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I gave my first attempt in 2015. I have given many mock tests before and it is safe to say that I had ample practice in attempting the paper. However, sitting inside an examination hall is entirely a different game. I realised it once the invigilator was distributing the paper and all sorts of 'strategies' that are to be employed were revolving in my mind. Here's what I did.
I went through a quick glance at all 100 questions, did not touch the OMR and attempted the questions on the question paper which I am 100% confident of. Somewhere around 40 were answered. The second round required greater scrutiny and elimination of options (no guesses) and that added another 20 questions to the tally. Now I started to mark these on the OMR carefully, so that I won't screw up with the question-answer combo. The third round was very difficult and I attempted questions which I was 95% sure of and this made my final tally to 64.
My final result was 58:6, with a score of 112 and I am in for the second round.
TL;DR - Never did any so called 'tukka', but eliminating options will easily add 5-10 questions.
if anyone asks me about attempts and i say 64..most of their heads will drop or they just giggle..i dunno why most of the aspirants barring a few..dont think anyone can crack prelims by attempting less than 70...i made sure i told them im certain of atleast 60 questions..still they doubt..well doubt is our biggest enemy and a few people make sure it remains.. some say with a few tukkas and guesses u shud have done atleast 75 -80..i said im not that lucky...guess that says it all.. kudos buzzing bee
@tuffygoldy That was the exact reaction I got from each and every aspirant who is of some acquaintance to me. At that point of time, an iota of doubt started to creep into my mind. Did I attempt too less? Or was that okay? This was the reason why I did not check any key from the market or did not refer to ForumIAS discussions. No matter how many times you check the key - the OMR will stay the same.
On the results day, I was on the other side of the line while the aspirants who attempted 80-90ish, for the simple reason - "all guys do the same thing!" were out of the race. At the end of the day, nothing mattered anyway, as I could not make into the coveted final PDF.
So, my takeaway is that we should not be attempting the questions just because everyone is doing it, as those questions will eat away the correct answers. The inner voice which says - "Nothing would happen even if the fluke goes wrong as you will be losing only 1/3rd while you gain 2 marks if it turns out to be correct", should be resisted very hard. I still think that confident attempt of 60 questions is far far better than playing around with 85.
Tread cautiously..You need to have enough marks for qualifying but not to become topper.Last year many aspirants missed cutoff by 1 mark also.. If you have studied well can simply attempt 70-75.. Dont go for blind tukka you will repent for whole year .And most important If you attempt ambiguious questions you can't concentrate well on Mains until prelims result declared.
@tuffygoldy That was the exact reaction I got from each and every aspirant who is of some acquaintance to me. At that point of time, an iota of doubt started to creep into my mind. Did I attempt too less? Or was that okay? This was the reason why I did not check any key from the market or did not refer to ForumIAS discussions. No matter how many times you check the key - the OMR will stay the same.
On the results day, I was on the other side of the line while the aspirants who attempted 80-90ish, for the simple reason - "all guys do the same thing!" were out of the race. At the end of the day, nothing mattered anyway, as I could not make into the coveted final PDF.
So, my takeaway is that we should not be attempting the questions just because everyone is doing it, as those questions will eat away the correct answers. The inner voice which says - "Nothing would happen even if the fluke goes wrong as you will be losing only 1/3rd while you gain 2 marks if it turns out to be correct", should be resisted very hard. I still think that confident attempt of 60 questions is far far better than playing around with 85.
Best of luck mate.
bang on mate...one of the toppers of 2014..i still cant belive he attempted just 54..in paper 1..just 54..shocked me..but what didnt was he was sure of 52 and as luck wud have it he was right in 52 and just 2 wrong..still got around 102..with csat aced it..and got a rank under 100.. i have seen the trend since 2013..when cut off skyrocketed to 241..there were so many rumours theories.of cut off breezing past 260 with csat...and wht happened shocked all..cut off fell so low that the topper managed just barely to make the cut into mains.. i still believe cut off will not rise..if it does..not beyond 110+3 max...
60 good questions are more than enough if ur certain in atleast 57 of them..
Last year, many of the aspirants went for Roman Saini's strategy to attempt all the questions and ended up badly. The takeaway is Proceed with logic and common sense. Don't ape others strategy blindly.
Tukka is art or not i don't know but i have felt.. "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
though it is a quote by Coelho...its true to the core.
Believe me it happens. ust listen to your Subconscious once.By,7th you would have done your part.On the D-Day its your mind and Destiny.
Bhai your optimism notwithstanding, this quote does not necessarily apply here. I wanted to write mains badly last year too, but couldn't. Same case for many of us here. Universe, if it conspires, doesn't have individual aspirations in mind..
