UPSC IAS IPS Strategy IntroFive Part article series on How to approach UPSC Civil Service IAS/IPS Exam: Prelims, Mains and Interview
BooksTips on Notes-making, Standard reference books, Yojana Kurukshetra etc. Explained here
Prelim-Mains-InterviewDetailed Strategy for General Studies, science-tech, yearbook, economy, history, polity, IR-Diplomacy with booklist, free study material given here.
DoubtsBasic doubts regarding Coaching, Working professional, time Management and Non-English medium
BackupSome guidelines for adopting career backup plans incase you can't make it to UPSC
SSC CGL
GK / GAHow to approach General Awareness for Tier-I, explained here with free study material download.
MathsHow to approach Maths, Quantitative Aptitude, Trigonometry, Geometry for Tier I and II? To-the-point strategy n tips given here +free study material
ReasoningGeneral Intelligence and Logical reasoninig for Tier I of SSC-CGL exam: booklist, tips shared here.
EnglishHow to tackle vocabulary, grammar and comprehension for Tier I and II.
SBI PO
GA/Computer/Marketingstrategy booklist for approaching General Awareness, Computer, Marketing, Current Affairs in SBI PO 2013, includes free material as well!
Reasoning (High)strategy booklist for approaching Higher Level Reasoning in SBI PO 2013
English (Descriptive)strategy, free studymaterial, essay list for the SBI PO English MCQ and Descriptive paper! Others
CAT (IIM)Ragtag strategy on get 90+ percentile in CAT-prometric test.
LIC AAOStrategy for the upcoming LIC Assistant Administrative officers' exam with free studymaterial, jobprofile.
CSIRStudyplan + Free study material for CSIR combined Administrative services (CASE) exam
State PSCHow to approach RAS, MPSC etc explained here
CAPFHow to become an Assistant Commandant in BSF, CISF, CRPF: strategy, booklist, free studymaterial provided here.
RBIRBI Grade "B" Officer studyplan, strategy, booklist and free download material is provided here.
SPIPAFor getting admission in SPIPA, Ahmedabad, which provides free coaching for IAS exam.(Gujarat Only)
ACIOAssistant Central Intelligence Officer recruitment: booklist, strategy
UPSC tips
India Yearbookhow to efficiently utilize INDIA Yearbook for UPSC prelims, mains, interview= explained in this 6 part series article.
5 LevelsExplains five types of players in UPSC competition and why daydreamers fail in this exam.
100 DaysWhy you can't succeed with vague strategies in UPSC Prelims, explained here.
Newspaper?How to read The Hindu/Indianexpress quickly and efficiently in less than one hour for Current Affairs?, explained here.
Art of Aptitude?3 Cardinal Rules on How to approach Aptitude section in any competitive exam.
QuotesMotivational and inspirational quotes for competitive exams.
Essay Tips How *not* to write an Essay in UPSC Mains exam, explained here
IRHow to prepare India World + International relations (IR) topic, explained + free download material
StatApproach to Statistics and Graphs portion of General Studies Mains Paper II+free study material
R.T.IHow to file R.T.I application to UPSC? explained here
Analysis
CSAT'12Analysis of the GS-Prelims paper and how it broke the backs of Coaching classes.
GSM-12Analysis of the General Studies (Mains) Paper I and II of 2012 and how they (again) broke the backs of Coaching classes.
Edu Tech
Auto NoteMakerMrunal's Autonotemaker for quickly taking notes out of PDF files and Webarticles (Win XP only)
Hindu ReaderHow to use Google Reader to efficiently read The Hindu online, for Free!.
OneNoteLearn to use Microsoft Onenote software to organized your notes on computer, quickly and efficiently!
ArchiveMonthly Archive Index page of everything I've published so far. (In the old articles, ignore advice written before Jan 2012, because UPSC trend has changed a lot.)
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[Strategy] When should we stop consuming Latest Current Affairs for Given Exam?
Question from a reader
I am going to appear in 2012 exam. i would like to know what is the ideal time we should stop consuming new developments/currents?
To answer this question, let me share an anecdote with you.
Date: 24 October 2009 Saturday,
Location: Polytechnic College, Ahmadabad.
Activity: Writing My Death-warrant Essay (Mains) Paper for 2009.
One of the essay was “Are we a Soft state?”
I attempted this Essay, just like many other candidates because other essays were quite tough compared to this one!
Here is the interesting part, same-day 24 October 2009, Front page news item in Indian Express (which I didnot read before going to the exam-hall):
“Bengal cites Rubaiya, IC-814 to justify its Prisoner-swap deal with Maoists“
I’m copy-pasting a part of it:
…….Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen justified the decision by saying
“When a plane was hijacked (read Kandahar incident) three terrorists had to be released to get the passengers back. It happened in Kashmir, too (in the Rubaiya case). India is a soft state. We have seen these instances earlier in the 60 years since Independence. There is a difference between the Indian government and the Government of Israel. We cannot do what they can do! The decision of not talking to the Maoists unless they eschewed violence
is a long-term process but when you are placed in such a situation you
have to make a compromise. “The government had to bend over backwards because it did not want to risk the life of the police officer.”
“
Read his ^statement again with emphasis on the words highlighted in RED, there is plenty of “Fodder-material”, you start brainstorming on his statement and will get multiple viewpoints and examples to write a lengthy and decent essay on “Are we a soft state”.
