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Interview - transcript and experience by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, UPSC CSE 2019)

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This post is to share my experience about the interview process. Our mains result was declared on 14th January 2020 and till then I had not taken any extra preparation ( since the Mains result) for interview apart from reading and analysing the newspaper( The Indian Express) , listening to rstv debates and reading some non fiction books . I was also going through a difficult phase of my career wherein I had decided to resign from my then job and look for another back up option. In the meantime we had to fill the DAF part 2 ( hobbies , achievements , service and cadre preference etc). All these are very important steps and one cannot afford to make mistakes here. So I went through some youtube videos of Dr. Vikas Divyakirti , Anul Swarup and several others to listen to their opinions on the interview process and daf filling. After finalising on the DAF, I started my interview preparation with analysing the daf and making questions from it. ( Like those based on my city, state, educati...
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Mains- Optional Strategy ( Electrical Engineering) by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, UPSC CSE 2019)

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 This post is to discuss about my tryst with the optional paper and my detailed strategy with respect to the Electrical Engineering Paper.  Choosing the optional  We need to view optional as an open field which UPSC has provided to us to so that we can mould our preparation to our ease. So it is advisable that we look beyond the myths and make a matured decision. If you see the selection list you will find that it is possible to clear this exam with every optional ( Humanities, Literature, Science, Technical subjects ) . Yes, there are some optionals which finds a good number of selected candidates every year. Yes, there are some optionals which give exceptional scores , say above 320 . But extrapolating these general statistics to one's individual exam strategy needs a rethink  ! To simplify this process , lets look at the factors ( not exhaustive) you should consider while choosing optional  1) Interest :- one's inclination and curiosity towards a subject . ...
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Mains - Tackling GS1, GS2, GS3 Strategy by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, CSE 2019)

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 This post will give you an idea of my journey in the post prelims phase with respect to the 3 GS papers. As told earlier, I had not done answer writing practice before prelims. Though I had seen some websites and youtube videos , that one HAS to do lots of  answer writing practice for mains ! As per several toppers talks, I had planned to write 6 to 7 answers everyday after getting back from office and would continue this rigorously till Mains exam. However, t his approach appeared very confusing to me .  The questions that came up were :- 1) What is the point of sitting and mechanically writing answers to random questions daily ..how would i remember what I wrote , say 30 days down the line ? 2) How would i revise the new things that i learnt and things learnt before ..how would I rectify my mistakes ? 3) How would I know what to write in what subject if I randomly write answers to all the GS papers together..how would i make a mental map of things I should and should ...
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Sources , Notemaking and Revising - Strategy by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, UPSC 2019)

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This post will give full details about my preparation for the GS block of both prelims and mains. I followed a layered approach and tried to visualize the entire prelims, all 4 GS papers and essay as a single entity ( remember Pangaea ? 😛) ..This approach was followed by me from May 2018 to Feb 2019.   Phase 1 ( Building Blocks)  1) Geography :-  Class 11 and 12 ncerts ...did Physical ( India and world together) first and then Human and Economic ( India and world) . Also watched Amit Sengupta Sir 's youtube videos to break the  monotony . Made short summary notes in my copy. If the book is of 150 pages, i tried to keep my notes limited to 20 pages.  I found this a good way to tackle all the Ncerts . One has to do numerous ncerts and sometimes same things are repeated across books and across chapters.  So better prepare consolidated notes on your own one time and revise later only from the notes   ( no need to open the book again and again). A...
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Current Affairs - Strategy by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, UPSC CSE 2019)

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 The word " Current Affairs ( CA) " always brings a dose of uncertainty and incompleteness in any aspirants journey. Common questions which come to our minds are :- 1) Should I read the newspaper? If yes how to read, which one to read ? 2) Should I make notes from newspaper ? If yes, how ? 3) Should I follow the online websites and daily news analysis videos for current affairs ? If yes, how and which ones ? 4) Can i skip everything and only rely on the monthly current affair PDFs ?  5) When do I start reading CA..present ones  or since the ones 1 or 2 years  back  ?  6) How much of CA is actually asked in the exam ? How to use them in answers ?  Hope you can get answers to these questions through my strategy but before that, it is important we understand the correct approach behind CA. CA is not a separate subject which can be learnt just by watching some videos or reading some books before the exam. It is a continous and organic endeavour . It is in...
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Prelims - learnings from the D day by Neha Banerjee( AIR 20, CSE 2019)

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This post will walk you through the real experience of the prelims along with the general points one should keep in mind before and during the exam. It will also have a detailed discussion on various hacks that can be used to arrive at the correct answer and thus score high marks.  Real Experience of the D day The day was 2nd June 2019 and my exam centre was somewhere around 25 km from my residence. The summer heat was absolutely scorching and I barely managed to sleep the night before ( it is highly advised to get a good sleep before Prelims). A small advise to future aspirants would be to visit the exam centre well before the exam in order to avoid last minute worries. I avoided last minute revisions and tried to keep myself as calm as possible before the exam. Unlike any board/university exam , one can never accurately anticipate the questions to be asked in the exam. So your mind needs to be open enough to face diverse questions from diverse topics. If you are too stressed out ...
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Prelims - My Strategy till the D Day by Neha Banerjee ( AIR 20, CSE 2019)

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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 :- ...
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