clear. I will be on the same line as you said. So how do you keep yourself motivated that you are going to give this third attempt also? And people start clearing the Prelims exam also. So if you can guide people, they will start charging. I do it because I was feeling very demotivated and even more so because nothing else was going on in my life. So because of that, I had an interest in Political Science, so I did my Masters, thinking that at least I have a Masters degree. So I got some peace of mind from that. But it is not necessary for everyone, some people might find it a double burden. But I always had an agenda. Political Science, I felt my Masters would be like a cakewalk for me. So I did it thinking that. Keeping motivated is a big challenge. So you have to be like, why is it not clearing? The previous time, you will know why it is not clearing. So you will feel that okay, this mistake was made. So you will get motivation to do better this attempt. You realized there was a deficiency in this subject or in revision. So analyze your performance, and after that, I think nothing can. You need to have a very strong belief. You have to believe that it will clear. No one else can come and explain it. Your parents can support you and what you want to do. Your friends can provide some happiness, have some conversations. But I feel it is a journey of your own. You have to keep yourself motivated. You have to assess your performance. You have to give more test series. Then you will see a positive change, like okay, my scores are increasing, so maybe there is hope this time. So you have to work hard. Confidence also comes from hard work, and believing in yourself. And create a positive environment around you. If studies are not happening at home, like they were not happening for me at home, so I joined a library. So see what changes you can make this attempt to clear it. So I think these are all the variables. If I had also given up after the second attempt, I would have given up. This time also, I cleared by just one mark. But I feel it is hard work. If you work hard, your luck will also support you.

[Music]

So it might be by 1.5 marks. So it might be. I used to believe that Mains cannot be done in 2 months. If you have studied Prelims for 2 years, first, if you have studied Prelims-Mains integrated, then I feel you can prepare well for Mains. Use the notes available in the market. If you haven't made your own, your own are the best. If not, then read the toppers' available ones and give test series. Do it well. If it doesn't happen, then if you feel that you again, because getting stuck in CSAT is a lack of hard work. It's not a lack of intelligence. You just need passing marks in CSAT. Meaning, if you don't practice, CSAT won't clear. So if you do that, it will clear next time. Right? So you keep preparing for GS as well and practice CSAT simultaneously. Don't leave it to the end. And then why won't it clear next time if you do it like this? If your first paper is clearing this time, which was such a challenging paper, so it will clear next time too. One more small thing I wanted to say is that you said Prelims didn't happen. People say that Prelims didn't happen. You shouldn't have this mindset. Prelims didn't happen. Prelims also didn't happen. These are different things. Prelims also didn't happen. Don't think like this. This exam is one of the toughest exams, and we are preparing. We should be proud of that. And don't elevate the exam results. The Prelims exam is tough in itself. And if you have given your best, then other things, other variables don't matter. So the mentality that Prelims didn't happen should never come. Hello sir, I wanted to ask about subject-specific preparation strategy. For the 2021 attempt and 2022 attempt, I prepared at my home, like alone in a closed corner of my room. But sir, that didn't work. So when I met people in the field, they were well-prepared. We all qualified in different services. But basically, for me, working [Music] answers, my subjects got consolidated in my notes. But still, because of the isolation thing you are talking about, I also started the first two years like that. Covid was there, plus I had a knee injury at that time. So pretty much I prepared on my own. Whatever notes I prepared, I did it myself. The problem is that if you are not disciplined, if you are not disciplined enough, we don't take that leap in preparation. To prepare, it is important to simulate the exam. If you are disciplined in yourself, if you can write the test at home with discipline, then it is not a precondition that if you don't have a peer group, you won't be selected. People are qualifying the exam in every condition. It's good that you are in Delhi now, so you can write exams at the center. It's good. But what is important and what is working? Everything is working. People are clearing the exam alone. People with peers are also clearing the exam. In fact, I was never a group study person. Even in Delhi, I only had one friend with whom I used to prepare. He also gave the interview for Forest as well as Civil Services. So I am also not a group person. I came to Delhi because discipline was not coming at home. So know what works for you and don't change yourself. If you cannot do group study, then group study will not benefit you. And if you can do group study, then try to find a good place where studies are happening. It is very difficult, but everyone's frequency matches. Because if someone is not studying and you are studying, then you will feel that your time is being wasted, and you are getting more stressed. If you are studying, you will also feel that you should do self-study, then it will be better. It is very rare that frequencies match. If you are studying in a group, and even if it's not, it's well and fine. Or like, suppose I could never do group study, so I didn't do group study. At the time of the interview, I joined some Telegram groups because the interview is a different ball game. So I feel having a peer group is not very important. What is important is that you have a positive environment around you. If your parents are not your peer group, but they are creating a positive environment at home, you can talk to them for two minutes every two days for ten minutes, have a meal together. That is enough. You don't need people preparing for UPSC sitting around you and studying. It is not necessary. I came to the library, where people were preparing for different things. Not everyone in the university library is preparing for the same thing. So I think the more important thing is that you have a positive environment around you. Because resources are available in the market nowadays.

