Anirudha Pandey, AIR-64 CSE-22 Prelims, Mains & Essay

Hi All,

This is the 13th Topper Journey & Strategy post from the Batch of 2023. Anirudha Pandey cleared CSE-22 with AIR-64 in his 4th attempt. Following is his Prelims, Mains GS & Essay strategy.

Introduction

I am Anirudha Pandey AIR 64 in UPSC CSE 2022. I have done my graduation in civil engineering from MNNIT Prayagraj. I completed my graduation in 2019 and have been preparing for civil services since then. I have no work experience. My optional for the exam was PSIR.

You can contact Anirudha on his telegram channel

I started UPSC preparation in 2018. In my first attempt in 2019 i could not clear prelims. In 2020 and 2021 i couldn’t clear mains. 2022 was my first interview and I was lucky to get AIR 64.

I scored 295 in my optional PSIR and the strategy I followed was to study and memorise Shubhra ranjan mam’s class notes. Then I did value addition to those notes from utkarsh dwivedi sir’s blog and solutions of test series that I gave. For answer writing, I practiced shubhra ranjan test series and gave 6 tests. To update current affairs of IR section I relied on the Hindu editorials and ORF website.

Prelims Strategy

For Prelims I relied heavily on strong static base. To prepare static I read 11th and 12th class NCERTs along with standard textbooks. This is my booklist in detail:

1. Polity – Laxmikant

2. History: Modern history: spectrum Ancient history: Short notes from R S Sharma book Medieval history: short notes of Satish Chandra book

3. Economy : Macroeconomics NCERT Sriram IAS printed material

4. Ecology: short notes from SHANKAR IAS book and last three chapters of 12th class biology NCERT.

5. Geography: class 11th and 12th NCERTs

6. Art and culture: Fine arts NCERT and selective reading of Nitin singhania book.

7. Science and technology: handwritten notes of vajiram and Ravi alongwith class 6th to 10 th NCERTs

After static, the next pillar of prelims preparation is current affairs for which I read newspaper daily for 1-1.5 hours and also read PT 365 twice before exam.

Next pillar is PYQs and I thoroughly read and revised PYQs of last 5 years including exploring in depth about every option (right or wrong) given in the question.

Despite doing all this prelims preparation is incomplete without practicing tests. I solved around 30 to 40 tests before prelims and tried to analyse my mistakes in order to refine my elimination skills.

After this comes CSAT which has become very difficult in last 2-3 years. Hence studying PYQs of CSAT and practicing tests in a time bound manner has become important.

Mains Strategy

To score good marks in mains we need answer writing skills and good content.

For Answer Writing:

I could not practice daily answer writing but relied on giving weekly tests.
Moreover I read and analysed toppers copies to try and steal good content and structuring techniques from their copies.
I gave around 16 GS tests and 5 essay tests in the period between pre and mains.
While writing answers I followed points and subheadings format.
In introduction I used to write definitions or facts.
In conclusions I used to write SDGs , DPSPs or slogans such as “ek Bharat sherstha Bharat” and ” unity in diversity”.
In body i wrote atleast 10 points in 10 mark questions and 15 points in 15 mark questions.
I also tried to use diagrams and maps to improve presentation.

For Content:

I made notes of 2-3 pages for each topic of syllabus in all 4 GS papers.
To make these notes I took help of visionIAS value added material, Google searches and PYQ solutions.

Various successful candidates of UPSC CSE-24 were part of Ethics/Essay Modules & Other Initiatives. Some of them, with their clickable feedback, are AIR-2, 28, 32, 35, 53, 54, 55, 57, 61, 72, 91, 119, 217, 219, 247, 256, 261, 287, 299, 328, 351, 450, 525, 579, 590, 728, 813, 871, 905 etc.

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My Books: Current Affairs Prelims 2025, Decode Ethics 2025 Mains, Decode Essay 2025 Mains & Decode CSAT

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Essay Strategy

In essay my marks fluctuated from 120 in 2020 to 105 in 2021 and 116 in 2022.
In essay my suggestion is that you should have prepared templates for introduction and conclusion beforehand.
Also we should try to write a multi-dimensional essay rather than elaborating some good dimensions in detail. This was the mistake I committed in 2021 essay paper.
Also practicing a few essays before writing the real exam is necessary but too much practice tends to make essays mechanical and reduces originality in the essay(my personal opinion).
Sprinkling quotes, examples and facts can add value to your essay but you should not overdo it.

All the best!!