#mains I hope that those who have cleared prelims, their mai | Shubham Kumar: Strategy and Notes for UPSC(CSE)

#mains

I hope that those who have cleared prelims, their mains preparation is going in full swing. With 35 days to go, here are my few suggestions-


1) Writing Tests

If you have not written tests till now, leave everything else and write 2 iteration of GS Full Length Tests. Write 2 essays (3hrs) and 2 Full length optional tests (one for each paper).

First iteration of GS and Essay tests should be completed asap (15-17th Aug) and 2nd iteration by end of month. (Minimum you should be writing one iteration of tests)

Believe me on this, if you think that you will gain more by reading and not writing any tests, you are almost out of race. Even by reminding again and again to many who are in preparation, they have done this mistake and they continue to be in preparation.

Right now, the cost benefit of writing tests is highest for the one who have not written any tests. Kindly don’t be in a situation where you are writing for the first time in the real exam.
(Can help you to increase 20-30 marks just by having prior experience of writing mock tests)

2) Making Short Notes (QRM)

Make short notes from different sources that you have referred till now. This will help in consolidation, will also give confidence and will act as Quick Revision Material.

This is also very helpful to revise everything quickly in the 2hrs break between the papers. We tend to forget many things due to examination pressure and less time for revision before the real exam.

So having these shorts notes actually help a lot and even if you are able to recall 30-40% from here, your quality of answer will improve a lot. I had shared my short notes before. (Can help in increasing 20-30 marks in GS overall). More on making short notes later.


3) Maintaining the Momentum

In last 30-35 days, the overall improvement is maximum (including answer writing) specially for those who are writing mains for the first time.

In 2019 mains, I actually mugged up maximum of anthropology in last one month only.
All value addition material for GSs like data, facts, committees etc were consolidated and mugged up in last 30-35 days.

So don’t loose hope in last one month. Have confidence in yourself. I almost broke down 15 days prior to mains in 2020 (24th and 25th Dec) because at that time, I felt that I’m not able to write answers as per my expectation. Have some good, supportive and positive people around yourself.

Thus maintaining the same momentum in last one month is crucial and greatly impacts your actual Mains performance. Your peak performance should come on the exam day and not before the D-day !!

Best Wishes !!