Pillars of UPSC GS Strategy:

Pillars of My GS Strategy:

Unveiling Topper's Copies: I analyzed successful candidates' answer copies, decoding their structure, presentation style, and effective incorporation of examples and diagrams. This approach provided insights on meeting the question's demands.

Facts at Fingertips: To enhance objectivity, I compiled a facts sheet encompassing diverse topics. Facts at one place prevented confusion during revisions and significantly improved my retention.

PYQ Analysis: Analyzing previous year's questions helped in identifying important topics and understanding the recurring nature of certain questions in the mains exam.

Ready-Made Introductions and Conclusions: I prepared a set of standard introductions and conclusions for recurring themes, taking help from toppers' notes and answer copies.

Selective Addition from Mains 365: I selectively incorporated valuable insights and revised essential current topics from Mains 365, enriching my understanding and broadening my knowledge base.

Concise Notes for Repeated Revision: I meticulously prepared concise notes on various topics, utilizing previous year toppers' notes as reference material. This approach facilitated multiple revision and reinforcement of crucial concepts.

Practice Makes Perfect: I dedicated considerable time to practicing GS test papers in simulated exam environments. Adhering to the 75:25 rule (75% practice and 25% content preparation) as my guiding principle.

My Experience: While covering a wide range of topic is important, what truly matters in the mains exam is ingraining that knowledge in one's memory to reproduce same in exam under pressure.

Remember, this strategy is not exhaustive or foolproof and may have its limitations. Given my time constraints due to my job and optional subject, I relied heavily on pre-prepared content, particularly toppers' notes. This approach yielded positive results for me in 2021 (GS score: 405) and 2022 (GS score: 407).