Divyanshu Nigam IAS AIR 44 UPSC CSE 2020 

Preparation Tips : 

1. Limited time make you prepare with efficiency and hence you’ll be more productive every day. Here comes the importance of strategy. 

2. Prioritise as per ROI (Return on Investment) — my priority — order of preparation

1. Polity

2. Environment

3. Geography (Mainly maps and places in news)

4. Modern India

5. Economy

6. Science and Technology

7. Art and Culture (not ancient history)

8. Medieval India

3. Divide Static-Current into 60-40 ratio … Don’t run mindlessly for Current Affairs. You won’t be able to ace that. 

4. PYQ are quintessential. Spend time with UPSC…make it your GF/BF…. The more time you spend with it, more you’ll get to know its thought process, mindset, option placement. So solving 2013 onwards PYQ is a must. Also I will recommend to NOT go for section wise segregated PYQ, rather attempt the paper directly as one, downloading it from UPSC site. The arrangement and order of questions is also important. 

5. Use your good mocks as learning and study material … especially for Environment and Current Affairs. Make one-liner notes from each test learnings.They are really helpful.

6. Follow Vision IAS Monthly and Vision PT-365 — here I won’t recommend any other as Vision has established its image in the market over the years and it has a decent standard…not too much and not too less (eg. Raus IAS is too much info…though the book is beautiful ?). Also remember this fact….always do that thing which everybody other is doing…you should not be missing those questions which others are doing correctly. 

7. For Geography — Focus extensively on Maps…even for National Parks,Wildlife sanctuaries. Use maps way too much…even for Art and Culture (like which art form where). Geography these days is mostly location based. 

8. Identify your weak area and put it in last priority stage (eg. for me it was Art and Culture). You have to play on your strength and on front-foot. So in your weakest area…the goal is to damage control…like don’t fall into too many negative marking there…a 0 is welcome here.

9. Revision and test paper are very important…don’t just keep studying all the time…recall what you’ve studied and your implementation of knowledge. 

10. Through Prelims, UPSC is selecting smart people (potential administrators), so you have to study smartly, not just hard. Here comes the importance of internet….use it extensively…don’t always refer the book…..google is far more efficient and informative…eg. you want to recall what are Emergency provisions in Constitution…directly google it and read with in a second of search. Remember service now require Tech-Savvy officers… Digital India is for a reason.