Posts

The first Answer

Many students are anxious about when they should start answer writing. It is a common problem and almost all aspirants suffer from this dilemma in the initial phases of the Preparation.   I think the best time to start answer writing is after finishing two rounds of revision of a subject. Once you have finished reading the whole subject once and also revising it once , you can start attempting the PYQ's of that topic. This Will ensure that you have comprehensively covered a topic and have in depth knowledge about it too. You can get the answers peer reviewed to get better insights into the topic.  My experience   I started answer writing similarly and wrote by the username "madhav upsc" via disqus platform . I remember how insights used to give 8 questions on a daily basis and also the link to the news article on which the question was based. It seems like a simple exercise , but helps in building quality of one's answers. This approach is helpful while answerin...

The Problem of Plenty

UPSC Preparation market these days is flooded with materials. While some say that this has made  Preparation easier, my take is that this has made life trickier for most aspirants , especially those who have just started! In this blog , I will try to help you in making a correct choice about the materials to refer , how to ensure that you don't deviate from your goal and the Preparation track becomes easier for you. Rule1:Stick to basics Always go by traditional wisdom. Read the NCERT's first and then go for the subject specific book like Lakshmikant for polity,  Spectrum for modern history , shankar for environment , mrunal sir's notes for economy and pmf for geography.  Rule2:Have your own notes  Writing down content makes it easier for you to comprehend it and also gives you deeper  understanding of the same. But , please don't directly jump to note making . Pursuing note making in a scientific way will help you in revising it faster later and also help you i...

Introductory post

 The time to write my first blog couldn't be more opportune than post prelims. First of all, let me introduce myself and take you through my journey in UPSC CSE.  Hello all  I am Medha Anand and I have secured rank 13 in CSE'23 in my fifth attempt. I am already serving in the Indian Railway Traffic Service since 2019 (had secured rank 311 in CSE 2019). The journey from being an IRTS officer to being an IAS has been a long and arduous one. I believe that since I have had a long journey in this exam, I have a lot of experience to speak about the highs and lows and ups and downs of the exam.  A brief snippet of my journey 1st attempt-couldn't get through prelims  2nd- rank 311 3rd- reserve list(missed the list by 1 mark) 4th- couldn't get through prelims 5th- rank 13 My objective of creating this blog Since the journey is a long and arduous one and misguided by many in the coaching industry, through this blog I aim to bring out the strategy of clearing this exam fr...