Subject: Trivia

Flagship & Advanced students,

This blog is to give guidance to students about the first advanced test on Polity and Economics on the 21^st of November. Advanced tests will not use basic sources such as NCERT’s (although some NCERT’s like old history NCERT’s are suited for advanced studying), they will instead be based on books such as Laxmikanth for Polity and similarly advanced sources for economics. First let’s discuss polity.

Polity

The syllabus will be the first 20 chapters of Laxmikanth. If you are reading DD Basu the same information will be there. In fact if you see in the syllabus you will see some standard references and other sources too. Generally all books contain the same information, and students may prefer some particular book as they prefer an author’s style. The first 20 chapters of Laxmikanth contain the following topics –

1.Constitutional Framework – Chapters 1-10 – Historical background, making of the constitution, Salient features of the Constitution, Preamble, Union and its Territory, Citizenship, Fundamental Rights, DPSP, Fundamental Duties, Ammendment of the Constitution, Basic structure

2.System of Govt – Chapters 11-20 – Parliamentary System, Federal System, Centre-State relations, Inter-state relations, Emergency Provisions, President, Vice-President, Prime Minister, Central Council of Ministers

Economics

The syllabus here broadly covers the first 7 chapters, the 11^th and 12^th and some topics from the 18^th chapter of Ramesh Singh. The topics are –

1.Basics of an economy – Chapter 1 – types of economy, role of state, sectors, national income

2.Growth, development and happiness – Chapter 2

3.Evolution of the Indian economy – Chapter 3 – planned and mixed economy

4.Economic Planning – Chapter 4

5.Planning in India – Chapter 5 – objective of planning, all attempts at planning such as the Bombay Plan etc, Planning Commission, NITI Aayog etc

6.Economic Reforms – Chapter 6 – Liberalisation, privatisation etc

7.Inflation and the Business cycle – Chapter 7 – types of inflation, measurement, e.g. CPI etc

8.Indian Financial Market – Chapter 11 – institutions, money market etc

9.Banking in India – Chapter 12 – RBI, NBFCs etc

10.Fiscal and Monetary Policy – part of Chapter 18

We would like to remind students (especially those giving the exam this year for the first time) that the prelims this year has been preponed and hence the UPSC exam is in June and not August.

Students are strongly urged to finish their entire syllabus for the first time by January end. Main topics such as polity, economics, geography and history should be finished by December end.

The first reading will only introduce you to the topic, it is only after your 2^nd and 3^rd revision that you will start remembering and understanding these subjects. These revisions will also take you a few months.

[Click 2 Download] “The Art of Tikdams” is now available for all IAS Prelims 2017 aspirants

source

Background: In January 2014, Alankrita decided to start preparing for UPSC exam. However, in mid-2014, she had to go through a personal crisis. This brought her to the level of using anti-depressants, anger management sessions and counseling by friends and family.

She planned to write prelims in January 2014 and started reading some basic books but due to her aggravated situation, could not even write the exam. These circumstances went on till October and finally it controlled. By this time, she had decided to focus only on her career. The crisis gave her a clear sense of purpose.

The life changing moment was not when the results came out, but the day when she stuck a paper on a wall in her room saying- “I want a 2-digit AIR in CSE-2015.”

Her journey: She then began the hard work of day in-day out studies. She planned her preparation first at macro level and then at micro level. Example, she planned completing full mains syllabus by May 15, then reducing it to topic wise scheduling and then hour wise every day.

Her motivation: There used to be moments of doubt, depression and stress quite often. To tackle it, she used to run in the mornings, meditate and exercise. Sometimes when she would lose patience to go on, she wrote on a paper as to why she started all this and this would provide her the motivation to move forward with more enthusiasm. Whenever she felt lethargic, she would see the newspaper and problems faced by various sections of society and think as to how she could be of some help. This gave her a sense of urgency to get into that position.

Strategy for preparation: Newspaper played the most important role in her preparation. One must not ignore it at any cost. Apart from this, 50-60% of her preparation was from internet. One more thing that she thinks helped her was studying very selectively but studying strong. She would read a single book 4-5 times rather than reading 4-5 books for one subject. Since the process of this examination itself is year-long, one must study something keeping it in mind that it might be asked a year later in their interview. One should be able to retain the points in long term memory and that can only be done once you have understood and analyzed the issues properly.

Mains strategy: Answer writing based on current events, peer evaluation process, mind maps during revision, strategy articles of toppers were initiatives that were immensely relevant and helpful.

