so I started with 9th to 12th NCERTTS and that to very briefly I just skimmed through them so that I can get a basic understanding So I would suggest go for syllabus reading first before you start into any preparation So what I used to do was firstly uh switch off my phone and keep it in another room because it was a big distraction If you are doing it efficiently 7 8 hours is more than enough but you have to be truthful and honest to yourself do not go for anything extra that you might want to read Just re-revise revise revise revise all the static resources that you might have read before this So I enrolled in that advanced batch I uh focused on uh the not the basics of course because I was already done with it I focused on the advanced things of mains and and I incorporated many of the value addition from this course in my uh answers as well So I solely relied on pre PT and Maze [Music] 365 Hello everyone Today we will be in conversation with Ria who has secured all India rank 22 in this year's UPC examination with sociology as an option paper This was her third attempt In her previous attempt she got through the examination and she is currently an IRT probationary officer So we will be having conversation with her We will be discussing all her strengths all her challenges which she faced during a preparation journey which is certainly going to help all of you who are watching this video in maybe making your strategy for examination Some things which worked for her of course it is going to work for you as well So without much of wasting time a very warm welcome to you Ria Thank you so much and a lot of congratulations on this new journey of yours Thank you So firstly how was your response after seeing your name in the list and again getting a rank of 22 i think the first was disbelief because uh I was checking my friends and my name on the list and when I was checking my name till s a i n I couldn't find my name So I thought this attempt is gone But when I clicked I I found it on 22nd But it was disbelief because there were many fake PDFs circulating So I had to check it for about three to four times and then I yelled and called my parents and my brother So I think now it is more of relief and happiness of course Great Great So again this whole idea of preparing for the examination it is certainly a question with lot of youths in India right how exactly and why one should choose civil services as their career So what made you choose this career for your uh in the long term uh initially actually it was a push that was given by my father Uh he was always intent upon me taking this examination but I uh strictly told him that please do not pressurize me because this is beyond my capabilities totally because I hardly studied for like two to three hours in college that to on two to three hours weekly So to study so much and to clear this exam looked something that was beyond me uh but later on as I realized uh I think uh there were many things that attracted me towards this examination Firstly uh was the public interface that this job offers the leadership opportunities that to at such a young age and the diversity of opportunities that it offers and s I think u if I am able to bring a certain change on the ground then I think u my aim for being a civil servant will be successful Yes Very very motivational So uh once again of course the initial push was from your father So for again I would like to tell you to the aspirants that is it something a push is required for this examination or is it something which should naturally come to you that again I want to appear for this examination What exactly works for you yes sir Uh sir I think a push of course might help in better conditioning of a student or an aspirant In my case it was my father But uh I strictly told him that please do not pressurize me because this is not something that was my calling back then I hadn't given it a thought at all And after that actually my father stopped talking to me about this particular thing He said okay you can pursue whatever you want So I would like to say to all the aspirants that of course the society uh does regard civil services as one of the most prestigious institutions but the calling should be from within yourself Only when I decided that I actually want to pursue this did I get into this field of preparation Uh because it is a very long journey uh for most people because um it at least takes one year for the entire exam cycle and at least one and a half years preparation before this and that is if you're very lucky to and if you're good enough to get it through the first attempt So it is a very long journey It should be your and your calling only not any external pressures and um do not be misguided by the royal entry videos and all the paraphernalia that you see See uh the work that the civil servants are actually doing and if it is something that interests you then definitely go for it Now that we know your initial story now let's start You got the guided again I want to become a civil servant Then during your college days you started to prepare for the examination or was it after college actually it was during the end of my college that I actually decided So I did not sit for placements Uh I decided that I will start preparation for examination but that was during the end of my fourth year U after that I took a year drop for preparation and since then I uh after one year drop I prepared appeared for my first prelims and since then I've been in the So as you told it's your first attempt So again we are going to get through your journey very systematically So you after college started to dedicately prepare for this examination So what how did you initially started to prepare what kind of challenges did you faced and what worked for you in the first attempt maybe in the preparation wise okay Uh so what I did initially uh was uh hear a lot of topper talk videos because I was absolutely clueless as to what to do and it was lockdown period so I couldn't go to any coachings and offline centers So I looked at topper talks and strategy videos and I uh figured out that there were certain commonalities between all of them There were certain commonality of the resources as well as the strategy I uh tried to analyze that and incorporated that Uh secondly sir I started with NCRTs because I am from a science background I did not have a humanities