Tackling UPSC CSE prelimnary examination

December 15, 2022

Tackling UPSC CSE prelimnary examination

So prelims is nearing and the anxiety levels are on top of the roof. The anxiety is justified as well. This is the stage that STOPS YOU from getting where you wish to be. Also this is the stage where the maximum of the candidates would be swiped out of the race. So this stage requires efforts just to stay in the race. And a lot of people whom we meet during our preparation are ones who have failed in the prelims itself.

My tryst with prelims has been quite satisfying. I have appeared for three prelims and have managed to qualify all of them. For the benefit of the readers my score was 107,100 and 93 respectively. The scores appear decreasing because the level of the exam too has been increasing. Also there is no point in being a UPSC prelims topper .

So how could I do it ? This is what the blog is about.

First things first- understand that it is not a test of your knowledge but of your ability to tackle MCQs. If you could tick the right answer even by doing akkad bakkad bambe bo , UPSC doesn’t cares.
Hence it is imperative that you practice a lot of MCQs. I remember doing 70+ tests in my first pre, 90+ in my second pre and 60+ in my third pre. Practice. Practice. Practice.
UPSC PYQs are a must! Hence it is important that you solve the mrunal’s PYQ prelims book atleast thrice. I found it very useful. Questions do get repeated in form or the other. So keep an eye for that. Sometimes an option in one question may become a question itself the following year.
Joining a good test series. Here i would suggest to join atleast two test series so as to get a good diversity of questions. I had joined Vision and forum and found both of them helpful.
For tackling current affairs i wouldn’t advise to refer to a lot of sources. Newspaper+PT365 are more than enough.
As far as sources are concerned I had referred to my vision class notes coupled with what I am listing below:

Ancient history- old NCERT
Polity- laxmikant
Environment - ShankarIAS book
Science and Tech- newspapers+PT365
Modern history- spectrum+new NCERT
Medieval history- new NCERT
Economy- class notes+PT365+newspapers
Geography- class 11 and 12 NCERT. Had never referred to GC Leong.
Budget+Economic survey: VisionIAS summary
Art and culture- class 11th NCERT

I had kept my sources limited and focussed more on practicing MCQs because i was not running after knowledge but after the skill to solve MCQs correctly.
Another advice that I would give is to keep the attempt on the higher side. I had attempted 91 questions in my first attempt, 94 in second and 98 in the third. Since most of us are average on the accuracy of the answers that we mark, by logic attempting more number of questions increases the chances of scoring better. The pattern that I followed:

First to attempt the questions I am sure of
Second to attempt the questions where i would have eliminated two options
Third to attempt the questions where i would have eliminated just a single option. Now these kind are tricky and you have to tread very carefully. Here the chances of getting wrong are very high.

Before actual prelims, I would also suggest that one must solve last 5 years UPSC prelims papers so as to orient oneself towards the pattern of questions and options that UPSC presents. This kind of familiarity with the UPSC paper helps one on the actual day of the examination.
As far as CSAT is concerned, I fortunately did not face any issue. But here too I would suggest a few pointers:

Solve last 5-8 years CSAT papers
Try to attempt at least 60+ questions
Find your strong areas whether it be English or Logical reasoning or maths and try to fetch maximum marks from those sections.

An unconventional advice would be to solve last two year’s CAPF and NDA papers as they are a rich source of NCERT questions that are asked by the UPSC.

Finally, as I have said umpteen number of times, keep your cool in the examination. This service and this exam requires you to be mentally stable because only then would you be able to think in a clear manner.

So keep calm aur paper lagao !

Attaching links to my prelims’ notes. They are in a very haphazard manner but please bear with me. Also i should have written this blog earlier par der aaye durust aaye…