Shaurya Arora Strategy for Prelims

There are a few thumb rules for Prelims:

Firstly - Basic sources; maximum revision. There is no need to study 10 different books on history to just solve 1 difficult question. If a question is tough, it'll be tough for all. In most cases it has also been seen that tough questions can be solved by simple application of mind via common sense and logic as well, even if complete factual knowledge is not known to the aspirant. Therefore instead of running after multiple sources, it is advisable to work on the fewer basic sources and ensure they are fully internalized. This will ensure consistency with respect to the low hanging fruits. If a very tough question comes - it will be tough for everyone (remember that 99% of all the aspirants are reading the same basic resources as you)

Secondly - Common sense and logic are your best friends. UPSC always gives subtle hints and provides scope for application of mind in the questions.

Thirdly - PYQ's are the most important for your preparation. PYQ Analysis has to be done on a war footing and with utmost priority and seriousness. Not just analyzing the question and options from a content point of view, but also deeply spending time understanding the themes patterns heuristics.

After being unable to clear prelims in my first attempt - I spoke to many seniors and watched many strategy videos of toppers who were consistently clearing the Forest cutoff comfortably -- one thing stood out very clearly - PYQ PYQ and PYQ (not just from a content point of view but also analyzing the heuristics).

Takeaways:

The toppers who get 140-150 in prelims are not getting it based on only knowledge alone. They use Heuristics and intuition (pattern recognition) which is based on analyzing the PYQ's again and again not only from a content/knowledge point of view, but also from themes/patterns/heuristics point of view. (Note: This is not Blind Guessing)

There are various patterns, themes and heuristics in the prelims paper which repeat year on year.

Disclaimer 1 - No blind guessing!!! There is a huge difference between Blind Guessing and Heuristics. Heuristics are completely based on logic and repeated themes and patterns which are fully based on PYQ Analysis. Anyone teaching blind guessing and blind tricks without any underlying logic or foundation is completely wrong. Please refrain from Blind guessing and illogical tips and tricks. Heuristics are to be completely logical themes and patterns based on multiple iterations of PYQ Analysis.

Disclaimer 2 - Always our first line of attack must be out core knowledge, then secondly comes logic and common sense and lastly Heuristics. We should not use heuristics in the first go, these are only to be used for tough questions and in situations where we are stuck in a 50-50 situation. Remember that Heuristics are of no use without basic static knowledge and simple common sense. 70% will be knowledge, 20% will be Logic/Common sense and last 10% only will be themes/patterns/Heuristics from the PYQ's

The best way to analyze the PYQs are to print them year-wise by downloading them from the official UPSC website and then marking the correct answers using the official answer key (answer keys of coaching institres are many times wrong).

The next step is to start iterating the question paper from Q1 to Q100 sequence wise and circling, underlining and annotating any discoveries you make with a pencil.

The first few iterations will be slow and difficult, but slowly you will start identifying heuristics.

Some forms of analyzing PYQ's include categorizing the options into Generic, Wide, Specific, Niche, etc.

We should also analyze the language of the question, option, and the option editing and also try to understand the mindset of the examiner and what type/style of options are correct/incorrect. We should analyze the language in detail and also understand how the examiner would've framed the question, done the research, and created 1 correct option and made 3 options incorrect. For example, to make an incorrect option, either a proper noun/fact has to be swapped in the option, or a completely new made-up statement has to be made.

Options should also be analyzed and seen which are simple, direct, straightforward like a definition vs "made up options" by the examiner using his/her imagination.

Also we should try to identify those options which seem to be directly taken and copy-pasted from a textbook directly

Some examples below of observations from PYQ's

Q - [Prelims 2019] Why is there concern of microbeads

A - "they are considered harmful to the environment" - This option is the most wide and all-encompassing

Q - [Prelims 2020] Vital Vidhvansak was published by

A - "Gopal Baba Walangkar" - this option is the odd one out

(for another example - https://youtube.com/shorts/5hdJ8-i3esI?si=hR6UD7S0TrJKM2-f)

Q - [Prelims 2023] Practice of “Vattakirutal” as mentioned in Sangam poems?