It is available, you know, you don't need an PR group to get resources. So get a positive environment around you. That could be your PR group, the exam, that could be friends. Not worrying about the exam. It can be anybody just with whom you are around. You can study happily. This is sufficient because resources are available in the market. Whether there is a group or not is not a problem. And a solution, it is not. You know, clearing the exam in every way. I feel that clearing the exam happily is possible in a better way. That is more important. This positive and happy, not so important to me. Hello, I wanted to ask you. You were saying, first of all, how did you improve your math? It's very bad. So my English is good, so I got almost all questions correct in English. Okay. English comprehension was also very easy at my time. So I did English very well. Then logical, as much as I knew. My logic is average, so I did whatever logic I knew, especially those that had come in previous years. I knew that, you know, this is her sister, so this is hers, this is this, this is how these questions were, I did all of them through logic. Now, I hadn't studied math, so I did some things. I had memorized formulas, thinking that if this question comes, I will apply this formula and get the answer, or basic algebra, which is very basic, like 2x + 3x, these kinds of questions. So I had done the paper. I started with math. So first of all, I quickly looked at the questions that I knew how to do. I attempted only those because in math, if it's correct, it's correct. If it's wrong, you know, you will get the correct answer. Such difficult questions don't come in SET. So I scanned through and saw that, okay, I had memorized its formula. I had only studied PYQs, nothing else. For the start, I only... Yes, I had written down its formulas, PYQ formulas, in a diary, thinking that these are the formulas for these questions. So, as much as I could do with that basic knowledge, I did. Then I came to logical. I spent some time on logical. I did as much as I could, and 50% of the time I did English. Then you have to find out what your skill set is, because you just have to pass. I got 77 this time. 66 is needed, right, to pass? Because my English, logic, and a little bit of math worked out. And that is a good part of CSAT. There is no sectional cutoff, right? So you do it accordingly. Are enough? Even for math, PYQs. For essay writing, would you like to tell us something? Because now the topics that are coming for essay writing are very different from before. My sir was telling me that earlier the questions for essay writing were very easy, but now the essays that are coming are very different. So would you like to guide us on that? So for essays, you need to do three things. One is to read, read, and read the newspaper. Read your optional. Read your GS subjects, polity, etc., whatever you are reading, read it thoroughly. Just making notes will not help you in essays. So if you are a voracious reader, you don't just read things, you process them in your mind. You are a thinker, you also think about them. Okay. And then you practice. These are the three steps: you have to read, you have to analyze, and you have to practice. And the more you write, the better it will be for you. So you have to, you have to really like and connect the dots. For example, [music] there is something in between. So this is such an abstract topic, you don't know, right? So in that, you have to use your general reading to be able to quote examples. Essays are about quoting examples and making them relevant to the topic. This is what I understood. Okay. For example, in this topic, I started with the same example of the founder of Singapore, how he started with this name, Lee Kuan Yew, with whose name I started. How this man used his mind to make Singapore, a small island, with no resources, how this person used his mind to build this small island into, you know, the most successful example of a nation at this point in terms of wealth, in terms of progress, human development indicators. So, I picked up one example and put it in the introduction: this is a scientific man, why is it that a person who, you know, doesn't think that way, behind... I don't remember exactly what I wrote, but most of the essays are only examples. You are just writing the example in the context of the essay, and you will get those examples by reading and analyzing and then practicing. So there is no shortcut for essays. Essays are like your personality. If you have a habit of reading and writing, that will reflect in your essays. I don't think you can just have a shortcut to essays. And that is why essays could actually save me, you know, my rank. It means I benefited a lot from essays because I am strong in writing. So you have to build that. [music] [music] Diagrams in general are good, but you should not make unnecessary diagrams. It should be related to that. The person checking the copy. There are diagrams in the copies of selected candidates. Take diagrams from there and from the general diagrams in books. Apart from that, you should not try to replace content with diagrams because in anthropology and in general optional, you have to know things in detail and you have to write them. It is very important, especially because it also brings variety to the answers. And there are topics like biological anthropology where you don't have to draw diagrams. In biology, especially, diagrams of tools are necessary. And in general, flowcharts add value to your answer. So important. [music] I have not done from anywhere. I have done test series at Level Test Series from there only. I have not done foundation. And I think you can follow, but use your own wisdom. Thoughts. Thank you so much. [music] Can I refer for comparative politics and Western political thoughts? Reading is not beneficial because my background is [music] [music] These books are difficult to understand the language in both, but I will try if I find any resource that is easier than even those notes, because notes are easy. Along with that, if someone teaches you, it is even easier. If you feel you cannot understand it yourself, consider taking coaching or a crash course. It's not a bad idea because you have tried to understand it yourself, but you haven't understood it. So I don't think if you take coaching, there will still be a problem. So the easiest resource in the market is. I will tell you the books for Western Political Thought that we studied at graduation and master's level. That will also increase your work and that clarity will not come. So if you are not understanding that, then take someone's help. Join a coaching. That's my suggestion. [music] 25, but I am preparing for mains. I should be ready for the next exam itself. [music] Note-making, like how should I manage? How should I manage the class notes as well as the standard books? Like if I am studying class notes also and the Laxmikant also, how should I manage those notes? And second question is that for mains, notes are necessary, that it is not optional, right? But for prelims, what I have seen from experience, that for prelims, that if I start making notes, then I mean, sometimes each and every line becomes important. Laxmikant. So how should I make, like an integrated notes for mains polity? Or should I make only for mains notes? You are right that you cannot make notes from Laxmikant because almost the entire book is notes. But there, we can do that, right? Where there is more scope for confusion. Many things are confusing in some areas. We can write them separately, saying that there is scope for confusion here in prelims. There are areas where it is very probable that if we don't revise, we will make mistakes. Apart from that, Laxmikant can be used as a book in itself. If you are revising for prelims, then I made separate notes. I find making notes relevant. I have friends who cleared prelims by giving tests without making notes, and they also cleared. But I used to make notes because then I won't revise those tests, nor will I revise that book. I have my own 30 pages that I need to revise. So note-making is a habit. First of all, it is. And secondly, it will come gradually. Right now, you feel everything is important, but after three months, when you have seen PYQs and gained some experience, you will not find everything. You will feel some things are obvious, I will do them anyway, so you will skip them. This is the first thing. First question. Giving in 2025, and this is 23 and 24. I am doing it. Yes, okay. So you have time. You have plenty of time. You have the luxury to go through everything. Try to go through class notes and basic books simultaneously. I would just say, if you are reading class notes, then in parallel, see what is in the basic books. You have that luxury. Many people don't have it. So try to ensure that when you have something to say, sorry, you have something to say. I am