Dear Friends,
I have been going through the answers that people write on Mains Marathon and other websites. While I have seen that a lot of people are writing much better answers on the free platforms, I wanted to pitch in, especially for first timers, who may not be so aware of it yet, as to what is a good answer.
I have uploaded tried to locate good answer written by some candidates who have secured 430+ marks in 2016 ( where 400 marks were an average ) as well as 400+ marks in Mains 2015 and 2014 .
You can see that there is a certain pattern in which they approach the paper, and it is common across all years , at least since the time V Haritha Kumar Topped the exam.
While it may not be common across all candidates who have secured under 100 rank, I would say that more than 60% of them would have the same things in commonality.
I am putting it after (a) my interactions with
@louislitt and @ mittalisethi last year in 2016 when they wrote tests and (b) secured under 100 ranks after writing in such a style and structure , thus proving that structure is important too - and a certain way of writing helps more than other ways.
While the quality of arguments and points may vary in these copies, a certain structure has been followed. I am putting this after an elated Himadree who has secured under 400 rank this year pinged me saying the thing about following a structure helped.
Please check this out here
http://blog.forumias.com/how-to-write-a-good-answer-that-ensures-a-good-score-420/Let me know in comments what your observations are regarding the answers. Because , we may all look at the same picture, and yet see different things.
P.S. Bringing in some Mains Orientation on The Forum, moving away from the "buy & sell" culture that is evolving. I hope other members contribute too.
P.S. 2 Himadree, If you are reading this too, it will be great if you could sum up any of your optional strategy . of GS Strategy in an article.
That will be answer writing practice too 
P.S. Moderators may make this a temporary announcement if they deem right.
Comments
Your articles and posts have helped many aspirants. Thank you for this one too.
I would be thankful if you could write an article or post about approach to ethics paper covering theory and case study part.Also,a structure in case study,from your side,would be immensely helpful.
Thank you.
Review by forum and other members has been very helpful. Due to constantly in 'answer writing mode' now i frame whatever i read in probable question and answer. Thanks for such a selfless initiative.
Your articles are always motivating, crisp and super realistic. Waiting for the next one.
- One thing that stands out is 'confidence' while writing(few cuts and overall flow).
- Simplified introduction.
- Their brilliance can be observed in the ability to modify 'body' as per the requirement of questions. I mean, points ,
flowcharts , paragraphs are ingrained.
- Simple English. Normally short sentence.
- Conclusion is not always present.
- Multiple dimensions.
I didn't get a rank this year, in fact I couldn't even clear mains. However I diligently followed your tip on partitioning the paper in 2 columns in some of my answers in general studies. This simplified the analysis, improved the structure of answer to and simultaneously reduce the time required to write the answer. My decent marks in general studies has some imprint of your answer writing tips.
I hope that you continue to make more such enlightening videos in future on answer writing tips.