But it seems Dr wants it badly this year.more than in every other attempt and thats the reason u have chnaged ur startegy of prelims prep as told by u only ....Seems like Dr has covered a lot of distance since last year..Atleast the threads of the forum do tell the same
Tukka is art or not i don't know but i have felt.. "when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”
though it is a quote by Coelho...its true to the core.
Believe me it happens. ust listen to your Subconscious once.By,7th you would have done your part.On the D-Day its your mind and Destiny.
Bhai your optimism notwithstanding, this quote does not necessarily apply here. I wanted to write mains badly last year too, but couldn't. Same case for many of us here. Universe, if it conspires, doesn't have individual aspirations in mind..
But it seems Dr wants it badly this year.more than in every other attempt and thats the reason u have chnaged ur startegy of prelims prep as told by u only ....Seems like Dr has covered a lot of distance since last year..Atleast the threads of the forum do tell the same
Strategy has changed, that is true. Distance has also been covered. Hopefully enough to get through.. But universe sure as hell didn't have anything to do with it.. A lot of sleepless nights did.
One more thing that universe listens to those who have *done their part* as i had said May the 7th be a boon for all those who have conqured themselves.......
Being an avid quizzer, I would like to emphasize on "Lateral Thinking" which is used to arrive at answers logically. Its more like "connecting the dots". Same strategy can be used to eliminate options in the Prelims. It comes with practice though.
Eg. Once in a quiz I was shown an insignia and was asked to identify the country to which it belonged. I saw a bird resembling the extinct Dodo on the insignia (from the proverb As dead as a Dodo). I knew that it belonged to Mauritius and took a guess and it fetched us points. Thus eliminating options based on knowledge and then taking a calculated guess is the key.
With reference to the use of nano-technology in health sector, which of the following statements is/are correct? 1. Targeted drug delivery is made possible by nanotechnology. 2. Nanotechnology can largely contribute to gene therapy. Select the correct answer using the code given below. (a) 1 only (b) 2 only (c) Both 1 and 2 (d) Neither 1 nor 2
statement 1: Out of all the technologies in the health sector, choosing something specific like "targeted drug delivery" to make a false statement? Highly improbable because it would take time to search for things which are "not associated" with something. Usually the internet or any source if full of result that involve associations with something. Therefore statement has to be true.
Statement 2: Again "gener therapy" is something specific and has to be true. Also notice the word "Can". Usually words like can, may be are true.
In the context of modem scientific research, consider the following statements about ‘lceCube’, a particle detector located at South Pole, which was recently in the news : 1. It is the world’s largest neutrino detector, encompassing a cubic kilometre of ice. 2. It is a powerful telescope to search for dark matter. 3. It is buried deep in the ice. (a) 1 only (b) 2 and 3 only (c) 1 and 3 only (d) 1, 2 and 3
Statement 1: As maximbady said, a statement with full of info is mostly true. "largest" "neutrino detector" "cubic kilometre" "ice". 4 pieces of information Statement 2: "Telescope" and "Dark matter" are specific words, they have to be true. Statement 3: Buried deep in ice. This one is tough, You really cant guess if its inside or outside. But the options made it easy.. Since there is no 1 and 2 option.. it also has to be true
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Comments
some say with a few tukkas and guesses u shud have done atleast 75 -80..i said im not that lucky...guess that says it all..
kudos buzzing bee
On the results day, I was on the other side of the line while the aspirants who attempted 80-90ish, for the simple reason - "all guys do the same thing!" were out of the race. At the end of the day, nothing mattered anyway, as I could not make into the coveted final PDF.
So, my takeaway is that we should not be attempting the questions just because everyone is doing it, as those questions will eat away the correct answers. The inner voice which says - "Nothing would happen even if the fluke goes wrong as you will be losing only 1/3rd while you gain 2 marks if it turns out to be correct", should be resisted very hard. I still think that confident attempt of 60 questions is far far better than playing around with 85.
Best of luck mate.
i have seen the trend since 2013..when cut off skyrocketed to 241..there were so many rumours theories.of cut off breezing past 260 with csat...and wht happened shocked all..cut off fell so low that the topper managed just barely to make the cut into mains..
i still believe cut off will not rise..if it does..not beyond 110+3 max...
60 good questions are more than enough if ur certain in atleast 57 of them..
P.S. No disrespect for Roman Saini.
May the 7th be a boon for all those who have conqured themselves.......
Tukka will always be without a *tuk*
Please share !!!
Eg. Once in a quiz I was shown an insignia and was asked to identify the country to which it belonged. I saw a bird resembling the extinct Dodo on the insignia (from the proverb As dead as a Dodo). I knew that it belonged to Mauritius and took a guess and it fetched us points. Thus eliminating options based on knowledge and then taking a calculated guess is the key.