background So I started with 9th to 12th NCERTTS and that too very briefly I just skimmed through them so that I can get a basic understanding before jumping onto the complex books So I used to finish one NCERTT per day because uh I did not focus on learning anything from the NCERTTs back then I just skimmed through and to get a basic idea Thirdly would be syllabus That is one mistake that I made I did not focus too much on the syllabus initially I just wanted to read through and read through many other books uh but that is something that did not work and that take took me a little more time to finish So I would suggest go for syllabus reading first before you start into any preparation and I think uh the other thing that might have worked was uh me reading the newspaper daily So these were the three things or four things that might have worked Okay Right So you discussed that again uh for the resources part you went through different toppers talk and different toppers told about a lot of resources and that is one problem which every aspirant faced during the initial phase of immigration is there a lot of content a lot of books lot of NCERTTs and again you told the importance of NCERTTs and syllabus mapping then what did you stick to one set of books and was it fixed or what was it changing throughout your journey what what what made you to stick to a certain resources for this examination for all the subjects yes sir Uh so sir as you said there are a number any number of resources but what I figured out was that most of the toppers advised all the aspirants to stick to the basic resources and I did that only the basic books for prelims at least for Lakshmi Kant for polity uh spectrum for modern Indian history and uh for geography NCERTTs and for current affairs I only stuck to vision monthly magazines as well as PD365 and mains 365 So my resources almost throughout were same and I revised them multiple times Um I don't think that it is beneficial to run behind thousand resources I know we must get FOMO because there are people going behind many other books but if you stick to the basics and revise them multiple times and analyze them through PQs I think that should be sufficient Again you discussed that again you referred vision is materials for current affairs PT65 vision is magazines on current affairs How important it is to read newspapers apart from because there are a lot of content in YouTube there are a lot of content in terms of materials of current affairs where again there are ready made notes but how important newspaper reading is for an aspirant in this in this examination yes sir uh sir I wouldn't be I wouldn't say that if you do not read the newspaper daily you won't be able to clear the exam because there are many examples who have but personally for me it worked wonders initially it gave me a I think it gave me a head start to a certain certain extent it allowed me to see what the actual syllabus is and get a basic understanding of issues around me So I used to read one newspaper daily Uh it took me about 40 to 45 minutes because I uh attempted selective reading I did not focus on the political news and editorials that might have been too complex to write in mains or pre and apart from that sir um newspaper reading of course was extremely beneficial especially in the personality test part Um and uh I at that time I referred not just to Hindu but I referred to the e explained series of uh Indian express also So I think it was beneficial for me Many times the topics are multiple times repeated in newspapers every day So they get stuck in your brain So in mains also there was a question wherein I hadn't read about it anywhere but I had read about it two or three times in the newspaper and I was able to jot it down there Yes sir Okay So now we know the strategy which you followed the books which you followed So now in the first attempt usually the first attempt for every student there are three stages for examination the prelims the mains and the personality test So a lot of confusion that again we should study first for prelims then for mains or then for personality test or it is was something which you did simultaneously for all the three stages Initially what were the challenges which you had in your mind that again I need to prepare for all three years simultaneously or again we should go in a systematic manner what worked for you and what did you followed uh so sir yes of course there are this challenge is faced by almost all the aspirants as to how to manage especially pre and mains both so I went for an integrated strategy for pre and mains initially at least for about 9 months and just about 3 months before the pre uh because this was my first pre I had to dedicate atedly gave around three three and a half months for prelims So back about at that time I stuck only to prelims resources but otherwise it was an integrated strategy and um for I think I realized this a little late but uh an integrated strategy can work wonders uh what I did in my later stages was that whenever I I was studying anything that was pre-related that people thought was only for pre I used to take another a different color pen uh and mark mark all the things that might be required for mains then and there itself for example people say Lakshmiant is not useful for mains but I wouldn't agree because when I was reading for pre also I would take another color pen and mark all the quotes that are written all the articles that are written all the fundamental duties etc that all the cases that I might be able to use in mains and then between the time for pre and mains I used to only have a cursory glance through those colored points Apart from that also whenever you're reading monthly magazines or when you're reading material for uh science and tech and environment specifically for prelims what you do is uh make a different document I used to make a Google docs that uh prelims knowledge in environment for mains So all the schemes that I might have read in environment all the reports that I might have seen um I might have read about in prelims I used to just jot them down in that document and verbatim use those in mains So that gave me an edge So I think an integrated strategy but two to three months before pre just focus on pre So it was overall a two 12 year 12 months strategy for preparation before the first examination So as you discussed