Hello Friends,
Congratulations to those who passed 2016 prelims and now preparing for the Main Exam coming up in December 2016.
Please note this is a big success you have and it is a big step in cracking IAS. It is like 50% of your job done. But there are still miles to go. Preparing for Main exam is a different ball game altogether. In Prelim, the preparation would have been basically – reading, analyzing and remembering facts and figures. Of course practicing mock test would have put you in a proper perspective and well equipped. Now that you are preparing for the main exam, please change your Strategy, but same focus, energy and discipline would be necessary. In my opinion basic study methods should be -
Number One -Practice writing of any topic or essay:
Please remember in the Main Exam, hundreds questions are to be answered only in 200 to 250 words and there's a limited time of 3 hours. Many students have passed the Prelim couple of times but when it came to Main, they could not make it. To my mind, the reasons are
i. They have not given as much importance to Main, as they did for Prelim.
ii. They have not studied an issue or topic in detail and in its overall totality.
iii. They have not analysed the issue in its basic elements. ie., they have not tested themselves, with the five W's of the topic, that is -
a. What.
b. Where.
c. When.
d. Why.
e. How
Therefore, practice writing of any topic or an issue you have read by incorporating above Ws,
Number Two- Systematic Steps:
For practicing Precis Writing, follow these steps.
A. Read a topic thoroughly once.
B. Go into contemplative mood and mentally masticate, churn and digest what you have read. In this state of mind, you will recall all important content in a classified way that is in terms of 5 w's. Do this as a mental exercise.
C. Immediately, get hold of your notebook and start writing down all important points again in a format of 5 w's.
D. Your job is not done yet for writing essay of this topic. Now, you start connecting all important points with - small introduction, then the main body of descriptive points, again well connected to each other
E. Then the conclusion. Here, basically you will analyse the issue or topic positively or negatively or in terms emphasis asked in the question. In the question, the emphasis could be on any one or two aspects of 5 Ws
Please note, in the written exam, you are assessed on what you write rather than what all you have read or understood yourself. What is expected in the Main written exam is - precise and focused answer. To achieve this you have to go through the above thought process and actual physical effort of writing practice.
I could realize and practice this when preparing our Audio Video Notes. Preparation of Video Notes involved preparation of PPTs where we need to important points in a emphatic manner. Describing and summarizing verbally a topic or an issue in an intereting manner will also help you. You may like to check our sample Audios-videos in our web site or in you tube.