UPSC Mains Preparation tips

The first round of the Civil Service Examination that includes elimination is called the UPSC CSE Prelims. After you have proven that you are capable of passing the preliminary round of this prestigious examination, it is time to move on to the next and most important stage of your preparation, which is the UPSC Mains. Your performance in the preliminary round of the UPSC CSE examination is not going to have any bearing on whether or not you are chosen overall. Your score on the IAS Mains exam will be extremely important in deciding both your selection and your rank in the overall pool of candidates.

As a result, it is essential for you to come up with a foolproof strategy for the UPSC Mains exam that will raise your overall score and improve your chances of achieving a high position. Finding an appropriate strategy for preparation for the UPSC Mains exam is the first step toward achieving this goal.

Beginners or new aspirants sometimes have no notion what they should be doing following the preliminary examinations, in contrast to more experienced aspirants who have a good idea of what they should do. As a result, they hunt for a reliable source to obtain the solutions to their queries concerning the UPSC Mains Strategy for beginners or the best way to get ready for the UPSC Mains. In this essay, we will provide you with one such UPSC Mains Strategy that will undoubtedly assist you in properly planning your own strategy.

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Let’s get started:

Tips to prepare for UPSC Mains

Step 1: Be Consistent With Your Preparation

The most important benefit that early novices can take advantage of is the benefit of having more time on their hands. Having said that, there is also a difficulty. When you have ample time, the aspect of your practice that demands the most attention is not the “management of time,” but rather the “maintenance of consistency over this extended period of time.”

Therefore, each day, week, and month ought to be pre-scheduled according to their different objectives.

The candidate is responsible for first and foremost ingraining the entirety of the exam’s curriculum, which covers all three phases, into his mind.

This relatively insignificant but important activity would go a long way toward ensuring that your preparation remains focused and pertinent.

Step 2: Sufficient Time Allocation

Because there is plenty of time, it is essential to follow the “mains first” method. This implies that you should begin your preparation for the UPSC by formulating a strategy for how you will prepare for the UPSC mains exam.

A candidate has barely three to four months to prepare for the major exam after the preliminary examinations have been completed. The necessity of conducting response writing and essay writing practice significantly compresses the time allotted for each activity. As a result, getting ready for the main exam section first will be the most prudent course of action.

Step 3: Choose Your Optional Subject Wisely

The mains syllabus places the most emphasis on the optional topic because it is the most flexible component. Your level of familiarity with the material and the extent to which the topic interests you should guide your decision for the optional subject.

This decision must not be swayed in any way by erroneous speculations regarding “which of the optional components has the highest scoring potential.” It is not the optional subject itself that contributes to your score; rather, it is the preparation and presentation of your answer (answer writing).

However, there is a method to choose the most advantageous optional subject for the UPSC Mains examination. Examine the article that has been provided for information on how to choose the elective topic that will be most beneficial to you.

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Step 4: Make Proper Study Plan

After making an informed decision on the elective topic, the candidate is required to start the preparation process from the very beginning.

Make sure that you plan out the months and schedule your days and weeks well in advance so that you can finish the syllabus for the four General Studies papers and the optional topic by the time November and December roll around. It is possible to finish the preparation for the Mains exam, but only if you carefully plan out how you will spend your time.

Step 5: Follow Daily Current Affairs To Keep Yourself Updated

Maintaining a steady and devout devotion to daily newspaper consumption is a component of the preparation that is not only significant but also essential. The candidate should always be up to date on all of the significant events taking place both nationally and internationally. You could subscribe to one or two periodicals in addition to official government publications such as Yojana, Kurukshetra, PIB, PRS, and so on. After you have gone through the mains syllabus one time, you can start initial response writing practice if there is time left over after you have finished going through the mains syllabus. Make an effort to get it examined by an experienced person or an instructor.

One thing that must be kept in mind is that the curriculum for the main examination and the preliminary examination are not entirely segregated from one another. In point of fact, there is a considerable amount of overlap. Therefore, in order to prepare for the UPSC mains, a sizeable percentage of the preliminary examinations must also be covered. Beginning in January or February, one can enter what is known as a “prelims-focused” mode for the remaining portion of the course. The “holy trinity” of “revision, consolidation, and assessment” must be incorporated into the preparation process at this point onwards.

How to prepare for UPSC Mains after Prelims

Follow these five steps to effectively revise the syllabus after the Prelims is over.

Step 1: Give Yourself A Break After Prelims

It is imperative that you take some time off after your preliminary examinations. It’s possible that you’ve been constantly preparing for at least a year, so it’s vital to take some time off from your studies now and then. Take at least ten days to relax, giving your body and mind a break from activity. Read some newspapers or take a short vacation and start mentally preparing yourself for the next three to four months of rigorous training. Think about how well you performed on the test; there are three possible outcomes:

You have complete confidence that you will advance to the preliminary round. To guarantee your success in the UPSC Mains exam, you need devise a UPSC Mains Preparation approach that is appropriate for you.

