Shubham Kumar: Strategy and Notes for UPSC(CSE)

Best wishes for tomorrow’s Paper

All the hard work of last one year and more will be put to test tomorrow.

It is very common to feel little anxious and stressed out. Try to calm yourself, talk to yourself and to someone who can boost your confidence

Confidence and Active mind can make lot of difference. Focus on those most important 2 hours. Avoid blunders as much as you can.

Give importance to each and every question. Don’t rush to solve when it is easy and don’t panic when it is tough. At the end, 3-4 questions can make a lot of difference.

Whatever your strategy is, don’t change it in last moment. Few things that everyone should keep it intact - number of iteration/rounds, number of questions to attempt, which areas/subjects to attempt/leave, time management etc

Also remember that if the paper is tough than it is tough for everyone.

Best Wishes, you will do well !!

Kindly go through the EWS FAQs shared by DoPT. Also, I have updated few of my points kindly see and clarify your doubts !!

Lot of queries in EWS

For EWS, few general points:

1) Family definition includes only your Parents and siblings below the age of 18

2) Land - if land is in the name of grand father- then Land will be distributed first among all the children of your grandfather (including bua (Father’s sister)) and then it will be divided among all the adult siblings (your brother and sisters)— after this see the limit provided for agricultural and residential plots. In most of the cases, it will be below the mentioned limit, means you would be eligible.

Explanation: So even if your house has area more than what it is required for eligibility, first divide the area among your adult siblings and then see the limit

3) One general rule of thumb in case of EWS. If total income from your parents and you — is less than 8 lakhs, then generally the criteria of land for agricultural and residential is fulfilled once you divide the land among your father’s sisters and among your adult siblings. Remember the definition of family !!

Finally the result of Mains 2023 is out. Like last year it came after much anticipation.

First of all congratulations to those who have qualified for the personality test. Those who have given interview before would be well aware that this is not the time of celebration. Surely, a satisfaction comes and gives positive hope for the final stage. Like previous steps of the examination, the final stage also demands preparation but in different way !!

To all those serious aspirants who had put lot of hard work and sweat to this examination, I would say- DON’T LOOSE HOPE.

The only thing in our control is our ability to fight back, our ability to work hard and our ability to maximise our probability for selection. No one can ever say for sure that he/she will get selected - That’s the unpredictability of UPSC exam that everyone has to go through.

After every stage of UPSC exam, some people have to decide and take a tough call- whether to stop the preparation, or continue the preparation. Discuss with your friends and family but this decision has to be yours, nobody knows you better than you. Also it should not be taken in haste but should be a well thought of decision.

Those planning to appear next year, should analyse their mains mock test papers. Compare it with the toppers mock test papers. Evaluate your strategy and try to work upon the weak areas. Now (2 months max) is the time to improve upon the mains. Try to include daily answer writing, writing some 3 hours GS/Optional mock tests into your preparation strategy.

Remember that you are not alone in this preparation. And many times, somethings happen for a reason !!


Best wishes !!

All the very best for tomorrow’s optional paper.

Some suggestions (Humanities/Anthropology optional)

1) 80% Rule: Even if you are able to recall 80%, you will perform well. Due to vastness of any optional, it is difficult to remember each and every aspect in detail.

2) Select the questions wisely: Give 5-7 minutes at the start of each paper.

Never select questions thinking that these questions would be attempted less by other aspirants.
One should select based on what he/she knows.

Calculate roughly the combined marks that you can get out of 50 in that question.

3) Good time management is highly rewarding in optional

4) First focus on addressing the demand of the question and then linking it with Thinkers/Case Studies/Examples.

By adding theories/thinkers/case studies- your answer will become like optional (Non-GS type)

5) Linking Paper 1 and Paper 2

Indian examples in Paper 1 and Global in Paper 2. Also link the questions with different part of syllabus

6) 10% Rule: If you are able to incorporate maximum
10% unique content, it is sufficient to score very good marks. Don’t take stress that everyone would be writing same.

(Everyone may have read the same content, but very few would be able to actually write that in exam that to according to demand of the question)

7) Explain the points/concept: Can write in points as well as in small small paragraphs.

