Shubham Kumar: Strategy and Notes for UPSC(CSE)

2021-12-22 23:39:13 #Anthropology #optional

How to score well in optional and avoid getting very low marks (as happened in CSE 2020)

I’m just sharing what I feel and it is just post result analysis

1) DON’T WRITE GS type answers in optional. Examiner might get frustrated and give you less marks

2) Choose those questions only where you have good understanding

3) Show to examiner through your answer that you have anthropological bent of mind, that you have actually studied this subject well

Ways to show it

a) Mention 3-4 thinkers/books etc in your every answer/ or most of the answer

b) write case studies/current relevance- link current affairs with optional

c) show your understanding through better analysis- I used to write ‘As a student of anthropology I also observe….’ Open / Comment

2021-12-22 23:31:17 #Anthropology #mains #optional

How to tackle random/difficult questions in anthropology

1) Prepare holistically first, don’t leave any topics from the syllabus. Have a wider knowledge

2) You cannot do anything to those questions which are totally out of syllabus. Questions are same for everyone so 99.9% people won’t be aware about those questions

3) When random questions are asked in non-compulsory questions then simply don’t choose those questions to write.

4) In compulsory questions (Q1 and Q5)- try to manage the question when you have some idea, write broadly and use your limited knowledge well.

For example- Just knowing the location and time period of Natufian culture, I was able to write 2 pages

But DO NOT BLUFF in optional paper. There is difference between bluffing and writing only broadly.

When you are not sure about answer then just write 1 page broadly so that whatever you are writing is true and there is nothing specific you are writing which can be false. I wrote 1 page on Sapir-whorf hypothesis like this (I only read this in theory - symbolic anthropology)

5) Leave questions when you don’t know at all in compulsory questions.

Two thinkers were asked in Paper 2 last year. I was not aware about RB Foote (Q1a) and K S Singh (Q 1c)
Since this was start of my paper (1a and 1c), I completely left 1a and wrote a paragraph in 1c

I got 150 in paper 2 even after attempting 230 marks !! Open / Comment

2021-12-22 23:17:57 General Information

1) All short notes, I prepared after Prelims. Since I wrote 2 mains, I prepared some parts of short notes in 2019 as well and then added new notes to it after Prelims 2020

2) I wrote mains tests till 27/28th December last year

3) In 5-6 days gap for optional, I had written mock test after a day of revision on 12th Jan 2021 (9 and 10th was GS paper). This helped me many ways- quickly revise the entire optional in 1.5 days, I was able to revise optional in total 3 times in the gap period and focus on important topics first !! Open / Comment

2021-12-22 23:07:50 #mains #GS3

Disaster Management (DM)

Every year UPSC asks 2-3 questions on disaster management. I’m sharing my short notes here. One should cover 10-12 types of disaster which India faces

According to me Drawing diagrams in DM is important. I’m sharing how I used to make diagrams in DM. Open / Comment

2021-12-13 21:38:37 #mains

This is the summary of RSTV TV debates that I made in 2020. This is not that helpful for CSE 2021 or future attempts. I’m just sharing to show how to make notes and which topics to cover

Me and my friend Anurag and Kumar , covered RSTV big picture debates from January 2020 till Sept 2020 for mains CSE 2020. We made a list of 120 topics and then divided among us- around 40 topics.

We completed all videos in 2-3 days and then made notes and explained each other. This exercise saved our time and we were able to cover a lot of times.

I’m sharing my part of summary

This I did after CSE 2020 prelims

Source- YouTube Open / Comment

2021-12-13 21:29:51 #mains

Time management in examination

My target used to complete 15 marker first in 1 hr 50 minutes and then 10 marker in 1 hr 10 minutes

But in real examination, in both attempts it was 2 hours for 15 marker and then 1 hour for 10 marker

I used to select and 2 question from questions 4 to 10, to write towards the end
Logic was- I focused on writing well in the start of paper. So I used to give around 30 minutes in first 4 questions.
Towards the end I used to complete 2 questions in last 5-6 minutes

But I would suggest all to have a better time management.

In GS 1, since I used to draw a lot of diagrams, I was able to manage time well. The best case scenario is having 10 minutes for two 10 marker question (5 minutes each). This I achieved in GS1. (Got highest 115 marks in GS1)

I think, there are two things that I learnt are

1) Good time management with equal time to every question (15 marker-11 minutes and 10 marker-7minutes) is highly rewarding

2) Even if you are not able to manage time well- you can get very good marks by attempting 18/17 questions well and somehow managing in last 2/3 questions- writing 1 or 1.5 pages Open / Comment

2021-12-13 21:16:28 #mains #test_series

How to analyse mains tests papers?

3) Try to manage space and time well. Good Time management can give you lot of marks. See where you are putting extra time. By analysing, I came to know that I used to be very slow in first hour. So I tried to write fast in the first hour. Also focus on completing all 50 pages

4) Take the suggestions with a pinch of salt. You should read all the comments that you get in mock papers. But NEVER blindly follow it. UPSC rewards INNOVATION (uniqueness in your answer) and coaching institutions will push you towards uniformity- by giving similar kind of suggestions to everyone. Discuss the suggestions that you get in mock papers with your friends, analyse yourself and then decide which advice to take

5) See whether you are able to use current affairs/ whatever you are reading in your answers or not. Also see number of points that you have written after removing the normal things. For 10 marker- ideally 10 points and 15 marker- 15 points Open / Comment