actually doing it. But what happens is that when I am revising, like suppose next week we are going to give the mini test, right? For those topics which are providing with you, Vision. So what happens is that on one side I have notes. So what I do is after class, I read Laxmikant. And some, what I do is put some important points from Laxmikant on my class notes. But on the exam time, what happens, I get confused. Like notes, then I feel, from types, should I also read the book? So that that happens, you know, that, there is a term called decision fatigue. We are also trying to get over decision fatigue. Do anything, and then whatever mistake you realize, revise it. In this preparation, it is very important to fail very early, because we are going to fail. Okay. And one more thing is that, suppose you have to make notes, right? For the mains. And so, should I make it right now, or at a later time? Because for mains revision, you require one-line notes, or like that specific notes. So, should I consolidate it right now, or should I postpone it for later? Like, suppose next, if I am going to give a test series, so at that time, I will be also revising, right? So, should I make the short notes right now, or should I do it later? I think you can make notes in brief now also. It will help you in remembering, and you will feel that whatever you read earlier is not wasted, because things are static, right? Most of the mains preparation, the current part is there, but the static portions, you can cover them now. Suppose women empowerment, you can make notes on it now. You know, governance, you can make notes on it now. If you are reading smart, because some examples will change, but the basic content will remain the same, right? So, if you want to make notes on the Revolt of 1857 now, you can. What's wrong with that? Okay. So, you can do those things. They are static, so you can do them. Don't make too many notes. Make them brief, so that it doesn't feel boring to you. So, you have a lot of time. So, I think there is no harm if you make notes little by little now. Somewhere, making newspaper notes, how to make them? I feel your question. Coaching notes, or read those? I think you will understand that with time. Like I also took classroom coaching. I felt that the political notes from the classroom were not very useful to me. I felt Laxmikant was enough. But I felt when I studied geography, I felt NCERT was not understandable on its own. Classroom notes were very important. I felt that for Paper II, for some government-related topics, classroom notes were very important, because there is no book available in the market. So, you have to understand that yourself. If you start reading NCERT geography, every diagram is not so complicated, maybe you will understand. And here in class, how an earthquake happens, sir has explained it easily with a small diagram. That is more enjoyable. So, that is something you have to decide. Paper II, Paper, Modern History. Instead of reading class notes, it's better to read from Spectrum, I used to think so. So, there is no one answer to that. You have to make use of whatever you find best in different places. In one more thing, when you say Modern History, Spectrum, think. So, what happens is that after Modern History, like when class is going on, so that, so making it points, right? But you don't get the background of the point. So, what happens is that I have to read Spectrum. So, and so, what confusion gets, is that sir's class notes are there, and again I am reading that. So, during this Spectrum, the thing is that this time the question came about that Bahadur Shah, that Portuguese, the Daman and Diu to the Portuguese. So, that question was not in the notes. But so, so what I get for prelims, I have to read the book Spectrum, like the whole book. But for mains, I have to make specific notes. So, the main question is, a confusion comes that for prelims, should I not make notes? [music] Should I make it right? Think through. There won't be time to read. So, some, like I made, I read some market available notes. I read their Modern History notes, which are 70 pages, very comprehensive. So, I felt that I had read Spectrum once or twice. After that, I only read its notes. So, where you feel you don't have to work hard, there are market resources, use them. If you have read Spectrum once or twice, then any notes in the market will be understandable to you. It won't go over your head. So, if you feel that you don't want to work hard again, then okay, go to the market, see if ready-made notes are available. Because you have read Spectrum, you will understand them. So, you can use this trick. I didn't make notes for Modern History from Spectrum. I picked up ready-made market notes for Spectrum and read only those. So, these are decisions you have to make based on what is working and what is not working. And in preparation, like keep your eyes and ears open all the time. Don't do it like, if someone said this, then I will only do this, and I won't look at what's around. Look at everything and decide with your wisdom what material, what source, what things are relevant to me. It's very important in preparation, in general too, you have to be aware of what works for you. It's a very good important skill, which you will learn. If you are given a hundred pages of a book, and you have to extract relevant things from it, then you should be able to do it in two to three hours. In two to three hours, extract what is relevant from that entire thing, and put that PDF aside. You should have this skill. If you can't do it in two hours, then you can skip things if it's not a basic book, and extract the relevant content. Then start the paper, start preparing. Because you don't know what is relevant in a hundred pages. You only know in advance if you have appeared in the previous ones, tried the previous year questions, so you know that this is important. 25, right? So, how should I approach the newspaper? Today, you can also read it, just to be aware of what is happening. So, as I said, you have to pick and choose at the right time. Don't read the newspaper like that if you have two months for the exam. Try to build a habit of reading because all these things are in your syllabus. Mostly. So, if you have seen it, then you will be able to appreciate the newspaper more. Random news, and then while you are reading the newspaper, you will be able to understand what is happening. Two in one, notes. Don't make notes right now. Absolutely don't make them. Don't make them later either. Then it's fine. But start reading the newspaper now, just as a habit. Thank you. Important, and class notes are sufficient. Read them too, and if you have class notes, you will have a better understanding. But the shortcut is the class notes, I feel. If you are writing everything in full, then if suppose there is someone who is writing mains this time, where does he have the time to read NCERTs, read in class? So, I understand that you are going by class notes or whatever coaching notes are available in the market. If you have to write prelims next year, so this is a very good time for you to, you know, read NCERT notes also. So that will, that will really help you. Things will not settle in your mind, otherwise they will go over your head. So, I feel NCERT should definitely be read, and that much time should also be given to them. But I think in last-minute revisions, your NCERT notes will be useful. But a foundation, and providing Telegram, are you giving in 24? 25? 25 years ago, I can say that you can start. Like if you are giving in 24, then in September, October, you can write a few tests. But because you are giving in 25, your foundation will not be strong enough, right? So, give those because gradually your course is going on. Because you are gradually building up your preparation. You take some tests. What tests? Start from next year, if you want to take any test series and give it properly, start from next year. Not now. And should we start preparation of optional after mains? And optional is decided. There is no point. Optional should be your very good friend. Because optional is what will get you service. So, in optional, there is no point waiting. Start optional. Parallelly, people complete optional before, and then they do coaching. Many people do that. So, optional knowledge will not go anywhere. Do it once, make notes, keep them. It is your bank account. Subject portion, part B. How to update it with current affairs so that I can do answer writing on that specific topic? What I did was, I also had two months for that update work. So, I picked up Vision's Vision's Mains 365, and covered all the relevant current topics from it. Whatever happened in the last year. So, the static part is with us in the notes. Along with that, I covered the current affairs from here. Along with that, I took a crash course. So, in that, whatever current affairs are in the test series.

