Sherlocking Answer Pointer:

https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6670

Sherlocking Ethics Qns for Practice:

Theory
https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6713

Case Study
https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6714

Sherlocking Ethics Answer Pointers:

https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6749

Sherlocking Mains Qns for Practice:

https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6770

Older Minutes Resposted, still relevant:

Minutes of the last online meeting:

Disclaimer:

This exam is a black box at the end of the day.
Nobody can be 100% certain of how the evaluation happens.
My experience comes from official UPSC notification, having written Mains thrice and seeing two marksheets from those attempts, talking to a lot of successful and unsuccessful aspirants while keeping in view their marksheets, and listening to numerous topper talks available on youtube.

1.Major Change I made-Stuck to the directives from notification

*Conventional essay type paper: Thus too shorthand points without logical sense won't bring dividends

*Overall intellectual traits: capacity to interlink

*Depth of understanding: conceptual clarity

*Rather than mere range of information and memory: Pointless and endless Value Addition won't bring dividends

*Well educated person will be able to answer without any specialised study: No point watching/reading elaborate content on any issue. Let the basics do the work for you


2.Discussed 2022 GS1 and GS3 attempt.


3.4 Frameworks- the Holy Grail to generating 'n' number of points

->GS syllabus

->Lifecycle

->Stakeholder

->Long term/Short term


4.General Tips on Mains

->Preparatory phase

*Basic content(250 word writeup on every syllabus head)

*Answer writing(Application of that knowledge in PYQs for relevance and in mock tests for time management)

*Framework to increase number of points

*Mnemonics to improve content retention

*Wall paint hypothesis- Doing a sufficing paint job over the entire wall is more rewarding than beautifying only certain sections of the wall. The wall is the syllabus. i.e. Finish the entire syllabus ASAP once, before doing value add/developing differentiated content for certain sections.

->Examination hall aptitude

*Impossible quaternity->1.Filling all pages, 2.Attempting all questions within time, 3.Legible Handwriting, 4.Relevance of answers; All four can't be achieved simultaneously across all papers. Prioritise 4>2>3>1.

*Mains hierarchy of needs: Basic content>Answer Writing> Value Add.

*Don't overcomplicate question directivesi.e. Analyse= Discuss= Examine= Comment= Critically ____= Pros,Cons,Way Forward; Justify= Substantiate= Only second the perspective given in the Qn, no need for the counter points.


5.Live answer evaluation session-Suggestions to fellow members

->Handwritten answers over typed

->Use similar UPSC like sheets/space to practice(2 pages for a 10 marker, 2.5 pages for a 12.5 marker and 3 pages for a 15 marker)

->Align heads in body based on what is exactly asked

->Vertical reading should enable the evaluator to know that you've hit the demand of the question

@UPSCneil

ALL ABOUT ESSAY:

Essay Discussion 2023
https://youtu.be/s8IFs-xjScU?si=e_TudPiai4HeahPf

Essay Primer Post
https://t.me/UPSCneil/16798

Sherlocking Essay Meet Minutes
https://t.me/Neil_You/844

My Essay Copies
https://t.me/answerwritingneil/162

Free Essay Pointers
https://t.me/answerwritingneil/5902

App Details
https://t.me/Neil_You/1765

Sherlocking Essay Pointers:

https://t.me/answerwritingneil/6836

Session at 4PM today!

Meet Link:
https://meet.google.com/tvy-uuos-thn

You can mark your interest and questions in the form below!

Registration Link:
https://forms.gle/ZesohJUcMTg2Tq1A6

@UPSCneil

See you guys in 15 mins!

Great session indeed. We’re sure would have added a lot of value to your prep.

We hit the upper limit of attendees very quickly and hence a lot of students were unable to join.

We’ll shortly be putting out snippets from today’s discussion on YT. Additionally you can leave your queries at @UPSCneil.

Wishes!

Our heart goes out to all the aspirants who unfortunately not able to experience the brilliant insights today.

To ensure nobody misses the key pointers:

-We’ll put the recording in consumable pieces on YT very soon.

-Based on our mutual schedule, we’re arranging a follow up meet with our Guest very soon, hopefully within a couple weeks while ensuring that all of you can attend without any limit.

Also, I’ll be taking a very short session tonight on @LIFE_neil around 9.30PM!

See you soon!

Details about app:
https://youtu.be/EOviz3aNST8?feature=shared

Download Link:
https://lynde.page.link/tZoA

For iOS, download classplus app and give org code as gluuld.

All details shared. For any queries, kindly ping @helpdeskupsc!

First the Patel nagar tragedy, and now this!

https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/students-trapped-in-popular-coaching-centres-flooded-basement-in-delhi-1-dead-6203340

Guys please stay safe, avoid basements. Apparently we don’t count in the electoral landscape, gotta look out for ourselves!

Was unwell the past 2-3 days, that must explain the absence.

Hopefully we’ll continue to balance our social responsibility towards bringing the culprits to justice with our personal responsibility of studying on a consistent basis, as neither of those two responsibilities are mutually exclusive.

Qns have been put on a systematic basis with solutions on @answerwritingneil.

I’ll go through the pending queries now and resolve asap. Meanwhile, maintain mutual respect, support each other and avoid giving fringe any space in this vulnerable time.

Wishes!

Always helps whenever I’m feeling low.

Tuesday Spirituality Sesh at @LIFE_neil!

Sherlocking Qn of the Day:

https://t.me/answerwritingneil/7032

One chapter closed.

But still surprised that an institution of UPSC’s stature is taking ‘certificates’ on its ‘face value’, reducing its own compliance, which leads to loopholes that currently exist.

Hopefully this will be rectified, else the systemic flaws will still remain!

@UPSCneil