100 Days For UPSC CSE: Revise or Lose

100 Days For UPSC CSE: Revise or Lose

100 Days For UPSC CSE: Revise or Lose

Ya, you read it right “100 Days For UPSC CSE: Revise or Lose”. Strategically this is not the time for knowing the new things and forgetting what you already know. This is a time to recall and remember each thing, that you already know, subjects you have already studied, and the concepts and techniques which you have already learned. No, I’m not scaring you just highlighting a really important fact related to UPSC CSE (Union Public Service Commission Civil Services Examination).

There are many aspirants who at this point in time instead of revising what they have already studied, they start panicking and start studying new things and trying to learn and memorize new information. They forget one important thing that is a UPSC CSE is not conducted to know how much information a candidate has. The exam is conducted to know how a candidate acts in various situations. So it’s the time for a candidate for consolidating knowledge they have acquired over the years.

Things an IAS aspirant keep in mind

  1. The aspirant should remember that there is a difference between the experienced aspirant and the aspirant who does not have the experience. One should not follow anyone blindly.
  2. Keep tab of all the news (India and International) as they are most likely to appear your current affairs or mapped to a static portion and don’t forget to follow even the latest news as there are times when a question comes in the exam which is related to current issue of the previous day of the exam.
  3. Give at least a couple of tests and know your weak points and strong areas.
  4. Revise as much as possible to strengthen or delete weak areas and gain confidence.
  5. Current affairs from now on should be a daily study affair – We suggest you complete at least two months of current affairs in the first 10 days. Start from August and September as most questions come from these months onwards.
  6. Maps, Budget and Economic Survey should be handled separately and thus has to be a daily part of study plan seeing the factual nature of the subject and doing this will also give you the break from monotonous preparation.
  7. The most important part of the plan and to check whether the UPSC CSE preparations are on the right track give a full-length mock test of both subjects on the 10th day. (when 90 days left)
  8. This Mock test should be apart from the standard test series you have joined anywhere. Pre- Storming of mock tests gives you the flexibility to take tests at your ease.
  9. Time for analysis – Check your performance, your accuracy, time is taken to complete the test, areas of confusion, etc. Keep note of the areas or topics you have could not recollect or miss.
  10. These shall be your focus area in the next round of revision.

Things an Experience IAS aspirant keep in mind

  1. Aspirants having previous experience of prelims and mains exam would have better clarity and strong fundamentals of the concept. Therefore we recommend them to complete their optional subjects until mid-march.
  2. Simultaneously they should start with one GS topic of their choice and start the revision.
  3. Recommend – to take 2 weekly tests to slowly get into prelims mode and remove all your weaknesses.
  4. Continuous focus on maps, Budget, Economic Survey, and art & culture is a must for all as it is a very hard nut to crack.

Important topics and areas that UPSC civil service aspirants should definitely go through in these last 100 days.

1 Read the crux of NCERT textbooks – notes you have prepared yourself or if you don’t have your own notes then at least the crux of the books that are available in the market.

2 Analyze previous question papers – By analyzing previous year question papers, you can understand the standard of the question papers. This exercise also helps in understanding the distribution of marks across various sections and identifying important areas from the exam point of view. For your benefit, we have identified a few important areas that are:

  • History of India and Indian National Movement: Features of the Harappan Civilisation, Religions in the Ancient History with the special focus on all about the Buddhism and Jainism, The Mauryan Age, In modern India, the focus should be the Indian freedom struggle after the arrival of Mahatma Gandhi, The plans, committees, and conferences between 1925 to 1946., All the congress party sessions needs to be memorized with their Presidents and associated important events., Jawahar Lal Nehru, Shahid Bhagat Singh, Chandrashekhar Azad, Motilal Nehru, Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Lala Lajpat Rai, Nehru Report, Round Table Conference, Poona Pact and Simla Conference, Education under the British rule, Social status of women in Modern India, and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar and Jyotiba Phule
  • Indian and World Geography: Concepts related to monsoon in India (very important), Climate types of the different parts of India, Agricultural variety of crops associated with different types of soil and climate, Water divide of India, Cities at the bank of major rivers, National Highways, and National Waterways.
  • Indian Polity: Union Executive, State Executive, Supreme Court, High Court, Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, Parliamentary Proceedings, Types of writs, Types of Bills, Union and State relations, and Emergency Provisions.
  • Environment and Ecology: Basic concepts related to environment and ecology, UN Conferences and agreements related to the environment in the last 25 years, and Location of important protected areas.

