Anthro paper2

Finally Mains 2022 is over.

Writing mains is like burning your own blood. It ages you. Each day of exam is a hurdle in itself.

It is always a relief and satisfying feeling after a long battle that mains aspirants has to go through after every Mains.

Those who have written Mains would realise how draining the exam is. Whatever the result may be, the experience of writing mains makes you more Mature and a better person- you learn to survive the pressure, fight your weakness, and also you learn to best utilise your limited knowledge !!

Take some break and have a positive mindset !! The journey of becoming a civil servant starts not after the result but from the preparation days itself !!

Few days ago, I requested everyone to share some pictures/videos to showcase the struggle faced by every aspirant. Team AAROH (Official band of LBSNAA) has come up with the music video titled ‘UMMEED’ - Dedicated to all aapirants !! Enjoy the song 😇

A big thank you to everyone for sharing photos/videos of your journey

https://youtu.be/l89mA98w77o

Description of the song:

"This song represents the struggle and sacrifice made by each Aspirant for her / his dream, a dream to Serve”

It's not always possible to succeed; however, it's important that we all TRIED, it's important that we all DREAMT and HOPED.

अच्छा एक इनसान बनने की उम्मीद..
कभी हार ना मानने की उम्मीद..
एक नए सुबह एक नए सूरज कि उम्मीद..
उम्मीदवारों की उम्मीद

Enjoy the Journey!!

Best wishes 😇

Mains result 2022

WR-CSM-2022-061222-ENG.pdf

Finally the result of Mains 2022 came after so much of anticipation. It may have made some people happy and at least 4 times than that unhappy and many may start loosing hope.

First of all congratulations to those who have gotten interview call. Looking at the vacancies and number of being called for personality test, the probability of getting selected is better as compared to previous years.

To all those serious aspirants who had put lot of hard work and sweat to this examination, I would say- DON’T LOOSE HOPE. If not this year, may be stars will align for you next year.

The only thing in our control is our ability to fight back, our ability to work hard and our ability to maximise our probability for selection. No one can ever say for sure that he/she will get selected - That’s the unpredictability of UPSC exam that everyone has to go through.

After every stage of UPSC exam, some people have to decide and take a tough call- whether to stop the preparation, or continue the preparation or continue with some work. Discuss with your friends and family but this decision has to be yours, nobody knows you better than you.

Like mains, interview also demands preparation but in different way. Will be sharing some inputs soon

Best wishes !!

This is from my DAF
I’m sharing this only for reference.

Points to keep in mind while filing DAF

1. Write maximum 2-3 hobbies. In CSE 2019 I wrote 2, in CSE 2020 I wrote only 1

2. Don’t overcrowd your DAF. Keep it simple

3. Mention those things only in which you have confidence and which you think have helped you in becoming what you are now. So basically things which have contributed positively to your personality

4. Keep the formatting simple, uniform and clean

These are the guidelines shared by Kanishak Kataria Sir in 2019. I found it very useful while filing DAF. Kindly go through it. I shared this last year also


Few pointers for filling the DAF:

• Don’t fill anything you are not ready to prepare later.

• Don’t show off achievements or write false hobbies/interests. One of the biggest blunder you can commit in filling the DAF.

• Write your achievements and interests concisely instead of filling paragraphs. Interests etc. should be legible in a single glance. Board doesn’t spend too much time looking into each and every aspect of your DAF. First impression is very critical.

• Limit the hobbies to maximum 3 - more than this will dilute the points and also create headache for you later as you will have to prepare all of them.

• In case of multiple achievements only write those which are most attractive (and can beat other smaller one). Example: University topper need not write about being CBSE 10th topper

• Govt scholarships/fellowships should be written like NTSE, KVPY etc

• Clearly mention your degree like Minor and Honours component. You wouldn’t want the board to misinterpret your graduation domain and ask you irrelevant questions!

• Do not force information where it’s not applicable. It’s perfectly fine to leave some columns. For eg. if you are not into sports, do not write it.

• Write specific interest and hobbies instead of general ones. For eg. if you are into dancing, mention specific dance form instead of merely writing “Dancing” as your hobby. You will end up providing a very big spectrum to the board to ask questions from.

• Writing internship experience under the “jobs” section - completely up to you. But if you write it, you should be ready to justify it. As mentioned earlier, do not force information in the DAF.

• There is a thin line between less info and excessive info in the DAF. If you try to show off and have an information overload, believe me you will have lot of trouble preparing for the interview. Each and every word in your DAF is a loose thread which can form a potential question.

Official telegram account of this year’s topper Ishita Kishore

Telegram channel - https://t.me/AIR1ishitakishore

All the best for tomorrow’s Paper

Tomorrow is the test of whatever you have given to this examination in the last one year or maybe more.

So first of all be Proud of yourself that you have dared to face this examination

Some suggestions:

1) A lot can change with confidence and active mind. It can easily decide whether one is getting 80 marks or 100 marks (difference of around 5 ques)

2) Don’t ever judge yourself while still giving your paper. Be in present and give 100%

3)Don’t rush towards the end of examination. 10 minutes is more than sufficient to solve 20-25 questions in 2nd or 3rd iteration/reading.