The Ukraine crisis was happening, whatever was happening, I covered it through that. So there is no one way or one place from where you can cover everything. You have to find out how you can cover it somehow, so where are you getting it from? I took Mains 365, I did newspaper reading, and I also did test series. On the basis of these three, I covered and updated my current affairs. So if you are finding any other better resource, you can cover it. So this was my approach that I did these three things.

As for Paper One, Part B, for which I told you that I am following two resources. I am not following any standard book for now. I am following basic coaching notes from Shubhra Mam and the booklet from Only IAS. I am following both of them. Can I make my own notes by combining these two for the static portion of Paper Two and Paper One Part B? Okay, regarding that, I am following Shubramanyam's notes and Only IAS's booklet. So I have read both and understood them. So, after reading both, can I make my own notes on the static portion of Paper One Part B? You should make them because you cannot read the entire notes before the exam. Before the exam, you have to write those notes briefly. Suppose tomorrow or the day after tomorrow is my optional test, or the Mains exam, I won't be able to sit and read all of May's notes. So I made my own brief notes from their notes. So it is even better if you want to combine notes from another coaching institute. Certainly, I feel that one should make self-notes for the optional subject because just for last-minute revision, this thinker said this, he said that, he quoted this, because sometimes in the exam, they directly put quotes. They might put a quote from some role or from Plato, and if you have written it briefly in your notes, you will remember it. There is no time to revise the entire book. So it is a good idea to make your own notes.