initially that in your college days it was 2 hours a week and now during the preparation phase of course it would not be 2 hours a week So how maybe you made yourself or you made your mind that again yes this this examination requires long-term sitting and what was your study plan in a day usually in your first attempt yes sir uh so I think as the attempts uh went down my number of hours decreased because I had prepared accordingly but uh in my first attempt yes of course I did try to sit for around 7 to 8 hours every day that was an average I couldn't ever go beyond 10 hours even before my mains or pre because I my mind gets saturated and I can't work efficiently but 7 to 8 hours is what I personally aimed for and initially it was very difficult of course because uh for a person like me who wasn't studying at all in the college to studying for so many hours was a challenge So what I used to do was firstly uh switch off my phone and keep it in another room because it was a big distraction even if it was in my room I just felt the urge to check it once I switched it off kept it in another room Secondly sir I sat in sessions sessions initially if you're finding it difficult to sit for long hours just to make it a habit sit for 30 35 minutes for one session then 5 to 10 minutes take a break come back 30 35 minutes take a clock or anything to map it use forest app anything that you want but do that so that the number of sittings and the number of hours increases and later on you won't find it very difficult and uh yes that was my this thing and my daily routine Uh I used to wake up at around 7:30 or 8 depending on what time I slept Uh then 45 minutes I would get ready 40 minutes I would read the newspaper then I had breakfast then I sat down to study Uh one session was for around 45 minutes not more than that Then 5 10 minutes I just went around the house irritated my brother talk to my parents whatever After that uh for I did around 3 four sessions till my uh lunch lunch then after that I took an afternoon nap after that I studied again similarly in sessions then I went for workout without fail for around 1 one and a half hours um I came back had dinner and then sessions again till about 12 12 or 12:30 that was my basic routine ideal routine of course it deviated many times when I didn't feel like studying but This was an ideal routine Great Great So there is also a perception around this examination that if you're preparing for UPSC you need to cut off yourself from the entire world You need to lock yourself in a room and study for long hours Is it a reality because you are the one who have successfully succeeded clearing examination twice So what how is it a general perception or is it a reality that you need to cut off yourself from the entire world uh I think definitely it is a perception and many people have asked me this question that do we need to study 16 hours 17 hours I do not think that you need it if you are doing it efficiently 7 8 hours is more than enough but you have to be truthful and honest to yourself you have to dedicatedly study for 7 8 hours and it's not as easy as you think it is 7 8 hours might seem less for people who assume that a UPSC topper might study for 15 hours but if you're doing it well without any distra interactions then it's not that easy Uh secondly sir when it comes to cutting off I definitely um pulled back from many social circles because I was I was an extrovert I used to always like being around people So it was a little isolating at first but um I tried to take breaks monthly breaks weekly breaks daily breaks So if I'm taking a break and it is planned and it is not going beyond the time limit that I have set for myself then it's absolutely no issue I was on social media also I did not post but I used to watch videos or I used to sometimes chat with my friends that was okay but uh make sure that these breaks are not taking the best of you Um and u they are planned and they are for a small amount of time So about 1 month I used to go around and meet my friends and um I used to work out daily So you can take out times for other things also provided that 7 to eight hours are dedicatedly um are dedicated to studies Now there's also a feeling among students preparing for examination that uh there are few days where you feel lot of motivated motivation around preparing for examination but there are few days where there are lows in few days How did you manage that low days of yours yes sir that is definitely true I think initially um all of us are pushed by motivation and everyone is highly motivated especially I think after reading Lakshmi Kant but after that of course uh the process is so long and there are so many highs and lows that motivation definitely goes down What I did was not rely on motivation too much I relied a little more on discipline Initially of course the push was given by motivation and you will need external and internal motivation through the process But if you rely on motivation on a daily basis then uh you're digging a grave for yourself Rely on discipline that even if I'm not motivated I will wake up at this time I will study I will read the newspaper So I had made a disciplined schedule every day And that discipline does not only entail your academics If you are working out or if you're taking some time to rest that also counts as a part of your discipline that if you're taking out one and a half hours for the gym or for running every day even if you do not feel like it you will go So discipline works both ways in academics and non-academics when this works So discipline more than motivation will take you through this process Now there is one this one thing which is very least talked about but again very important People go through stress or students go through stress in this whole preparation phase of the examination So how did you managed your stress days in this preparation journey uh so I was an extremely anxious and stressed person especially in my first attempt but because I had put this because I had this holier than thou attitude that so I had put so much extra pressure on myself that on the day of prelims I succumbed to that pressure I marked I wasn't able to mark my OMR properly My hands were trembling and I knew that my fate was sealed this attempt has been is gone After that I realized that stress was stress and fear of failure was actually hampering me much