Some more FAQs
Disclaimer: I am neither a career counsellor nor an emotional therapist. I cannot take decisions for you. I can only share my experience. Every civil services aspirant needs to understand her own self, figure out her own short term and long term goals, understand her strengths and weaknesses and devise a plan in light of her own unique circumstances. And then just take the plunge and go kill it! Don’t overthink.
Question: I wanted your opinion on Mains answer writing test series. To be specific, should I join the test series right away or the November one or after 2019 prelims?
Answer: Depends. If your notes and everything are ready and you feel confident, then a test series won’t do you any harm even if you’re attempting the prelims next year. Also depends on how good/bad you are at answer writing. If you think you need some extra practice for that competitive edge, then you can do some Mains tests right now, especially for the static portion but the current affairs would be different for the Mains next year.
My answer writing was decent so I just joined the test series after prelims.
Question: I’m slightly confused about prioritizing. As in, should I first prepare my optional (consolidate notes etc. ) and other mains- only topics? or should the tests go parallel?
Answer: First you should get your notes and content in order. You can do some answer writing practice on your own in the evening. But join a test series only when you have your optional registers and key points on GS topics ready. Otherwise you’ll just get demoralised and scared of tests.
Question: Do you have any recommendations w.r.t any particular test series? Online- Offline?
Answer: I took the vision online test series. 8 tests for GS and 5 tests for essay. I strongly recommend Vision because they are professional and give good test series. For my optional I took Shubhra Ma’am online test series.
The advantage of online test series is that it gives you flexibility to align the tests to your own study plan and study timings. Also, you can write the tests from home and don’t have to move to an unknown place far away from your loved ones. However, to derive the maximum benefit from online test series, you have to be self-motivated and sincere. Strictly time yourself and do all your tests with utmost honesty and enthusiasm.
Question: I just want to ask what was your Prelims strategy in the examination hall while solving questions ? And how did you solve the questions? What was your technique to solve those questions regarding which you have no idea?
Answer: So my strategy was to revise my content really well so that I don’t get the basic questions wrong. I started studying only for prelims in January 2017 so I gave a good 5 months just to prelims. Other than that, don’t get shocked or paralysed when you see random questions. Try to use your calmness, presence of mind and alertness to at least eliminate one or two wrong options. Common sense also helps identify some wrong options.
Then take risk. That’s what I did and what pushed me to 112 score in GS in CSE 2017.
Manage your time well. You need to start filling the OMR sheet at some point. Don’t press the panic button and start blindly guessing and filling the bubbles. That happens to people when they see that they have only filled 40 questions and there are only 30 minutes left.
Question: How to cover maps portion. By atlas or maps. Name the atlas or maps please.
Answer: I stuck a world map and an India map in my study room. You can use either the Orient Blackswan or Longman’s atlas. Take a look at your atlas when you are studying Geography or if you find something mcq-worthy in the newspaper or the vision IAS International Relations section.
Question: Do we need to prepare notes for GS (1,2,3) mains before Prelims? e.g.,GS-3 Subtopics like PDS functioning, animal rearing” as we need to be prepared with 1–2 page notes for each topic of syllabus before mains… is it possible to prepare between Pre-Mains?
Answer: Personally, I didn’t fully prepare the notes for GS 1, 2 and 3 before Mains. I only had my world history notes ready that I had prepared during my second attempt. For the remaining GS topics, I didn’t make notes before prelims.
GS 1 you will cover in your ncerts for prelims. Post prelims, you will just have to work on your answer writing.
GS2 and GS 3 is mostly dynamic. So the better way to do it is to make a list of probable questions topic wise and revise your short notes instead of making bulky static notes. That’s what I did. I have 104 in GS 2 and 111 in GS 3. So this strategy worked.
I think GS you can handle after prelims because it will be very dyanmic. Your optional should be done before because that is the backbone of clearing Mains. Post prelims, you should just focus on optional answer writing and revision.
Question: Did you write PSIR mock tests before prelims?
Answer: I didn’t write PSIR mocks before prelims. I wrote some mocks in 2015 hoping the write Mains that year but didn’t clear prelims. I tackled my optional test series this year only after the prelims result.
Question: Can you please share some sources to read and understand foreign relations and foreign policy, not for the benefit of CSE, but for the learning and understanding of Int’l Relations.
Answer: If you are interested in the world of diplomacy and the Foreign Service, maybe the first book you can pick up is Choices by Shivshankar Menon. It’s excellent.
Another good one is Does The Elephant Dance? by David Malone. I used this for my optional as well. It was published in 2014 so it’s not updated but it is an excellent exposition on the formulation of Indian Foreign Policy and the history of India’s relationship with major countries.
Another good one from what I hear is Indian Foreign Policy: An Overview by Harsh Pant. You can also pick up the Oxford Handbook of Indian Foreign Policy. I have not personally read these but I really enjoy Harsh Pant’s articles so assuming the book is good as well.
If you’re interested in IR theory, you can scan through Andrew Heywood’s Global Politics. If you are interested in India-Pakistan relations, you can try: Husain Haqqani’s India V/S Pakistan- Why can’t we just be friends? Also fascinating is The People Next Door: The Curious History of India-Pakistan Relations by T.C.A Raghavan.
If you’re interested in understanding our north-western neighbour, then you can pick up Husain Haqqani’s From Mosque to Military or Stephen P Cohen’s The Idea of Pakistan.
Other than that, I think you can keep an eye on ORF and CFR.