Her motto: ‘Your thoughts become things. Make them good.’ The power of positive thinking cannot be emphasized enough. She believes it to be her most important asset throughout the preparation. She always saw a silver lining in every challenging situation, right from the unfavorable start to her preparation or managing financial difficulties.

Message to aspirants: Attitude is more important than aptitude.

[Click 2 Download] “The Art of Tikdams” is now available for all IAS Prelims 2017 aspirants

Santosh Kumar says that becoming an IAS Officer was his childhood dream. His story is like a film script consisting of all those – dream, struggle, step-by-step move towards the goal, hits and misses; and at last with so many difficulties he achieved his goal.

Background:

As he was from a rural background, having inadequate resources, he was lacking all the comfort and ease which many others had in their lives. But he never had inferiority complex in front of others. He always had firm belief that God has given him everything that others have; and if there is anything less, then he shall achieve and earn it with his hard word.

Like all other youngsters his first aim was to settle in life. With his affirmed efforts and luck in 2010, he was selected in SSC (Graduate Level) Exam and got posted in Central Secretariat, New Delhi. After marriage and government services he attained stability in his life. In true sense he actually started preparing for CSE at the age of 27 plus.

Preparation journey:

It was not a smooth sail. Many a times there were situations where he was compelled to re-think of his decision of attempting for CSE exams as the resources which he had were scarce and the uncertainty of clearing the exam with it.

He felt weak, disheartened and his economic conditions forced him to postpone his plans to appear in Civil Service Examination. Meanwhile, he got married and was blessed with a daughter. He gave his full time to family and in return their love, affection and much needed mental peace helped him think beyond and achieve his goal.

In tune with the saying that, when something good has to happen, almost all things fall in place, same was the case of Santosh Kumar. He got serious about his career in CSE as his wife kept on encouraging him to make an attempt. In true sense she was keener towards this exam and has truly believed that he could do it.

Delhi being the hub for CSE preparation fulfilled all that he required to move ahead with his preparation plans. Books, Study material, guidance and right kind of advice- he received all of it in Delhi. In total Santosh Kumar made 3 attempts for Civil Service Examination. In his first attempt in 2011, he cleared the preliminary Examination but was unable to move ahead. In his next attempt in CSE 2012, he scored 665th rank and was allotted INDIAN REVENUE SERVICE (INCOME TAX) but in his third attempt he finally achieved his goal of IAS and felt a deep sense of relief.

Preparation Strategy:

Almighty has given everyone some strengths and weaknesses. Santosh Kumar had strong willpower and never overlooked his capabilities. No sooner did he complete his graduation, than he thought of appearing for Civil Service Examination as he was confident that he can do it. He had in his mind that he is very much eligible to appear in CSE. He always used to prefer standard textbooks as he could understand it very well and also the entire syllabus of CSE is woven around that level. He was hardly worried about getting success. He just went on doing his hardwork.

UPDATE: Due to multiple requests from students to postpone the revision test (to give more time for revision and due to Diwali), we are postponing the revision test by 10 days. This means the revision test will be on 11th Nov and not 1st Nov. All subsequent tests will be postponed by 10 days to maintain the 10 day gap between them. The CA test is still going live on 28th October.

Flagship students,

Some very important takeaways from the basic tests

Hi guys, with TS6, the basic science test, all the basic tests have come to an end.

Aspirants of 2017 Prelims who want to leave no stone unturned in their preparation are advised to join our Flagship module. We are leaving nothing to luck as we ensure your basics are covered and neither should you.

Link to Flagship TS – Click here

Very soon the advanced level tests will start where our flagship students will compete with the senior players. But first we have an important revision test coming up on 1st of November.

Over time, we have seen students give tests and then forget about them. If they get a good score they are happy. If they get a bad score they get depressed or try to study harder for the next test.

But most students forget about the test they just gave. They forget that tests are for motivation AND for learning. Whether you get a good or bad score, always remember that you have to learn from that test. How do you learn?

First, you read all the answers given in the TS. Second, you find out all the questions you did wrong or were not able to attempt and pick up the book and start reading those entire chapters. Yes! The whole chapter, not just that one paragraph which contains the answer.

If you got a tributaries question wrong, don’t just see the answer for that tributary, but also see the whole river on the map, and also other rivers.

We have done an analysis of the 6 basic tests which just went by to find out what your weaknesses are. Do understand that the ideal score in each of the test should be 140+ Nothing less than that will give you the confidence of doing your NCERTs well.

