I didn’t create any new strategy for UPSC. All toppers strategies have already been made public by them, how to study, what to prioritize, how to ace this exam. Yet, we keep on looking further, to get some better strategy which might help us. I’m no different. I looked for toppers blogs / videos / Quora answers to understand their strategy. & Then I followed their strategies, which I thought works best for me.
My strategy was simple. My strategy is called as the “IMITATION GAME”.
“IMITATION IS THE SINCEREST FORM OF LEARNING” – GEORGE BERNARD SHAW (Quote is rephrased by me)
// The below text till the next “//” can be skipped. Treat this as my personal comments.
If you are a Hollywood Movie buff, you might have come across the movie “Imitation Game”. It’s a beautiful movie with a wonderful Screenplay (“Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar Award to Graham Moore“) which details how British tried to break the code of German messages but couldn’t since it is an ENIGMA.
Often, the society & general public have painted UPSC CSE Exam as an ENIGMA. A mysterious exam which is so difficult to understand & impossible to crack the UPSC Code.
The World War 2 was at it’s heights & Germany was about to win it. British appoints the wisest & the most intelligent people to crack the German code messages but all were futile. Alan Turing (on whose biography the movie was made) stumbles upon a code in a Bar & declares German lost the war.
Here’s a small transcript from the movie.
ALAN TURING: Why do you think your German counterpart has a girlfriend?
HELEN: Oh, it’s a stupid joke, don’t worry about it.
ALAN TURING: Tell me.
HELEN: Each one of his code messages begins with the same five letters. C-I-L-LY. So I suspect Cilly must be the name of his amore.
ALAN TURING: That’s impossible. The Germans are instructed to choose five letters at random to start every message.
HELEN: Well, this bloke doesn’t.
HUGH ALEXANDER: Love’ll make a man do strange things, I suppose. Anyhow —
ALAN TURING: In this case, love just lost the Germans the whole bloody war.
And so did Germany lose the war…..!! Because the code has been broken. Had it been random 5 letters, it might have remained as an ENIGMA & Germany might won the war. Everyone got fooled by “FOOLED BY RANDOMNESS”. Yes, randomness does exist but UPSC exam success is not based on randomness. After studying 100’s of toppers strategies, I came to know few things which are in common & that’s exactly what I followed.
The CODE here is the TOPPERS STRATEGIES. I don’t want to admit that following toppers will guarantee you a rank 100% (since the vacancies are very low & competition sky rocketing). But, if you perfect their strategies, you’ll be very close. In fact, for a commoner like me, who comes from a Tier-3 College (~1 Lakh rank in State Exam to now All India Rank 549 in UPSC) in the 2nd attempt itself, I would fully give my “strategic” credit to all the toppers & institutions.
I don’t want to bore you all further & I’m ending my personal comments here //
WHOM & WHAT EXACTLY DID I “IMITATE”?
Since the start of my preparation, I’ve read many (100+) strategies. I call this sharpening the AXE, as Abraham Lincoln says “If I only had an hour to chop down a tree, I would spend the first 45 minutes sharpening my axe.”
READING BOOKS alone won’t make you a topper. You need to understand how to read, what to read & how to present what you read & that’s where strategies can help you.
The following order is NOT based on Importance.
1. WE CAN’T CRACK UPSC. DILEMMA SOLVED BY “MUDIT JAIN”. REINFORCED BY 2020 TOPPER “JIVANI KARTHIK NAGJIBHAI”
When I was about to enter UPSC Preparation, I was scared. Would I be able to crack it? Am I wasting my time? Am I wasting my parents money? Why venture into this unchartered waters where there is no certainty?
I was looking at many toppers but most of them did crack the exam but after years of serious preparation, in some 2-5th attempt, they did. But could they do it again? If no, was it luck? Was it random? Is there no definite strategy which can guarantee you rank?
And then I got stumbled into “MUDIT JAIN” Strategy. If during those days I hadn’t come across his Quora answers & blog, I might be preparing for this exam with a lot of under-confidence. He proved that rank can indeed be CONSISTENT with a Fool-proof strategy. He got RANKS THREE TIMES (In General Category). It was an instant glue to me & gave me a huge confidence push which sustains even today.
You can read his answers & strategy here.
DECODE CIVILS (the CODE has been DECODED): https://muditjainblog.wordpress.com/
QUORA PROFILE: https://www.quora.com/profile/Mudit-Jain-210
His strategy was simple, study hard, work hard & you’ll be rewarded. Please read his blog & answers for detailed strategy. I can’t elaborate everything here. The thing which made me confident was that “RANK CAN BE CONSISTENT”
This year (UPSC CSE 2020), JIVANI KARTHIK NAGJIBHAI did the same.
2018 – 94th rank; 2019 – 83rd; rank 2020 – 8th Rank (cracked the exam trice in General Category to get into IAS).
There are many more people who are consistently getting ranks….!!
This exam is not RANDOM. A good strategy will get you IN. Don’t worry. That’s the confidence I got from such people.
2. OPTIONAL MATTERS. ANUDEEP DURISHETTY AIR 1 & KOYA SREE HARSHA AIR 6 (BOTH IN UPSC 2017)
Both were All India Toppers from my State Telangana & the buzz on Anthropology was huge during those days. I was curious to choose Anthropology but doubted if it can be SCORING. With the marks scored by them both, I didn’t have an iota of doubt left. I permanently chose Anthropology & it was the best decision I made (Imitating toppers, you see).
