Hello everyone. I am Divyanshu Choudhary (AIR 30, CSE 2020). I have scored 206 marks in the interview (amongst top 5 this year). This channel is to help aspirants in their UPSC journey.
This is my marksheet of this year. Essay and interview have been my strong points. Maths has given me an edge over the humanities optionals as well. GS has been under par again with 379 (last year 367). But overall fee strong areas can sail you through in this examination.
Hello everyone. I am Divyanshu Choudhary (AIR 30, CSE 2020). I have scored 206 marks in the interview (amongst top 5 this year). This channel is to help aspirants in their UPSC journey.
UPSC Prelims Exam strategy by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
Hello guys. My first post here is dedicated for the upcoming prelims exam on 10th October. I have been able to clear both my prelims exam (IFoS cutoff also in 2nd attempt) so here are some pointers for the same :
Apply the elimination technique in this exam. Even if you are able to eliminate 2/4 options, the chances of getting the question correct become significantly higher. Last year I had solved almost all questions on agriculture based on this approach and managed to get nearly all correct.
No new resources to be read now. Revise again and again what you have read so far. Getting questions correct from what you have read are more important than trying for 4-5 impossible questions by extending the breadth of your knowledge now. So just revise what you have studied till now.
Attempt questions from those areas which you feel comfortable with. Normally static portions like Polity, History, Geography etc will give you confidence for current affairs questions assuming you have read the static portions well.
Finally please don’t forget CSAT. It is as important as paper 1. So solve it diligently and try going for quant questions first which will give you sure shot marks.
Lastly luck does play a very important role in prelims. So believe that luck will be in your side on the D day.
My final suggestion is a quote from the movie Gunjan Saxena, The Kargil Girl which is my personal favourite :
Jo log mehnat ka saath nahi chhodte, kismat kabhi unka saath nahi chhodti
Divyanshu Choudhary UPSC Interview Transcript
This post is my interview transcript of this year (2020). I was awarded 206 marks which was a massive jump from the last attempt (146 marks in 2019 attempt). Hoping that candidates will get a fair picture of the interview scene.
My interpretation : The last question was the real high point which helped me to get an amazing score. So it’s important to have atleast 1 high point in your interview to get a good score.
Q6. If twins are born instead of just one child, what happens to the other child? (Replied don’t know)
M2 : Q1. Impact of US China conflict on word economy and geography.
Q2. Should free electricity be given? 1 counter question on that (I said it should be given if AT&C losses are kept low like in Delhi at 3%and stated Draft electricity amendment bill as well which talks about reducing cross subsidies but he seemed a bit unsatisfied).
Q3. What if you won a lottery? (Told I would like to buy my parents a house as we still live in a rented house. To which ma’am replied I should have asked what’s the lottery amount and then everyone laughed).
M3: Q1. How to preserve India’s intangible cultural heritage?
Q3. Why did you go for engineering despite having so many science scholarships and what should govt have done to stop you? (Told him technology was my personal preference and govt wouldnt have changed my mind because it was a personal thing).
1 more question that I don’t remember.
Chairperson : Q1. Why is your signature invisible? (Printing issue with DAF)
Q2. Managers are of two kinds. One with big picture and others who prefer detailing. Which one would you opt for in administration? (I said big picture because at the lower levels of bureaucracy, detailing is already there in policy implementation but they aren’t much aware about the bigger picture which is mainly created at upper levels. So with big picture guys getting recruited at the bottom, there will be better sync of efforts with upper bureaucracy for better service delivery and policy implementation).
Chairperson : Thank you. Your interview is over.
Overall very cordial board. It was a pleasant experience.
Wishes to students by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
So the prelims exam is finally over. To the ones who are sure of making it, please start mains preparation ASAP (tomorrow would be optimum). The same goes for the doubtful ones as the gap between prelims and mains is really less so you can’t afford to chill.
To the ones who didn’t make it. Don’t lose heart. The next exam is in June. Gear up and give it your all. You will definitely succeed.
