Mohammad Haris Mir (CSE-23 AIR-345) Law, Journey & Comprehensive Strategy

Background

Name : Mohammad Haris Mir
From: Kupwara , Jammu and Kashmir
Graduation subject: B.A.LL.B (2017-2022)
Institution: Faculty of Law , Jamia Millia Islamia, Delhi
UPSC Optional Subject: Law
Attempt: 1^st
Rank: 345

UPSC Journey

I had made the decision to appear for UPSC exam early on in my life during my schooling. To this end, I had taken up humanities during my higher secondary studies with History, Economics and Political Science as my core subjects.

You can contact him on Instagram and LinkedIn

Subsequently, I decided to pursue to BA.LL.B as a graduation subject as I became aware of the syllabus overlap of law with the upsc syllabus (e.g Constitutional law, International Law with GS 2 as well as some application in Ethics paper besides having a backup in judiciary or legal practice.

I appeared for CLAT and other law entrance examinations (including JMI entrance) in 2017 and was able to get admission opportunities in some NLUs and other law colleges. I chose Jamia Millia Islamia as it is situated in the heart of the National Capital which would give me valuable exposure and opportunities in various government bodies, The Supreme court, law chambers, etc besides being in the proximity of various UPSC coaching hubs.

During my law degree, I explored various domains of law and related career opportunities but chose to stick to my original preference. Unfortunately, the experience of law school was cut short by more than 2 years of pandemic induced lockdown during which I mostly pursued my curriculum studies.

After graduating in the summer of 2022, I decided to prepare intensively for UPSC by September. Initially I was hesitant to appear for the 2023 notification as I had less than 10 months to appear for prelims. However I decided to appear regardless of the level of preparation and fortunately qualified the prelims exam. With a lot of syllabus still left to cover before mains, I focussed on ethics and optional papers besides appearing for mock tests to improve my writing speed.

The mains exam was held in mid-September following which I left to Srinagar to appear for JKPSC Combined Competitive Exam (state-level civil service exam) prelims and J&K Civil Services-Judicial exam prelims. I was able to qualify both and appeared for the Judiciary Mains in November. The UPSC mains result was declared in December.

Fortunately I had a lot of time to prepare for the interview as it was scheduled in March 2024. After appearing for UPSC interview in March, I again headed to Srinagar to appear for the state civil service mains exam. Shortly after this exam was over, UPSC declared its final result and my name figured in the “Holy PDF”

Challenges

Struggling with discipline and lack of a long term syllabus oriented plan were the challenges which I faced before prelims. Initially I had a target of completing my optional syllabus before new year of 2023, however I was able to achieve only half of my target. After prelims, fortunately I was able to find mentorship (free of cost) for mains under Satyam Jain of Understand UPSC through his SFG- Mains Focus group on telegram which greatly benefited my mains preparation in terms of resources, answer writing practice and weekly targets.

When to Start Preparation?

I think one can start UPSC preparation at any stage as long as one is able to efficiently manage both and not compromising on existing commitments (ex. Job, College, etc).

How to Start Preparation?

I think the most important step is to first assess ones existing level of knowledge ex. After my graduation I directly attempted an open mock in Delhi without any preparation to find my baseline level of knowledge. I realised my weak areas as History and Environment ; my strength areas as Polity and Economy.

After this I immediately referred to basic NCERTs for the weak subjects and class 11-12 Ncerts for strong areas apart from starting daily newspaper reading.

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

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Timetable

Initially I had a hard time maintaining a schedule. However my preferred routine was solving 20 Mcqs with detailed explanations (30 – 40 mins) (from locally available mock test papers) in the morning following which 2-3 hours for the ongoing GS subject. 2-3 hours in the second half of day with optional subject and ending the day with newspaper (took 2.5 hours initially).

After the commencement of the 2023 new year, I devoted my time solely to GS papers besides increasing the frequency of mock tests.

Strategy/Books

Essay: Reading toppers copies and extracting anecdotes, making quote compilations and mock tests.

GS1

History: Class 6,7,8 Ncert. Ancient India (RS Sharma), Medival India (satish Chandra), Modern India (Bipin Chandra plus spectrum). Supplementary: History/Art and Culture videos on YouTube by Pratik Nayak of Unacademy .

