Dear Friends,
After
the Prelims exam the immediate question in everyone's mind is WHAT WILL
BE THE CUT OFF. If we look into yesterday's General Studies Paper, as
usual UPSC has retained it's name as UnPredictable Service Commission.
Traditional Polity, Economy, History and Geography questions were very
less in number. In other words the static questions were less in number.
It was more of Current Affairs.
When compared
to previous years, Current issues were dominating the entire paper.
Those who went with just static portion of Polity, History etc without
reading Newspaper could have had a tough time. Usually Mains examination
is dominated by current affairs and Prelims is dominated by static
portions. However yesterday's paper was a bit unconventional with
greater weightage for Current Affairs.
Now the big question is, what can be the cut off. The factors I am considering are:
1. 2011 exam students and 2 year extension students impact which was there in 2015 exam is not present this year.
2.
When we plot the students' marks last year and this year (this year
score is based on our Answer key),the marks have come down. Those who
got say 135 marks last year are scoring around 125 marks this year).
3. New energetic aspirants have entered the competition like every year and pose a tough competition to the old timers.
Now
going by the above facts, the CUT OFF should come down this year. As it
was an unconventional paper many students would have had a tough time.
However the CUT OFF in my view CANNOT DROP DOWN TOO MUCH because
questions were very simple, direct from Current Affairs.
So the prediction for this year CUT OFF is
General Category- 105 Marks
OBC- 103 marks
SC/ST- 90 marks.
(The above marks are based on OFFICERS IAS ACADEMY'S Answer key. )
Those
who have got few marks less than the above mentioned CUT OFF can still
prepare for the Mains without waiting for the results because after all
we are not UPSC to declare the exact CUT OFF.
Who
clears the Mains is, those who start preparing immediately after
Prelims without waiting for the result. Those who start early have an
advantage of approximately 50 days more than those who start preparing
for Mains after Prelims result.
So my advice
is, START YOUR MAINS PREPARATION FROM TODAY IRRESPECTIVE OF YOUR PRELIMS
SCORE . If you clear it will give you an advantage for this year Mains
exam and even if you don't clear it will give you an advantage for next
year Mains.
Best Wishes for Mains.
R.A.Israel Jebasingh,
(2004 Batch IAS),
Director,
Officers IAS Academy,