more than enabling me So after that of course I took time to process I cried my heart out For many days I wasn't able to study but later on I think I tried to learn the art of surrendering Surrendering to the process surrendering to the universe My dad and mom always used to say initially I thought but after that I tried I used to listen to shandam a lot I used to listen to many other songs like Namu and I used to watch Mahadev seral also So I just surrendered after that And secondly sir uh my friend also suggested treat failure as an option in this exam because we see failure as an end of the world I failed in my first prelims Of course people most people most aspirants do fail at at least one or two stages in this examination But the moment we stop fearing failure and treat just as another part of the process I think it will be helpful And thirdly sir I think other things like meditation yoga and anything my reflective journaling whatever that is whatever it helps it will help your mental health a lot please do it and uh lastly I would say go for some physical exercise please um in the end it is a game of neurotransmitters as ma'am was also saying uh it will help elevate your mood it will help you give a sense of accomplishment even when you're not doing well in your studies And it will help boost your happy hormones So please do that Now we are going to have prelims very near It's really about right So a lot of self-doubt is also coming in the mind of aspirants whether I should skip this attempt whether I should try this attempt or not What is one thing which should be in mind of an aspirant that again yes if I have studied well I am going to give this attempt So what message would you like to convey to our students who are going to appear for this year examination of UPSC yes sir Uh so firstly I think of course it's absolutely natural and normal to feel overwhelmed at this stage So if you are having jitters if you are feeling anxious it's all right there's nothing wrong with you every aspirant all the 8 five lakhs how many ever are appearing will feel the same So do not fret over it Secondly if you're able to hold your nerves through this process I think you've made it through half of the battle because most people uh most people pull out of the battle just at this stage at this crucial juncture because they are so overwhelmed So thirdly sir I think don't doubt yourself now Do not go for many mock tests Do not go for anything extra that you might want to read Just re-revise revise revise revise all the static resources that you might have read before this and only rely on pyqs because it's only a few days to prelims now and if you're able to hold your nerves and if you stick to the basics trust me if you find the exam difficult everyone else will and you will sail through Thank you So now I would shift our conversation to a little bit on academic side So starting for prelims means again for the two stages UPSC is going to ask objective questions UPSC is going to ask you subjective questions in the examination So how did you planned for these two stages specifically in your first attempt uh so initially uh in my first attempt I started a little more with pre and the basic resources that is polity economy and history After that when I did have start having a little uh more knowledge about these things then I jumped into mains preparation So for uh mains again I think do not jump into answer writing would be my one advice because many people before completing the syllabus itself they start writing answers and there then they are demoralized but in means interconnections are very important across GS papers So once you're done with your entire syllabus of GS at least one reading then you start writing your answers and for that PQS will be your guide So PYQ's will help you analyze the theme especially in mains and accordingly you can prepare your short notes or value addition and then start writing answers That's how it is right So again for prelims objective questions through previous questions and certainly that for mains as well right So now there's come the third part that is your optional that what should be the strategy of choosing an option paper number one and what is the idle time to start preparing for an option paper given the time you have one year and again you are going to appear for examination what is the cut off time that this is the high time I should start preparing for an option as well Yes sir So coming to the first part of the question uh that what should be the criteria for choosing optional Firstly I think of course it depends on the interest If you do have an interest in the subject please go ahead for with it Secondly um is the syllabus Please do not jump into any optional preparation without looking at at least the syllabus of four to five subjects that you might think you might go for So analyze the syllabus thoroughly and then see if it suits you And third would be the length of the optional of course because practicality is another uh main concern uh I chose sociology because it was a very small optional and the first time I read it I completed it within about 2 months which is less for an optional So um that was it and for uh science background students I think sociology does farewell uh I had chosen sociology also because firstly the uh syllabus was much near to whatever we see around us all the real life events and be it cast gender uh politics everything is covered in sociology and everything we see around us every day and secondly because I had it as an elective in my as a humanities elective in my engineering so I had a certain background of it a very small background so interest of course and practicality which includes the duration or the length of the um course and u the resources that are available This should be the main concern uh with regards to how much time should be allocated and by when should you be done I think uh once before pre you should be done with your optional I'm not saying you won't be able to clear it without that but it will just make it very difficult for you if you do it for the first time between pre and mains uh what I did was about by u I started sociology about around November and by December November and December I dedicatedly um devoted to sociology So I think once you should be done with sociology and uh with your optional and it would be beneficial if you do