For mains: Class 11 art and culture book + only temple chapter from Nitin Singhanias Art and Culture.

Geography: Class 11 and 12 Ncert. SIP+ (geography book ) by StudyIQ. Supplementary: Amit Sengupta on YouTube for some concepts of geography. Crash Course Youtube Channel (Geography Playlist)

Society: Only newspaper + mock test paper questions

For mains: Only IAS prahar magazine (Society and Social Justice)

GS2

Polity: JN Pandey -Constitutional law (also for law optional), Select chapters of Lakshmikant (ex. Parliament). Supplementary online articles on relevant topics (ex.Drishti Ias Website)

Social Justice and International relations: vision PT 365+ mock test questions

For mains: OnlyIAS Prahar- Social Justice

GS3

Environment: PMF IAS Environment book

Economy, Disaster Management and Internal Security= No standard book, Only PT 365, Mock Test Questions. Concepts through youtube ex. Ted-Ed channel, other educational channels.

For mains: PYQ Model Answers from any reputed source + maintaining a diary of data points.

GS4: Only after clearing prelims. Onlyias prahar magazine (ethics). Making compilation of quotes and reading online summary of ARC report on Ethics in Governance.

Optional: law

Exclusively PYQ oriented study.
Books : Mosly Singhal Law publications (Dukkis) except constitution of which I made detailed notes from JN Pandey’s Book.
Supplemented with CS-Jeydev’s (AIR 5) notes available on his blog and various other platforms.

Note Making

Selective. Covered only select topics such as:

Temple architecture from Nitin Singhania.
Single comprehensive digital note for constitutional law + Polity
Ethics+ Essay : Quote and keyword compilation , very brief notes made only after prelims.
GS 3: Only maintained a small dairy of data points (ex. NFHS, PLFS, Census, ASER, HDI, SDG,etc)
Law optional: Comprehensive notes for paper 1 ready before prelims. Notes of paper 2 made during mains preparation.

Role of PYQ

Absolutely essential. For prelims attempt and study all topics of past 10-12 years. For mains, reading the model answers really helped me.

Revision Strategy

As I did not have comprehensive notes, For prelims I attempted as many test papers as possible plus watching various rapid revision/last minute videos on youtube (ex. Playlists of Sleepy IAS classes ,Unacademy, etc)

For mains: The SFG telegram group (as mentioned previously) held marathon sessions on various subjects in the last 15 days which benefitted me a lot besides reading PYQ model answers during revision.

How to Attempt Prelims?

GS Paper 1: The pattern was unexpected, however maintaining composure is essential. As my accuracy was generally not good, I tried to attempt more questions and skipped only those where I had absolutely no clue. Eventually ended up attempting approximately 80 questions.

CSAT (Paper 2): I mostly relied on English Comprehension and a few questions from other parts. Attempted 40 questions including all of 27/28 questions in English Comprehension. However, would advise aspirants to practice for the Quantitative Aptitude section as its weightage had increased in 2023.

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Essay Strategy

Reading topper’s copies, Quote compilations and, most importantly writing as many practice essays as possible keeping originality of content as the top priority.

CSE-23 Topper Strategies:

1) Medha Anand AIR-13 Socio + Comprehensive

2) Romel Bijalwan AIR-353 Anthro + Comprehensive

3) Samiksha Mhetre AIR-302 Comprehensive

4) Aditya Hriday Upadhyay AIR-416 Maths + Comprehensive

5) Prerna Singh AIR-271 Journey + Learnings + Comprehensive

6) Abhinav Jain AIR-35 Journey + Comprehensive

7) KN Chandana Jahnavi AIR-50 3/3 Selections + Socio + Comprehensive

8) Rohit Sattawan AIR-997 Prelims & Mains Booklist + FAQs

9) Dr. Subhadharshini AIR-83 Motivational Journey + FAQs

10) Megha Dinesh AIR-268 Sociology + Comprehensive Strategy

11) Anushka Karnwal AIR-435 Economics + Comprehensive Strategy