Part 2

Rules of the

Game

This part discusses the 'rules' to crack the UPSC CSE and other competitive exams. I put them
together after failing in my first attempt and found that they made a huge difference the second
time around. In this part, I'll touch on various aspects of the preparation, such as making a
timetable, utilizing the breaks well and preparing an exam-day strategy by taking examples from
my journey.

How Planned for My First Prelims And What I Got Wrong

Here is a broad outline of my first few years of preparation so that it's easy to decipher what went
wrong during my first attempt.

My plan since 2018

1. The final year of my engineering degree: I read the basic NCERT books of all subjects, did the
first reading of Indian Polity by M. Laxmikanth and of Spectrum's A Brief History of Modern India,
and gave the sociology notes available in the market a reading. The last two months of the final

year were largely spent enjoying the last rung of college life. From 9 May 2019, I started
attending classes conducted by a local teacher in Patiala to receive guidance on how to go about
my preparations.

2. From May 2019 to July 2019:

I covered modern history and economics in my daily classes and read and marked Spectrum

alongside. I revised the daily notes extensively (which involved a lot of googling) and studied
some topics in more depth, as per the demands of the exam. For example, if a particular
government scheme was discussed in class, I made sure to google it further and to note down
important details like the ministry associated with the scheme and the special provisions for
women, if any, along the lines of the questions from the previous years. Till July, I would attend
two and a half hours of class daily and dedicate around six to seven hours to self-study.

3. From July 2019 onwards: I

started taking the optional subject (sociology) classes alongside the GS subjects. These classes
went on till December. I supplemented my notes with books (Haralambos, Ritzer, B.K. Nagla and
the available online material). It took me some time to understand the concepts of sociology.
Many things were entirely new to me, and the one reading I had done last year had faded from
my memory already. Along with that, I completed the other GS subjects in class like polity and
current affairs (of environment and science and technology). I also picked ancient and medieval
history on my own to get done with the basic subjects as quickly as possible. From January 2020
onwards, there were no sociology classes, and the attention was solely on GS.I.completed the
portions of geography, art and culture, current affairs and other subjects by March when the
threat of Covid-19 loomed large and the lockdown was imposed. I returned home and completely
relied on self-study from then onwards.I knew that I had not done enough revisions, had not
solved any mocks, and even the current affairs portion was only half complete. As mentioned
earlier, the lack of planning really hurt my chances. It clearly reflected in my preparation. I
panicked a little and started attempting the mocks at night while utilizing the daytime to study
further. I later realized this was a mistake-I should have solved the mocks in the actual
examination time. Moreover, I did not seriously analyse the answers after attempting the mocks. I
Just glanced at the wrong questions, and that was it. Therefore, I could not learn from my
mistakes. Luckily the exam was postponed, and I thought that given the extra time, I would be
able to make it. But I again made the same mistakes and did not devise a plan for those four
months, I wasted a lot of time figuring out what to do and when. Every time I started revising my
notes for a subject, I felt like I was missing out on the other topics and tried finishing it quickly so
that I could cover the maximum amount of ground. I focused on the quantity of material and not
the quality - another big mistake Yet another error was not revising the books thoroughly and
relying only on my classroom notes, which were essential but not sufficient The last nail in the
coffin was picking fresh current affairs notes in the month before the Prelims. I gave them priority
over solving mocks and did not go through the questions from the previous years. It would not be
wrong to say I committed a bunch of mistakes. I did some things right too. I used those extra
months to make some comprehensive notes on the topics of the Mains examination and revised
my optional subject thoroughly. I also made handwritten notes from a crash course on current
affairs (available for free on YouTube). While I was not lacking in hard work, my methodology was
not right. I missed a few crucial things and neglected a few game rules. It affected my
self-confidence on the day of the exam and despite possessing a good knowledge of the
questions asked in the exam, I did not make guesses and could attempt only 56 of them. In a
nutshell, this is all that went wrong in the first attempt: Not completing the syllabus on time and
rushing through a few subjects in the last few days Lack of proper revision: I had read the basic
books while preparing but had completely neglected to revise them in the last few months and
relied solely on my classroom notes. Not solving enough mock papers (I solved around 25 only),
and not solving them in the proper time frame, which was 9.30-1 1.30 a.m, for Prelims. No proper
analysis of mocks (discussed in an upcoming chapter in detail). Picking up new material a few
days before the exam Not reading newspapers religiously and relying only on compilations of

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news analysis and notes Completely shifting my source of current affairs revision: Throughout the
year, I read the daily news analysis on coaching academy websites by downloading the PDFs and
combining them into a Word document. But when it was time to revise, I picked a monthly
magazine. My advice is that one must always re- vise from the source one has read twice or
thrice before. Not going through the UPSC question bank extensively and seriously Not relaxing
my mind the day before the Prelims and being surrounded by books the entire day Failing to
carefully watch the talks by toppers and therefore not knowing crucial aspects like the skill of
attempting MCQs, elimination techniques, guess- work, etc. Not practising answer writing; so
even if I had cleared the Prelims, getting through the Mains would have been difficult I was bound
to fail. I knew right after the exam that I had no chance as I had attempted only 56 questions. And
the cutoff was usually around 95 (+-3). So I needed only seven to eight wrong questions to get
out of the list. Given that I did not possess any supernatural accuracy, being practical was the
only way out. And in retrospect, I am glad I failed badly - by 26 marks. If we fail by a close margin,
we can conveniently attribute it to luck and may not feel the need to work extra hard. Also,
having clarity just a day after the exam, I didn't have to wait for the result to plan my next innings.
So if I had to fail, it was indeed the best way to fail. I have already discussed in Part 1 how I felt
after my first attempt. In the next chapter, I discuss the changes I made and how my new plan
looked.