Here are some of our observations regarding your attempts on Flagship Tests’ Basic module

1.Polity –

• Some topics which everyone was weak in – history of constitution, executive (powers and roles of President, Vice-President, PM etc)
• Strengths of students – basic understanding of concepts
• Everyone is smart enough to understand the basic concepts, however details matter in polity. What is the term of the Vice-President? These are not just small details.

3.History –

• This is the subject you all could have done much better. Only one student got a 3 digit score!
• Weak spots for students include – art and culture and medieval India. We understand that these sections are difficult to relate to or retain in long term memory but it has to be done.
• Good News #1: The revision test on 1st Nov will have a lot of tough questions from history re-introduced
• Good News #2: Civilsdaily is making rich, detailed course modules on art & culture basics for both Pre & Mains. Rich with detailed images and only the most relevant information – this module will serve as the one stop solution for all your art & culture basics

4.Geography –

• Some weak spots here are map related questions (e.g. locations of hills, plateaus, rivers etc). Surprisingly climatology is a weak point.
• As are questions on industries and resources. Students also tend to not pay attention to technical terms like diastrophism.

5.Science –

• Weak spots here are in chemistry and physics. Reread basic NCERT’s.
• Although you don’t need to memorise the chemical formulas, you should know what elements are contained in carbohydrates.

Overall we would like to point out that its not just concepts which are important, but details too. Reread your NCERT’s. Even more importantly, make notes from them.

To give you an opportunity to implement all this advice, we will be putting the tougher questions till now into our revision test.

Use the tests to learn, and not just as an item on your schedule or checklist.

Checking that your base is sound through these tests is very important. All Flagship students must give these tests. Reread you NCERT’s and aim to get 150 marks. Once you see these questions and they look like child’s play to you, the work will be done.

To all other IAS Prelims 2017 probables who are still deciding on which test series to join – Join any but stick to the philosophy of that test series. That’s the most important thing.

For students who joined our Flagship Course

We want to train you in the philosophy of covering your basics and advanced course along with the art of smart hacks (tikdams). Very sincere efforts are put into making the explanations richer and more meaningful for you so that you get to revisit the basics.

Make the most out of your efforts. After your revision test – we will give each of you a chance to talk to the mentors @CD so that you know how to make the most out of your advanced modules. 

Dear students,

 

What do you need to do to solve CA questions?

• Stay up to date with daily news – YES. In fact, we recommend that you read from our FREE android app daily to get the top 10-15 news items relevant for UPSC – Click here to download.

• Read the news for August and September

• Read Yojana for August and September

• And Tikdams! The art of reading the finer details of a question

Tikdams are not just guesses. They involve using your knowledge to make connections, instead of just using the facts you remember to tick the correct option. Click here to see they have been used to solve previous years UPSC questions.

Here are some questions from the upcoming test – 

Q.3) Recently, ‘Green steel technology’ was in the news. What is this technology all about?

a) It converts cast iron into environment-friendly green steel

b) It is simple modification in the conventional manufacturing process for steel

c) It is new technology that can be used to generate green energy

d) It will increase energy efficiency and sustainability of steel

Ans. b

Explanation: Green Steel technology controls the injection of granulated waste tyres in conventional Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steelmaking and reduces the use of non-renewable coke

Benefits : It reduces the cost of EAF steelmaking and reduces the environmental footprint of the industry.

Tikdams: Option c can be easily eliminated as it only talks about green energy and not steel. Option a can also be eliminated as iron or steel by themselves are not harmful to environment, the process of making them is. By this thinking option b is most likely as the answer.

Source: Aug 1

https://www.civilsdaily.com/turning-waste-tyre-green-steel/

http://www.thehindu.com/business/an-interview-veena-sahajwalla-director-centre-for-sustainable-materials-research-and-technology/article8925130.ece?homepage=true

Q.5)India has decided to roll out the ‘India Business Card’ for which of the following group of countries?

a)ASEAN

b)G20

c)SAARC

d)SCO

Ans. c

Explanation: The business card will be only given to prominent businessmen of the 8 SAARC countries (including Pakistan).

Tikdams: SAARC and ASEAN are regional organisations which promote trade among their members, hence answer will be one of the two.

Source: Aug 2

https://www.civilsdaily.com/india-readies-business-card-saarc-businessmen/

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-readies-business-card-for-saarc-businessmen/article8929863.ece

Q.53) Consider following statements with reference to ‘Hague Abduction Convention’

1.It is a multilateral treaty provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another

2.India recently adopted this convention as an effective way to deal with abduction cases.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct? 

a) 1 only

b) 2 only

c) Both 1 and 2

d) Neither 1 and 2

Ans. (a)

Explanation: The Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction or Hague Abduction Convention is a multilateral treaty developed by the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) that provides an expeditious method to return a child internationally abducted by a parent from one member country to another.

