Ayushi Jain, AIR-74 CSE-22 Prelims, Mains, Booklist, Geography & More

Hi All,

This is the 19th Topper Journey & Strategy post from the Batch of 2023. Ayushi Jain has achieved 2 sub-100 Ranks in UPSC CSE including AIR-74 in CSE-22 and AIR-85 in CSE-20! You read it right. And, in between of these 2 ranks, she couldn’t clear Prelims in CSE-2021. She learnt from her strengths and weaknesses and cleared CSE-2022. I think this should be enough for you to put your trust in whatever she has mentioned in her detailed strategy post!

Introduction

I am Ayushi Jain, a graduate in mechanical engineering from IIITDM Jabalpur. I belong to Dag, Jhalawar district of Rajasthan. About my UPSC journey, I have given total 5 attempts:

In first attempt (CSE 2018), I could not clear prelims.
In second attempt, I cleared mains and give interview but could not make it to the list.
In third attempt (CSE 2020) I secured AIR 85.
In my fourth attempt, I could not clear prelims again.
And, the CSE 2022 was my fifth attempt and I secured all India rank 74.

Book list and general preparation strategy

Polity- polity by Laxmikanth ◦ Modern History – read NCERT of 12th class once or twice, then shifted to Spectrum publication’s book
Ancient history – NCERT + Lucent ◦ Medieval history- didn’t read much, read Lucent
Environment- Shankar IAS book
Economics- Sriram IAS book
Geography – NCERT 11th and 12th, Vajiram yellow book
International relations – current affairs + vision 365
Society- short notes by googling keywords of syllabus
Science and Technology- Current affairs
Internal security- vision 365
Disaster management- forum IAS booklet
Ethics – Mudit Jain sir’s strategy (not the book, but from his notes)
Current affairs- VisonIas magazines + sometimes forum IAS Dipin Sir’s notes.

Join here for free guidance from Mudit Jain, IRS CSE-17 (IPS CSE-14 & 15), Author of Decode Civils – Philosophical Essay Writing, Decode GS2, Decode Ethics 4.0 & Decode History Books

Ethics book referred by CSE 22 Toppers: AIR –76, 91, 176, 189, 249, 288, 297, 299, 326, 356, 476, 541, 611, 616, 700, 737, 739, 746 & others

History book referred by CSE 21 Toppers: AIR – 44, 212, 572, 653 & others

Sample PDFs of Books: Decode Civils – Philosophical Essay Writing, Decode Ethics 4th Edition, Decode GS2 & Decode History

Coaching

No coaching for GS
Optional- Vajiram
GS test series – vision (2019), forum (2022)
Geography test series ( ALS in 2020, MSP by Edukemy)
Mock interviews- At Deeksha, Hyderabad

Specific Suggestions Prelims

Read multiple times, revise again and again
Solved 50 test papers including 15 full length tests from multiple coachings
Note down specific things after test analysis from the solution
Solve PYQ of 10 years and Google each and every option given in the question
Look for PYQ beyond 10 years too

Probable reasons for not clearing prelims 2 times

1st attempt- I didn’t revise much. Also I was reading majorly facts.
4th attempt- cse 2020 result came just few days ago, so I couldn’t practice prelims paper. I didn’t even revise syllabus thoroughly

Specific Suggestions Mains

Don’t focus too much on notes making
Practice the following
Write 3-4 GS answers daily
Structure 2-3 more GS questions
2 questions of optional daily
Write PYQ specially for optional -5 years at least
Essay writing 1 every week, and 1 essay structuring every week
Read all PYQ essay quotes and use them in future essay writing
“Find” (not make) a list of key words, key quotes
Cite example after points, do that for attest initial 2-3 points in GS
I also read solved mains paper (test series) of vision IAS (available in market)

Optional Geography

Compile short notes
Make a copy to practice all set of schematics, diagrams
Practice structuring of PYQ in geographic way, Google it if any difficulty is there
I also read model answers of Edukemy’s compilation ( purchased from market only )
Write at least 2 full length tests of both papers

Personality Test

It has been very much interesting journey for me. My scores in Personality Tests are as follows –

2019: 138
2020: 187
2022: 202

I’m not really sure how it happened, but honesty, confidence, structured and short answers do play a key role in it. Rest depends on individual, which can be assessed only on one-to-one basis.

Other Suggestions

I did not have habit of making notes. So, I usually had to rely on notes from the market. (This is not recommended).
I was usually confused about which test series to join. But I realised all are same, all the employees of coaching copy from each other. Noting to really worry about.
Motivation helps only to an extent, make good habits. Consistency is the key to cracking any competitive exam.
Having a peer group who keep a check on each other is a blessing.
Ask for help without expectations, do not hesitate. I found some of the most genuine people whose inputs helped a lot.

Lastly, Be hopeful and optimistic, at the same time, always have reality check. Never ever lie to yourself about preparation.

CSE-22 Topper Strategies:

1) Dwij Goel AIR-71 Journey & GS-2 124 Marks & His Anthropology Strategy 315 Marks

2) Gautam Vivekanandan AIR-211 Essay Topper 149 Marks

3) Khushboo Oberoi AIR-139 Prelims, Ethics & Public Administration 294 Marks

4) Aaditya Sharma AIR-70 Prelims, Mains & Medical Science

5) Abhishek Dawachya AIR-610 Prelims, Mains (GS-1 Topper) & Sociology

6) Avinash Kumar AIR-17 Philosophy Topper 319 Marks

7) Virendra Kumar Meena AIR-883 Hindi Medium Cleared Prelims Thrice

8) Jatin Jain AIR-91 Prelims, Mains & Sociology

9) Kasturi Panda AIR-67 Prelims, Mains & Interview

10) Laxmipriya Upadhyaya AIR-176 Prelims, Mains & Agriculture