Hello doston,
I've been receiving emails from the ones who wrote mains this time. But I'm yet to hear from the folks planning to appear next year. So socha yahin puch lu

So 27 walon, kaisa laga PSIR paper? Any glaring expectation-reality mismatch? If yes, why do you think so? Feel free to share your observations or comments below!

Lesson of the day: good workshops teach you something. Great ones get you a cake :’)

Thank you for all the warm wishes over email, and for those who showed up in person with my fav (cheese)cake ❤️

Glad to know the workshops and classes helped!

Shared this with the cohort right before we started Internal Security classes.

​CSE prep can easily become an endless cycle of collecting notes and memorising facts. But between my time at the Young India Fellowship and management consulting, I got used to a very different way of learning: one that cared far more about curiosity, perspectives, and structured thinking—where compiling information isn't conflated with genuine understanding.

​In my experience, not only does the exam reward those instincts, but it also makes the preparation so much more enjoyable.

​So I wanted to try an experiment: bring that kind of room into UPSC prep, where we focus on how to think rather than the usual info-dump. Going in, I genuinely wasn’t sure if it would work here.

​What do you think: is it actually possible to prep like this for UPSC, or does the exam inevitably pull us back to the traditional way of info/note memorization?

​(Sharing how the cohort felt about it in the next post :D)

So here's an update:

Mehak ma'am, a certified hatha yoga instructor, will be taking this session sometime around Wed/Thu next week.

If you're interested in learning a thing or two from her, feel free to register below. She'll shortly communicate further details via email.

For those looking to restart Mains prep, let me share something.

​2024 Mains ended on Sep 29th, and I shot this email out on that night itself. Although it was the IFoS vs CSE mains prep dilemma that was bugging me at that hour, but more importantly, it was an honest admission of my (lack of) exam performance as well.

I knew I had to take a break, but mentally I could not turn off my exam disappointment from the subconscious. So there I was; planning the upcoming mains grind on that very night itself.

Looking back, I have mixed thoughts on that phase.

For the most part I was disgruntled. I (desperately) wanted a break, but the other part within me chose against it. Perhaps, he wanted to channelize the mains disappointment to an unrelenting grind right after. And somehow in that internal kashmakash, I started preparing again, gradually but eventually.

I also look back at that phase with a smile: afterall, it was this grind that ultimately culminated in a 100-mark jump in the written score in 25!

Anyway, the point is: it's normal to have those bouts of disappointment, relief, and anger, all flipflopping your mood in these weeks.

No one truly knows how the papers went. I've had friends who were super happy with their performance, but couldn't find their name in the list. At the same time, I had folks who had zero confidence of making it to the next round, and yet they did, attempt after attempt.

And no; the point isn't about sheer subjectivity in marking, but something else.

This is a relative exam. Your performance wouldn't be judged on an absolute scale, but in relation to your peers. So here your subjective emotions about the performance could mean little wrt your interview call chances. Afterall, these feelings of happiness/ disappointment are subject to your specific expectations and standards, which may vary from person to person.

So logically one should expect a two-pronged restart: interview and mains prep simultaneously. One for the best case scenario and one for the worst one.

It won't be a neat 50-50 division, but sometimes 80:20 or 60:40 (and vice versa) engagement, but surely both in some form or the other.

More on it later

Corporate/Consulting Interviews vs. The CSE Interview

One might assume that prior interview experience with corporates would naturally help in the CSE interview as well. While that is certainly true to an extent, I would add an asterisk to that assumption*

Like everything else in life, transferable skills do give you a better starting point in a competitive race. But assuming that success in one sphere should automatically translate into success in another can be a folly. Each has its own rules, expectations, and, consequently, design principles.

The traits valued in private-sector recruitment may not carry the same weight in public-sector recruitment. A private firm may care less about your sense of idealism or public purpose if efficiency helps it deliver better outcomes for its clients. A civil servant, on the other hand, is expected to uphold the Rule of Law, implement development programmes, and let constitutional order prevail over parochial interests. In that context, idealism, intellectual honesty and integrity acquire a very different significance.

With that in mind, here are a few subtle (yet stark) differences I noticed while preparing for the CSE Personality Test after having gone through corporate and consulting interviews. This, of course, is only my experience and may not be everyone's truth.

Thinking Aloud (or within?)

In corporate interviews, especially consulting case interviews, candidates are often rewarded for thinking out loud.

You are expected to articulate your assumptions, brainstorm in real time, explain your approach and iteratively work your way towards a solution.

The CSE interview, in my experience, has a different expectation.
Instead of exposing the entire process of thought, you are generally better served by giving a thoughtful and measured response. The board isn't necessarily looking to watch you solve a problem in real time; it is also observing how you exercise judgement and communicate a considered view.

"I don't know": same response, yet different perspectives!

In a consulting case, simply saying "I don't know" can be a poor substitute for demonstrating your ability to think. You are often expected to use guesstimates, proxies and reasonable assumptions to arrive at a ballpark answer.

In the CSE interview, however, admitting that you don't know something may not be merely acceptable, but appreciated. Perhaps it serves as a heuristic for the board members to gauge one's intellectual honesty and humility, who knows.

Whatever the reason, recognising this difference matters.

A corporate interview instinct may push you to confidently construct an answer even when you are unsure of an important fact. In the CSE interview, that instinct can work against you. Knowing when not to answer may itself be part of what is being assessed.

Interviewee-led vs. interviewer-led

Consulting case interviews are, to a large extent, interviewee-led. You ask clarifying questions, request data, structure the problem and guide the conversation towards a solution.

The CSE interview is fundamentally different: it is interviewer-led.

Of course, you can influence the direction of the conversation through thorough DAF preparation and the responses you choose to give. But the underlying format remains different.

Someone habituated to taking charge of a consulting case may inadvertently come across as overly assertive (or even arrogant) in this setting, even when that isn't an accurate reflection of their personality.

Storytelling vs Brevity

Finally, corporate interviews can reward storytelling based responses. You may be accustomed to building a narrative, providing context and keeping the conversation relatively informal.

There is certainly room for stories in the CSE interview too. But the overall premium on brevity, precision and economy of language is much higher.

You have to learn to say more with less.

Perhaps this design principle stems from a simple reality of our civil service: in a country with pressing socio-economic challenges, a civil servant's words often carry greater weight.

And perhaps that is a good place to begin preparing for the Personality Test: not merely by preparing answers, but by developing a conscious awareness of how you speak throughout the day.

Welcome to the next stage :)

Came across this beautiful thought during the morning meditation today :)

It reminded me of what my friend used to often say about happiness.

"If you can't be happy during prep, you won't be happy after exiting prep too!"

Truth be told, I've only grown in my appreciation of this wisdom with time.

Doston, help me with some suggestions.

How can I best contribute to your GS/PSIR prep in the next few months?

Hoping to filter some ideas that sit at a sweet spot b/w your genuine need and what realistically I could help with. Feel free to shoot some ideas!

P.S. Special 1-1 session with folks jinka idea I get to implement :P

Anyway, pls try to be as specific as possible :)