Chaitanya Reddy AIR-161 UPSC CSE 2021 Complete STRATEGY with Anthropology Optional
Hello everyone,
I am Bokka Chaitanya Reddy, secured AIR 161 in CSE 2021.
6 years of journey, 6 attempts, 3 mains, and 1 personality Test - It was a long journey of ups and downs, trial and errors, mistakes and corrective actions, and most importantly a journey of patience and persistence. Also a risky task of managing preparation along with job (as Assistant Engineer under Telangana Irrigation dept from past 6 years)
I am here to share my long journey, especially my mistakes, and my learnings so that it helps the aspirants, more specifically boosts the confidence of multiple attempters. In my preparation journey, I have relied heavily on toppers' copies, their notes, talks, etc. So this, I feel, is a part of the giving back mechanism.
My Preparation Journey:
Few imp points:
1). The 3 important guides:
- PYQP - helps understand what topics we need to focus on based on the cost-benefit ratio.
- SYLLABUS - it is important to make notes for mains based on SYLLABUS pointers rather than spending energy on reading books cover to cover
- TOPPERS’ COPIES - helps us to understand what are we lagging at. Also times it helps us extract some good points, diagrams, intros, etc which gives value addition to our answers Aiming at writing perfect answers can be disastrous. Remember we always have a time constraint in exams. It's a tussle between content quality & time and none of the two must take the upper hand.
2). LIMIT the resources. It is absolutely a must-do thing.
3). REVISE - find your unique ways of revision. It can be explaining it to someone, asking questions, recording a voice note (not that you would listen to it later but it gives more clarity on any concept while saying), flashcards, Mnemonics etc.
All throughout I have relied on certain Mnemonics which helped me to write answers quickly. I would soon bring out the compilation of MnemonICS so that it would help aspirants in quickly revising various topics (Book Name - MnemonICS Daddy)
I specifically made short flash cards for anthro which I used to post on this blog. It helped me revise topics quickly through the phone in the office during break times and on journeys.
My answer writing journey:
Overcoming the initial inertia:
My writing was very small initially such that I was writing entire 150 words on a single side of the paper. It consumed a lot of time too. It is the toppers' copies that came to the rescue. They made me realise that I have to improve the size of my handwriting and also helped me understand the structuring part.
Writing a full-length paper was a nightmare in the initial days. TLP platform of IAS baba enabled me to take that little steps towards answer writing. I used to regularly write 5 questions daily on the TLP platform. It increased the ease of answer writing.
For the first few months, I focussed on content rather than time so as get habituated to answer writing. Later I started focussing on time.
Improving the content & structure:
Feedback from evaluators + toppers copies + brainstorming + practice…… enabled me to improve my answer writing to a major extent
A few tips that I have learned from the above were -
Imagine yourself as an evaluator. How monotonous and boring it could be for him/her to continuously correct 20 long answers multiple times in a day. So make your answer attractive by Dividing the question into various subheads writing answers in Bullet points and very concisely with keywords - For each point, one line should be a norm and two lines is an exception. This enables to cover multiple dimensions in short time use of data points, examples, articles, committees, diagrams, flow charts to break the monotony and catch the attention of the evaluator
Paper-wise strategy:
Essay:
Started by reading Anudeep Durishetty sir’s mock essay tests + Smriti shah ma’am’s video on YouTube on essay writing.
Focussed on Intros - collected intros from various sources- toppers copies, Ncerts, Mahabharata, newspapers, movies, etc.
Collected quotes from various sources including google & toppers notes.
Joined the Deeksha test series by Kalyan sir where I used to write one essay every Saturday between prelims & mains in my 2021 attempt. It gave that ease in essay writing, particularly the philosophical essays.