A - "A king defeated in a battle committing ritual suicide by starving himself to death" - the other options seem to be made up by the examiner whereas this option seems to be bookish and directly copy-pasted from a textbook. It is very difficult for the examiner to make up this option by himself using his/her own imagination.

Q - [Prelims 2022] Biorock Technology

A - Restoration of damaged coral reefs - UPSC examiner often likes repeating his/her favourite topics/themes (here it is corals)

I used the following free sources to help me understand how to get started with PYQ analysis. Ultimately one has to do the hardwork themselves, but the following sources helped me get started.

1. Neil sir's 2022 PYQ Sherlocking Analysis - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFrAJkEb21AxhiGOclOAaJn_vUOqsfecv&si=hszQsslobC7QB-pz

[I was also part of Neil sir's channel (https://t.me/Neil_You) and community group (https://t.me/UPSCneil) from which I greatly benefitted]

2. https://www.insightsonindia.com/2018/05/16/intelligent-guessing-upsc-civil-services-prelims/

3. Anatomy of Prelims documents by ConvertIAS (shared below)

4. https://abhijeetsinhaupsc.wordpress.com/2018/05/16/a-different-prelims-strategy/

5. https://www.clearias.com/intelligent-elimination-techniques/

6. Documents shared by IFS Anupam Sharma sir (Shared below) (his channel - https://t.me/UPSC_CSE_IFS_Prelims_Tips_Tricks)

7. Vikas Thakur sir YouTube Channel (https://www.youtube.com/@CSEmatrix)

10. Hardworking Human (IAS Manish Kumar) Golden Rules on YouTube (very selectively)

11. The Professor UPSC YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@theprofessor196

Concluding Pointers for Prelims:

Gut feeling and intuition is nothing but pattern recognition which comes by multiple iterative analysis of the PYQs

Marks in mock tests don't matter - 60,70,80 marks are normal range, use mocks only for practicing time management and building content

for prelims - try to increase peripheral knowledge rather than going too deep in specific subjects

For prelims - mindset is the most important !!

60% of the game is calmness and confidence on the day of the exam - no point having all the knowledge if we cant apply it.

Thus prepare your mindset - this is the most important --> Calmness and Confidence are the keywords.

Prelims - smart work is most important - if the solution is complicated, you are probably doing it wrong.

Finally recall the two disclaimers I gave above - I'll repeat them here again:

Disclaimer 1 - No blind guessing!!! There is a huge difference between Blind Guessing and Heuristics. Heuristics are completely based on logic and repeated themes and patterns which are fully based on PYQ Analysis. Anyone teaching blind guessing and blind tricks without any underlying logic or foundation is completely wrong. Please refrain from Blind guessing and illogical tips and tricks. Heuristics are to be completely logical themes and patterns based on multiple iterations of PYQ Analysis.

Disclaimer 2 - Always our first line of attack must be out core knowledge, then secondly comes logic and common sense and lastly Heuristics. We should not use heuristics in the first go, these are only to be used for tough questions and in situations where we are stuck in a 50-50 situation. Remember that Heuristics are of no use without basic static knowledge and simple common sense. 70% will be knowledge, 20% will be Logic/Common sense and last 10% only will be themes/patterns/Heuristics from the PYQ's

PS - For revision, I also used OnlyIAS Udaan booklets (especially for Environment, Science & Tech and Polity). Make sure to use the 2021 edition. These are like miniaturized versions of the static textbooks such as ShankarIAS and Laxmikanth.

Moreover, for Geography, the slides prepared by Rajtanil Solanki ma'am are very nice (these slides are freely available on Mrunal sir's website)

Folder - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1w1kparhFvyiyyfUGCbMgoIGQVuYYaD1C?usp=drive_link

For Ancient, Medieval and Art & Culture - Poonam Dalal Dahiya ma'ams book (McGraw Hill) is the best and was my one stop solution.

For Economics, I used the book by Sanjiv Verma.

For mapping - the Sunya mapping book is very nice and is very detailed as well. (Note that this Sunya mapping book is different from the Sunya mapping PDF available online)

Link - (https://bookstation.in/products/6b0f5312-20ef-4460-a88a-31422d640b9f)