The Convention was concluded 25 October 1980 and entered into force between the signatories on 1 December 1983.

The Convention was drafted to ensure the prompt return of children who have been abducted from their country of habitual residence or wrongfully retained in a contracting state not their country of habitual residence.

Titbit: India has not adopted this convention, so it is still not party to Hague convention.

Recently, US has urged India to join the ‘Hague Abduction Convention’ to create a more effective response to deal with such cases. Almost a hundred children born to Indian-American couples are facing an uncertain future due to the trauma of separation of their parents and the complex legal issues involved

Source:

www.civilsdaily.com/join-agreement-parental-abduction-u-s/

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/join-agreement-against-parental-abduction-us/article9023062.ece

UPDATE: CA Test goes LIVE on 28th – Read about it here

Broadly the initiatives at Civilsdaily (App & Web) can be divided into 2 parts. Here is an attempt to classify all the existing initiatives so that you understand the focus areas, frequency and availability of each initiatives. If you have any specific question/ confusion after reading through the list, do drop in a comment.

For query on Test Series – email to us at hello@civilsdaily.com

Initiatives that help you prepare for PRELIMS

#1. Civilsdaily Prelims Test Series

• – Focus Area: Comprehensive coverage along with developing the art of solving prelims questions with bare minimum knowledge (Tikdams) via our rich explanations. To know about Tikdams – read this, this and this
• – Frequency: ~ Once in every 10 days | Time table – Click here (Flagship Course)
• – Availability: Web only (click here to register)
• – Downloads: A PDF with detailed explanations with Tikdams & Tidbits are automatically sent to your registered email id after you attempt a mock test
• – Additional Freebies: Test Series student get monthly pdfs + annual compilations worth ~1500 INR.

#2. Daily Newscards

• – Focus Area: Comprehensive summary of the daily news from sources such as The Hindu, Indian Express etc. The newscards cut out all the unnecessary stuff from each news article and present you with only the most important and relevant things wrt. Prelims & Mains
• – Frequency: Daily (except Sundays)
• – Availability: Web (click here) | Android App (click here)
• – Downloads: Monthly compilations of Newscards & Op-eds are available as CivilsDigest for purchase @Instamojo Store. Test Series students get it for FREE on their portal

#3. Daily op-ed snaps & videos

• – Focus Areas: Summary of the 2-3 best editorials from sources such as The Hindu, Mint, Indian Express etc. Useful for both Prelims and Mains
• – Frequency: Daily (except Sundays)
• – Availability: Web (click here) | Android App (click here)

 #4. Prelims Daily

• – Focus Area: 5 Free Prelims questions based on the previous day’s news to help you test and cement your knowledge. With the huge number of current affairs questions in this years prelims, this will help you retain all important news. In fact we have a special Test Series just for helping you prepare for Current Affairs – Click here to join it
• – Frequency: Daily (except Sundays)
• – Availability: Web only (click here)
• – Downloads: Detailed solutions of the 5 questions with tikdams on one of them is available after 8 PM on the same thread

Initiatives that help you prepare for MAINS

#1. Target Mains

• – Focus Area: 4 questions across all 4 GS papers with DNA Framework to help you understand the examiner’s mind better. You can upload your answers and get feedback from the experienced team at CD and a community of other aspirants such as yourself
• – Frequency: Daily (except Sundays)
• – Availability: Web only (click here)
• – Downloads: Monthly compilations of Questions, DNA & link to best answers are available as Target Mains magazine for purchase @Instamojo Store. Test Series students get it for FREE on their portal
• – Offer: Target Mains compilation for September 2016 is FREE for all – Read this and get your pdf!