I will soon be sharing my GS, essay and maths copies here for you guys to get an idea of the marks that I got. I gave Vision IAS test series for GS and essay in 1st attempt. For 2nd attempt I gave both Vision IAS and Forum IAS test series for both GS and essay.
For Maths I gave IMS test series both times. But in the 2nd attempt I had also attempted Next IAS test series for maths. Will share those copies as well.
Apologies for the late update. So prelims results are out and all of you know your status. To the ones who made it, gear up and put your everything in mains because this is the stage which will decide whether you make it to the final list or not. So study for more than 12 hours. Sirf 3 months ka pain hai. Baad mein regret nahi hona chahiye.
For the ones who didn’t make it. It is quite okay to feel sad and cry. I cried when I couldnt qualify post the final stage (interview) in my 1st attempt. But the most important thing was that I took the resolve to bounce back, work as hard as possible and give my everything to this preparation. So it is very important that you learn from your mistakes and come back strong in June 2022 prelims.
2019 attempt – Predicted between 270-280 and got 277 2020 attempt – Predicted between 280-290 and got 285
I have scored nearly 190-200 marks in majority of these copies but please don’t focus on these marks. Rather look out for the writing style and how much content is needed for questions of 10,15 and 20 marks
I will be uploading my GS copies of both Vision IAS and Forum IAS also of 2020 attempt. I used to score above 100 marks in nearly all the tests of Vision IAS. I had also scored 121 in a GS 3 paper and 117 in a GS 4 paper. And in my first attempt my marks came in the range of 95-100.
So the improvement this time was because of mt ability to think and then write the answer with as much relevant content as I could unlike last time.
I will also be sharing my Vision IAS test copies of essays (1st attempt). I had opted for Forum IAS essays for my 2nd attempt. But I found absolutely no difference and you can opt for either one of them. I will share all the copies of Forum IAS MGP (both GS and essay) tomorrow.
But Vision will give you a reality check in terms of your preparation as majority candidates opt for it and hence will give you a competitive feeling. That’s why I had opted for both Vision and Forum test series in my 2md attempt to leverage on these benefits.
I had scored 129 in my 1at attempt and 136 in 2nd attempt in essay paper. So as you can see,the marks given by Vision were quite a reflection of my performance in the actual exam
With this I have completed uploading all my test copies. I hope you take out the required positives from these. And hereby wishing all of you a very Happy Diwali 😀
Please take some time out today for yourself and your family to celebrate this festival of lights. But remember to keep up your tempo of studies in the meantime. Remember that festivals come every year but this opportunity won’t. So study hard and relax yourselves in the night to enjoy the festival of lights😀
I forgot to upload my copies of Aryabhatta ashram test series. So will be uploading them now.
For the students appearing for mains examination this year, I thought of sharing my strategy with them. This would be a broad strategy wrt the timeline to cover all the portions.
First 20-25 days solely for optional. Which basically means by end of October/1st week of November you should have completed your optional syllabus (except giving tests). So the time for completing optional is now over.
Now your next aim should be to finish GS4 and GS1 within one week each as these are static subjects and all of us know the resources to be used for them.
For GS4 I had used Decoding Ethics book written by Mudit Jain Sir, IRS as it has a good mix of examples, theory and PYQs solved.
For GS 1, I had referred to NCERTS for History and Geography. Also Spectrum in History is important and holistic. And social issues was covered from Vision IAS Value Added material.
And for the current affairs portion of GS2 and GS3, I had referred Vision IAS monthly current affairs magazines and Mains 365. So these resources should give you a holistic coverage of all the topics.
Finally as per the timeline – after finishing GS 1 and GS 4 after 2 weeks of optional, start giving tests of optional and these papers simultaneously.
This way you will be more confident as only GS2 and GS3 will remain. Which you can cover with time. Essay practice should be done after completing these resources once. Don’t worry too much about essays but please do give atleast 3 mocks before going for the actual mains exam.
Finally for essay, resources referred by me were – Shubhra Ranjan ma’am’s book and PDFs of various topics like agri, health, education etc. in Vision IAS Value Added material. So these two are sufficient for essay preparation.
