UPSC WEBSITE – The Civil Services (Prel.) Examination-2020, scheduled to be held on 31/05/2020, stands deferred. Decision on fresh date of the Examination will be made available on 20/05/2020 after assessing the situation.

Also, Personality Tests (Interviews) of the candidates of the Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2019 scheduled from 23rd March, 2020 to 3rd April, 2020 are deferred till further orders.

What’s Certain?

• Fresh dates may be announced on May 20th.
• 30 days notice to be given to candidates. I.e. prelims exam won’t be conducted before June 20th.
• Aspirants have 48 days in hand between 4/5/20 – 20/6/20.
• No Interviews in May.

What’s Uncertain?

• CSE 19 Interview dates.
• CSE 20 Prelims date.
• CSE 20 Mains dates.
• CSE 21 schedule.
• Days between Prelims and Mains.
• Current affairs preparation needed for what all months.
• Managing prelims vs mains preparation amid uncertainty.

Aspirants have 48 days in hand between 4/5/20 – 20/6/20.

In my view, these 48 days should be divided into 30 + 18 days. Aspirants should focus on Mains for first 30 days and on Prelims for later 18 days. This is just an ideal scenario and will change aspirant to aspirant depending on his/her Prelims and Mains preparation so far.

Below, I am mentioning the Aspirant’s FAQs on Prelims Deferment. One can divide 48 days accordingly.

Queries that I received

How much time I should give to Optional & Mains Prep Before Prelims?

In my view, Aspirants should prepare for Mains from today for next 30 days. If clarity regarding Prelims date comes on 20th May then Aspirants can reduce or extend this duration.

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How to revise Mains subjects before Prelims? Which subject we should give the preference?

Go for static subjects including:

• Optional
• Essay
• Ethics
• GS-1 History
• GS-1 Geography (static part)
• GS-1 Society (static part)
• GS-2 Polity static
• GS-3 Security static

Optional can be dedicated 15 days, essay 3-4 days and Ethics 7-8 days. This way in 25-27 days you will be able to study for 1000 Marks!

Because of uncertainty in prelims examination,could you suggest plan to prepare the mains anwser writing along with prelims?

As written above, prepare for Mains till 3rd June. If you are confident about your Prelims preparation then you can LEAVE PRELIMS PREPARATION ALL TOGETHER TILL 3rd June.

What would be the strategy for current as months will be increased?

Generally what is said is that Prelims paper is set about 25-30 days before Prelims. Given that Corona uncertainty is lingering since March, paper might not have been set. This is just a guess. I am not sure.

Aspirants leave current affairs preparation about 20-25 days before scheduled Prelims. For 2020 Prelims, Aspirants would have to prepare May current affairs as Prelims will be on or after 20th June. You simply can’t risk leaving current affairs of May.

We are already giving mock tests and I think we should not completely stop giving them even if the Prelims gets delayed. So how should we adjust the frequency and number of mock tests as per the new schedule?

I guess, by 4th May, you would have solved at least 20-30 tests keeping original prelims date in mind. If you have not solved 20-30 tests then you can attempt 2 tests per week for next 48 days. If you are confident about prelims preparation then focus on Mains.

I planned to do optional + ethics + essay answer writing with one prelims mock test each Sunday. It it wise plan?

This appears to be the best way forward. Focus on Mains static preparation. Make notes and consolidate them. In original timetable, there were 109 days between Prelims and Mains (1st June to 17 September). Now, no one can tell whether Aspirants will get this much time or not.

I’m getting low scores in prelims mocks (65-90), so during may-June should I focus on prelims ONLY or complete the pending syllabus of mains and optional side be side with pinch of answer writing practice.

If you are not confident about prelims preparation, if you are getting low score in mock tests, then delay in prelims comes as a blessing for you. Focus on Prelims. But, beware! This time, you might get less days between pre and mains. 

So, focus on Mains as well. Prepare static portions of Mains that are common for Prelims. Ex. Polity, history and geography.

You can practice answer writing too. Write 1-2 answers per day. This will take max 30 mins!

Is it better to be in touch with prelims only with repeated revisions or go through optional notes for 2 weeks?

If confident about prelims, then practice tests and focus on mains. If not confident about prelims then revise for same.

Will 2020 Prelims Postponement impact 2021 CSE Annual Calendar?

I can not answer this!

Read Other Prelims Strategies:

• Prelims Strategy A2Z
• Prelims Strategy: Shilpi Mittal, IRS
• How Darshan Overcame 4 Prelims Failure to get into IRS while Being a Working Professional
• Prelims: How To Score Big?
• Prelims Test Practice Method

Link: DecodeCIVILS YouTube

ATB!!!