#2. Essay Challenge

• – Focus Area: On the 7th day God took a break, and we also felt a similar need! Hence, every Sunday is an essay challenge to help you prepare for one of the most scoring papers in UPSC
• – Frequency: Every Sunday
• – Availability: Web only (click here)

#3. Optionals Writing Challenge

• – Focus Area: A user driven initiative to engage most sincere aspirants with quality material and daily questions. For seniors and beginners alike. These forum threads are made official and users of all optional subjects are encouraged to start and maintain their own threads
• – Frequency: Daily
• – Availability: Web only – Click for Pub Ad | Sociology | Political Science

#4. Newstrails ™

• – Focus Areas: How do you understand news with context? Newstrails help you read linked news articles in one go. This way we are able to collect all relevant newscards, op-eds under one topic so that you don’t have to run for research! Also contains CD Explains/ Backgrounders on topics
• – Frequency: Daily
• – Availability: Web (click here) | Android App (click here) – The orange icons on newscards!
• – Downloads: Annual Compilation of CD Explains (Backgrounders) are available @Instamojo Store. Test Series students get it for FREE on their portal

#5. Static Course Modules

• – Focus Areas: In-depth analysis and writeups on topics which are needed for a comprehensive Mains preparation. Write-ups range from Static to Dynamic Course. This is the latest offering from Civilsdaily and we are developing all round courses across the GS Mains syllabus
• – Frequency: Weekly
• – Availability: Web (click here) | Android App (click here)
• – Ongoing Courses:

Internal Security

International Organisations

Imp. Government Schemes

Indian Heritage & Culture

Modern Indian History

Indian Economic Survey | Buy pdf from here (TS students get this for FREE)

Indian Agriculture & Food Sector

Govt. Committees

The Target Mains initiative has been running from ~August 15, 2016.

1. We give you 4 questions across the 4  GS subjects with a demand and approach framework to help you understand the examiner’s mindset
2. The @discuss handle checks the answers and provides marks and improvement points
3. The amazing Civilsdaily community helps each other with relevant peer review and grows each day
4. All the questions can be accessed on web from here – Click here

Today, we bring to you a monthly compilation of all the Questions asked in the month of September 2016. 

1. The september edition of this compilation is FREE for all users
2. From next month on – our Test Series students will continue to get FREE Target Mains compilation along with monthly CivilsDigest magazine
3. Other users can pay 50 INR and get a personal copy from our Instamojo Store

What does the Target Mains compilation contain?

1. 100+ GS questions with DNA Framework (Demand and Approach)
2. Links to daily questions where users can click and see the attempts made by their peers + read the best answers + assess who got better marks and why?

This is how the Target Mains PDF looks from inside. If you click on the dates of September 1, 2 etc. You will be directed to the webpage where you can see answer attempts.

How to download the magazine?

1. For the TS students, you will find a copy of Target Mains along with this month’s Civilsdigest in the test portal – download your PDF from your portal
2. For other users –

CLICK THIS LINK

It will take you to the Instamojo store and you can download your FREE Copy.

Note: Test Series students should be able to download all these documents form their portal

1. Monthly CivilsDigest (News + Editorial summaries)
2. Monthly Target Mains Compilation (From September 2016 onwards)
3. Economic Survey Summary – 2016
4. CD Explains Annual Compilation (2015-2016)

If you like the compilations and the effort put in that – do drop in the comment for the design team. If you have some suggestions on improvements – so let us know.

Flagship students,

– Science and Technology- developments and their applications and effects in everyday life

– Achievements of Indians in science & technology; indigenization of technology and developing new technology.

– Awareness in the fields of IT, Space, Computers, robotics, nano-technology, bio-technology and issues relating to intellectual property rights

Above is the syllabus of the science and technology for UPSC mains. If you see previous years UPSC prelim papers, you will see questions on these lines. Science and technology questions can be divided into two categories –

• Current affairs related questions – this involves latest developments, such as satellites launched by ISRO, or the latest advancements like LiFi in this years paper. These questions come in the current affairs test.
• Basic knowledge questions – for these NCERT’s are the best source. The specific NCERT’s are listed below –
  • Science NCERT’s – Class VI and VII, VIII,  IX and X
  • Chemistry NCERT XI Class – Unit 14 (Environmental Chemistry)
  • Chemistry NCERT XII Class – Unit 16 (Chemistry in Everyday Life) – No need to memorise the detailed chemical formulas
  • Biology NCERT XI Class – Unit 4 (Plant Physiology – Chapters 11-15), 5 (Human Physiology – Chapters 16-22)
  • Biology NCERT XII Class – Unit 8 (Biology in Human Welfare – Chapters 8, 9 and 10), 9 (Biotechnology – Chapters 11 and 12), 10 (Ecology – Chapters 13, 14, 15 and 16)

Read these thoroughly. Questions from these books can also come as environment questions.

