UPSC CSE Topper by Vikas Dhayal

Continued #csetopperPROTIP

The best results are produced when you are naturally good at one way of thinking while you consciously work hard to make the other way of thinking part of your routine.

I consider Vikram Grewal(AIR 51, CSE 2018) to be the perfect example of someone with a “Abstract Thinking Mind” working hard to get better at generating more points through notes consolidation. Look at his notes and you’ll understand.

In one of his interviews he said that he pushed himself to think in the Intro-Body- Conclusion format for every topic of the syllabus.

For those with Abstract thinking as their forte can use the following methods to get good at acing this exam:

1. If possible find people to study in groups of 3-4. You must find someone who is more disciplined than you to get you to make those notes needed for Mains in particular.

2. Do brainstorming on Mains questions by placing it in your daily routine. Go through the reverse engineering route, look at a lot of topper and think of points before going through toppers’ answers . Make note of new points that you learned.

3. Make mnemonics for generating points for every broad topic in syllabus. E.g. TIPS for GS-3, TEEP DOST for IR etc.

4. Keep asking Prelims questions to your friends and analyse PYQs to find themes for Prelims and Mains which will repeat.

5. Consciously make a rule that you’ll Make Notes of everything that you read. Note taking will be one habit that will take you far.

For those who are Naturally good at linear thinking need to alter their ways in the following way(while these people have more chances of acing this exam, they tend to work hard without having a sound plan of action creating troubles for them)

Gaurav Budania is an example of a naturally good “Linear Thinking Mind” working hard to channelise his energy and skill properly to ace the exam.

1. Make a detailed schedule for the time that is left and allot time for note taking, answer writing , brainstorming and Prelims preparation(equal importance to everything).

2. Make sure that you don’t overspend time on a particular topic. Make sure that you have answer writing placed in your routine.

3. You may not study in a group but stay in touch with 3-4 people who may be studying on your own to be in touch with the exam process.

4. Solve Prelims Mocks and actively think of questions which may appear in Prelims and Mains exam based on the trends of PYQs.(Predict questions)

5. To tackle the questions in Prelims in particular which will require to connect the abstract dots, sit in a group of 2-3 and ask questions to each other which may appear in the exam. Make notes from Prelims Perspective as well, particularly from the mocks.

Pro Tip for UPSC

Based on my decade long experience of observing, guiding and preparing with UPSC Toppers and aspirants, I classify Serious UPSC aspirants into two broad categories.

It is important to know which category you fall in, to make your preparation more streamlined.

1️⃣ People with Minds having really good abstract thinking
2️⃣ People with Minds having really good linear thinking

Those who are good at abstract thinking have the following characteristics

1. They inter relate everything that they have read and known since school time. Everything from newspaper to movies to YouTube videos, easily becomes a part of their knowledge base.

2. They find it really difficult to maintain a daily routine and often find it difficult to study alone.

3. They thrive while listening to discussions and being part of debates around socio-political issues.

People with abstract thinking are really good at tackling the Prelims exam and do really well at the interview stage. They are reasonably better in writing Essays as well. Gs Mains in particular is something that troubles them a lot.

The 2nd category of people having a Mind with linear thinking have the following characteristics:

1. They thrive around having a routine and find it easy to make detailed notes and write tests on a regular basis.

2. They can sit for long hours and find it more comfortable to study alone. They find it easy to limit themselves to the need and syallabus of the exam and consciously avoid debates and discussions to save time.

3. They find it difficult to answer random questions in Prelims and Essay paper, but are really good at dealing with predictable themes.

People with linear minds are generally reasonably good at GS Mains and Optional papers. They write good number of points in Mains answers(taking out one point from another and so on) and more often than not score really well in Mains. Interview, Essay and Prelims are the places where they struggle.

To be continued in next post(about what should be the course of action for both the categories of people for having a good shot at CSE 2024) ..

#csetopperPROTIP

Polity- Note Taking Guide

Most important themes for which notes have to made(3-4 Pager notes):

1. Separation of power(all articles must be written in your notes)

2. Issues related to Federal structure (center state and state-state issues, recent cases)

3. Dilution of power to local bodies(economic and political decentralisation, empowerment-of local bodies, women and backward classes), relevant articles

4. Representation of People’s Act(notes from Laxmikant’s Chapter)

5. 1935 Act as the basis of Constitution.