What about Paper Two, what should be done for its part? For that, I told you that you have to find out where you can cover current affairs. So you see, we do some newspaper reading. Along with that, suppose you can do a crash course. Sometimes there are crash courses where they cover current affairs. Besides that, I read Vision's Mains 365. It covered everything that happened in the last one year, and it also had additional information. Suppose something new has been formed, or a court plus has been formed, whatever is happening, so you also got additional information and what happened in the last year. So you have to find out how you can fill the gaps based on the resources in the market. You can read Rajya Sabha TV, listen to the channel, they might be talking about something, they have covered a topic. So based on these, you will give test series. In the test series, current affairs will also be picked up, right? When you give a test series, there will be a whole test just on Paper Two Part B, so in 20 questions, it will cover what is happening currently. I feel that these things are sufficient. You try your best, you will understand yourself what is working and what is not working. This was my first attempt, I gave the first Prelims on the 28th, but I am not very sure if I will qualify, but I have studied my optional to a great extent and I am very familiar with the topics. I want to ask if I appear for the exam in 2024, when should I join the test series, especially for the optional subject, for that purpose? You can join even now because you have time. You have studied your optional. It is a very good time for you to practice because if your optional is done, then you can give more time to GS, while revision of optional will continue. But I think it is a good idea that you have time now, you have studied, it is fresh in your mind, so you should do it. Written practice will also be beneficial if you look at toppers' copies. And you have to do it along with GS. So I did my optional after my Prelims result, due to which I also felt burdened. Somehow I managed both my optional and GS series, but you can still do it. They have a long test series where they do it with time.

How many pages should the optional notes be, which we make ourselves? Not too many. Suppose you have studied Plato, you have studied from May's notes. So Plato should be covered in at least two pages. Two pages means four sides, maximum, depending on your handwriting also. It differs from my handwriting. So this is on average how much you get. In a normal 150-page register, you will try to complete at least one paper of the optional. At least, you know, it varies from handwriting to handwriting and spacing to spacing. But you understand that complete one thinker in two pages. Four sides is the maximum. Many toppers suggest this in topper talks that for optional, they specifically referred to some books for Paper One Part A, for example, OP Baba and books like that, and for Paper Two, they followed books like Andrew Heywood, etc. Should we follow compulsory books or two compilations? Because they are not checking your depth of knowledge. I think the notes in the market are very sufficient notes. It is also very difficult to remember them. Believe me, if you can remember them in the paper, it's a big deal. Andrew Heywood is very difficult to remember, it's a very long book, it goes into depth. So I think read the coaching notes and do answer writing, how to present them best. I think that is something that you have to work on. Don't try to expand your content, try to make it more presentable. Don't gather content. Notes are more than enough. You won't even remember them, you'll see. You won't remember them at the time of the exam, I didn't remember them either. So I don't think you need most of it. Thank you.

Hello, good evening. Ma'am, you have done your Masters in Political Science, right? And when you were doing your graduation part, during that time, you were also attending your coaching classes and doing your graduation classes. That as a humanities student, we have a tendency to go deep instead of hanging on the surface. And then in college also, what happens is that professors, as I am also a student of Masters, I am doing my Masters in History, professors used to tell us, instead of following one book or two books, you should read five to six books and you have to come with that, you have to prepare and present it in class. So with that mindset, when you come to coaching classes, and then you are told to just hang on the surface, you don't have to go deep. So how to manage with that? Because your tendency develops from 12th class itself that you have to go deep, study hard, and then here, many things mean you have to stay on the surface, pay more attention to the actual data, whereas there, they don't say, instead of preparing about the Khilji dynasty and their names, it's not there. Here, it's about Khilji, why not Tughlaq, and here it's Khilji, you have to do this. So, how did you overcome that mindset tendency, and how can humanities students overcome that? I think you are right because I also experienced that. But you have to train your mind because wherever you perform, you have to perform based on the requirement of the task. So if you are doing History in Masters, you have to study differently for it, and differently for UPSC. Because there, they don't want you to be a specialist, they want you to be a generalist who has broad and vast knowledge of what is happening in the country and what has happened in the past. So I feel you have to train yourself that I have to study in this way, and you should not implement that strategy here. Because they also used to give us a lot of readings in Western Political Thought classes in college, they would give many readings, so you don't have to study like that. Here, you just have to go to the crux. Because there is so much space for writing, you have to fill it with data. Then you don't have time, you don't have space, you don't have time to go into such depth. So it is very interesting to just know the crux. You know, when I read my Masters, I used to find it very annoying that they are saying the same thing in 50 different ways. It's the same thing, isn't it? So in UPSC, the beauty is that they are not taking you into 50 deductions. They just want you to know that this is the idea of knowledge, so this is it. I don't have to write it in 50 ways. So I think it is easier, and going deep is more difficult. It is not that difficult. So train yourself that you don't have to repeat your strategy from your Masters in your UPSC preparation. So I think that's all I can say. You really have to work on that only. How to manage with this academic and UPSC preparation also? So, I used to try to give minimum time to my Masters. It was not my aim to top the class. I got very average marks in my graduation and my Masters, 67%, 78%, 68% came, and this was my class average. It was not a bad performance. My target was also to perform averagely here because this was not my dream, it was my backup. Along with that, I used to give it no more than two hours a day to my Masters, not even two hours daily. Sometimes I used to give it more time when there were assignments. You can't have everything. You can't do very well in your Masters and also in civil services. You cannot accept that. And then you make your own bargain, like, okay, I will perform a little less here, I will get help from friends, so that I have more time left. Because it is a decision you have to take for both things. So you have to find out how you are bargaining. So my aspiration was not to be a class topper, and I acted accordingly. When there was a test, I used to study two days before. I used to take help from some friends. But I felt that doing that was important for me because I needed a plan B. I was afraid of doing only this because if someone from engineering, if they don't do it, they will get a job based on their graduation in Political Science. I won't get it. So, it was important for me to do Masters or something so that I could get employment. If this didn't work out, you have to make a decision, then navigate it, how to do it. Because further Prelims part, and this is a tendency. Study from them. I don't think they have terms of objective things. So it's fine. Like you have to work a little hard, and that's what I was doing. You read my Masters. You can get one more month for Prelims, you know, going extra.