a bit of GS first before jumping into optional but try doing it once before pre Now one other hurdle comes at this point of time that again you are preparing for prelims you're preparing for four paper of your mains Now there comes optional So balancing between these three in the first 9 months preparation how did you balance that uh so I started with GS uh that was an integrated mains and uh pre that gave me a brief outline of all the syllabus and uh I spent around se around 6 months doing all of this doing um GS After that I shifted to optional because now uh I was a little more confident with regards to my GS preparation Then I shifted to optional Uh I study in block so I study one subject at one time and then I move to other subject But there might be people who might find it boring So for that what you can do is uh while you're studying GS also during the initial phases you can devote 60 uh to 70% of your time to GS and 30 to 40% of your time to your optional simultaneously if you want to do it simultaneously Otherwise please reserve about two to three months for your optional for your first reading So do we also need to write a test series for our optional before prelims also uh sir I did because I uh did have one year to myself So I did uh because in my first year itself uh I enrolled for one test series but even if you do not at least go through the p if you do not get the time at least go through the pqs once and try making a broad outline of the answers If you're not able to practice answer writing before pre so test series would help If you're not able to enroll for a test series then go for pyqs and theme analysis Now as you told earlier that again 9 months there was there for your prelims mains and was optional and the last 3 months the gear shifted altogether to prelims So what was the change in strategy in the last 3 months before prelims examination uh sir I stopped firstly of course reading the uh the pointers or the syllabus pointers which were sole exclusive to means um and again I shifted completely to the objective side of the questions Uh I started revising the prelims books again like Lakshmi Khan spectrum all the basic prelim books and relied a lot on pqs So PQs uh I made I started making notes also uh with regards to PQs uh do not just sit and solve them because that becomes very easy But uh what you can do is um for PYQ starting from about 2013 for every keyword that you find in any question that includes in the question as well as the options u make certain notes Make notes just for two to three lines for every keyword that will be enough because they are repeated many a times if not as options then ask questions So PYQ notemaking during that three three and a half month as well as uh reading the uh reading the basic resources again and again and of course a bit of current affairs So that is how we went for this So now tell me again as you discussed there was a lot of stress in your first attempt Now again we are having films So what would be your advice for students in the last few days that again there's a lot of pressure there's a lot of overwhelming situations how to handle these 10 days before examination Yes sir Uh so firstly I think meditation if you can go for it meditation or yoga or whatever other thing there is uh for mental health that is extremely beneficial Uh secondly uh I think if you do have a hobby if you if you can go outside if you can uh exercise it even if it is for half an hour or 1 hour just go outside even if you do not want to exercise just walk that will help you hold your nerves and thirdly again so stick to the resources there will be a lot of FOMO there will be a lot of people telling you you need to do this you need to do that trust yourself trust the preparation that you have been doing for so many months just stick to the resources and focus on PQS the basics Yes Many students also neglect paper Yes Right How important and what is idle time that one should give for seesat before prelims examination uh yes sir Uh so definitely seesat should not be ignored because it is extremely heartbreaking if you lose out on uh prelims because of seesat Uh so what I did was uh firstly I went through the five years uh five year question papers and I solved them in real time uh in the two two and a half hours that we do get for seesat So I solved those papers and then I analyzed what were my strengths and weaknesses and if I was scoring much above the cutoff much above the cutoff not just 67 or 70 marks uh and I thankfully was scoring above that but um so firstly just go and analyze those five year papers solve them don't just analyze them solve them it will help you analyze your strengths and weaknesses whether it is uh reasoning maths or English uh secondly if you do find it difficult that if you're finding it difficult card to cross that uh border then what you can do is uh refer to any YouTube series or anything for example uh I did refer to a free YouTube series called Educat if I'm not wrong uh then there they were just solving the questions along with it uh with us and um sir uh just gave us the basic concepts so that helped me a lot in seesat so please do not ignore and thirdly uh I would say that of course focus on your weaknesses when it comes to uh seesat but also Also focus on your strengths For example there are many students who might find mathematics very difficult but their um English skills or reasoning skills are adequate So do not just spend all your time ftting over maths Also focus on practicing English and reasoning Uh so that that helps you sail through So and for seesat I think you should start at least four to five months if you are a little weak in seesat because that will give you more confidence Now the next question is a question which many of the students would like to ask your response on this We have prepared one year for the examination We have given the attempt but we did not cross that attempt that how exactly one feels in this particular stage where again you have very dedicated prepared for examination but again you some or other reason you could not qualify the examination What is the kind of feeling once come which comes to your mind once you have failed in your first attempt yes sir Uh so that of course happened with me I I at least thought that I had prepared very well and I had gone through the mains uh main's syllabus also along with prelims