You are undecided as to whether you will qualify for the Preliminaries or not at this time. Don’t let the outcome demoralize you in any way. Due to the fact that Prelims is a qualifying round, you will still have the opportunity to begin again.

You are absolutely certain that you would not be able to advance to the preliminary round. Don’t become discouraged. Think on the things you did wrong, make an effort to figure out what you could have done differently, and come up with a plan that you can implement during the next year.

Read a lot at this time about different preparation tactics, as this will help you figure out which one will work best for you personally. Get motivated by your seniors or peers, toppers, or mentors who have already passed the UPSC mains exam. They are the ones who can help you the most effectively during this most essential time of your study.

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Step 2: Make A Detailed Study Plan For UPSC Mains Strategy

After you have finished totally unwinding, you should shake off that state of mind and create a comprehensive study plan for the preparation of your big exams. As you may already be aware, the UPSC Mains examination consists of a total of nine theoretical exams; out of these, two are required language papers, two are your choice of optional topic papers, one is an essay paper, and the other four are general studies papers. Therefore, you ought to have a well-defined plan for how you intend to go about revising each of the topics, as well as how you intend to prepare for the topics with which you have not even begun working up to this point.

Step 3: Schedule The Time You Need To Invest In Each Paper (Here Is What Our Experts Say)

Now, the majority of first-time applicants have trouble figuring out how to review what they need to know in the two to three months that they have between the Preliminaries and the Mains. What you can do is as follows:

Set a goal for the month, a goal for the week, and a goal for each day. Stay dedicated to it, and make it a point to achieve all of your goals. Create manageable objectives by setting goals that are not too lofty.

Even if your preparation is thrown off for one or two days, you shouldn’t throw away the entire plan; instead, divide the pieces you missed out on among the other days of the week.

Always set aside two hours per day to reflect on what you’ve read and take notes. Also, clear your schedule on the weekends so you may practice writing answers and review what you’ve studied over the previous week.

At this point, the majority of the applicants are perplexed by the time allotment. In your opinion, how much time should be allotted to each of the General Studies papers before it becomes excessive? Find out the opinions of our most knowledgeable staff members:

Step 4: Enhance Your Answer Writing Practice

Because the nature of the Mains paper is descriptive, it is essential that you allocate sufficient time to answer writing as part of your strategy for preparing for the UPSC Mains examination. Whatever it is that you read, at the end of the day, you should strive to summarize it using your own words. Devote one hour of your time each day to working on your answer writing. If you want to have a good understanding of where you stand, have your seniors or mentors look through your responses and give you feedback. Don’t worry about stumbling through the first few answers you write. Because it is true that practice makes perfect, you should give your answer writing as much practice as you can.

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Step 5: Give Regular Mock Tests

Now, it is crucial to take mock exams since doing so offers you the experience of taking an exam and prepares you to produce your best answers when you are under the pressure of an actual exam. As a result, you should never take mocks at face value. Consider this an opportunity to gain an understanding of the process of writing answers, to compose quick answers that are to the point taking into consideration the demands of the questions.

So, using the 5-step UPSC Mains Preparation method that we offer, this is how you should get ready for the UPSC Mains exam. We have briefly discussed the UPSC Mains preparation method for both before and after the Preliminaries. Use these examples as a jumping off point to create your own plan to ace the test. For your preparation, you can rely on the courses that we offer as well as the study material that we provide. Please get in touch with our course counselors so that we may provide you with additional information regarding our classes. You can download entri app and explore your benefits.

Frequently Asked Questions on UPSC Mains Preparation Strategy

Q 1. Can I clear UPSC mains in 2 months?

Ans. As soon as you decide to take the UPSC Civil Service Examination, you should get started preparing for the UPSC Mains examination. This preparation should begin immediately after you make the decision to take the UPSC Civil Service Examination. Due to the extensive curriculum, it is possible that two months of preparation for the UPSC Mains exam will not be enough. Because of the high level of competition, it is strongly suggested that additional time be allotted for the preparation of the mains.

Q 2. How can I improve my answer in UPSC mains?

Ans. Get a grasp of the question, and work on outlining the organizational structure of the response. When composing the answer, make sure that you don’t leave out any essential details and that you include the appropriate key phrases at all times. The response has to be clear and succinct. Check that there are no typos and that there are no grammatical errors.

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Q 3. Is the UPSC interview tough?

Ans. The interview will be challenging because the competition is fierce and the UPSC will attempt to choose only the most qualified applicants. A candidate’s familiarity with a subject area will not be the sole factor considered in the selection process. It is impossible to know everything, so it is important to keep a calm demeanor even when you are unable to answer questions, and it is also important not to get too excited if you already know the answers to the questions. There are going to be challenging questions because the panelists will have many years of expertise, so there will undoubtedly be difficult questions.

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