This is the 8th Topper Journey & Strategy post from the Batch of 2023. Following is journey & strategy of Jatin Jain who cleared CSE-22 with AIR-91. This was his 3rd attempt. In his 1st attempt he missed Prelims cut-off by 2 odd marks and in his 2nd attempt CSAT proved to be a hurdle. This was his 1st Mains and he aced it with AIR-91. In following post he has discussed his mistakes & learnings from the first two attempts and has mentioned his Prelims, Mains & Sociology optional (280 Marks) strategy.
Myself Jatin Jain, I have secured AIR 91 in UPSC CSE 2022 and my optional is Sociology (280 marks). My Mains marks are 818 and Interview score is 179. In this blog I would like to give a deatiled strategy for UPSC.
The three pillars in this journey are:-
UPSC syllabus and PYQs analysis
Dedication and determination along with Consistency
Never give up attitude and learning to celebrate your failures
This was my 3rd attempt, in the previous two attempts I was not able to clear the Prelims Exam. Then I analysed my performance and weakness in these attempt. I found that I didn’t emphasis much on the PYQs, not did deep analysis of ideology of UPSC in framing Ques. Then my mentor Amit Jain Sir (Core IAS) helped me in understanding the thinking of upsc in framing Prelims Ques and with lot of practice I was able to clear prelims along with Ifos cut off.
Prelims Strategy
Strength your Core static subjects like History, Polity and Economy these are the Three important subject which can assure you your ticket to Mains exam
Analyse PYQs along with thorough research on all the incorrect options too
Give multiple mock test i. e. Solve as many MCQs as possible minimum 6000 Ques, it would enhance the guess work
Identify the strength and weak areas, and also the optimised no of Ques to attempt
DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE CSAT, it has been a serious eliminator used by UPSC in past 3-4 years
Mains is the key to success in this examination, it can guarantee your selection in UPSC. The Formula to succeed in mains is Answer Writing and I would like to tell that Answer Writing is an art, and it needs to be developed and crafted in a scientific manner. My learnings for mains and answer writing are driven by two mentors , Amit Jain Sir (Core IAS) and Anupam Jain Sir (Smartwork Labs). Amit Sir taught me the basics of Answer Writing in his course, from structuring to addressing the demand etc and Anupam Sir constantly worked with me to improve my skills and add value to my answers by evaluating my most of the answers. Their inputs have helped me to gain confidence and develop decent answer writing skills.
Along with Answer Writing is the content which is important in Mains. I followed an approach of having 1-2 page content in structured format on every single word mentioned in the syllabus and revising them numerous time and kept updating with examples and case studies for value addition. Key is to make crisp notes and learn them and try to reproduce the content in answers in multiple ways.
For Ethics and Essay I would like to mention, my primary source was Mudit Jain Sir’s Decode Ethics book, I Utilised it very effectively to make maximum use of it and it has also yielded results in my favour.
Interview
It is the most enjoyable stage in this examination, where you try to explore about your own personality and try to learn different perspectives and more in depth knowledge and understanding is developed. And as Mains gets you selected, Interview will decide your Rank. Most important thing in interview stage is your DAF (detailed application form), it needs to be prepared thoroughly, my 70% of interview questions were directly or indirectly derived from DAF.
Sociology
Sociology is a very good scoring optional. I would like to mention the resources which I referred:
Sleepy Classess (YouTube Free lectures)
Mahapatra Sir Class (Vajiram and Ravi)
Toppers Notes: Tushranshu Sir and Sinduri ma’am notes (selectively for value addition)
Essential Sociology by Nitin Sangwan Sir
Toppers Copies for value addition
Levelup IAS Nishat Sir’s Guidance and some current affairs topics analysis
Telegram channel’s like One liner sociology, Decipher Sociology etc for examples and value addition
Strategy for sociology should be based on twin pillars i.e. Conceptual understanding and PYQs, as every year 60-70% questions are directly or indirectly repeated in exam.
Conceptual clarity and list of thinkers to sprinkle in the answer is essential in sociology answers. Use of relevant and contemporary examples can be a cherry on the cake and can differentiate our answers from other aspirants.
Answer writing is very important in sociology, to understand the demand of the question and write what is asked rather than what we know.
Making short notes and revising them multiple times along with standard definitions and readymade Introduction and Conclusion for frequently asked questions can help you score decent marks in sociology. Try to innovate and add diagram, flow charts, maps wherever possible in the answers for some extra brownie marks.
Tips for Aspirants
Always have a self belief and a positive attitude in life and just give your 110% with honesty and leave the rest to God. As I am a MS Dhoni fan, so his one which quote I always mention is, “Process is more important than the outcome, result may or may not be in your favour everytime as success and failure are two sides of the same coin, but with correct Process Ultimately you will reach your goal sooner or later“.
So just keep doing the Smart work, have a plan and strategy for UPSC and don’t panic with the temporary Failures and have patience along with consistency and you all will succeed.
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