and I had also gone for the uh optional syllabus before I gave my first attempt and I thought I was well prepared for pre but when I could not qualify uh of course I was devastated and I a lot of self-doubt creeps in and um there will be people who will tell you So firstly don't get disheartened if you don't clear pre or any stage There are many who have failed prelims multiple times and went on to achieve top five ranks So I think you should treat them as an example Uh secondly I wouldn't say uh to just suppress your emotions uh please uh just feel whatever you're feeling is absolutely natural and uh you should if you do feel like crying please cry it out If you feel devastated please talk to someone and it's absolutely natural to cry uh if you've not failed and for self-doubt to creep in But uh after a few days when it has finally sunk in that you couldn't qualify Uh treat this as a learning opportunity That is what I did I analyzed and I realized actually that uh stress and this fear of failure was holding me back So I tried to do things that would uh help me get over this fear of failure For example if you want uh my fear of failure actually was that even if I wasn't prepared absolutely well I wouldn't even give a mock test because I would say I would feel that if I do not get good marks in this I would feel demotivated So if you are at this stage and you also feel the same do the opposite Just go and give a mock test number just go there and that will help you overcome this fear of failure So of course devastating feeling but treat it as a learning lesson There are so many examples of people who have made it after multiple uh failures and failure is a part and parcel of this exam not only of this exam and of this life also So I think treat it as a learning opportunity I think you have cleared one big myth between the students that they are getting 30 marks 20 marks in the mock test how they are going to qualify the examination right So that is something which is common to every aspirate Initially you will get low marks and that should not bother you because you need to trust yourself that how you're going to do what learnings you're going to take out of it and again how you're going to improvise in your journey Right So what was your strategy of buckling up that again the we have learned your first year strategy So what was your revised strategy in the second attempt uh so in my second attempt actually after I was done with my crying so since I had prepared for my mains once uh in my first before my first attempt itself what I did was I enrolled in the mains advanced batch of vision itself it was just about two two and a half months I think and it is mostly for people who have cleared pre and now are going to appear for mains but I enrolled in it knowing that the competition would actually be with people who will be writing mains this time So if I am able to compete with them then the chances for me in the next attempt will increase substantially So I enrolled in that advanced batch I uh focused on uh the not the basics of course because I was already done with it I focused on the advanced things of mains and what I had planned in my mind was that when people who are writing mains will be writing mains in their respective centers I will be writing the same tests at my house and that was a very good strategy Unfortunately I wasn't able to implement it I wasn't um yeah I was I couldn't implement it properly then no justification for it But if you are able to do that if you are able to dedicatedly prepare uh for mains after prelims and write those uh write the GS papers like the people who actually are writing mains are then I think that will help you immensely That would put you and that will give you an edge over all the other students who had failed pre and will be appearing for mains because your mains will be done in 3 to four months because that deadline that you have set for yourself So I think that can help So how exactly this mains advanced course of vision is helped you down the two and a half months of your mains preparation yes sir Uh so firstly I think um it was because I was competing uh with the people who were clear appearing for mains and I am sure many of them would have gone to qualify the exam also So that pressure actually not the pressure I would say the competition actually a healthy competition helped me get over my failure and focus on studying more because I was scared Secondly sir I think uh the maze advanced batch helped me focus on the uh things that I had neglected before because at that time they felt too complicated for me But then I realized that through the maze advanced batch that they were fairly not very complicated They were simplistic once you understand them and and I incorporated many of the value addition from this course in my uh answers as well So it helped me in my value addition and making notes also One other problem which certainly many people don't talk about is many students after they fail to qualify prelims they get into a zone of again clearing preparing only for prelims examination they don't enter into mains domain right so what how exactly do you suggest students that again pimps of course because advance stage you did not cleared and again you have a fear whether next year I'm going to clear pms or not and in that mode people study only for pms right so what exactly should the strategy that we should focus more on mains in our second attempt and of course prelims would be the later part of the preparation Yes sir Uh of course sir that u is a one one of the biggest mistakes that many aspirants do make but uh trust me uh you're just digging your own grave if you're doing this uh because in the end it will only mains will help you qualify mains and personality test prelims is just a stepping stone Of course if you do feel scared it is natural But you cannot dedicatedly prepare for prelims for a year Uh what I would suggest is that if you are scared then do this Then even when you're preparing for mains uh just uh spend about one or one and a half hours just analyzing PyQs of prelims because that would give you the confidence So if you if if I'm uh studying for mains during that time after my prelims failure then for one one and a half hours what I can do is just go through the pqs and make notes as I said of the pqs So that will keep you in loop for pre as well and even