6. Role of Pressure groups in Polity(have examples of different kinds of pressure groups)

Topics of importance(2 pager notes):

1. Basic Structure Doctrine(Include Court cases etc)

2. Article 21 and expansion of its ambit over the years(in detail along with case laws)

3. Directive Principle of State Policies( Make a list of them in your notes and write down a basic commentary on their implementation through various policies)

4. Preamble(relevance, basic tenets enshrined, importance, case laws)

5. Role of Speaker(case laws)

6. Role of Governer(Case Laws)

7. Election Commission(Case laws)

8. Rajya Sabha’s role

9. Judicial pendency of cases

10. Issues of low inefficiency of Indian Parliament.

11. Administrative Tribunals.

12. Parliamentary Privileges.

13. Indian and Western Secularism

14. Indian constitutional scheme vs American(similarities and differences)

15. Indian Constitutional scheme and the British Scheme

16. Article 19 and its expansion over the years

17. Right to Equality in Indian Constitutional scheme

18. Methods of Amendment of the constitution.

19. President’s rule(case laws)


Small topics of importance( Upto 1 pages of notes)

1. NJAC Judgement and Collegium system.

2. 101st CAA

3. 102nd CAA

4. 103rd CAA

5. 104th CAA

6. 105th CAA

7. 106th CAA

8. 42nd CAA

9. 44th CAA

10. 73rd and 74th CAA

11. 86th CAA

12. 69th CAA

13. 1st CAA

14. Electoral Reforms(recommendations from Law commission, eminent people etc)

15. Model Code of Conduct

16. President(Powers, responsibilities, limitations, articles)

17. Vice President

18. Council of Ministers

19. Prime Minister, CM

20. CAG

21. Finance Commission

22. PILs

23. Original and Appellate Jurisdiction of High Court and Supreme Court

24. Reforms in Judiciary

25. Relevance and limitations of Parliamentary Committees.

26. Corruption in Politics

27. Parliamentary Privileges and reforms needed.

28. 1919 Act

29. Lok Adalats, Gram Nyayalayas.

30. NHRC

31. NCSC/ST/OBC(relevant Articles and jurisdiction.

32. NGT

33. National Commission of Women

34. Attorney General

35. Tribunals

If you are done with notes on these themes 80% of questions in Mains will be taken care of.

20% will be covered from Daily Newspaper notes.

Keep writing answers to enrich your prep. and

Keep referring to Topper Copies to get usable points for your answers.

Using the Marks Accelerator Compilations we have made it easy for you. You avoid reading topper copies as these contain the best of the points from more than 800 topper copies of the previous years including the 2023 ones.

Pro Tip for Note Taking for Mains:

No readymade notes can beat the effectiveness of self made notes.

The problem arises when you are not able to decide what to do and what to leave.

For being pin pointed one must start with making notes for all the Often repeated themes(which will be important for almost every question of a particular GS subject)

Sharing below the themes on which you must make 1 pager, 2 pager and 3-4 pager notes to be done with polity.

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

Update on CSE Mains results:

5th and 6th December are the new tentative dates.

As copy checking will continue till 28th November.

Will be sharing here if anything new comes up.

Update on UPSC Mains Results:

This year you can expect the results on similar dates. As things stand today it is likely to be announced on 10th or 11th December.

In 2022 the result was out on 6th December, in 2023, it was out on 8th December.

Will update if any relevant info is received.

✨Interesting insights from the data provided by UPSC:

1. Out of the people who appeared in the interview last year, most number of people were of 25 years of age(215 of them). 210 people were 26, 190 were 27, 169 were 28 and 125 were 29 when they sat in Prelims.

2. There were only 47 people appearing in the interview who were 21 or 22 in 2023.

3. 201 people out of them were 30, 31 and 32 when they appeared in Prelims 2023.

4. 55 people out of these were above 32 and appeared for the interview.

5. The average age of interview appearing candidates was 26.

Get some motivation from this data. There is always light and there is more light when you are in the sweet spot of 24-29.

@csetopper
@csetopperessay

Using Model Answers for GS Mains:

In the past, several toppers have relied solely on model answers from 2-3 institutions as a final strategy before Mains. Surprisingly, this has proven to be an effective way to cover the entire syllabus, offering consolidated content for each paper.

Many candidates turn to this approach when other options have been exhausted, particularly if they lack comprehensive notes for GS Mains. It is especially useful for those who have already taken a couple of Mains exams.

With this in mind, in our Ethics MIG-25, we are introducing two sets of model answers for each question, prepared by separate teams, all with scores of 125+.

The first set will be in traditional text format, and the second will be presented in a discussion format by our Ethics expert, who scored 131 in the Ethics paper of CSE 2023.

Typically, post-test discussions merely involve reading out model answers, which can be monotonous and add limited value to preparation. We’re changing this by providing varied perspectives on 119 questions and case studies, ensuring comprehensive syllabus coverage.

Starts tomorrow at 5 PM.

Text @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrollment.

Vijay Raghav scored 117 in Ethics, was part of our MIG and various other programs.

Got AIR 229, getting him into IPS.

One of our most consistent students, who could have gotten a single digit rank on another day.

Check out his detailed interview here
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
https://youtu.be/pF7URocilYk?si=Rgw2V73CxDMsrhL0

✅Ethics MIG-25 starts on 7th November at 5 PM.

Discounted price on offer extended till 5 PM today.

Text at @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrolment.

Ethics MIG-25, the program that helped 51 toppers of CSE 2023, will be available at discount till tonight.

Starting on 7th November.

Text at @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrolment.