Bidipto Sarkar (CSE-23 AIR 987) Comprehensive Strategy
Background and Journey
I was born in Berhampore, in the Murshidabad district of West Bengal. Due to my father’s transferrable job at the Border Roads Organization, I have lived in various places throughout my life. I graduated from Kalyani Government Engineering College with a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering in 2020. In my academic life, I have changed around nine institutions since childhood, which has taught me to face challenges and adapt to difficult situations as they arise.
Living in remote border regions, we were often faced with extremist threats. This inculcated a certain amount of bravery in me, which was instrumental in motivating me to take on the difficult path of UPSC CSE. I decided to appear in UPSC CSE when I was in class 8 in 2011 and began full-fledged preparation in the 2019-20 period. I made some plans about how to go about it, but the COVID pandemic hit, and I had to make changes to my plan and adapt to the situation.
I prepared at home and appeared for the 1st attempt in 2020 as soon as I was eligible. I cleared Prelims but didn’t qualify Mains as I wasn’t thorough with the syllabus. I gave the 2nd attempt in 2021, cleared Prelims, but again, didn’t qualify for Interview. This time, the fault was more about presentation than knowledge.
The COVID situation gradually subsided in 2022, and I shifted to Delhi solely for test series and to address my fear of missing out; and was determined to return after 2021 attempt. I gave the 3rd attempt that year, qualified GS, but didn’t qualify CSAT by 2 marks. From that year, CSAT started to become trickier, and the fault was at question selection. Finally, I gave the 4th attempt in 2023, cleared all stages, and secured a rank of 987.
Start the preparation with basic foundational material that includes the NCERT textbooks for the relevant subjects. Preparation can be started with college but remember to not hamper graduation studies.
Timetable
I did not have a daily routine but weekly targets. My routine used to revolve around the targets for the week. Some days were light, some days were extra heavy. So really can’t suggest any one routine that I followed everyday for the whole preparation period.
Note Making or Not
Since I did not prepare from a single source and I did not prefer to write on book and note making was indispensable for me as I had to collect relevant points into one source that I can refer to and revise through practice and tests.
Role of PYQs
It’s crucial to study PYQs with the aim of understanding the language and the types of questions asked by UPSC. For the Prelims especially, it’s important to thoroughly research each option as questions with similar themes often appear in later Prelims exams.
I revised by practicing and taking tests. Whenever I encountered a difficulty, I referred to the relevant source. If that thing is unknown to me and can be used in exam later time, I would include it in my notes. This made the revision process more engaging as I was focused on improving myself while reviewing the material.
How to Attempt Prelims?
GS – In the current situation, the prelims is becoming lengthy and should be attempted in a maximum of 2-3 rounds to cover every question.
CSAT – Question selection is crucial as it is probably the only paper where all questions cannot and need not be attempted. Especially for Quant and Reasoning, each question should be given a specific time limit. If the method to solve a question cannot be understood within this time, then one should move on. This way, the easier questions will be identified. It’s important to have an idea in advance about how much time to devote to each section, based on individual strengths.
How and Which Tests to Practice
2 ways to practice test:
As a question bank – pick few questions and solve them in time-bound manner
As an analyzer – to see if your exam attempting strategies are working in real time
In no way, the test scores should be seen as a reflection of your preparation or knowledge level. The main aim of them is to improve and move on.
Answer Writing Strategy
Final answer writing format devised by me by the time of my 3rd Mains in 2023 is as follows –
Introduction: Give a definition + current context info/data. Underline the defining word and the data/info provided
Body 1
Box up the heading. Write the same words as mentioned in question.
Write points in numbering – 1) 2) 3)…
If the points to be grouped, then use capital letters to mark the headings of groupings.
Give a keyword and underline it – either make it sub-heading to use in a sentence.
Back it up with example/data. In case giving keyword as sub-heading, can elaborate in context of concerned heading.
Half page can contain as much as 4-5 points, that is max points under a heading.
Body 2
Connect with body 1. Write the same words as mentioned in question(if there) or invent words based on common sense. Box up the heading.
Same way as body 1 for writing the points.
Conclusion
Find a connection with a governance challenge and suggest measures.(underline measures).
If already suggested measures in answer then tell about initiatives going in that direction (underline initiatives).
The final statement should reflect the overall vision of India (underline the vision).
I gave 5 attempts and got selected 3 times including twice in IPS and IRS(IT) in 2017 CSE.
I have started DecodeCIVILS initiative to reach Aspirants with my strategies and notes. Aspirants can connect with me at:
Youtube.com/muditjainupsc
Facebook.com/decodecivils
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