when you're studying for pre please make an integrated preparation strategy Um again mark the things that you will be using for mains So that is what you should do Please uh do not waste the whole year at least be done with your mains reading as well as your optional again once and if you do feel scared then dedicatedly prepare for about three and a half months no I don't think it more than that is needed for prelims so three and a half months solely would be sufficient as you initially told that you were one of the aspirant who saw a proper stock and again learned from their strategies so again I would like you as a topper now that what is the strategy which you used for the four GS papers of this examination very briefly you can tell us Uh so every GS paper Yeah 1 2 three and four Yes All right Uh so GS1 uh I think you should take it with a pinch of salt because my GS1 is my weakest uh for me Uh so uh art and culture and uh for art and culture and ancient medieval of course refer to the basic resources like Nitan Singhani etc But what I what mistake I made was not referring much to NCERTTs Please for these subjects do refer to NCERTTs because firstly the unconventional questions now are being asked which are directly written in NCERTTs Apart from that uh what you can do is um make a lot of diagrams when it comes to geography and even art and culture uh ancient medieval make a lot of diagrams make a lot of maps maps for example even if you're studying stupa architecture then stop architecture may just map India so that would help that would help in value addition uh so that helped me gain a better understanding Uh secondly sir for GS2 I would say um rely on value additions like um supreme court cases articles many administrative examples for example I never quoted many basic articles I thought that article one article even if it's the most basic article just quote it just write it in the bracket it will help you fetch marks uh look for supreme court cases prepare cas cases for all major articles and mention them as and when it's possible Uh look for many quotes For example I used to refer me and my friend used to refer to uh justice Chandraud's quotes also because constitution related constitution is a feminist document etc etc Just note it down whenever you read it in your um newspaper or anywhere else quote PIIB Um so these are the value additions that I'm talking about and uh for uh governance part also of course refer to I think I refer to vision value added material and so apart from that uh have a lot of administrative examples ready if you can quote them in the answers then that will help not just administrative examples uh NOS's sgs cooperatives have good examples ready for all of them for example millet sisters kudum yeah kudum shri I think all of them please uh refer to those And for IR I referred to vision I picked two to three years of vision And what I did was uh for every um keyword for example every for India China or India Russia India US SARK G20 for all of them I had headings ready like economic political um strategic etc And for that I just mentioned keywords in my uh notes and that I took from vision is uh magazines two to three years not just one year two to three years I referred to it cursory glance make notes from those Uh for GS3 I extensively used my prelims knowledge for mains as I said for science and tech for environment and for economy I mostly relied on my prelims knowledge only for pre I mentioned all of those things that I all the schemes all the data everything that I had read about in my prelims for mains and I also drew diagrams when it comes to uh GS3 For example last year I think there was a di there was a question on Chandrean Uh I drew two to three diagrams there So that will help you gain an advantage Um and GS4 I think uh sir uh GS4 last year I just had 99 marks This time I had 129 What mistake I was making it was over complicating I used to think quoting too many ethical theories or quoting extremely complicated quotes would help me fetch marks But that is not true when it comes to ethics Uh you just need simplistic answers absolutely simple answers Um may you can quote real life examples So uh for every keyword in ethics I had six to seven examples ready and diverse examples uh to fortitude suppose I will have an example ready from my real life or from my parents or teachers anything Second would be an administrative example uh any bureaucrat who might have shown this Um thirdly uh was any example from maybe Indian national movement or an international personality Fourth was a quote If uh there is anything that I can utilize from environment also I used to try doing that Apart from that religious example also from any religion from any uh religious book if you can quote an example please uh do mention it for so for every ethical keyword I had six to seven examples ready and according to whatever was asked in the question I used to just write those so I think that helped me a lot and I used quotes also to a large extent and this time I think there's an an there's a change in the trend with regards to GS4 uh last year they used to ask only ethical uh questions but this time what they did was they picked up topics broad topics from GS and asked ethical dimensions of it for example I think there was a question on AI there was a question on criminal reforms so these are the questions that we prepare for GS123 but they were asked as ethical uh they were asked with regards to their ethical dimensions in GS4 so I would advise all the aspirants that whatever broad topics you're studying in GS123 prepare an ethical dimen mention also for it because uh I think UPSC has started asking similar questions Now one more question that uh current affairs you of course newspaper reading has no substitute you told that how exactly do do you used the vision is monthly magazines and PT 365 main 65 in your preparation journey uh yes sir So for current affairs I only refer to uh the newspaper of course and the monthly magazines I uh used to try and do about 10 pages of monthly magazine every day Sometimes I did five sometimes I did 12 but that is what I tried uh so that I can uh I do not have to sit down at once and do the entire magazine Um so that is what I did and for PT 365 and Maze 365 actually in my later stages in my third attempt I could not I did not have the time to refer to monthly magazines So I