In optional paper, it is important to explain as in contrast to GS, where we pour down many points.

8) Break the question into different parts: Contemporary Relevance/Way Forward can be added towards the ended- but it should be according to demand of the question

Believe that you will do well !!

Best Wishes !!

Kartik Jivani (AIR 8, CSE 2020 ) and I, both alumni of IIT Bombay and batchmates (IAS 2021), have come together to bring this resource to you. Leveraging our knowledge of Coding, Artificial Intelligence and UPSC CSE, we aim to benefit all aspirants.

We present the Model Answers for UPSC CSE 2023 Mains GS Papers. Our goal is to deliver curated answers using Artificial Intelligence, trained on the UPSC syllabus, with minimal human intervention.

It’s not just the chatGPT; it is more than that. We hope you find this resource helpful in your journey to success !!

Best Wishes !!
PS: All those writing Mains this year, kindly refer it after your optional papers

For those preparing for CSE 2024 and not writing mains this year:

Now is the right time to get into the mains preparation.

Till December, one can focus more on Mains- GS and Optional papers

Download all the CSE Mains 2023 Papers. Right now, one can do the following exercise to improve one’s answer writing:

1) Link it with the Syllabus: Analyse the questions of GS1, 2,3,4 asked in Mains 2023 and link with syllabus. Analyse whether it is factual or analytical, static or current etc. Identify areas where questions are being asked more

2) Brainstorming: Try to first write some points (scribble)

3) Current Affairs: Linking the question with Current Affairs

4) Think of apt Introduction and conclusion

5) Answer Writing: Write a full 2 page/3 page answer with subheading and points/small paragraphs

6) Look for Topper’s mock answers: Before writing answers, one can look for mock test papers of Toppers for that particular GS. Idea is, to know structuring, number of words, sub heading etc

After writing answers also, one can compare and contrast it with topper’s copies and do peer review with friends

Best Wishes !!

For all those preparing for optional:

Many people would be wasting their time analysing GS papers. Generally we cannot perform 100% to our potential, so we will always have this feeling that we could have performed better.

So, to beat the competition, it is important to study for next 2 days efficiently. From 3rd day, everyone will start revising their optional.

Keep your efficiency high during these 5days.

While revising:

1) Do scribble and write some valuable points

2) Topics like Archeology (for Anthro optional)- select the most important questions and focus revision on these. It is difficult to remember each and every facts. Focus on broader aspects

3) Time should be allocated according to degree of importance of each topics. For example give enough time to Physical Anthropology as it is rewarding also

4) Revise your mock test papers also

5) Revision should also be focused on gaining confidence. And you should touch almost all topics to get the feeling of sense of completion

Best Wishes !!

Some insights and suggestions

1) Forget about what has happened in GS and Essay. It will unnecessarily impact your performance in optional. Always remember that your relative performance matters and not the absolute

2) From here, If you are able to score 270+ in optional and 180+ in interview, there is enough probability that you will get into the list. So entire focus of yours should shift towards optional

3) Utilise these 5 days well. After a certain point, performance in optional depends upon how well you are able to reproduce concept/facts/data/thinkers in exam. This depends upon how well you have revised and revision requires time

Optional Strategy

I’m sharing what I followed in these 5 days after GS papers

1) Studying for 10-12 hours

2) Revising Optional thrice - 1st revision in 3 days, 2nd revision next 2 days, 3rd revision after language paper

3) Writing some questions: can write 3hours test also, after revising for 2-3days

I wrote 2018 PYQ paper (during 2020 attempt) of Anthropology paper 1 on 3rd day. Till this time I was able to revise whole paper 1 and half paper 2 (1st revision).

It serves 2 purpose-

a) Generally we get out of touch with optional due to minimum 12-15 days of only GS studies. Writing tests boost confidence and prepare us well for real exam

b) Increases your efficiency of revision - generally we become complacent and revise optional in very relax way for first 2 days

4) Avoid studying anything new

Even if you study now, you won’t be able to write in exam.
Have some basic knowledge in every topic so that you can handle compulsory questions

Best wishes for remaining mains papers !!