Hello, ma'am. My optional subject is also a place where having knowledge is a good thing, but expressing that knowledge in 150 words and 250 words is a different thing. So how to do that? Because, for example, I have studied Socrates, Plato, Bird, Hobbes, Rousseau, I know about them, but I can't express them well when it comes to writing. So if you write, you will write badly. If you write two times, four times, five times, then eventually you will also become good. So, when I first started writing, I tell you, when I first wrote the Mains, it was so funny. I had never written a Mains test series. I didn't even know what optionals were. I thought I had to complete the entire paper. I wrote such bad answers that today, if my civil exam is cleared, people ask me to check my copies. I don't give them because those answers are so bad. So I wrote badly, badly, and then once you write a bad answer, then you look at toppers' copies or you look at sample answers and see, "Oh, it can be written like this too." Then the second time, the second time will be better, and the third time will be almost at the same level as them. So don't be shy of writing and accept that my answers will be bad in the first attempt because that's how it works for everyone. You know, like you have seen how Sir is improving his score, right? He didn't write good answers in the beginning. So, yes, just write bad answers and then improve. Think that's the way. For example, we understand Hindi well, but we can't write English well. It could be a barrier, but then that's what you chose, right? You have to write the paper in your chosen medium. If your Hindi is good, then write in Hindi. If you have decided to write in English, then you have to overcome that barrier. And it happens with practice. Because the examiner also focuses more on keywords. So, although I don't think grammar is important, I feel if you have written good points, keywords, underlined them, and practiced, then you will get the writing skill, which is enough. You don't need Shakespeare in English to clear the exam. You need basic English, which is at the level of CSAT. That much is enough. And don't even worry. I know toppers, you know, last year's Rank 1, people said that a lot of people don't have a good command over English, but they did great in the Mains and then great overall. So I think this is very important.

Coaching is for us. If you understand the text yourself, then don't take coaching. If you don't understand, like they don't understand, then they need assistance. So you can take the questions. Some people understand by reading notes without coaching, some people don't understand. Some people have a medical background, they have never understood the meaning of philosophy, so they can't read it, they don't find it enjoyable to read. So I feel taking coaching also makes the process a bit enjoyable. We remain committed to a subject for three-four months, a discipline is formed. So you can take coaching accordingly. You have to make a decision on that.

How can Political Science be used in Ethics? So, your Paper One, your entire Western Political Philosophy, Western Political Philosophy, Plato, etc., will be useful in Ethics. Indian Political Thought, Kautilya, [music] Nehru, all this will be useful in Ethics. Gandhi, especially, you can use very well in Ethics. So you can also include some things in case studies. You can quote their quotes there. You can write their entire idea. For example, we have studied Kant in CSIR, Immanuel Kant, treating humans as a means, not an end. You can directly apply this to Ethics, where they talk about human dignity, where they talk about the need to help somebody out. It's so... and this gives you an example of how you can certainly use thinkers. I have also used it a lot in Ethics and in Essay. So PSR is a very interesting subject and a helpful subject because you can use it in many places. You can use it in IR, in Paper Two, in GS2, in Essay, in Ethics. It will help you a lot in your interview. So it will be very useful. Thank you. [music]

You talked about mental peace. Sir, I gave the Prelims this time, and I could only sleep for one hour the night before. So it is a big factor that caused the paper to go badly. So how to overcome that? Mental peace. After a certain point in preparation, only mental peace remains. The aspect you have prepared for Prelims, you cannot do anything about it in one day. So at that point, only the mental aspect becomes important. When I wrote the first Prelims, I couldn't sleep the previous night. So what I did was, I asked people what they do. There is a video on YouTube by Swami Sarvapriyananda, a very good video. It's an audio video. In fact, you have to put on earphones and lie down. In 10 minutes, you will fall asleep. So, in general, my point is that there are many factors, you can control them as much as you can. Mental peace is disturbed because the sleeping part is removed. Mental peace is disturbed because we feel many things are not in our control. Just before the exam, how the paper will come, 50% of it is not in our control. It feels like that. That's why I say that you should go to the center and see once. Decide which pen you are using, find out. Keep a water bottle. Many small things. All these will help in saving mental peace. Because we are going to perform in the exam, right? So all these things should not affect our performance. So whatever you can control, you should control. For example, during COVID time, many people said that perhaps they would have to give the paper wearing a mask because of COVID. There might be a mask or not. Plus, I wear glasses, and when I wear a mask, it fogs up. Many things. So is the solution to that that they will check in the exam if a mask was to be worn or not? I wrote tests wearing a mask. I made two holes in the mask. The mask was loose. I tried many things to train your mind that whatever condition comes, you should be ready. The mind should not find it new there.

