Hello, my name is Manpreet Singh, and I’m from the small village of Bajak in the Bathinda area of Punjab. I began my journey in the middle of 2019. CSE 2020 was my first try. It was pushed back because of COVID 19, I didn’t pass prelims, and I was 25 points behind the cutoff.
Again, in 2020, I started getting ready after the prelims. I also bought a course for the mains test series this time. But after two months, I went back to studying for prelims. Again, prelims that were supposed to happen in May or June were moved to October.
It was hard for me to stick with my plans for so long. There were lessons that helped with both prelims and mains. I went into my preliminary test with great confidence, but I missed it by about 2 points. The results came out in October, and the prelims for 2022 were set for June.
So, after a month, I started again to study for my prelims. I started working on MCQs and FLTs in January. In 2022, on my third try, I passed prelims with 107 points in GS and 84 points in CSAT. After the prelims, I felt sure that I could go into the mains with a clear head because I had never failed a mains exam before (or a test series, since I didn’t take many).
I bought a set of mains tests. I took Mains tests on a daily basis and got graded copies on time. Along with my extra (Literature of Punjabi Language), I made my own plans. On December 6, 2022, UPSC released the results of the mains exam. I passed my first mains.
The interviews began on January 30. In the third part of the interview, I was given the date of May 10. I got average marks in interview. The final results came out on May 23, 2023, and I got AIR 616.
Booklist for Prelims and Mains:
Polity by Laxmikanth, Modern History by Spectrum, AMC-Vision class notes, and more TN’s past Nitin Singhania sir’s book is good for culture.
Vision class notes on world history
Geography: PMF IAS and ncert
Environment: PMF IAS book and old vids of Mrunal Sir on YouTube and class notes
Ethics: Vision class notes, Decode Ethics, and value addition from winners’ notes
IR- PT 365 Vision
Notes on Vision’s Internal Security for the classroom
Vision classroom notes for Society • Vision classroom notes for Government
Aside from the booklists for the preliminary and main exams, which are mostly the same, I’ll share some things that were part of my strategy:
I did the static part of my prelims using notes from vision class and standard books. And did a lot of mock tests and FLTs. It helped me learn how to find answers to questions.
I stuck to my simple plans for mains, which were to write more, finish my papers on time, and read the same books for mains and mains 365 to add value. I watched videos on YouTube about answer writing. The videos showed me a new way to organise answers, add more points and diagrams, and add to the number and quality of answers.
Live answer writing meetings for mains helped me get out of my rut. It helped develop the habit of writing answers.
It is very important to keep up with current events every day. If you don’t, it will be very hard to catch up on what you missed.
I relied a lot on daily current events of insights ias + Vision Magzines (Soft Copy) to learn more about what was going on in the world. Use as few tools as possible and don’t buy and use every new piece of information that comes out.
Reviewing is very important for prelims because it’s hard to put a lot of information together at once. Revision and MCQs help with learning in backwards. Every time, I learn something new. For Mains, revision is important, but organisation, presentation, adding value, and backing up what you already know are more important. I didn’t make any special notes for mains. Instead, I took small notes and compilations from the tops group and made them up on the spot.
It was a good trip, but there is still a long way to go and more to do. This test is getting harder and harder to predict. Even when people work hard, they don’t always pass the queue. Nothing can be done about it.
The only thing we can do is keep working hard, have faith in our abilities and in ourselves, and trust that the world will find a way to reward us. It is a long trip, and not everyone gets to the end. The most important thing is to keep going for as long as it takes to cross the barrier.
