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And again why is this thread an announcement. What is this arbitrary policy of deleting some threads on one side and making some threads as announcement just on the basis of whims and fancies of moderators.
feel too scared while attempting questions not confident about. self doubt creeps in. pertaining to point 4 you mentioned. Any practical tips to get over this Thanks
Try these things in mock tests. Also, i know it is difficult to take risks and it is scary but remember, with competition like this, you have to take such risks.
balance your concepts with facts, 2016 paper was factual, vision ca was enough to get 100+ in prelims, you know what happened in 2017, lot of conceptual questions, there is no such thing called trending in prelims. I feel balancing act is extremely important for prelims. To be on the safe side.
The last month or so, before prelims, is very crucial. It will make or break your exam. So all preparation must be channelised in a way that it is solidified in that last month.
Read anything and everything with an eye on that last month. Prepare in such a manner that is amenable to your revision plan. Read and study only what you can rationally revise at that time. As everyone will tell you, reading one book multiple times is better than reading 2-3 books 2-3 times, for a topic. If you're reading heavy and indulgent books, say Satish Chandra, in November, and even if you gain expertise in them, it won't be of benefit in the end unless you make notes which are concise and revisable in a few hours at max.
Develop the capability of eliminating options. This will be hugely beneficial. Be inquisitive, read widely, and try finding more about the things you read: reasons, phenomena, implications, effects, etc. This will build a body of knowledge that will help in eliminating options. Moreover, all intuition is pattern recognition. For eg, there was a question about the animals found in India in some prelims paper. 3 options had "cheetah", and could be eliminated easily if you knew that they were extinct (this was in 2012 i think, before the "environment boom"). One year, there was a question about pollutants found at places in India, and 3 options had "Uranium"; you could eliminate them by reasoning that Uranium pollution would have created a huge scandal, and of course being an aspirant you'd then have heard of it. Similarly, in this year's paper you could reason that "Digital Single Market Strategy" was about EU, as among the options only that was a region advanced and integrated enough to have it.
This eliminating options and marking answers, and "guessmastergiri" based on your knowledge is statistically beneficial as well. Say, you end up doing 20 questions this way, where you managed to eliminate 2 options. now, the probability of getting each of them right is 0.5, and this means that you'll gain 13.34 marks net. (This calculation is, of course, over simplified, but you get the idea). I'm also aware that there are people who only attempt 60-70 questions, with close to 100% accuracy, and sail through. (If you're like them, you may skip this advice.) But I'm not one of them, due to many reasons, and so i need to attempt around 90 questions in the paper, and this is my strategy for that.
So, my two crucial learnings: good management of studies particularly in the last month, and developing the art of taking risks in MCQs. All the best!
And again why is this thread an announcement. What is this arbitrary policy of deleting some threads on one side and making some threads as announcement just on the basis of whims and fancies of moderators.
because it is important for people preparing for next year. now that mains is over, it will be better if we have interview preparation thread and prelims 2018 threads.
having said that @root it is high time you appoint new moderators and let go of old one.the system has become too feudal and arbitraty, we dont even know what is allowed what is not alllowed. its time to come clean, and may be hold an election of moderators?
The last month or so, before prelims, is very crucial. It will make or break your exam. So all preparation must be channelised in a way that it is solidified in that last month.
Read anything and everything with an eye on that last month. Prepare in such a manner that is amenable to your revision plan. Read and study only what you can rationally revise at that time. As everyone will tell you, reading one book multiple times is better than reading 2-3 books 2-3 times, for a topic. If you're reading heavy and indulgent books, say Satish Chandra, in November, and even if you gain expertise in them, it won't be of benefit in the end unless you make notes which are concise and revisable in a few hours at max.
Develop the capability of eliminating options. This will be hugely beneficial. Be inquisitive, read widely, and try finding more about the things you read: reasons, phenomena, implications, effects, etc. This will build a body of knowledge that will help in eliminating options. Moreover, all intuition is pattern recognition. For eg, there was a question about the animals found in India in some prelims paper. 3 options had "cheetah", and could be eliminated easily if you knew that they were extinct (this was in 2012 i think, before the "environment boom"). One year, there was a question about pollutants found at places in India, and 3 options had "Uranium"; you could eliminate them by reasoning that Uranium pollution would have created a huge scandal, and of course being an aspirant you'd then have heard of it. Similarly, in this year's paper you could reason that "Digital Single Market Strategy" was about EU, as among the options only that was a region advanced and integrated enough to have it.