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My Plan 2.0

Post Prelims

As already discussed in Part 1, I knew I was not going to clear the 2020 Prelims, so I did not wait
for the results and started preparing for the next attempt - this time in mission mode. Changes I
made to my strategy:

1. Analysed my Prelims performance: I went to each question repeatedly and saw some videos of
paper analysis, which helped me get clarity on the portions I had missed during my preparation.
By carefully watching the post-exam analysis, I discovered that it was not just hard work but also
the right skill that was essential to attempting the paper. The right skill involves attempting
enough questions (more than 85 at least if your accuracy is that of an average person) to
safeguard against the wrong guesses going through the question twice so as not to miss
keywords like 'not correct' not being afraid of encountering a new question and using the
elimination strategy, which means cancelling the options that you know can never be correct and
then arriving at the right answer from the remaining options applying common sense and not
underestimating your daily observations (some questions need no prior knowledge and can be
solved by applying your mind's daily observations)

2. Took a week to make a plan after going through videos by toppers and reflecting upon my
mistakes in the paper, I made a detailed plan. One big thing that helped me succeed later was
that I applied my learnings to all the stages without giving extra focus to the stage at which I had
failed. You should always plan for success. I started preparing for the Mains examination be-
cause I realized that there had been gaps my preparation; I knew that even if I made it through
the Prelims next time, it would not prove to be a rewarding experience if I was unable to clear the
Mains. So another rule of the game is Focus on all three stages and give equal time to all. Don't
take any stage lightly irrespective of whether you have cleared it once or not, especially the
Prelims stage. I have seen many aspirants fail- ing their next attempt of the Prelims after writing
one or two Mains exams. It wastes an entire year and, of course, an attempt. In an exam like the
CSE, you cannot afford to take any stage for granted. This exam demands consistent hard work
and a lot of practice every single time.

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The new plan

Here is what it looked like: October 2020-January 2021

From the third week of October 2020 (10-15 days after Prelims) to the first week of January (when
the Mains 2020 was scheduled, which I was not eligible to write), I prepared extensively for the
Mains. I prepared in a manner as if I had to appear in the upcoming 2020 Mains in January. I
assumed for some time that I had cleared my Prelims and so I focused on the Mains extensively.
For the next Prelims, my basics were already prepared. So I just read the newspapers and
followed the daily news analysis for current affairs. I did these two things religiously without
skipping even a single day, and if you remember from the previous chapters, this was missing
during my first attempt. For the Mains preparation, my first target was my optional subject. Until
then, I had prepared haphazardly from multiple sources. In those two months, I prepared concise
sociology notes from all the books and notes I had read until then. I studied sociology for most of
the day. This later helped me clear my Mains with good marks. With that, I started making
subject-wise notes for the Mains from newspapers, especially the editorials and the daily news
analysis available online. I took the printout and marked the portions relevant for the Prelims -
remember the 'no excuses policy' chapter. One additional thing I did was practise answer writing.
I joined GS Mains test series 2020 and sociology test series 2020 since I had decided to prepare
as if I was writing the Mains 2020. In November, I at- tempted four answers from those GS test
papers daily. I did not start attempting the full mocks because I knew it was more important to
enrich the quality of the answers. I dedicated an hour exclusively to writing the answers and
self-evaluating them. When I completed 20 answers, I would send the test for evaluation. This
continued until the first week of December. I was almost done with sociology note-making and
revision when I started attempting the three-hour part tests of sociology (in which a portion of the
syllabus was tested). Along with that, I made notes of the GS Mains topics that were in addition to
the Prelims, e.g., GS 3 and GS 4. I kept four different sections in a notebook for each GS paper
and a separate notebook for the op- tional and essays. I kept noting the relevant points from
newspapers as per the syllabus. This way, the revisions before my Mains examination became
very easy and systematic I made sure to prepare concise notes in a bullet-point format, similar to
the structure of an answer. By the first week of January, I had revised self-made sociology notes,
had written three-part test papers of the subject (that covered 70 percent of the syllabus) and
practised three to four questions daily from the GS 1-4 papers. It took me four hours initially to
complete a sociology test, and over time, I got better. So, no need to panic if you cannot
complete the paper on time in the initial days. I also kept referring to the answer sheets of
toppers from the previous years to get an idea of what constitutes a good answer. Meanwhile, in

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these two months, I also kept solving 10 MCQs daily (available online- both current and static) to
be in touch with the Prelims, and this practice continued until I appeared in the Prelims exam.

