Dear All,
Only two days left for UPSC Prelims 2025 and it is understandable that there will be lot of anxiety and nervousness about what will happen in exam. I would like to share few suggestions below which may be helpful to face the exam confidently and do your best.
1. Now is the time to stay confident and motivated by telling yourself that you have done the hard work throughout the year which will help you to do your best in exam hall.
2. Do only very light revision and even that should be stopped by 4 PM tomorrow. After that just focus on staying relaxed by listening to music, walking, talking to friends (not from UPSC field) etc ...idea is to take your mind away from exam for some time.
3. Do not worry if you have not been able to cover some portions of the syllabus as there is a high likelihood of no questions being asked from that area and even if a question is asked we can always skip it and do other questions.
4. You may feel that you don't remember anything but that is because of high level of anxiety and you will be able to remember the information in the exam hall if you keep your nerves under control.
5. Try to sleep by 10/11 PM and wake up early on exam day.
6. Reach exam centre at least 45 minutes before reporting time for exam.
7. Ensure you are carrying all important documents, pens etc before leaving for exam centre.
8. Do not waste time on any question, immediately move to next question and come back to difficult questions (questions that require more time) later after doing all easy questions.
9. If you find the question paper difficult and you have prepared with honesty then rest assured that others are also finding it equally difficult if not more so.
Finally, believe in yourself and the blessings of your parents and elders and give your best in the exam. Wishing you all the very best for UPSC Prelims 2025 👍👍
Regards
Abhishek Mishra
Faculty, DrishtiIAS
Only two days left for UPSC Prelims 2025 and it is understandable that there will be lot of anxiety and nervousness about what will happen in exam. I would like to share few suggestions below which may be helpful to face the exam confidently and do your best.
1. Now is the time to stay confident and motivated by telling yourself that you have done the hard work throughout the year which will help you to do your best in exam hall.
2. Do only very light revision and even that should be stopped by 4 PM tomorrow. After that just focus on staying relaxed by listening to music, walking, talking to friends (not from UPSC field) etc ...idea is to take your mind away from exam for some time.
3. Do not worry if you have not been able to cover some portions of the syllabus as there is a high likelihood of no questions being asked from that area and even if a question is asked we can always skip it and do other questions.
4. You may feel that you don't remember anything but that is because of high level of anxiety and you will be able to remember the information in the exam hall if you keep your nerves under control.
5. Try to sleep by 10/11 PM and wake up early on exam day.
6. Reach exam centre at least 45 minutes before reporting time for exam.
7. Ensure you are carrying all important documents, pens etc before leaving for exam centre.
8. Do not waste time on any question, immediately move to next question and come back to difficult questions (questions that require more time) later after doing all easy questions.
9. If you find the question paper difficult and you have prepared with honesty then rest assured that others are also finding it equally difficult if not more so.
Finally, believe in yourself and the blessings of your parents and elders and give your best in the exam. Wishing you all the very best for UPSC Prelims 2025 👍👍
Regards
Abhishek Mishra
Faculty, DrishtiIAS
Dear Students,
I went through the entire GS paper and tried to categorise the questions asked into 3 types - Easy (with decent preparation and general knowledge one should get these right without any problem), Moderate (these questions are somewhat challenging and need application of knowledge as well as some amount of calculated guessing also), Difficult (these questions were random or simply too difficult to get right) ...here are my observations -
1. Easy - approx 20-25
2. Moderate - approx 50-60
3. Difficult - approx 20-25
The paper was moderately difficult and everyone would have found it to be challenging. This will also have some impact on cutoffs as well.
The new type of question asked by UPSC with 3 statements in assertion-reasoning style seems to have increased difficulty level a little bit.
It is absolutely critical to read questions carefully as while going through the paper there were at least few instances where I missed to read 'not' ...and this time UPSC did not capitalize 'NOT' ...
Few suggestions -
1. Prelims 2025 is now done and focus should move towards Mains 2025 irrespective of how you might have done in the exam because if you consider yourself a serious aspirant then you will be writing mains sooner or later. Prepare for Mains.
2. Tally your score with the answer keys given by Drishti and other institutes ...though there will be few questions (at least 4/5) where no one knows what will be right answer as per UPSC ...so there will be some ambiguity but it is always better to know how we have done and improve from there ...
Wishing all of you all the very best for the journey ahead ...keep learning and keep improving
Best Regards
Abhishek Mishra
Drishti IAS
I went through the entire GS paper and tried to categorise the questions asked into 3 types - Easy (with decent preparation and general knowledge one should get these right without any problem), Moderate (these questions are somewhat challenging and need application of knowledge as well as some amount of calculated guessing also), Difficult (these questions were random or simply too difficult to get right) ...here are my observations -
1. Easy - approx 20-25
2. Moderate - approx 50-60
3. Difficult - approx 20-25
The paper was moderately difficult and everyone would have found it to be challenging. This will also have some impact on cutoffs as well.
The new type of question asked by UPSC with 3 statements in assertion-reasoning style seems to have increased difficulty level a little bit.
It is absolutely critical to read questions carefully as while going through the paper there were at least few instances where I missed to read 'not' ...and this time UPSC did not capitalize 'NOT' ...
Few suggestions -
1. Prelims 2025 is now done and focus should move towards Mains 2025 irrespective of how you might have done in the exam because if you consider yourself a serious aspirant then you will be writing mains sooner or later. Prepare for Mains.
2. Tally your score with the answer keys given by Drishti and other institutes ...though there will be few questions (at least 4/5) where no one knows what will be right answer as per UPSC ...so there will be some ambiguity but it is always better to know how we have done and improve from there ...
Wishing all of you all the very best for the journey ahead ...keep learning and keep improving
Best Regards
Abhishek Mishra
Drishti IAS