Prelims' Strategy

Success, failures, lessons learnt, gratitude and life.
Gunjan Dwivedi, AIR 9 CSE 2018.
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Prelims strategy & booklist
 Gunjan Dwivedi  UPSC  14th May 201923rd May 2019 4 Minutes

” To be in the 1 percent , you have to do what the 99 percent won’t
Prelims is the first stage of the exam. One needs to keep the following things in mind while
preparing for it:
It is a qualifying exam.
Its preparation is integrated with that of mains. For example while studying modern
history one needs to do a holistic study so as to be able to tackle both factual as well as
analytical questions.
One should not take it lightly as it has the highest level of competition. It took me 3
attempts to finally qualify it.
One needs to have a strong foundational knowledge.
Go through the previous years’ papers diligently. They help one understand the exam
better.
Stay calm and positive. Have a healthy routine. Be active ( I did yoga and meditation).
Go out with friends once or twice a week. Surround yourslef with people who believe in
you.
Stay honest to yourself. You are your best judge. Every serious candidate knows what it
takes to clear the exam. Stop with the blame gaming/self victimisation and put in your
100% efforts. The problem is we don’t work hard and come up with excuses. This leads
to a viscious cycle of procrastination. End this and you will achieve your goals.
Stay away from potential sources of distractions.
Your goal is your daily motivation.
Devise your own strategy. Do not pick up any book just because I referred to it. What is
needed is a good understanding of the basics, no matter what the source is.
If you are taking coaching then use their notes. But do not leave the basic books like
Laxmikanth, ncerts etc as no coaching material is holistic. For example I did the topics
like Fundamental rights, emergency, Judicial Review, modern history before 1857 from
coaching notes.
My strategy in my final attempt
I made a clear cut plan. It had monthly, weekly and daily targets. I ensured they are
realistic and achievable. Having a plan helped me in tracking my progress and staying
focussed.
I limited my resources to certain basic books so as to be able to revise them frequently.
I read all the required ncerts once to be able to get a thorough understanding. After this I
stuck to the 11th and 12th ones. For example I read class 6-10th ncerts of geography and
jotted down the important facts. It was only these points that I revised later. (Another
thing I will mention is that 9th and 10th ncerts get repeated in the 11 & 12th so i did not
make any notes for that.)
I made notes as and when required. For example, I wrote down certain important facts
and points ( especially the ones I forgot) of Shankar IAS book in 30-40 pages.
Nonetheless I did read the book throughly one to two times.
I used the internet intensively ( especially for current affairs). Few examples are
gravitational waves, blockchain technology, mapping videos for geography, important
national parks compilations etc.
Revision is extremely important. 3 months before prelims I made a list of my sources for
both static and current affairs. As and when I revised a subject, I used to put a tick beside
it. My goal was to have 5 ticks before taking the exam ( I did manage to achieve it
somehow).
I solved around 30 mock tests. This helped me acquire the skill of calculated guessing.
My target was always to solve more than 90 questions. One hardly knows more than 40-
50 questions in the paper. Hence it is very important to solve the papers to be able to
identify the right answers.
I solved the paper in 4 stages. After every stage, I filled in the circles on the OMR sheet (I
quicly rechecked my answers before bubbling).
In the first stage, I read all the questions quicly and marked the ones I knew. Here I
crossed the questions that I was completely unaware of (3-5 questions) so that I do not
waste my time re reading them. This took arounf 45-50 minutes.
In the second stage. I marked the ones (roughly around 20-25 questions) where I was
confused between two options. This took around 20-30 m inutes.
In the 3rd stage, I tackled the questions where I knew only one option or was aware of
the topic ( around 10-15 questions). This is the real stage of calculate
guessing/elimination. These questions were dealt with utmost level of focus and took
another 20 minutes or so.
In the last stage, I was generally left with around 15 minutes. Here I tried to attempt 2-3
more questions to reach my target of 90 questions.
The last 10-15 minutes are extremely crucial as one tends to solve a few questions in a
hurry and under anxiety. DO NOT DO THIS.
Every year’s paper is different. Hence analyse the paper well during the first stage.
Solving 90 or more questions is not mandatory. If one’s accuracy rate is good then 70-80
questions are more than enough. It is this understanding that one develops while solving
mock papers.
Booklist:
Geography
Class 11th and 12th ncerts
Geography of India, Periyar publication (selected topics like agriculature and minerals)
Atlas (very important)
Economy
Vajiram yellow booklet of basics of Econoimy
Economic Survey
Internet
Polity
Laxmikanth
Vajiram classnotes (selected topics)
Ancient and Medieval History
Tamil Nadu class 11th history book ( I made notes and revised only them)
Lucent (selected topics like IVC, Vedic period, Jainism and Buddhism)
Modern History
A Brief history of modern India , Spectrum publication
Class notes for period before 1857
My notes ( a few pointers of ncerts)
Culture
An Introduction to Indian Art- class 11th ncert
Nitin Singhania’s book
Chapters related to culture in ancient and medieval history sources
Vajiram classnotes (selected topics like stone age, IVC )
Environment
Shankar IAS book ( I made notes of this)
General science
PT 365 only
Current Affairs
Pt 365 only
The Hindu ( I did not make notes)
Government schemes
VisionIAS compilation
Miscellaneous (Reports, Indexes,committees, institutions etc)
Internet (youtube + google)
Any available coaching material
Here is my plan. The picture is taken somewhere in end of April, 2018. I do not have its picture on the
day before prelims. (Pardon me for the poor quality)
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Success, failures, lessons learnt, gratitude and life.

Gunjan Dwivedi, AIR 9 CSE 2018.

Prelims strategy & booklist

 Gunjan Dwivedi  UPSC  14th May 201923rd May 2019 4 Minutes

My strategy in my final attempt

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