January-March 2021

After the Mains 2020 was conducted, I analysed the questions and solved them. I felt more
comfortable after these three months of work. Let's look at the changes from mid-January
onwards: I shifted to revising the static portions for both the Prelims and the Mains. I finalized my
book list and stuck to those books for preparing static. I have discussed the book list at the end.
This time, besides reading the books, I made sure to memorize them thoroughly. Since January, I
had taken two Prelims test series, one of which was a crash course cum test, to ensure that I
didn't miss any important topic. I completed all the basic sources by mid-March and was on
schedule with the test series. I continued with the analysis of the newspapers and daily news in
the background, while also preparing notes from the news- papers for the Mains.

March-May 2021

By mid-March, I was done with the first revision of the book list. The UPSC had scheduled the
Prelims for the end of May. I had two and a half months and I dedicated most of my time
preparing for it. I started with the revision of current affairs (relying on my daily news analysis
printouts and extra newspaper notes of items I had missed in the news analysis). With that, the
second revision of the book list was complete. I had started solving the weekly tests of two test
series. By April end, I had completed 70 per cent of my current affairs and was done with my
second revision. It was time to shift to the question papers of the previous years and solve a
mock paper from 9.30 to 11.30 a.m. every day. But as the COVID-19 cases started increasing,
there was an indication of the paper getting postponed. That derailed my preparation a bit and I
got delayed in starting my full-day mocks. By mid-May, the news was confirmed. The exams had
been shifted by four months. At first, it came as a relief, but then I found it very hard to sustain my
momentum. I often felt demo- tivated and impatient. I had been putting in 9-10 hours daily since
my first Prelims and was impatient for the exam to be over. But here I was, with no end in sight
and having to study current affairs for an additional four months. I took a few days off when I
heard the exams had been postponed. But I was constantly restless. I was scared to slip into my
comfort zone. This fear was eating away atmy productivity, and I could neither enjoy my free time
nor study. When you have failed once, the sheer thought of losing again due to your own
inefficiency keeps you anxious. My parents advised me not to be too harsh on myself and take
proper breaks, but I didn't listen to them. The calmness, the positivity and the patience I had
exhibited until now began to crumble. It took me a few days of introspection, crying and irritation
to finally follow my parents' advice. I Reduced my study hours to seven hours a day and extended
my break timings to ease the pressure I was feeling.

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June 2021

From June, I shifted my focus to the Mains again as I wanted to use this extra time to improve my
answers. I joined an essay-ethics test series and a sociology test series. This also helped me to
refresh my mind, which was tired of reading the same material again and again. I started writing
weekly complete tests of sociology, essays and ethics papers. I gave three sociology tests after
revision, three essay tests (which is six essays as each test consists of two essays) and three
ethics papers of three hours each. I also took proper breaks in between and went to meet my
friends for a couple of days (for the first time since October 2019). Meeting them instilled new
energy and confidence in me.

July-September 2021

From July end onwards, I started revising the static and the current portions, and from the
beginning of August, I began solving the daily mock tests of different institutes available online. I
solved one paper on alternate days and analysed it thoroughly. I ensured that I incorporated the
learnings in my next revision and read carefully the points I had missed. From September, I
started giving one paper each day and went to a nearby school to get accustomed to the
surroundings of an examination hall. I have discussed in the next chapter how the environment
where we attempt the mock paper becomes extremely relevant. I continued revising the syllabus
side by side and added the test solutions to the revision list.

October - just before the exam

By early October, I stopped attempting daily mock papers. During the 10 days before the exam, I
did not pick any new material and instead focused on extensive revisions and went through the
questions from the previous years. For static subjects like history, polity and geography, I solved
the question bank since the 1990s, going away from the common perception that only the
questions asked post-2013 should be kept in mind. This extensive solving of previous years
questions (PYQs) helped me to get into the right mindset for solving UPSC-style MCQs.

How do PYQs help?

We must analyse every question and study every option given for a particular question.
Sometimes in the exam a new question could pop up from these options. Do not try to memorize
the answers. Instead, analyse the answer keys thoroughly to understand what kind of answers
are considered correct by the UPSC. Most often, candidates have doubts about two options and
are stuck there, not knowing which answer will be acceptable to the UPSC.

I received help from PYQs to solve this dilemma as I had thoroughly studied which answer was
considered correct as per the UPSC answer key. It helped me make more calculated guesses

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when handling confusing options. So studying and analysing PYQs will help you predict the
demand of the examination and identify important topics that are the favourites of the UPSC.
PYQs should not be set aside for the last stage of preparation. Instead, at every juncture, they
can help you from going off-track. Before and after every revision, you must refer to the PYQs to
not divert your attention away from important topics. In my second attempt, I solved the PYQs
extensively. The PYQs remain equally important even at the Mains and Interview stage and help
you in terms of what is necessary and what is not, what to read and what to skip. Hence, the
crucial takeaways would be:

1.Solving UPSC PYQs question bank extensively

2. Not reading anything new in the last few days before the exam