A Tale of Two Aspirants - P and O

Both P and O hailed from similar backgrounds, had a similar education. Both wanted to become Civil servants. With almost equal talents, only discipline and hardwork (and of course, some luck) could be the differentiating factor.

However, both were disciplined and hardworking, putting almost the same efforts in preparation.
With time, P seemed to get ahead. He had more knowledge about the subjects and also about the UPSC industry. He exactly knew the INs and OUTs of different coachings. The funny thing was many new aspirants gathered around P to listen to his 'Coaching gyaan'.

Prelims arrived.
P was the clear favorite as the one who would qualify for Mains. No one even expected O to clear. Both P and O were confident on the exam day and after the exam. Fortunately, both qualified for Mains.

The positive results reinforced the confidence in both of them regarding their strategies. After Prelims, same thing started happening. P was again emerging as the clear favorite. More knowledge, more access to everything.
O and his strategy was a mystery. At times he didn't know many things which the fellow aspirants were discussing.

P could be seen in the institutes, in the notes and the Xerox shops quite often. O wasnt very visible.

The time of Mains arrived. Both appeared. Both were confident ( O bit less). Results arrived.

To the surprise of everyone, O qualified for interview. P didnt. O was somewhat surprised and P was dejected.

When O was asked the reason for his reaction - he said, 'I felt I had not studied as much as others had'.
When asked about his coverage, he said he had read all subjects from one good source, made notes and revised them 3-4 times. And then he had done decent answer writing and improved according to this strategy. This approach he had followed for GS, Essay and Optional.

P wasnt ready to admit he did anything wrong. Out of boasting and release of frustration, he started blaming the exam itself.
P said - ' What's the point of not qualifying even after studying everything and not leaving anything. I covered almost each good source available in the market. I had read almost all the mock test solutions.

P, when asked about the content consolidation and answer writing, had no answer. He started defending - ' If I have the content, Ill be able to write. This is what I thought. And I was able to write'. P was either unaware or denying his mistakes.

If the test of 2nd stage of the exam was how much you have read from how many sources, clearly P was the winner. But, in the end, O qualified. That means, this exam needed something else.

P's real name was perfection.
O's real name was Optimum.

Dear Physics Optional Community,

As Quantum IAS completes four remarkable years, I want to extend my heartfelt gratitude to all of you. On this very day, four years ago, I posted my first video on YouTube, marking the beginning of this incredible journey. From that humble start, it’s been an honor to guide so many passionate aspirants through the challenges of the physics optional for the UPSC CSE.

Your encouragement and support have been the foundation of our growth. If this support continues, we are excited to start many free initiatives to help even more students on their path to success. Thank you for being a part of this journey—we couldn’t have done it without you.

Warm regards,
Shivam
Quantum IAS

First 3 classes are FREE . Next class is on 8th Sept @ 6 am to 9 am.

LAWNS ( Live Answer Writing & Numerical session).


Prerequisite: Complete the theory and basic  derivations of the topics before attending it.


Features:
1) 60 LIVE Sessions  (40 classes before Prelims and 20 after Prelims)
2) Solving around 1500+ Numericals & Questions.
3) All relevant PYQs from the last 30 years.
4) Value addition material (whenever required)
5) Complete guide to answer writing & numerical solutions.
6) Complimentary to Foundation Batch Students.
7) One class per week till December and 2 Classes per week from Jan to march.
8) Classes will be held on Sunday from 6 am to 9 am till December after that , on Saturady and Sunday.


Link : https://learn.quantumias.com/learn/LAWNS-Physics-Optional-CSE-25

All the classes and courses are suspended for few days due to bad health of Shivam sir.

Symptoms are of dengue like 103 fever and ache , waiting for the report for further treatment.

Inconvenience is deeply regretted.

On the behalf of Shivam sir .

Follow the quantumiasofficial channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vb04QNvCcW4wYcrhmU2d

Coming up with some FREE courses for prelims. Join the channel 👇


t.me/quantumias_prelims

We will share today , all the deliverables of FREE course for prelims .

Course name : Q - RAP ( Quantum Rapid Absorption Program)

Course aim : Memorise the polity tables , schemes , History terms , etc . Focus on performance not only on studying .

Starts from 31st March. Registration link will be shared shortly. We can take only 100 students (FCFS)

Join the telegram channel : t.me/quantumias_prelims

Q-RAP (Quantum Rapid Absorption Program) - Prelims 2025


This course is designed to help you retain, recall, and revise the most important topics.

Tentative Schedule (starting from 31st March ):

1st week - History related (chronology, governor generals , history terms , literatures, etc)

2nd Week - Economy & Scheme related (reports , indices )

3rd week - Geography & IR related ( static mapping , places in news)

4th week - sci & tech + envnt related

5th week - polity related ( acts / bills) .


Every Sunday you will get the list of Ratta Sheets and class schedule . Recorded videos will be available (will share when and how ). Not promising but if it will be feasible we will also integrate some MCQs.

Enrol for FREE

https://bit.ly/QuantumIAS_prelims

We have confirmed seven ranks till now from our institute .

1) Adwait Singhai - Rank 138

2) Hardik Garg - Rank 181

3) Vishwas Gupta - Rank 208

4) Sukant Jain - Rank 365

5) Aman Patel - Rank 470

6) Prince Sonu Mayank - Rank 499

7) M Venkatesh Prasad - Rank 700

NOTE : many more students have registered in our some FREE courses but I am writing name of those only who have written tests, attended course and was in regular personal mentorship and paid course. #real_result