4) It is generally noticed that we miss the chances of our selection not because of tough questions but due to blunders that we do in easy questions (especially Polity and economy). So don’t rush in easy questions

5) Don’t match/analyse your answers during break, even if you are strong in CSAT. Take CSAT as seriously or may be more than the first paper.

6) I consider attempting around 50 questions in CSAT as best. Temptation to attempt more might lead to silly mistakes.

Also remember that if the paper is tough than it is tough for everyone. Questions are now generally asked to check your analytical skills and static knowledge.

Believe in yourself and take a good nap to remain most active during the vital hours of tomorrow.
Even if you are not able to sleep, in morning convince your mind that you have slept well and you are very active now. (Psychology can play a very important role sometimes)

All the best for the D-day !! 😇

2023 prelims.pdf

This marks a great shift in the way UPSC is asking questions and may ask questions in future.

Clearly from paper it shows how aware UPSC is wrt all the ‘gyan’ available from every sources.

But it also means that it was same for everyone. It is better to forget what happened in paper 1 and focus on CSAT and give your best !!

Best wishes !!

Hello everyone.

My friend Sandeep Kumar has secured AIR 24 in CSE 2022. His optional is mathematics in which he has scored 320 marks.

Currently he is undergoing training as IPS probationer in NPA Hyderabad (AIR 184 in CSE 2020).

He has created this channel to guide aspirants regarding UPSC CSE preparation. He will also guide those aspirants who have taken mathematics optional.

Here is the link to join his channel:

https://t.me/sandeepkumarAIR24

With Prelims result out almost 10 days ago, I hope that those who cleared are into full fledged mains preparation.

Those who didn’t clear, remember this is not the end.

Few pointers for those who are freshers and those who didn’t clear this time:

1) By looking at the recent years toppers one can easily conclude that even many toppers have failed in their 1st/2nd prelims.

2) There is always risk factor involved when you are facing such a competitive exam. Through only two ways one can minimise the risk- good preparation and more attempts (one should also know when to stop)

3) UPSC has changed the way it used to ask questions. Many such surprises might come in future too. So what is the solution?

Prepare all the topics and practice tests— so almost no change the way we prepare?

A little:

Don’t think that whatever you prepare would be asked in the exam. Rather gain maximum knowledge according to syllabus and attempt large number of tests to make yourself ready for any kind of paper— helps in minimising blunders

And also, be ready for the worst. UPSC knows how to not ask questions from the materials popular in the market. Never miss core concepts— helps in any kind of paper


4) UPSC wants you to consider CSAT as important as Paper 1. This has become so important that those who cleared CSAT this year- most of them have cleared Prelims also !!

— there are many free videos available on YouTube. One can also join some guidance/coaching separately for CSAT.

5) Use this time to make mains preparation robust, so that once you clear prelims you clear mains also.

Enrich your GS- 1,2,3,4 and also optional. Watch recent toppers videos and do value addition in each topics. Also, write GS and Optional tests by December

Also now is the time to improve your answer writing and cover PYQs of mains (still mains PYQs are relevant) !!

Mains PYQs

Unfortunately there is no single good source for PYQs. One should cover last 10 years of PYQs.

Few pointers:

1) Google the entire question- one can easily find 3-4 model answers by some coaching. Glance through it and copy and paste important portion into your own document.

2) Use ChatGPT: One may not find a very value added answers but for some subjects- flow and context wise answers are decent, but don’t over-depend

3) There are few toppers who have shared their notes on PYQs and GS notes.

I would suggest to make your own PYQs notes. Use google and discuss within your peer group to come up with answers. Start with last 5 years questions

The focus should not be to rote learn PYQs model answers.

The process of referencing to PYQs- discussion with your peer groups- trying to write PYQs as your Daily Answer writing practice- using google to add value to your answers—— all this process helps you to improve your content, your analytical skill and your approach to the Mains examination

Best Wishes !!

Compilation of all toppers channel (CSE 2022)

Credit: Himanshu Mangal (AIR 288)

There are many genuine telegram channels by some toppers who takes lot of efforts to share their genuine strategy and their sources. Join their channel according to your needs.


https://t.me/Gaurav_Budania_IAS_AIR_13

Content enhancement in GS

Post prelims generally the time doesn’t allow to read new books.

To increase your content, here are few pointers:

1) Subject wise Mains material/ Mains 365: By some reputed coaching can be used to supplement your already notes on that topic. Value addition in subjects like society, geography, economy and polity can be done

2) Reverse learning from sectional tests for topics like IR, History (including Art and Culture, Post Independence, World History). Last 2 years of Model answers of some reputed coaching can be covered.

3) Toppers mock tests papers: a very good source to learn how to write in paper and also to enhance your content (value addition)

4) Through video lectures: Now many people do join Mains enrichment courses. This option can also be looked. It also helps to cover CAs

5) Googling keywords from Mains syllabus and making short notes of examples/case studies/facts etc

Mains question still has significant static portion. One can use CAs to supplement and not replace the original content.

Best wishes !!