Prelims - My Strategy till the D Day by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, CSE 2019)

This post will specifically focus on my preparation strategy from March to May 2019 i.e. the time which I had set out for exclusive Prelims preparation. Just like any other serious aspirant, I had already done the basics of various subjects and revised them more or less from a combined perspective. So here I will detail out my way to revise those along with some Prelims specific requirements / test series etc.To the readers who will be attempting Prelims 2020 ( 4th October) , I request you to have faith in your preparation so far and not to drastically change your sources/ strategies based on whatever I list here or in any other topper's strategies.  However do absorb some relevant points as per your needs and requirements.

There were 2 parallel blocks during this phase . Block 1 ( Subject wise revision) and Block 2 ( Mock tests and practice mcqs) . They went on simultaneously and they were sometimes overlapping as well. 

Block 1 ( Revision) 

1 A) Current Affairs :- Till the month of February 2019 I used to read newspapers and document important editorials , daily current affairs from sources like Iasbaba, Insights ( posted publicly and free of cost in their respective websites)  etc in separate GS folders. ( These were all done selectively and irregularly except the newspapers).  Now from February end to March beginning I started revising them fully from Prelims perspective ( like focusing on MCQ relevant info and skipping the detailed ideas, philosophies, too much opinion based info) . Alongside I found the vision ias monthly current affair magazine posted publicly ( May 2018 onwards)  very helpful at this stage.  This went on for almost a month( till March end). After this I went for revising the static parts , but never lost touch with current affairs revision. Actually some of the static parts are revised through current topics also. Example :- to understand Operation Twist of RBI in current affairs, you need to brush up a bit on monetary policy. 

1 B) Subject wise plan :- From April onwards I took up each subject for 7 to 10 days for in depth revision with complete Prelims focus. These are detailed as follows :-

▪Geography and Environment:- Revised my notes from Ncerts,  Shankar ias , Shreyaa Sharma Mam's Unacademy free course and the related current affairs. Now the most important step  here is to paste the India and world maps on your wall and go through them so thoroughly so as to have a photographic memory of those in your brain. Example :- notice how Agartala is above Tropic of Cancer but Ranchi is slightly below, notice how Israel touches Red Sea , find out which countries are covered under Amazon rain forest , which states does River Godavari flow through etc. Also for revising the national parks, wild life sanctuaries,  biosphere reserves I came across this useful repository    (http://wiienvis.nic.in/Database/trd_8222.aspx)

For revising the international bodies , I went through the Insights Revision pdfs, Ias Parliament pdfs ( posted publicly)  selectively , both for Environment and International Relations ( to cover those not covered under current affairs) 

▪Science and Technology :- Revised the basics from ncert( though not much relevant nowadays). Focussed heavily on the current affairs like issues in gravitational waves, Space missions in India and the world , recent discoveries in biotechnology etc. Did not get time to go through Science monitor magazine or Rstv science Monitor show. Rather relied a lot on  common sense to attempt questions in this section

▪Polity :- As everyone knows , Laxmikanth is the only source here. But then what sets the difference ? Firstly, consistency in revision and learning from the questions given in the back of the book and your mock questions. Sometimes there are confusing questions . Example :- The President consults the CJI during transfer of any HC judge and not the other way round. Then the composition of constitutional and statuatory bodies may also be confusing if one is not  careful enough.  Apart from this also revised related current affairs again. 

▪Economy , Society and Government Schemes :- Mrunal Sir's youtube and website course was more than enough. But in this phase I focused mostly from prelims perspective ..example :- whether STT is a direct tax or not , difference among Payment Bank and Small Finance Bank, what is the  exact shareholding of government in  National Infrastructure Pipeline etc. For Government Schemes , I also referred to pt365 material to ensure not to miss out on anything. 

 ▪ History, Art and Culture :- For modern history part, Spectrum book is enough . Took help of the summaries given at the end of every chapter and some tables at the end of the book ( like Congress Presidents names in important sessions etc.) . For Ancient , Medieval , Art and Culture , I revised my notes from new ncerts , Unacademy free course ( Abhishek Srivastava Sir) and Nitin Singhania. This section is really very vast and the cost benefit ratio is also poor. 

Block 2 ( Test and Strategize) 

I referred to multiple mock tests before taking the actual exam. My sources were :-

1) Insights 75 days revision plan ( available publicly) .

 I had also purchased Insights online prelims test series around August 2018 , but could manage to do it properly only after March 2019.

2) Ias Baba 60 day plan ( available publicly)

3)  Mrunal Sir's T25 mcq program( available publicly 

4) Vision Ias Abhyas( purchased) ..gave 3 offline tests 

The above sources were covered selectively ( to the best I could) and I gave around 30 to 40 full tests before the exam. I usually gave tests from my phone at office during lunchtime,  commute , free time etc . However the analysis part ( the most important part) I did at home. I questioned myself whenever I made mistakes or guessed incorrectly and tried my best not to repeat those. I trained my mind how to apply common sense and come out of stressful situations ( as in most of the cases more than 50 percent questions were not known to me directly) . I got an idea of calculated risk taking ..( how many questions to attempt as per difficulty level ) . Moreover , whatever new facts I learned through the test series , I noted it down in a separate note book . 

This was my detailed strategy until the D day. But what exactly happened on the D day ? Coming up in the next post.