The only way to clear your mains is to believe that you can clear. Many aspirants in their first attempts dream of their next attempts which is detrimental to their preparation. So start believing!
Some simple strategies for mains preparation are as below:
Power inside you.
· It's true always and more so ever in Civils examination – Long term consistency beats short term intensity. Be cool and keep going. This exam is a test of your will power – the power to withstand adversities to achieve you will.
Which you will!
Answer Writing Practice & Mock tests
· Practice answer writing regularly so that writing in the mains examination becomes a cakewalk. Combine it with getting feedback from a good mentor.
· “Attempting mains examination without mock tests is like going to a war without simulation”. Join a good test series and religiously adhere to the mock test time table.
Study Plan with a revision time table
· Have a monthly goal, weekly goal, and a daily goal. Stick to that and ensure that you complete each goal. Paste that goal in your study room.
· Sometimes it happens that the preparation gest disturbed for a day or two. In that case, don’t wreck the whole plan, rather, divide the portions you have missed across the week.
· Revision is very very important for mains. Create a revision timetable that you revise every topic once after every week/day/month etc.
Optional – GS weightage
·
· Out of 1750 marks, one can aim to achieve in mains, 500 marks i.e., around 30% of those marks are from GS. However, a simple analysis of the final marks of candidates shows that 40 – 50 % of final marks achieved are from the optional subject. The inference is simple – put in at least half of your time for optional preparation.
Weightage within GS
· As seen from the past few years, GS IV and GS III are easy scorings, and scoring in GS I is comparatively difficult. Though this analysis may vary among students, it is prudent to put in more time in easy scoring papers like GS IV and GS III compared to GS I and GS II. We have noticed students putting so much time on World history/ India post-independence and very less time on other GS papers which has proved detrimental.
All the best!
