I gave 5 Prelims, cleared 4 and failed 1. More importantly, I failed Prelims not in my 1st attempt but 4th attempt after already securing 2 IPS ranks. Hence, I feel I know the do’s and don’ts.
GET BASICS RIGHT
Preparation timeline.
Read concise material.
Make notes.
Revise 4-5-6 times.
Attempt tests religiously.
Revise tests.
Last 30 days preparation.
How to restart?
A mistake which many make is reading everything under the sun and not revising it. This results in half-cooked knowledge which is very dangerous.
With respect to prelims it can be blessing in disguise to not know a topic at all. At least you won’t attempt the question.
If you have half-cooked ideas about a topic and attempt it, chances of getting it wrong are very high!!
So read a concise material so that you can revise it. Make notes so that you can revise multiple times.
CSE-21 Toppers’ Prelims Strategies have acute similarities viz-a-viz my strategy and materials. This tells you that it is all-weather strategy!!
Ideally, 15-18 months current is required but last few Prelims had questions from 2 year contemporary affairs!
Still, your priority shall be recent 15 months current. If you find time then read vision monthly booklets for further previous months.
Having a concise material does not mean that we will miss out on topics. NEVER! With experience of 5 attempts, I zeroed down on following concise yet holistic study material:
PRELIMS BOOK LIST OF 152 ASPIRANTS WHO CLEARED PRELIMS 2023
Current: Newspaper + Coaching Mag (60.5%), Only Coaching Mag (30.3%) & Only Newspaper (9.2%)
Which Mag: Vision PT365, Vision Monthly, Sunya & Insight
NOTES
Notes shall be made for History, Polity, Geography and Current because these come handy for Mains GS-1 & GS-2. You will be able to revise multiple times only if you are not reading whole book again but your notes!
Make a ‘keyword dictionary’ for Environment from Shankar and for Economy from Sriram. This helps in GS-3.
I pray that you clear civils in your 1st attempt itself. But if you don’t then notes will come handy. You won’t have to start from scratch if you have notes.
Multiple revisions are panacea. You can not clear civils by single reading.
Read concise material. Do not mark in 1st go as you might end up marking whole book. Mark in 2nd or 3rd read and make notes.
Make a daily-weekly-monthly timetable either on your own or on basis of test series.
Revise study material before tests. No point giving a test without revision. Even if you score 120, it is a complete waste.
If you read-make notes-revise before tests, you will automatically have 3-4 revisions.
Last month before prelims is very important. Revise twice in this month.
This ensures regular and multiple revisions of your concise material.
TESTS
Attempt 30-40-50 mock tests. One should attempt at least 1 test per week after 2 readings of course. You can do it in following ways:
2 hour exam room type attempt.
Attempt 10 questions and check answers.
Attempt and check answer for question.
Of course, one should attempt at least 10 tests in 1st manner.
Methods can differ but evaluation, making notes of tough questions and revising the same is must. Questions do repeat from mock tests. Hence revision is must. It also adds to knowledge base and confidence.
It is said that for CSE Aspirants Moksha is attained when they get IAS rank or their attempts are exhausted! Not everyone get the same in 1st attempt and hence need to restart. Kind of restarts:
In case one fails Prelims. In this case one should look forward to put further hard yards in Prelims preparation but time just after prelims shall be used for Mains preparation.
After failing Mains one has on average 4 months before next prelims. If one is confident of clearing Prelims, he/she can devote a month to Mains.
After Interview, failing to have name in final list, Aspirants have very less time for next Prelims. Preparations shall start right away.
After Interview, for rank improvement, similarly as above.
Hence, do not read everything under the sun. Revise whatever you read by making notes. Take tests seriously. Follow the process and results will come! In my failed attempt I didn’t follow the process. Do not commit same mistake.
Mudit Sir, as per your post would you suggest not to study GS(2,3,4) specifically before prelims for a fresher? (I mean for 2019 CSE one should study 3 months OPTIONAL and then next 3 months for prelims 1st reading followed by 6 months Prelims preparation??) and then after prelims we have to go for GS2,3,4 specifically…right? Just having doubt please try to clear..
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