3 Practice tests – Candidates are advised to practice subject wise and mock tests. These tests will help you in identifying your weak and strong areas. Once the weak areas are identified, read the study material mentioned below for those areas.

  • History of India and Indian National Movement: A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir (Spectrum Publication), History of Modern India by Bipin Chandra, Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania
  • Indian and World Geography: Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong, Geography of India by Majid Hussain
  • Indian Polity and Governance: Indian polity by Laxmikanth and An Introduction to the Constitution of India by D. D. Basu
  • Economic and Social Development: Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh and Indian Economy by Mishra and Puri
  • Environment & Ecology: Environment by Shankar IAS Academy.

4 Besides the above-mentioned books, the following government publications will be helpful for the exam.

India Year Book, Union Budget 2019-20, Economic Survey 2017-18, Books published by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), and Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines

The backbone of your IAS exam strategy is 3T. 3T stands for

  1. Test- series
  2. Techniques
  3. Text- books

Plutus IAS Academy: Action Plan for Prelims from Day 1 – Day 30

  1. Make a timetable – You should make a plan which has 9- hours devoted to studies every day.
  2. All subjects every day – Instead of trying to finish a subject which will never happen, try to split your time for each subject.
  3. Revise daily: Make mind maps and notes, if you come across a difficult concept. Revise whatever you studied for each subject the previous day, in the first 15 minutes of your next day. and Spend weekends: entirely for revision of textbooks and revision of mock exams.
  4. Take the Mock Exam daily.
  5. Attempt previous year UPSC question papers in a timed environment.
  6. Apply the IETs while taking mock exams – Learn the art of intelligent elimination of wrong answers in UPSC Prelims.

By the end of the 30th day, you should have a good understanding of all the above-mentioned textbooks. We don’t mean you should cover every page line by line, but rather a good understanding of all the basic concepts.

Plutus IAS Academy: Action Plan for Prelims from Day 31 – Day 60

  1. Practice daily MCQs (UPSC CSE syllabus).
  2. Study Current Affairs from each angle.
  3. Don’t spend more than 1 hour on newspapers.

Plutus IAS Academy: Action Plan for Prelims from Day 61 – Day 90

  1. Book – ‘General Knowledge’ by Manohar Pandey: Though this book is titled General Knowledge, it contains all the basic information from subjects like polity, geography, science, history, etc. This helps in quick revision.
  2. Analyze your progress and mistakes: Track your improvement while solving mock exams., Whenever you need a reference, go back and read the corresponding portion of NCERT books. and Rather than mechanically doing mock exams, spend sufficient time to analyze the results, learning zone, and performance reports.

Plutus IAS Academy: Action Plan for Prelims from Day 91 – Day 100

  1. Attempt and revise previous year UPSC questions.
  2. Revise the notes you already made for Prelims.
  3. Don’t go behind any new materials or mock questions, but focus only on what you have already studied.
  4. Focus on the core areas for maximum Return on Investment.
  5. Make sure you revise for at least 8 hours in the last 10 days and ensure that you take 8-hour sleep until UPSC Prelims as your mind needs freshness and your mind will only remain fresh if you take a sound sleep of 8 hours.

The Conclusion: 100th Day

Above is the best plan for preparing for the UPSC CSE in the last 100 days.

You have the capacity to clear the UPSC Exam whenever you start it’s just your belief that works if you believe and gives your 100% you will be able to clear the exam with flying colors.

All the best for your preparation and IAS exam. But you should not be heartbroken if you are not able to clear the UPSC exam as life definitely has other really good plans for you.

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