Post by redit Community user r/upsc Prelims is doable (alert-success)
Introduction
1. Master Basic Material and Revise Smartly
Read basic material once or twice. After this there is no need to read the whole books again and again when you think of revision. Take revision as removing your weak spots. For this whenever a question on your weak areas appear from PYQs revisit that topic and make it less weak. You do this 2-3 times and that topic won’t be weak anymore. Don’t think of subjects as whole because if you study a subject seriously then a portion of it is going to stay with you forever, if that is not the case then you need to revaluate your basic strengthening strategy.
2. Develop a Deep Obsession with PYQs
Have a weird obsession with PYQs, so strong this obsession should be that whenever you think of some topic or read something you should have already asked questions on that topic vividly surfacing in your brain. Like if you do mapping, you should know what has been asked in Mapping in the last 10-30 years (based on your capacity for obsession). It takes having proper compilation and categorisation of questions, better made on your own, and revisiting questions far too many a times. Whenever you feel like studying a topic first revisit PYQs of that topic and then move to cover that topic from the sources you have.
3. Use a Reliable PYQ Source
3. Have an exceptional source with you that covers PYQs pretty well. At least having good peripheral knowledge on that question and the topic in that question. I relied on Testbook as I found their solutions to be both very succinct and detailed. Do some trials and then stick to one. Make this a habit that if even if you know the answer to some PYQ still have a look at that solution and see if your knowledge base and your reasoning were correct. If it’s not, add that knowledge and reevaluate your reasoning.
4. Understand MCQ Patterns
4. Obsession with how MCQs are made, and what elements in the framing of MCQs have higher probability of making that statement wrong, e.g., “no”, “none” statements should raise suspicion and “some”, general statements should make you think that to consider “some”, general statements as wrong you should have 100% knowledge otherwise these statements are correct.
5. Build Your Own PYQ Analysis Repository
5. Build your own repository of PYQ analysis. Other than picking themes, you should very well know which type of statements are u usually correct and which are incorrect. Prepare accordingly.
6. Leverage Mocks Effectively
Mocks — There is a view that mocks are redundant but mocks help in making one observe if whatever strategy one has adopted with regard to Prelims is solid or not. Like elimination strategies. Don’t abandon your takeaways from PYQ analysis if they don’t apply on Mocks but it is certain that you will score better than someone who is only reliant on knowledge. Other than that use mocks to see in how many rounds you should attempt the exam, how to handle lengthy papers. For example, I didn’t find the exam to be as lengthy because I had attempted mocks lengthier than this and making it a point that I submitted them leaving 20 minutes so that I have ample time in the exam. Also target 95 percentile but without being obsessed with only scoring in Mocks, like I always based my preparation on PYQs and gave around 30-35 FLTs without being obsessed with mastering the pattern of some coaching institutions. I only applied what I learned from PYQs and only read what I saw in PYQs not chasing obscure topics asked in Mocks of particular coaching institution.
7. Take Calculated Risks
I believe in taking risks because it increases your chances and because if you chase higher attempts it forces you to master elimination otherwise one can’t attempt more than 40-50 questions. Although it’s a personal decision but if you observe the bulk of aspirants clearing Prelims attempt way more than people not clearing it. I for one never attempted less than 90 in any mock.
Bonus: CSAT Strategy
Volume - Prelims requires volume, especially for those who are new to it, aim to solve at least 300-500 questions of every subject in addition to PYQs, volume helps in quickening reading speed, making decisions faster and exposing you to more topics. But never take burden of these new topics, I just read them once when I saw the solutions and then sticked to PYQ topics. For this you can use some test series having 50-60 tests in total or rely on question banks like Forum Workbook or Sunya Question Bank.
Conclusion
Thank You. There is a method in the madness of Prelims.
Edit: About CSAT — Engineering background, read a lot of books so comprehension is no problem. But the main thing was that I am working through SSC CGL, all we do there is Maths, Reasoning, English. Have solved question banks of these subjects having 5-6 thousand questions that too multiple times, plus 100s of mocks, in my time maths used to be of 100 questions in mains, so I have a lot of volume under my belt. So CSAT was never a problem for me. Didn’t need to spend even one hour on CSAT and that helped me focus on GS. What I can suggest is to improve your discerning skills, I didn’t attempt even a single of Number System that I knew to be time consuming, like “how many numbers there will be satisfying the conditions given” as I knew this needs making cases and that requires time. All I did was Reasoning, selective topics of Maths (like percentage, ratio, time and work, easy questions of number system) and comprehension. I don’t recommend relying on only two. One should attempt and be good at all 3 sections in my view.
Disclaimer : This post was found on redit under r/upsc by the name Wonderyard. This has been posted to help the aspirants community (alert-passed)
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