Ofcourse UPSC didnot ask the “Soft State” Essay from the morning newspaper on the same day, they would have printed the questionpapers days before the actual exam!
Anyways I wrote a not-so-good quality essay with not-enough viewpoints
or examples. Came back home that evening, saw the newspaper, was completely shocked.
Had I read the morning newspaper on the Essay-exam day, I could have wrote a way better essay incorporating decent points such as: Kandhahar, Rubaiya Sayeed, Israel: Munich Massacre and this W.Bengal prisoner-swap deal itself.
I’m a regular reader of Indian Express otherwise, but just on that unfortunate morning, I didn’t read it thinking “thik hai yaar Essay mein kya current affairs dekhnaa hai?!”
Epilogue
Only 20/200 marks in Essay,
Rejected for interview call,
Entire year of preparation wasted,
Looking back with regret,
Should have read the newspaper that morning.
All of you are intelligent enough to get the Moral of this story,
and the answer of this question,
When should we stop consuming new developments/currents affairs?
Related to This
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Essay Trend Analysis of from 1993 to 2011 for UPSC IAS Mains Exam
- How not to write an Essay in IAS Exam?
- Free Download All Issues of Frontline Magazine From 2009 to 2012
Previous Posts- [Job Profile] SSC-CGL: desk jobs, field jobs, CSS, Assistant, auditors, inspectors: income tax, excise, preventive officer: promotion, posting, job profiles
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- [Tech] How to read The Hindu Online, Efficiently via Google Reader
- [Tech] Mrunal’s Auto NoteMaker for The Hindu & PDF files: Grab Data by Mouse, Make Notes without typing!
- [Tips] Yojana and Kurukshetra: How to use them for UPSC preparation without wasting time?
- [Tips] Nine Types of Questions in UPSC Mains Exam: How to write answers?
- [Q] How to buy Authentic IGNOU booklets in Hardcopy (Printed / Paper format)?
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- [Strategy] Five Rules: How to prepare for UPSC without leaving job?
- [Strategy & Studyplan] Public Administration Mains Paper 1 & 2 (Hindi / English) for UPSC IAS Exam Recommend Booklist
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great brother, u have just opened my eyes wide.
Thanks Mrunal :)
thanks mrunal bhai.your way of telling things is great. i am amazed why you are not an selected candidate till today.your explanation of econimcs concept is ………….bas kya kahu………GAZAB.
thanks mrunal sir:-)
u r a frnd, philosopher and guide for me.
i like self study only, i dnt prefer any coaching class…
God bless u with lots of success and fame!!!1
dats ws a nice answer, but only respective to Essay…
to be more specific, when to stop attending to daily call of newspaper just before pre…???
thnx a lot, sir…
but to be more specific when to stop attending calls from daily news just before pre….???
i got 160 n belong to obc in 2012 cse is there any chance to qualify
u r really the god’s gift 4 us
u r really the god’s gift 4 us
ap bhagwan ka roop h..
hi mrunal, firstly thanks for your economics posts.and im also from that great pharmacy background. i have a doubt regarding from ven to start reading newspapers is may to may in precise sufficient.
Ideally, You should start reading newspaper from tomorrow morning till the day you get selected.
Sooner you start, more fodder material you’ve, compared to others – for Essay and interview.
Hi brother dis s arun from a small city in karnataka…..i want to clear SPSC but due to some economic prob i am unable to go for classes…….i feel i can do prelims without ny coaching but i doubt of cracking mains…i wanna take pub ad n sociology as optionals…March 2013 is ma prelims exam…plz suggest me brother????
Mrunal, you are good in explaining. But more often than not, you are not straightforward. Also you like to beat around the bush too much. That’s why you are not selected. If a quesion is asked, provide answer like an administrator. Be definite. If you want to say : “read paper till last day” then say it clearly. One more thing for aspirants. Since technology and communication (both physical and electronic) has improved, it may be expected that papers are set in real time and distributed around India. So it would be safe to be upto date with current affairs preceding 15 days of the examination.
Dear Mrunal
First of all thanks for the public service you are doing. Its commendable. I seriously think that you should be way above IAS, as this is very meagre a success for a person like you. You deserve alot more than a mere UPSC success. I have been at the LBSNAA for 5 years as my father was posted there. I am a mass communication post graduate n preparing fr civils. Although your thread rel to ‘no to coaching’ was pretty convincing but I still want to know that is coaching institutes like Vaji Ram & Ravi also not worth it? I seriously need guidance on Pub Ad n sme other subject tht dsnt take much time as I have to sit for UPSC2013. Please do respond
Dear Mrunal
First of all thanks for the public service you are doing. Its commendable. I seriously think that you should be way above IAS, as this is very meagre a success for a person like you. You deserve alot more than a mere UPSC success. I have been at the LBSNAA for 5 years as my father was posted there. I am a mass communication post graduate n preparing fr civils. Although your thread rel to ‘no to coaching’ was pretty convincing but I still want to know that is coaching institutes like Vaji Ram & Ravi also not worth it? I seriously need guidance on Pub Ad n sme other subject tht dsnt take much time as I have to sit for UPSC2013. Please do respond
Sir,
i am a B.com 1st year student and 18 years old. I want to prepare for IAS . could you please suggest me how to study and when should i start preparation.I have already started reading newspaper “The Hindu”and magazines – Pratiyogita Darpan,Competition success review,The week.