I’m Nidhi Goyal, and I’m from Rajasthan’s Alwar area. I got the 202nd place in CSE 2022. It was my fourth try, my third mains exam, and my third interview. I got Rank 298 last year and am now in the Indian defence accounts service. This year, I got 107 marks on Gs-3, which is possibly the most, so I’m going to tell you how I did it.
Indian economy: Mains 365 and vision VAM (value-added material) • Government budgeting: Budget overview and any other general points you have on that topic. • Agriculture: Mains 365 and notes by Rushikesh Reddy Sir (available on the insights ias website).
Infrastructure and business models: Mains 365 and a Google search
S&T – Mains 365 + Google (Focus on how different tools can be used)
Environment and Disaster management- Mains 365 + Shankar IAS
GS 3 has both dynamic and static parts. The most important thing to do is to look at the material and the PYQs. You will find that many questions are straight-forward and are often asked every year.
For example, “inclusive growth” and “food processing.” You should have two to three pages of notes on these topics, and PYQs can help you figure out what subparts you should cover. The above steps should be used for every subject on the course outline.
○ Mains require more breadth than depth, so instead of spending too much time on one point, you should try to cover a lot of ground by connecting different topics.
For example, in the question about “inclusive growth,” in addition to the economic point, you could also consider the social (caste, gender), environmental (climate refugees), and technological (technology replacing work, not having enough skills = being underemployed = less income) angles.
You can add flow charts, graphs, maps, and data points to your work to make it more interesting.
Even if you study a lot, there will be things you don’t know much about. This is where your analytical skills come in handy. Try to talk about bigger ideas and connect them to what you already know about the subject and other things.
GS-3 Mock Test Copy: One sample answer to a question from last year to give you an idea of how to write an answer (though it may not be exactly the same as the original answer):