A few sample questions with explanation from the upcoming test

Q.12) The mode of nutrition in which organisms take in nutrients in solution form from dead and decaying matter is called:

a) autotrophic nutrition

b) heterotrophic nutrition

c) saprotrophic nutrition

d) Parasitism

Ans- c

Explanation: The mode of nutrition in which organisms take in nutrients in solution form from dead and decaying matter is called saprotrophic nutrition. Plants which use saprotrophic mode of nutrition are called saprotrophs.

Source : NCERT 7th : Science, Chapter 1, Page 6

Tikdam – Try deciphering meaning of words. Autotrophs, auto means making themselves. Eliminated. Heterotrophs depend on plants but not the dead ones. Eliminated. Parasites need a living host in order to survive. You get the answer now.

Q.70) The water pollution in a water body is measured by dissolved amount of:

a) Ozone

b) Chlorine

c) Hydrogen

d) Oxygen

Ans- d

Explanation: Amount  of oxygen required by bacteria to breakdown organic matter i.e. Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) level decides water pollution level of a water body. Clean water would have BOD value of less than 5 ppm whereas highly polluted water could have a BOD value of 17 ppm or more.

Source : NCERT 11th : Chemistry, Unit 14, Page 407, UPSC Previous year question

This TS will be available for all our Flagship Students – Click here to secure a spot

source

Background: D K Balaji, is from a small town. He studied in dilapidated government school and learnt English literally on his own. He realized his dream overcoming many struggles. Today across Karnataka, especially in rural regions, he is inspiring a generation of school children (on mission mode) to chase their dreams.

AS 10-yr old, the innocent child, after a personal experience, started believing that ‘Learning GK would help me win anyone’s heart’. That made him read GK books. Whenever I asked any uncle which exam needs a lot of GK? The obvious answer was ‘IAS’. This is where the seeds of IAS were sown in my mind.

His teachers further inspired him for civil services. After securing 93.76% in class 10^th, with 100/100 marks in Mathematics, he decided to take up HUMANITIES to pursue his IAS dream, when everyone ran behind SCIENCE.

He commuted long distances to his college and once, he passed by a book shop from where he bought the magazine ‘Competition Success Review’ (CSR). However, he could not understand anything in that, since his English was pathetic, owing his high schooling from a government school.

Learning English: That evening itself he realized the necessity of learning English to chase his IAS dream. He kept thinking in English and always formed English sentences in mind. While eating, bathing, almost all the times, he thought framing English sentences. Reading CSR in parallel helped him acquire a lot of new English words. He tried using new words in his own sentences. Doing this continuously for about 3-4 months made him learn good English and acquire reasonable command over that language.

His journey: For 12th standard, he joined hostel. Seeing engineering people being placed in MNCs with nice pay packages did worry him for some time. Then his Principal cleared his worries and suggested him to pursue further studies in MANAGEMENT since that would mould his personality suitably for a civil servant. He prepared for CAT. The rigorous CAT preparation didn’t help him get a seat in any of the IIMs or any of the topmost B-schools but it was to help him in CSAT in future.

After his MBA, he was all set to jump into IAS preparation. I was under the false impression that one could clear CSE only if coaching is taken in Delhi. He then met Mr. Nakul (CSE 2010 – AIR 32) who convinced him otherwise.

Optional Subject: Kannada Literature

Prelims Strategy: With only 5 months left for prelims and practically zero preparation, he started studying. Study of Humanities during 11th and 12th came handy to him because he had fair understanding of basics and need not have to go through all NCERTs. He strongly recommends every aspirant to read each and every NCERT as they are ‘bible of CSE preparation’. While reading, he made a point to consciously think of nature and content of possible questions from that portion of reading. Rigorous preparation for 5 months helped him clear prelims and CAT preparation did help in CSAT

Mains Strategy: He was too naïve for Mains. He firmly believes ‘the best way to do multiple things at a time is to do one thing at a time’. Accordingly, he decided to focus on his optional Kannada Literature first few months and then focus on GS. He couldn’t get through in this attempt and with introspection, moved on for second preparation.

Second attempt preparation made things fall in place for me, themselves. He joined online test series and stuck to the following points:

• He would not ‘read’ much, but ‘think’ most.
• He would give first preference to ‘revision’ and second preference to ‘studying new things’.
• He would prepare separate notes for compiling the information that he would have to use for substantiating his points in exam (such as statistics, research findings, illustrations etc.)
• That he would write all GS tests religiously, even if he would not have covered the prescribed syllabus.
• Most importantly, he would stay calm and poised throughout the preparation.
• He would not be overconfident or under-confident with respective better marks or worst marks and would just be ‘normal’.