My essay scores in 3 mains - 119, 129, 125
GS-1:
Art & culture: focused majorly on architecture part, Bhakti movement, etc [for rest relied on my prelims knowledge]
Modern India: made notes on major mains oriented topics [like various movements, etc] from the spectrum and Insights test series
Post Independence- didn't study much as the cost-benefit ratio is less. Relied on my previous knowledge based on India since Independence NCERT
World History- Bhavesh Agarwal notes is excellent & concise
Geography- for this prelims knowledge is not sufficient. I have thoroughly analyzed PYQP and noted important areas like water resources, industry location factors, etc. made notes by solving PYQP
Society- made notes for each important topic in syllabus like Globalisation, woman issues, etc from google, toppers copies, test series answers, and vision mains 365. The use of SDGs and schemes in conclusions could fetch some additional marks
GS-2:
My score in the 2021 attempt was 115 despite leaving one and a half 10 markers (IR questions). I felt most of the polity and governance questions were very much doable by solving PYQP as the questions like SHGs, NGOs, parliamentary inefficiency, e-governance, etc are most repeated
I have made exhaustive notes topic-wise after analyzing PYQP
Memorized relevant articles to use in intros
Intros- use preamble, DPSP, articles
Conclusions- use ARC report names (only names, I didn't much read any of them except the 4th report on ethics), use committee names, etc
IR - made notes from mains 365 + Dipin sir's current affairs notes
GS-3:
My scores in 3 mains were less in GS3….. but the following tips can be helpful
Economy- Focussed more on agriculture topic. Made notes on Agri with fixed intros, some diagrams, and some data points. [Eg: Intro for livestock- India is the highest livestock owner in the world(15%). It employs 8.8% population & contributes to 34% of Agri GDP]. Also some points from M.S Swaminathan & Ashok Dalwai committee report etc. For other economy-related topics, I have relied on Mrunal Sir's handouts and test series answers + Mains 365.
Envi- Focussed on imp topics in Mains 365
Disaster Management- one-time effort for 2 days in my 2nd mains attempt where I made notes on each major disaster along with its effects and NDMA guidelines etc + Mains 365 envi
S&T- made notes on each imp technology from various sources like Mains 365 + google. Some fixed intros and conclusions. E.g Vikram Sarabhai- "we must be second to none in using technology in solving problems of humanity"
Internal Security- relied completely on Mains 365
GS-4:
Started with anudeep durishetty sir's mock test papers
Followed Mudit Jain Sirs' book as a major source. Googled some examples and quotes on each keyword
This being the lengthiest paper practice is the most important aspect. The more the tests you write higher the marks you get.
Give equal emphasis on both Part A & Part B. Give equal time for each case study [this is the blunder that I did in my 2021 mains where I spent 20-25 minutes on first case study which impacted the quality of my last 2 case studies]. I scored 105 in GS-4 in 2021. Most of it was due to better work at Part A.
I would here suggest my friend's strategy who scored well in Ethics
Solve 6 yrs PYQP - It gives ease + ensures better time management + most case studies are repeated + some statements/ quotes from these questions can be used in our answers
Use Quotes more - specifically Sanskrit quotes
In Case studies - we can start with DPSP, Preamble, committees, etc (Vishaka Yadav Ma'ams strategy)
For quote-based questions write it under various subheadings like- its relevance for common man, its relevance for civil servant, etc.
Anthropology
basic coaching from Brain tree- Kartic Sir
Test series from L2A, Levelup( karandeep sir), and Vivekananda sir in 3 Mains attempts respectively
Resources:
Brain Tree material
Anthropology Demystified by Akshat Jain
Anthropology Simplified by Vivek Bhasme
Examples from google
Value addition from test series and toppers' copies [N.Lakshmi, Bairy Ruthvik] & test series
I have initially written 2-3 questions daily under karandeep sirs tg answer writing group. I didn't focus on time here but focused only on content building
For paper 1 made notes from Brain tree, Vivek Bhasme, and Akshat Jain sirs' material (little add-ons from ember and ember, test series material); the Archeology part was excellently simplified in Akshat Jain Sir's book
For paper 2 I have used Akshat Jain Sir's book as the main source and added examples from google
Topper's Copies helped greatly to understand the structuring of answers. For Example- N.Lakshmi
Ma'am's copies enabled me to understand the importance of examples. Copies of Bairy Ruthvik made me realize the importance of starting most of the answers with thinkers' names.
Use of flashcards was helpful in revising various topics
So this is the Gist of my preparation Journey. I would post my notes, test series, and other material on this blog. Luckily I scored 201 in my interview this year. I would soon share analysis of what helped me in my interview. I would also be happy to share some psychological aspects of this exam that helped me cope with the ups and downs in this long journey.
All the Best! You will do it.