Ten cents for mains from my side

1- Do not interact with ANYONE at the centre. Pre or post exam. No discussion of the paper until the mains officially ends.

2- it is more important to complete the paper than trying to write best answers and leaving questions unattended in the end. A fully completed paper with above avg answers is a sure shot ticket to interview. Coming from someone who has given three interviews in three attempts.

3- if possible, writing end to end in the paper helps. More content does matter. However that shouldn’t let you to a situation where you are under time crunch in the last half an hour .

4- focus on four things-

i- writing what is asked and not what you know

ii- identifying subparts and answering all subparts

iii- do not miss on writing intros and conclusions

iv- use contemporary examples to substantiate points

5- this is test of your mental and physical resilience. Don’t give up till the end second of the second paper of the optional.

6- if any paper has not been written according your expectations, don’t get disheartened. You never know you might be the topper in the said paper( happened with me in my optional)

7-In upsc, uncertainty is the only certainty. Hence in no question should you be in a situation of panic. If you don’t know, don’t worry. Try writing whatever you can. Every mark counts.

8- essay is the first and the most damaging of all papers. My last two year’s score in essay has been 103 and 111 respectively. It is very important that you give due time to understand the topic of the essay. If you have done that, you have won half the race in the essay paper. 

9- attempting the 15markers first does help. Try to fetch max marks from there.

10-Being under confident or anxious is a part of the process. But not letting these feelings overwhelm you is what tests your character. In the end, it’s all about giving your best and letting the process take its course.

I used to recite this before my paper- 

क्‍या हार में क्‍या जीत में
किंचित नहीं भयभीत मैं
कर्तव्य पथ पर जो मिले यह भी सही वह भी सही।
वरदान नहीं माँगूँगा ,हो कुछ मगर हार नहीं मानूँगा ।

Utkarsh Dwivedi, IAS

AIR 5, CSE 2021