I followed their Strategies for NOT ONLY ANTHROPOLOGY, BUT GS TOO….!!
ANUDEEP DURISHETTY WEBSITE: https://anudeepdurishetty.in/
KOYA SREE HARSHA WEBSITE: https://koyasreeharsha.com/
I even bought Anudeep Durishetty Sir’s book “Fundamentals of Essay & Answer Writing” immediately after Prelims 2020 to get ready for Mains 2020. What a book it was. Fully recommend it. It helped me ace my MAINS.
3. TO WORK HARD FOR YOUR DREAM. THE STORY OF “JYESHTHA MAITREI”. (AIR 156 – UPSC 2017)
When I was preparing for this exam, I used to feel LOW a lot of times (actually common for a lot of Aspirants). Jyeshtha Maitrei Maam’s Preparation story acted like a dose of motivation whenever I read her answer to the Question “If you go back in time and give advice to 18-year-old self, what would you say?” It literally left me in TEARS. Her determination for this exam & at the end, the success.
Whenever I would read that answer, I would feel that all my hard work would indeed be rewarded at the end. I was NOT wasting a single minute but doing what I love.
Maam’s Strategy for UPSC shaped my preparation. You can read Quora answers.
4. INSIGHTS IAS ARTICLES ON PRELIMS
During my 1st Prelims, I do not know “how many Questions to Attempt” & “how to eliminate options and arrive at answer”.
My knowledge helped me cross 80’s but I couldn’t reach the cut-off. I was devastated because I gave my sweat to this preparation. No Social Media, No outings, No Parties. Every day of my life was spent in preparation. Yet, I was OUT at the 1st stage itself.
And then I came cross Insights “STATISTICAL JUSTIFICATION” on why you need to attempt more. It was scientifically backed up by data (From students of their test series corelated with actual Prelims Marks). I was left wondering why no one said this to me. Even their ELIMINATION tricks were a gold mine.
I implemented their strategy, started going on attempting 100 Q & arriving at answers with intelligent guesses. Slowly, my scored started to improve & my average got to 100+ in Test Series & I could ace my 2nd Prelims with a score of ~120 (yet to be released). What astonished me was I qualified for Forest Service Mains too which I never expected.
Here are some of Insights IAS articles which helped me a lot.
I followed Insights IAS Prelims Test Series. FULLY RECOMMENDED.
5. OTHER TOPPERS STRATEGIES ON PRELIMS
Many TOPPERS have elaborated on PRELIMS TECHNIQUES. Here are few.
ABHIJEET SINHA: https://abhijeetsinhaupsc.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/a-different-prelims-strategy/
PRATYUSH PANDEY: https://pratyushpandey.com/upsc-prelims/ (If you want only Elimination tricks, scroll down his article to “GUESSING” Heading, although I suggest you to read his article entirely)
6. IMITATION OF TOPPERS MAINS TEST COPIES.
I have a big folder where many Toppers copies are stored. I used to read them whenever I’m free & see what’s helping their answers score good marks. It’s simple.
– Perfect structuring (I-B-C)
– Precise & Crisp content
– Legible hand writing
– Objectivity in writing
– Quoting Facts, Stats, Case Studies etc. & many more.
– To the point & eye opening Introductions & balanced Conclusions.
– Use of Flow charts, Hub & Spoke Diagrams etc. whenever required. Saves time & helps you attempt ALL Q..!
Here are few toppers copies whom I extensively followed.
-Mudit Jain (Essay, GS)
-Anudeep Durishetty (Essay, GS, Anthropology)
-Koya Sree Harsha (GS, Anthropology)
-Lakshmi N (Anthropology)
-Abhijeet Sinha (GS)
-Apurva Pandey (Essay. Scored 175..!)
-Kanishak Kataria (GS)
-Vikram Grewal (Essay)
-Pratyush Pandey (check his website on how he elaborates Answer writing.)
– & Many more toppers.
I followed VISION IAS Mains Test Series. Their feedback was excellent, relative ranking is the best you can get. FULLY RECOMMENDED.
7. IMITATION OF TOPPERS INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT ANSWERS, MOCK INTERVIEWS ETC.
This, I think, even non-UPSC candidates do generally watch.
I scored low in Interview, so don’t want to elaborate it. But, the Interviews did really help me become confident & answer well in the actual Interview.
FEW WORDS OF CAUTION
– Following Toppers strategies shouldn’t be a CUT-COPY-PASTE affair. Please understand the underlying currents which are helping them. Identify them. Do your own research before finally implementing them. To follow a strategy without understanding it fully is a big risk. Don’t do that. Whatever I followed from toppers was only after internalizing them & getting confident that it might work for me too.
– Every Strategy helped me & every topper I followed contributed something useful. Read every strategy independent of each other & then think what might help you. I never followed everything what a topper said. For example, some did suggest they read 10+ hours daily. I never followed such because I cannot handle it. I only read 6-8 hours. Many advised not to read more than 1 source but I read more than 1 source to enrich my content.
– Toppers words don’t mean they are sacrosanct. Nearly every topper advised to avoid Sports section while reading Newspapers. Even the coaching Institutes miss Sports section in their Current Affairs Magazine. But, if you have seen 2021 Prelims Question Paper, 3 Q were from SPORTS..!! If you see the cut-offs, you’ll understand how every Q matters.
So, Toppers strategies should be customized & followed as per your own comfort levels. Or else, it might actually backfire.
I will add more toppers strategies later.
My best wishes to everyone.
BAIRY RUTHVIK 