Mathematics Optional Booklist by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
This is my booklist for maths optional. The notes here refer to IMS notes where I had taken my coaching from.
Current Affairs Preparation strategy by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
Many of the fellow aspirants have been asking me the strategy to start the upsc preparation. So I will try to enumerate mine so as to give a better clarity to all of you.
I had not read any newspaper before jumping into CSE preparation. Started off with the Hindu (as all aspirants do :P). But initially it was taking a lot of time so I watched a video by Roman Saini sir on YouTube which outlines the necessary stuff to be read in the Hindu newspaper. After going through that,I started filtering out the important stuff and in 1 month reduced my newspaper reading time from 2 hours to 30 minutes
A Pro tip to all of you : Please read newspaper only from prelims POV. Mains has a set pattern and similar range of questions which can be covered easily from current affairs magazines and value added material of Vision IAS. So only read newspaper for getting a good hang of the prelims preparation and note down important stuff according to that.
I then graduated to current affairs magazines (read Vision and Vajiram in both my attempts) so as to get a broader picture of monthly current affairs. Once I was well versed with the idea of reading important stuff, I could finish them in one day and then went for daily current affairs of Insights and made notes of those.
That being said, for prelims the RTM initiative of Insights IAS is a must to get good marks. It covers daily current affairs of each month holistically with around 300 questions per pdf. So you get a good grasp over solving questions and using the elimination technique. So RTM of Insights IAS is to be followed religiously every month.
So this was the broad strategy for current affairs. Simultaneously you need to read the static books (along with coaching if you are taking that) and revise them again and again so as to develop a good command over these topics. As they are important from both prelims and mains perspective.
Divyanshu Choudhary UPSC Marksheet
Prelims 2020 marksheet
Last Minute Strategy for UPSC CSE Mains Exam by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
A late post. Firstly wishing all of you a very Happy New Year
And secondly for those who are appearing for mains. I wish you all the very best. Write it all out so that you don’t have any regrets later on. Your preparation, be at whatever stage, is done now
No one is ever prepared for this exam. And I can assure you there are ample number of people who clear this exam without having written even a single mock. So trust me there is no right or wrong strategy. Just trust yourself and your preparation.
A few pointers from my side: 1. Reach on time to avoid any last minute panic.2. Sort out your logistics (table, keeping windows closed etc) before starting off.3. Try to form the structure of first 2-3 questions in mind in those precious 5 minutes you get.4. Attempt all questions. It’s a must.5. No thinking about the previous paper. What’s done is done. I was thoroughly dejected after this year essay paper and I scored 136 which was higher than my previous score of 129. So you never know how well you performed.6. Keep your near and dear ones close. They will motivate you in these grilling days and keep you hydrated.
Always remember ki jo log mehnat ka saath nahi chhodte kismat kabhi unka haath nahi chhodti. May the force be with you 🖖
What should you do after UPSC Mains Exam by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
Hi everyone. I hope the mains examination went well for you guys (or atleast OK in your mind :P). I would like to share a few pointers here for those who have appeared for it.
Please relax and chill in this time. You need it. You have given your heart and soul for this exam. Now is the time to lay back, sleep, watch Netflix, read books, paint etc etc depending on your interests.
Those who have their IFoS mains have less time in hand. So I would suggest you to take a week off from now and start preparing from 27-28 Jan. All you need to do right now is to study forestry (Manikandan book is quite heavy and will take some time). Rest is revision of your optional (most important) and GS.
For those who don’t have IFoS mains, you can relax till Jan end. And irrespective of how your mains went (until and unless you are very sure that they didn’t go well), start preparing for the interview.
UPSC Interview Preparation tips by Divyanshu Choudhary IAS
For the interview preparation I will be taking an online session on Zoom to share my insights and experience of both interviews. Also I will tell you in detail about my resources and my preparation strategy for this stage of the exam. I personally believe it is the most chilled out stage if prepared well for even 2 hours a day.
This session will be held either on this weekend or some time next week (preferably weekend). I will be updating the details of the same here. Hope to see you guys there. Until then have fun and enjoy the winters 🙂