This eliminating options and marking answers, and "guessmastergiri" based on your knowledge is statistically beneficial as well. Say, you end up doing 20 questions this way, where you managed to eliminate 2 options. now, the probability of getting each of them right is 0.5, and this means that you'll gain 13.34 marks net. (This calculation is, of course, over simplified, but you get the idea). I'm also aware that there are people who only attempt 60-70 questions, with close to 100% accuracy, and sail through. (If you're like them, you may skip this advice.) But I'm not one of them, due to many reasons, and so i need to attempt around 90 questions in the paper, and this is my strategy for that.
So, my two crucial learnings: good management of studies particularly in the last month, and developing the art of taking risks in MCQs. All the best!
+1
i will also like to add that one must read the basic books at least 7-8 times.. even 10 times so that not a single direct questions is missed.
Prelims 2017 was totally doable if you had done laxmikant and all that. you dont have any scope for error in direct questions from standard books.
secondly, the core books must be primary source which you will do umpteen times. then you can add on with mrunal and other sources. that will help. but dont make websites primary source.
thirdly, if you are not good at prelims, then better prepare in advance - like january or so, dont wait for last moment. trust me i am also a very panicky person and cant do last moment studies. you will lose the race if you wait for last moment.
in the last month, as @zulfiqar has said, studying and managing time is very important. but to be in a good position, it is important that you build strong base from jan-feb.
@anjus , Tamil literature ,by god grace have personal mentor on this who guide me to develop strong base. So far. aM 29, I just don't want to fails again next year too. After some days will u pls gig r ur inputs upon ur exoerineceEu had given . Last year ur Gs score was awesome ma'am.
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Comments
@root kindly take account of this issue
balance your concepts with facts, 2016 paper was factual, vision ca was enough to get 100+ in prelims, you know what happened in 2017, lot of conceptual questions, there is no such thing called trending in prelims. I feel balancing act is extremely important for prelims. To be on the safe side.
Read anything and everything with an eye on that last month. Prepare in such a manner that is amenable to your revision plan. Read and study only what you can rationally revise at that time. As everyone will tell you, reading one book multiple times is better than reading 2-3 books 2-3 times, for a topic. If you're reading heavy and indulgent books, say Satish Chandra, in November, and even if you gain expertise in them, it won't be of benefit in the end unless you make notes which are concise and revisable in a few hours at max.
Develop the capability of eliminating options. This will be hugely beneficial. Be inquisitive, read widely, and try finding more about the things you read: reasons, phenomena, implications, effects, etc. This will build a body of knowledge that will help in eliminating options. Moreover, all intuition is pattern recognition. For eg, there was a question about the animals found in India in some prelims paper. 3 options had "cheetah", and could be eliminated easily if you knew that they were extinct (this was in 2012 i think, before the "environment boom"). One year, there was a question about pollutants found at places in India, and 3 options had "Uranium"; you could eliminate them by reasoning that Uranium pollution would have created a huge scandal, and of course being an aspirant you'd then have heard of it. Similarly, in this year's paper you could reason that "Digital Single Market Strategy" was about EU, as among the options only that was a region advanced and integrated enough to have it.
This eliminating options and marking answers, and "guessmastergiri" based on your knowledge is statistically beneficial as well. Say, you end up doing 20 questions this way, where you managed to eliminate 2 options. now, the probability of getting each of them right is 0.5, and this means that you'll gain 13.34 marks net. (This calculation is, of course, over simplified, but you get the idea). I'm also aware that there are people who only attempt 60-70 questions, with close to 100% accuracy, and sail through. (If you're like them, you may skip this advice.) But I'm not one of them, due to many reasons, and so i need to attempt around 90 questions in the paper, and this is my strategy for that.
So, my two crucial learnings: good management of studies particularly in the last month, and developing the art of taking risks in MCQs. All the best!
having said that @root it is high time you appoint new moderators and let go of old one.the system has become too feudal and arbitraty, we dont even know what is allowed what is not alllowed. its time to come clean, and may be hold an election of moderators?
i will also like to add that one must read the basic books at least 7-8 times.. even 10 times so that not a single direct questions is missed.
Prelims 2017 was totally doable if you had done laxmikant and all that. you dont have any scope for error in direct questions from standard books.
secondly, the core books must be primary source which you will do umpteen times. then you can add on with mrunal and other sources. that will help. but dont make websites primary source.
thirdly, if you are not good at prelims, then better prepare in advance - like january or so, dont wait for last moment. trust me i am also a very panicky person and cant do last moment studies. you will lose the race if you wait for last moment.
in the last month, as @zulfiqar has said, studying and managing time is very important. but to be in a good position, it is important that you build strong base from jan-feb.
What would you advice for mains preparation? Since you scored very good marks in GS, hence what in your opinion are must to do things from now?