Pratik Agrawal (AIR-156, CSE-21) Journey and Strategy
Published by
DecodeCIVILS – Mudit Jain
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Hi All,
I share this post on the day when UPSC has declared Prelims-22 results. Many dreams have shattered. However, one has to move on and so did Pratik after his failure in CSE-20 wherein he managed only 60 odd marks in Prelims. In CSE-21, he not only cracked CSP but also Forest cut-off!
Here is the detailed timeline he followed to rise from the ashes, his booklist and other sources that he followed:
Journey:
After finishing my college on 15th May 2019, I was in the streets of Old Rajinder Nagar on 17th May 2019. I did my classes from the next week in Vajiram for General Studies and Geography optional from GuidanceIAS in mid June 2019.
With no background in humanities, it was tough initially and things started very quickly.
It was a tough 10 months in Delhi, with extreme weather, over crowded and congested streets and anonymity in the crowd. By March 15, 2020 classes were forcefully closed due to covid and I had to shift back to my home in Raipur.
Covid times were very challenging and uncertain. The lockdown phase as well as my complacency took away my first attempt in 2020.
I was scoring around 64 in Prelims and knew I wouldn’t make it. I took a break of 7-10 days and started afresh from zero.
By this time I had realised that GS classes did provide me some direction and information about the exam but academically there was little gain, optional classes however were good and fulfilling.
I analysed based on prelims score, syllabus and previous years questions of both prelims and mains. I started covering the syllabus one by one. I joined an answer evaluation programme of IAS network and wrote previous years extensively for optional and GS.
November and December were tough months for me mentally. There was too much pressure to look for a job or join family business. But my parents and my friends supported me during this phase. I gave in my heart and my body from November to October 2021.
The plan was simple:
November to February for mains and March to May for prelims.
Started with GS 2 and GS 4 along with optional, finished the two GS papers by December end.
Then went for GS 1 but prelims anxiety started to kick in, I ordered SFG-1 online and started giving 1 test a day from mid January with GS 1 and optional revision and note making.
By the end of February I was done with major GS portion, optional revision as well as SFG-1 50 tests.
Also for current affairs I did vision monthly magazine from April 2020 for the exam in May 2021. I used to read 20 pages a day after giving a glance through headlines of The Indian Express.
Newspaper reading was a tough task for me when I had started my preparation in May 2019. It was exhausting and I was not comfortable with The Hindu. I had switched over to The Indian Express and felt I couldn’t make better notes than the compilations and hence didn’t think much about the same.
In March, started with prelims preparation, made a plan for three monthsgiving myself 3 possible cycles of revision. Things to cover were GS for prelims, current affairs magazine revision, mapping for prelims, economic survey, budget and the bulky scheme documents.
I had planned to give vision and forum IAS test series, ordered the same from Delhi. It was the time when Delta variant had created havoc and prelims was again postponed.
I had to recalibrate. I ordered SFG-2 tests, 50 of them. Wrote each one day, complete magazine once twice thrice and 5 times before the exam. Wrote each of PYQs for geography optional and completed all the vision and forum ias tests by September. I was raring to go for prelims.
From 60, I now cleared the forest cut off too. (Scores not released yet)
I had always believed that I would go all the way through if I cleared prelims. May be it was a fake confidence but I had it.
I decided to come out of the loop this time itself. I aimed for 400 in GS, 110 in essay, 280 in optional and 180 in interviews.
Essay journey was tougher, I wrote first test and scored 45/250, changed my writing style, practised a lot of philosophical essays and ended up scoring 120/250.
I wrote 27 GS and optional tests in 60 days. Everything for mains was almost done in this period- finishing tests in time, improving handwriting, adding data, facts and examples.
I didn’t know what to expect after writing mains, I was happy and drained. Took 20 days offand started preparing for prelims, mains and interviews altogether.
Results after two months were positive and I was unprepared for the interviews. I went to Delhi, got my daf analysed 4-5 times, gave 8-10 mocks and in the last 10 days before interviews came back home. I analysed my mocks and worked on them.
Interview was a very nice experience. It was 100% DAF based. I was very satisfied.
Exactly 40 days remained for prelims 2022 now. As always UPSC has had taught not to expect anything and I wasn’t.
Results were due around 27-28th may with one week to go for prelims. The preparation was minimum and efficiency really lacking in the uncertainty.
It was around 1 o’clock in the afternoon on 30th May 2022, when my friend called me that he has the pdf, I checked on call with him. No scrolling down, no name reading, directly Control+F and roll number, there it was at 156. I was shivering.
This was an objective output of three years of investment. I felt very lucky and blessed. I was not overjoyed, I had trust in my processes but yes I was satisfied.
Though the journey continues for a rank improvement, but I’m happier and more confident.
There’s one thing that separates people at both sides of the line: confidence.
Polity: Constitution Bare Act, Lakshmikant and VAM
International Relations: Vajiram static and Monthly Magazine
GS 3:
Economics: Vivek Singh, VAM, Monthly magazine, Selective topics from Mrunal Sir
Environment: VAM and Monthly Magazine
Science and Technology: Monthly Magazine, Vajiram Static Notes- Rahul Sir
Security: VAM
GS 4: VAM
Geography optional:
Paper 1: Himanshu Sir’s notes
Paper 2: Himanshu Sir’s notes and Khullar
Other important sources:
Economics Survey Vision Summary
Mapping from YouTube and PMF IAS
Please don’t follow the sources blindly, select the sources based on your understanding. I personally didn’t like traditional sources because of lack of colour and pictures. I chose the above books and material based on ease of reading, nice organisation and compatibility of the resources.
A detail of coaching classes, test series and other programmes I personally took in my journey:(all paid)
Vajiram GS classes- 2019-20
Guidance IAS Geography optional foundation course(Himanshu Sir) 2019-20
Geography test series with Vajiram 2019-20
Vision Abhyaas 2019-20, 2020-2021
Edukemy Geography MSP programme 2021-22
IAS Corridor mapping and tricks course
IAS Network evaluation for GS and optional
Interview specific:
Vision IAS(paid)
Forum IAS (one to one)(paid)
IASBaba (non paid)
Edukemy (paid)
Guidance IAS(one to one)(non paid)
Unacademy (non paid)
Chanakya Mandali(non paid)
Samkalp IAS(non paid, voluntary donation only)
Insights IAS (one to one)(non paid)
KSG (non paid)
IASHub (paid)
NextIAS(didn’t go for mocks although)(paid)
Some free initiatives and programmes: Open test on following platforms:
Vision IAS
Forum IAS
Unacademy
IASBaba
Raus IAS
YouTube channels that were beneficial:
IAS Corridor: must follow, have almost watched every video on channel
Vision IAS pyqs and strategic discussions + economic survey
Edukemy Shabbir Sir for essays
Forum IAS videos for motivation and strategic discussions
Rau’s IAS daily news analysis
Rajya sabha tv occasionally
IASBaba Rapid Revision Series
Insights IAS Vinay sir’s video for interviews
Drishti IAS only Vikas sir’s video on DAF filling
Unacademy YouTube channel
Abhey Sir’s YouTube channel
Atish Mathur Sir’s YouTube channel
Please don’t be overwhelmed by all these names. It was over a period of three years and also selectively. Being at home post covid, I was limited to online options and therefore chose the above. I have tried to mention every institution’s name, please apologise if missed out on any.
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