Hello, My name is Aditya Jain, and I’m from a small town in the district of Bhind called Gohad. I got my bachelor’s degree in engineering from Jabalpur engineering college and then got a job at a stock market company. I thought about UPSC when I was in college, but I didn’t study enough and didn’t feel sure about it. During the short time I worked in the private sector, I realised that UPSC is my true calling. I quit that job to start preparing for UPSC.
My Path to the UPSC: I started getting ready in January 2019, with philosophy as a choice. On my first try, in 2019, I couldn’t even get through the prelims. I didn’t feel bad. Instead, I was very upbeat and started working on my mistakes, so I was very ready for my second try.
In October 2020, right before finals, I was covid-positive and sick with a high fever. Still, I passed the preliminary exams with a good score and started getting ready for the mains. I finished mains, but I didn’t make the final list.
Even though this was my third try, I still couldn’t pass prelims. This was the worst part of my upsc journey. I was so sad and unmotivated that I didn’t do any schoolwork for three to four months. With God’s help and the help of my family, I finally got a rank on my fourth try.
Prelims strategy:
Static is the only thing that can save you in prelims, and you must do it well using normal sources.
I took notes on important topics like the present, the past, geography, science and technology, and the environment. 3.On my second try, I joined SFG of forum ias, and I found it to be a good way to check for regularity and review. Here, there were tests every day, and the whole curriculum, including current events, was reviewed twice.
I think it’s very important to do mock test papers, and you should take a test every Sunday. Before the prelims, you can take a test every other day. This helps a lot with building confidence.
A fake test is useless if you don’t take the time to analyse it, so write down your mistakes and try to fix them on the next mock.
I used daily current affairs of insights ias and evernote to make short notes on current events. So all I have to do before my prelims is go over my notes, not the heavy magazines on the market. I think it’s important to read the newspaper, but it shouldn’t take more than an hour.
The best way to pass prelims is to use as few resources as possible and not fall for teaching tricks. Don’t buy and use every new piece of information that comes out. Believe me, it won’t help.
It’s very important to keep up with current events every day, because if you don’t, it’s very hard to catch up on what you missed.
Class 11 Tamil Nadu book on the ancient and middle ages.
Spectrum and Bipin Chandra from the modern era.
Book by Nitin Singhania about art and culture
Economics- Mrunal sir films and class 12 ncert. Geography for grades 6 through 12 (NCERT). (Classes 6–10 can be skipped if the basics are understood)
Science and technology: books by Lucent and Ncert (With the help of unacademy movies, I took short notes from these sources.) Environment: Shankar Ias’s book and the last four parts of the NCERT biology book for grade 12. Current Events: Insights IAS daily current events.
Mains strategy:
I took two mains and passed both, so if there’s one thing I know for sure about UPSC, it’s Mains.
Make small notes on each topic on the course outline, especially for GS-3, which has a very detailed course outline.
Try to use the internet well and search for every keyword in the syllabus. For the mains, don’t depend too much on coaching material.
In mains, both content and quality count, so it’s important to find a good balance between the two. If you don’t have enough content and structure, writing answers every day will help. If you do have enough content and structure, doing FLT problems will help you finish your paper and keep your quality.
There must be at least three rounds of studying between the preliminary exams and the main exams. This will help you remember information and come up with good answers.
Try to stick to the time limit for each answer, which is 7 minutes for a score of 10 and 11 minutes for a score of 15. 7.On my 2020 main exam, I only got 363 points in general studies, but this time I did better by 59 points. The main reason is the text and how well it answers the question. So try to answer the question and not just write what you know.
Don’t pay attention to how your coach evaluates you, but do read model answers because this will help you build material and add points to your notes. If you can, try to get peer review.
Never put off writing answers. On my first test, I only got 33 points in GS1, so this helped me prepare better for my mains. I learned what I did wrong and where I was weak. Please give tests often and in no more than three hours.
Also, try to give your answer a good structure and practise doing so on exam papers. Then, on the final test, only one person will be able to do that. Also, don’t fall into the mistake of making too many diagrams. Just focus on quality and question demand.
One should also give simulations, such as an essay on the first day, GS1 and GS2 on the second day, and GS3 and GS4 on the third day. This helps you feel better about yourself.