CFR publishes Foreign Affairs which is a really good magazine.
Do follow India’s World on Rajya Sabha TV. They call retired ambassadors and diplomats for discussions. This will really give you an insight into the the policy questions India is grappling with.
The Wide Angle by Maya Mirachandani (The Wire) on Youtube is also good. Additionally, you can also watch youtube talks by Brookings Institute.
Other than that, you can follow good editorials in the The Indian Express, The Hindu or The Tribune. I’ve shared my favorite editorial writers in my booklist for PSIR optional on this blog.
Also, make a twitter account and follow the Ministry of External Affairs and Indian diplomats/embassies on twitter. See what everyone is up to! Twitter is very educative and informative. It’s also a good way to stay motivated during preparation:)
Question: Will the Young India Fellowship help me crack UPSC?
Answer: Fun fact — a lot of people get placed after YIF with consulting firms and big companies and actually totally lose the motivation to write UPSC. Also, the socialising/chilling element in the Fellowship can be very overwhelming so it is easy to lose focus. Ultimately, it depends on you — how you take it and how you prioritise. YIF is about personal and professional value addition and a great way to spend a year discovering yourself and new subjects but let me reiterate: it does not prepare you for UPSC.
The Fellowship is about succeeding at life in general and inculcating a passion for learning new things which is a skill set one must have no matter which career you pick.
Question: I ordered Shubhra Ranjan ma’am’s notes through an online source from Delhi shop. I watched your interview on YouTube where you have mentioned that you also took notes from Delhi shops. So my query is — are those notes cover the whole syllabus? And are they authentic?
Answer: Shubhra Ma’am’s correspondence notes are authentic but they are not as good as her classroom notes so try to get your hand on some student’s register and photocopy the classroom notes. You can get the classroom notes in the Rajinder Nagar market or better still- you can tell shubhra ma’am to make classroom notes available by scanning a good student’s register and making them available online.
The problem with correspondence notes is that there are spelling mistakes and bad handwriting so it’s difficult to comprehend. Maybe they have changed it for this year but last year’s correspondence notes were horrible.
Question: I want to ask one thing that you read the vision handout for some topics, so ma’am that handout is vision’s class notes or value addition material (which vision releases during mains along with the test series ) of vision?
Answer: I’m talking about the value addition PDFs that Vision gives along with test series.
But keep the focus on current affairs mostly for GS 2 and GS 3. Make probable questions + 15–20 points on each topic of the syllabus registers for these two papers.
You can get hold of the vision class notes in the market if you find them better. I didn’t use the class notes because I was doing young india fellowship on the side and so I didn’t have the time but if I had the time, I would have got those.
If you are writing mains this year, then don’t do class notes now. Just stick to the value addition material as it is crisp and it’s enough.
Question: How do I remain happy while studying?
Answer: Take active interest in what you’re studying. Whether it’s economics, history or geography, visualise the information in your mind’s eye. I read history like it’s a storybook. Whenever I study geography, I try to think of myself as an explorer/adventurer. While studying economics, I really try to get under the skin of the subject and find ways in which understanding economics can help me make this world a more equal and humane place to live in.
Your studies are not this boring dumb stuff that you have to memorize because the madhatters at UPSC says so.
Everything that you study is a part of you and part of the world that you live in. Observe it in action around you and have an imagination. Connect with the discipline.
Something that I often told myself while studying was that thanks to the civil services process, I have an amazing opportunity to learn so much about my beautiful country. Knowing about India’s history, its geography, polity and culture, its socio-economic issues is so important if you’re interested in representing India and serving India’s people. This process is not a punishment. It is an opportunity to become a better person and learn more.
Second, please don’t not let dumb distractions ruin your study hours. You will not be happy while studying when your mind is wondering about that awesome scene in that awesome movie. No gadgets.
Have fixed targets. Studying is easier when you know that you have to cover 2 chapters of geography before noon, 2 chapters of geography after lunch and 15 pages of newspaper notes in the evening. Focus on what is to be done TODAY and be sincere with the daily! And that’s your primary duty and responsibility. Clearly defined targets will keep you motivated and happy. When you are studying according to a study plan, the process gets smooth. Every day, you will feel more productive and more confident. You will feel that you are moving in the right direction and things will make sense. You will end up bringing more happiness to your study hours.
Take frequent and happy breaks! The moment you feel that you’re not grasping much or things are getting a bit dull, just put your books away, call a cousin and go out. If you feel distracted, don’t sit at home and waste time on youtube. Just go out, see some real humans and do something interesting that makes you feel alive. It’s better to do something that makes you move — even if it’s just walking around in a shopping mall. And come back to your books with full focus and positivity the next day.
Breaks are very important. Don’t isolate yourself to the point that you start hating the sight of humans and books both. Like I said earlier, have a life and mantain a balance. By having a life, I mean only those activities that bring joy into your life. Anything that messes up your momentum and UPSC A-game doesn’t come under “having a life.”
Talk to someone and let it all out! Whenever it gets too overbearing, too monotonous, too annoying and too frustrating, talk to your parents or someone who loves you. I used to share all my hopes and fears (and sometimes cry too!) with my mom, my dad, my mentor and my grandmother. I wrote everything that I was feeling and thinking in my journal. These self-therapy sessions were important for me and helped me go back to my books and my routine with a smile on my face.
Before I sign off, I want to share some of my favorite quotes because this dude is BOMB :)
All the best to everyone writing CSE ❤ See you on this side of things in the near future. It will happen! Believe in yourself.