This is happening for the first time. They will help save all this mental peace, and this is a very important question and very important for preparation. If you don't get sleep, don't think about it, that you didn't get sleep. Even the mind can do it without sleep. And it's very normal to feel, when I do something big, I don't get sleep the night before. You have to accept that if you didn't get it, don't make a big deal out of it. I just have to perform for two hours, after that we'll do whatever we want. So you have to accept that you'll get a little tired, you didn't get sleep. So you have to deal with that. You have to just accept it and not think more about it, not make an issue about it, and go and perform. And I'm telling you, 50% of people come tired. Most of the people come out tired. They come without sleep or with little sleep anyway. You have to wake up early in the morning. So I think you have to accept something.

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I thought I had seen very few audio comments. Hello, sometimes it happens that we don't understand the demand of the question. If we know the answer, we don't understand it. Or sometimes it happens that we are reading the question and we don't know the answer, yet we try to attempt it. What is the study for that? You mentioned two questions: one is that we are not able to address the demand, even though we know the answer. And the second is, what if we don't know the answer, how to attempt it? The first one is because you are not reading the question properly. The second one is because you don't have knowledge on the subject. The second one, in general, I think doesn't come in the exam because before Mains, we have studied so much that there is some content for every question, something to write. So, you should ensure that you address what the question is asking. Don't focus too much on peripheral topics, peripheral parts. Marks are given for addressing the demand. The major reason for not getting marks is that it is more important to write what is asked than what you know. People focus more on value addition, but that is secondary. Address what the question is asking first. Value addition and all these things come later. If you have given above-average answers to all the questions, I think you will get marks. We don't aim for 130 in GS by trying to get 130 in one paper. It will come gradually. Sir, you mentioned in your slide that the introduction and conclusion are already prepared. How to do this, sir? How to prepare the introduction and conclusion? See, for GS1, you can prepare the majority of the questions. By majority of the questions, I mean, if Non-Cooperation Movement comes, its introduction can be prepared. Non-Cooperation Movement was started by something, something. There should be a timeline, the year. There should be the year, who started it, and the basic context. That's the introduction. And the conclusion. In history questions, it's very easy to say where it led. Mention the end of the Non-Cooperation Movement, that the movement culminated in Chauri Chaura, etc., and Gandhiji banned it. For history and art and culture, you can prepare basic fundamental introductions and conclusions for major topics. If I take a basic grasp of geography, earthquakes, volcanoes, cyclones, etc., a common theme for introduction can be formed because questions won't be very current-oriented in GS. So you have to write your static introduction. Just two or three lines. Your introduction and conclusion should be very context-specific. My marks in GS2 in the last two times were 99 and 99. This time I have 129. So this time what I did is, I took tests from different coaching institutes, and in their test solutions, they write a line at the beginning as context, like news. For example, in Polity, if it's anti-defection, why was it in the news? They write a line on that. Just pick that up and put it in your notes like this: Anti-defection laws. See, that context will serve as your introduction whenever you get the question. If you have prepared introductions and conclusions for 12-14 questions beforehand, or if those questions come, the answer becomes very good. I did this for GS2 and GS3. And this is gradual. You can't do all of them in one day. While reading, if you see a good introduction in the test answers, keep it in Evernote or somewhere. It will be done. And sir, if the background, like we don't have humanities, and my optional is also not related to humanities, so in Essay and Ethics, they will get an advantage if they have some philosophy or some thinker they can write. We don't have such an advantage. So what will I do for that? I have told you to make a mathematics of this process, that I will use this thing. Make a plan, like, for Supreme Court, I wrote that big thing about Mallsooman LS. Naturally, it won't come to me. Suppose you have to insert some philosophy, then I will tell my mind that a philosophy can come here. At least I should know. So I know that thing can come. Make that process a bit mathematical. I won't say it in general, but I knew that the social, political, economic, cultural one, which people talk about, I extended it a lot. I made a comic strip of the movie 'Bharat' on it. So I used to write a little bit at the back of the essay copy, then I used to see if any example from the movie 'Bharat' is visible. If it's not coming naturally to us, because we don't have the habit of writing, in general, so much like this. And you don't have a very big disadvantage. As far as I think, I worked hard in Ethics, and marks started coming. They have been coming for the last two months. You just have to ensure that your brain knows what to write, because it doesn't come naturally. For many people, especially those from non-humanities, make sure that your brain remembers to put keywords, examples, quotes, shlokas in Ethics. The brain should know, then you can write. We are from different backgrounds, reading the newspaper daily, but sometimes we get an idea, and we remember it while reading, but forget it after two-three days. So, there is also a weakness in concentration, sometimes nothing is remembered. So how to overcome that? You are saying that you are reading the newspaper daily, but you are forgetting things that seem important. The solution is that you should know, by looking at PYQs and the syllabus, where it is relevant. If the mind doesn't know where it will be used, the mind will ignore it. At that time, no matter how good it seems. Just write it down in one or two lines, linking it to the relevant topic in your notes. You can't do more than that because you might find one article good on anti-defection, but you might find 50 articles good at that time. And leave it. And concentration, concentration has many reasons. Too much time on the phone, or wasting time on the laptop, many things can happen. You have to track your time, where your non-study hours are going, and why there is no concentration. And my concentration span is also very poor. At home, I couldn't give mock tests because I couldn't sit for 3 hours. So the exam is demanding that. We will do this. We have to prepare for the exam. So, we will do as it demands.

