Prelims Strategy

Prelims Strategy

The heart of prelims preparation lies in deep analysis of PYQs (Previous Year Questions). It's not just about marking the right answer — you must thoroughly understand the solutions and related topics. Whether it’s a PYQ or a mock FLT (Full-Length Test), spend at least 4–5 hours per paper: 2 hours to solve, and 2–3 hours to dissect and analyse every option.

Here's how I approached it:

1. Core Focus: Economy, Polity, and Environment-Geography

I clubbed Environment and Geography because they heavily overlap in prelims. These three became my pillars.

2. Economy:

Source: Mrunal Sir's notes (skip Pillars 5 & 6 for prelims if needed).

Current Affairs: Mrunal’s WIN25CSP series on Unacademy (freely available with notes).

Yes, people call it lengthy, but smart filtering saves a lot of time.

3. Polity:

Source: Laxmikanth (the classic).

Approach: As Orwell said, "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." Similarly, some chapters — like Fundamental Rights, Parliament, and related ones — deserve extra attention.

Current Affairs: PT365 Polity compilation (once released).

4. Environment-Geography:

Source: PMFIAS PDF notes (short and crisp).

Current Affairs: PMFIAS monthly updates were game-changers for prelims 2022 & 2023.

Mapping: Use PMFIAS PDFs on continents and carefully revise the colorful maps.

Don't miss the IR (International Relations) section in their CA as well.

5. Agriculture:

Few questions, but important.

Source: PMFIAS crop PDFs + Agri Current Affairs notes.

6. Science & Tech:

No core notes — only current affairs-based preparation.

I mainly used PMFIAS CA, though Shivin Sir’s notes have also become valuable in the last two years.

7. History: (Stick to limited, high-yield resources)

Modern: Spectrum

Medieval: Vajiram Yellow Book

Ancient: RS Sharma (Old NCERT, not the Oxford version)

Art & Culture: Vision IAS class notes

8. Newspaper Reading:

I read The Indian Express daily.

Whenever I found something interesting, I took a screenshot. But even if you don’t maintain a repository, don’t worry — everything important will show up later in CA compilations.

9. Learning from Toppers:

Followed tips from Shubham Kumar (AIR 1, CSE 2020) — one of the few toppers who shared genuine, practical advice.

10. Test Series Strategy:

For my first attempt, I completed the full prelims test series of Vision IAS.

Targeted 65%+ accuracy and attempted around 85–90 questions.

This built a strong base for later attempts.

Golden Rule: If you can eliminate two options, attempt the question — don't skip it!