The Prelims Day!

This post will walk you through my experience of the Prelims and what goes on in the mind of an aspirant that day. I will also talk about the major takeaways and tricks to maximize your score through examples from 2020 prelims paper.  

So the much awaited Prelims had finally arrived on October 4, 2020 after getting postponed due to the first wave of COVID in our Country. Like everyone else, I too was somewhat skeptical and scared of a mass gathering at an exam center. Nonetheless, I went to take the exam after almost a month of intensive revision exercise and some 5-6 full length mock tests. I was feeling confident because of multiple revision of static sources and PT 365 Vision current affairs. 

The Mindset 

Recalling my risk aversive attitude in the last two prelims, this time I was mentally preparing myself for a relatively more risk taking experience. By this I mean attempting more number of questions using educated guessing, smartly eliminating options, general background knowledge and most importantly, common sense. 

I had observed in the mock tests that I am able to score better when I attempt more than 90 questions. The basic thing is the math, you get plus 2 on a correct answer and  minus 0.67 on a wrong answer. If you do the guess work in let's say 20 questions and suppose you only get 8 correct but 12 incorrect, yet you score a net positive of 8 marks. And remember, every single mark counts! 

Second thing that I did was to ready myself to face the surprises which was to come in the paper. This is inevitable because none of us can predict what is going to come in the paper but we definitely can be mentally ready for such surprises. In fact, one of the roles of full length mock tests is the same. 

When I got the question paper, it was Set B  and had science & tech questions in the beginning. I felt comfortable in it so I started with 1st question itself. This way I did first 50 questions and then I came across some difficult questions which made me anxious so I jumped to Q75 and did till 100. After that I came back to Q 51 and did till Q74. This first round took me around 1 hour 20 minutes where my focus was on quickly going through all the questions at least once. 

While doing the paper I used to eliminate the options and write how many have I eliminated. For example: If I know a question for sure, I used to tick the answer and move to next Question. If I don't know the answer and have been able to eliminate only 1 option, I would write 1 there, then do the guess work to tick a probable answer. If I have been able to eliminate 2 options then I would write 2 there, do the guess work and tick a probable answer. If I have no clue at all about a question, then I would think if my common sense, background knowledge indicates me to an option, if not then will leave the question. This way I utilized my next 30 minutes in revisiting only those questions where I had no idea or was able to eliminate only 1 or 2 option. I had the habit of marking bubbles in the end, so I did it when 15 minutes were left. After that I marked 3-4 questions more and bubbled it. 

This way I attempted 96 questions in the paper and got 106.80 marks in it (the cutoff went around 92 marks). 

Key points:

1. Don't look at fellow candidates around you in the exam hall. Someone may look nervous or serious and you may take the impression that paper is difficult and hence might panic or get anxious attempt. This might not go in your favor.

2. When paper is handed over to you, see the questions and if you feel that you are not very comfortable with initial few questions, you may jump to Q25 or Q 50 or Q75. This was you will be able to keep track of time and remaining questions. 

3. Use your common sense to your fullest advantage. Believe me, its immensely helpful.

Understanding the nerve of Prelims through some examples

Type 1: Kinds of questions that you should be able to do from knowledge of Standard sources (which most serious aspirants would get right).

This is very clearly there in Bipin Chandra and Spectrum. These are the kind of questions which you must get right as well as do it within seconds.

Very clear in Laxmikanth and Indian Constitution at work.

Very clearly in Sri Ram IAS Economy book.

Very clear in Shankar IAS Environment book.

Type 2: Conceptual questions which demand your complete mental alertness

This requires understanding about how global financial crisis spreads, the channels and vulnerabilities.

It requires the concept of market instruments to be clear.

Type 3: Eliminating that one obvious wrong statement to reach the final answer.

In this question, if you see the keyword 'present state of development' and 'effectively' ,  then read statements, then you will realize that 5th statement is not correct. Eliminating that gives you the answer.

Here if you are able to appreciate that statement 2 is an extreme statement unlikely to be correct, eliminating this gives the final answer. 

If you are able to eliminate option 2  based on our basic knowledge of Biology then you reach the final answer. 

Type 4: Eliminating two options and then taking educated guess or risk.

In this Q, i knew that statement 3 is wrong based on what i had read in current affairs but that was not sufficient as i was still left with two probable answers. Having read statement 4, my judgement went with option d as final answer.

Clearly statement 1 is wrong as Urea price is still controlled by govt, so eliminating the two options i found that statement 2 and 3 are both correct, hence reached the final answer.

I was able to recall that Dwarasamudra is somewhere further south of Maharashtra but was not able to recall the name Halebid. so eliminated two options.My hunch said Girinagar Gujrat match must be correct, so went with first option as final.

Type 5: Questions that can be solved by Common sense.

Notice that statement 1 is about education which is a separate matter whereas statement 2 and 3 are related to each other- age of consent, conjugal rights.  So, my common sense pushed me to go with option B. 

Type 6: Questions which are genuinely difficult and you need not change your strategy or sources solely based on them.

Options have made this question difficult. 

 

Again, it is the options and the details which make it difficult.

Option 4 has made it difficult, guess work also didn't work.

Don't forget the General Studies Paper II

While we talk at length about the 'General Studies Paper I' of the prelims day, let's not forget the 'General Studies Paper II' which is the aptitude paper that tests basic Maths, reasoning and English language skills of a candidate. Generally, my approach has been to do the entire English portion in the first hour with a very calm mind and then picking easy looking Maths and Reasoning questions as much as possible till the second hour ends. Doing Maths and Reasoning becomes increasingly important given the increasing difficulty level of this paper. Practicing past year question papers for English, Reasoning part and taking note of important formulae for Maths is sufficient to sail through it successfully. 

My next post will talk about preparing for the 'Marathon Mains'.