Thank you. Problem.

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Syllabus. Syllabus. If you put in the hard work. And one problem that I see with engineering वाले optionals is that after a time, it becomes a burden to study all this because you have to stay here and you have to study engineering well. I expect also. So that's one thing that you have to take care of. If you are using Civil Engineering, then it fades away after a while. But people who have good command get good marks. And choosing an optional is a personal decision, yaar. See the syllabus of other optionals, and then take a call because you have to study very hard. And you cannot just take any optional and study. Sir, what are the studies for Anthropology? You have to read basic books. You know the basic books that you have to read. What are the major areas? In the Social Anthropology paper, we have tribes, then Archaeology is there, Biological Anthropology. These four or five core areas. There are basic books for that. Once you have made notes from basic books, then it's time for value addition. And then for value addition, you have to see copies of selected candidates. And if you can go through one or two copies of selected candidates' notes, if they are, for example, Mandar Partki, a couple of years back, Narayan and Amit. They are very comprehensive. Just go through that and case study in your notes. So that's again a layer of study that you have to do. First, make your own notes, and then add value from other people's notes, and then attempt papers. Thank you so much. Right to you, sir. Right. Yes, congratulations, sir. My regular timetable, like we set it, from morning to late night, we study regularly, but we are unable to revise it regularly. For example, if we give 50% time to optional, then along with optional, we have to do the newspaper. Besides that, we are running a separate subject, so it becomes a user subject. But in the end, it is not revised regularly. So, what was your revision strategy? How did you do it? Please. Revision is the toughest part of preparation, in my opinion. Reading for the first time is very enjoyable. Reading Laxmikant for the first time is very enjoyable. But reading it for the tenth time will not be enjoyable. So, the mind plays tricks. You have to find ways to make revision easy. And there are two or three things. If you have not revised for a very long time, then there will be a problem. And if you are just starting, like sometimes you revise tables, or if you are doing Laxmikant, then along with President and Governor, you read State and Central Parliament together. Like this, you have to revise by mixing. And please ensure that you don't go too long without revising, because then it will become like a normal book, your notes, and that won't happen. The mind forgets very quickly. So these are two or three things, friends. Thank you. So, there is a difference. Don't think that PSIR optional covers GS2. It covers to some extent. The Polity section of Laxmikant is covered. IR is covered. But the governance part, some topics, I think environmental legislation, Supreme Court judgments, some things. Like this time also, it came: Supreme Court rulings with regard to environment. So I feel GS2 should be given that much respect. It's not like it's just PSIR and optional, so that's also done. Don't do that. You have to do GS2 properly according to its syllabus. And PSIR will give you an edge. Don't assume that it's also done because people do that. But it's difficult. It doesn't completely overlap. The format of answer writing. So in optional, it is usually more advisable to write in paragraphs. And in GS, many people write in points. So probably you can write in points in GS2, which you would avoid in optional. So I think this format is a bit different. In this, you can write answers a bit point-wise. Or both of you, both of you, congratulations. Sir, my question is, as I am a beginner now, sir. So I have... It's difficult to make beginners. Because I am reading for the first time, that's why it's difficult, right? It's only been two or three days. Everything is difficult at the beginning. So if you do it for 20 days, then everything will become easy. Initially, everything will feel uncomfortable. Making class notes, understanding while the teacher is teaching, writing parallelly, there will be a problem. Especially I find Geography very difficult. To understand Geography and then write it, draw diagrams. I used to write whatever I could write, whatever I understood. After that, you can take help from the class. Right? Like I remember that girl. I didn't know her, but her optional was Geography in the class. So she used to make very good notes. She used to tell me half of the things already. So I asked her to let me photocopy her mind. So she said yes. So I did that, and then I read it well from it, and then I edited it a bit and made it my own. So you have to make an effort. If you don't understand, then take help from someone. If some portion is missed, then go to the teacher again. Sir, I didn't understand this. Or read it from NCERT again. So there is no one answer to it. In some subjects, you will make good notes, in others, you will have difficulty. Like I had difficulty in Geography, so someone helped. And so many people are making them. You can, if some topic is missed by you, then take help from others. That is the benefit of, you know, coming to the class. Doing it with the class, meaning coming to the fifth class after leaving four classes, is absolutely not. Like I didn't understand some things in Geography, so I requested the coaching people, "Are you having classes in some other center? Can you allow me to go there and take that class once?" So they said, "Absolutely, you can go to another center and take that class again." So you have to do all this. You can. As per the criteria, have you completed your graduation? I think my graduation was finished, and one month after that, my result still hadn't come. By that time, my graduation exams were over. One month after that was Prelims. I was allowed to give it because I was also 21 years old at that time. So you should be of age, and finally, you should have graduated. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for coming. Thank you.

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