I am Rajat Yadav. I have done my schooling from DPS Indirapuram, Ghaziabad. I graduated in Civil Engg from IIT Delhi in 2019. After having a brief stint as a management consultant at Strategy&, I started prepping for UPSC CSE. This was my third attempt as I couldn’t clear prelims in my previous two. God has been kind this time and I was able to sail through it and secure All India Rank 111. My optional was PSIR. I have got 805 in mains and 187 in interview.
I also applied for IFoS in this attempt and cleared the prelims cutoff and subsequent mains with Forestry and Geology optionals. My interview is on 15th June, which I won’t be giving for obvious reasons.
I will be pleased to help people tread this path, in whatever way I can. I will share all that is necessary, as and when I get time.
Indian Express Making tables for ethics Any coaching notes for plugging the gaps viz a viz mains syllabus Making lists for prelims (more on this later) International relations stuff on The Economist, ORF articles, shows like Vantage etc.
Mains Preparation Strategy by Rajat Yadav IAS
For people giving mains:
Try to give atleast 2 tests each for GS1 to GS4, especially the people writing mains for the first time.
For optional, it depends on the subject and at what stage you’re in your prep. For PSIR, I would suggest 6-8 tests for people who haven’t done answer writing before.
Similarly, for essay, it depends. But if you haven’t done answer writing before, you can give upto 3-5 full essay tests.
Focus on doing the tests within 3 hours. People try to overdo on content and take 3.5 to 4 hrs, and then try to reduce that time. I would advise doing the other way round. Focus on doing it withing time. Then improve your content piecemeal.
People who have slow writing, you can also experiment with increasing your font size.