solely relied on pre PT and mains 365 and I not only relied uh on PT 365 for prelims but again as I used to incorporated incorporate my prelims knowledge for mains I did the same for mains also uh I just noted down the things that could be used from PT365 any good case studies also and use them in my mains answers right so now I will ask your experience after clearing prelimin examination that we are left with 2 and 1/2 months roughly these days before between prelims and mains How what was your strategy in this 2 and 1/2 months between prelims and mains for the mains examination uh yes sir So first uh after pre take about five four to 5 days break Uh but after that please get down to study because if you wait for the prelims result then you're already out of the race It takes around 15 20 days now Um that is still less but if you do wait for the result you're out of the race In any case you have to prepare for mains So uh be strong and start preparing after 5 days Um what I did was initially for about 1 and a half months I used to spend around 70 to 60% of time on social Uh that is my optional and 30 to 40% time on GS Later on after 1 and a half months it became 60% GS 40% social So that was my strategy Yes Okay Great So again people also uh you have to write two language papers English and one compulsory language How did when did you started prepare for these two papers okay Uh so firstly you analyze what your strengths and weaknesses are Uh if you feel that English is not an issue with for you then you do not need to uh wholeheartedly prepare for it If you feel that Hindi might be an issue for you then um of course do give it some time Uh honestly speaking I did not Uh I just spent the uh time after my uh after I think my GS4 paper uh for Hindi Uh I had gotten a book from uh from the market You buy any you can buy any book and I just uh went through the main muhavas and and some certain words and my friend suggested key preamble they can be used verbatim um and major other terms anything like G20 so that it can be used in your um in your uh language paper in or in the essay in the language paper So I did not spend too much time but if you do find it difficult then First means again you got through the first means of course What are the strategies which you took after mains for your personality test uh yes sir And again what was the break duration yes sir The break duration I think extended a lot I had initially thought that after mains I would take a break for about 15 days and get back to preparation but I did not I think inertia crept in uh and I couldn't get back to mains Actually I had in my second attempt I had my forest uh mains and I was supposed to start studying for it after about a week but I gave up I don't know what happened I wasn't able to study I did not write forest Uh so ideally you should start after 15 days u till the result for personality test comes because that will give you an advantage over the others because once personalities test uh results come of course you'll be dedicatedly preparing for personality test Uh second is so my strategy for personality test um I focused on two major things uh current affairs and DAFF and for DAFF all the keywords right from where you're born where you reside uh the places where your 10th and 12th schooling was mine was all from different regions because my father is in the defense background so my 10th was from Pune my 12th was from Jaipur I was staying in Delhi my college was in Gazyabad I was in Noa and my permanent residence is in UP So I had to prepare for all of these places and I extensively did prepare for all of these places So for places in your daff what you do is just divided economic social political etc and then make questions answer uh write those questions Apart from that all the other keywords like hobbies etc All of the hobbies leadership positions I had them very well prepared U every keyword on my daff was thoroughly prepared For example um my college college name is uh JP Institute of Information Technology So I had prepared uh JP revolution also I had prepared 19 I had prepared emergency period because there might be certain word correlation in the exam So you have to be thoroughly prepared with your DAFF also with your graduation subject I did study for EC to a certain extent I not of course the numericals and all the basics their applications of EC etc I did go through that and current affairs was the other part of my preparation for that Form an opinion on every uh broad topic that is going on um around you that you read in the newspaper Uh read one newspaper or two whatever pleases you I used to read one and explained series of Indian espresso Um form an informed opinion on all the topics and form a moderate opinion Do not go to an extreme Uh of course you do not have to be completely diplomatic in all the answers You can be truthful but just present it in a way that it does it is not displeasing Uh it is a moderate opinion So that is what I did for um my personality test DAFF and current affairs only two things So again last question from my side What is the message you would like to give to students who are going to give prelims examination this month uh I think just have trust in yourself you have prepared well Um no matter what the world says no matter how tough uh this period is going to be you can make through it You will make through it Um you are much stronger than this exam And if you do find it difficult uh on the exam day if you're finding the paper difficult everyone else is finding it difficult So hold your nerves Please just do not give up until it's the end So that is what I would like to say have faith in yourself and all the very best Thank you Ria for joining us today and again vision is she's very proud to be a part of your journey of clearing this examination Thank you so much Thank you so much sir for having me Thank you viewers and again certainly this conversation which Ria had with us today was the most realistic one Again we discussed the major challenges the practical issues which every aspirant faced which she also went through So certainly please use the challenges which she faced and how she overcame it in your preparation journey and certainly everyone is an future aspirant It just takes a good uh disciplined attempt to clear the examination So all the very best and thank you so much for joining us today [Music]