Narayan Amit_AIR 70_CSE 2021

1 Be careful in units. Ex: Geostationary Orbit is 22,236 miles(not km)
2 Futuristic Technologies have good potential so wide range of possibilities and options can be correct.
3 Please just go through essence of Art 1-51A. Even if not word by word then at least essence of each article. As 3-4 questions are repeated every year from this part.
4 Be alert when asked if India is member of a certain group or not. Its a common way to trap students.
5 Generally questions about UDHR, all the statements are correct.
6 Etymology of Question can be used for answer. Ex: Mstripes for Tiger, Love story should have 2 names so Malvikaagnimitra and Hundi must have some relation to financial activities.
7 Imagine yourself in some situations. Ex: In Ocean Mean Temp question in 2020 one statement said it is 26 degrees at depth of 129m. Logically it must be much colder there so I eliminated the statement.
8 If you don’t know what things like Girardinia Diversifolia are better to skip. Such things backfire and are very risky bet. Wether it is invasive species, medicine or textile fibre(correct) only god knows.
9 Gandhiji approach to British is unique. Helped them during Boer War and WW2 due to value based ethics. Gandhiji is one the most complex political thinkers of our times. So be careful. Much much more than Satya and Ahimsa.
10 Contemporaries are generally incorrectly paired. I have seen this in few questions. Ex: Did Akbar and Saint Dadu Dayal live in same time period(No)
11 If you know which body published which report then attempt it. Otherwise it is very risky to mark.
12 Some species of turtles are herbivores type statements are generally found to be correct.
13 In some question when 2 organisations are mentioned then the contents are flipped. Ex: UN Convention against Corruption and UNTOC in 2019. So keep an eye.

After careful observation of several year prelims papers I have the following observations. These are my personal observations(many may disagree with the reasoning used; that’s alright with me) and follow at your own risk. I make no guarantee of the trend holding in the future. This is ultra-risky if you don’t know what you are doing. So here they are:
1) If options says ‘xyz’ steadily increasing from year 2016-2020, it means that each year it increased continuously(7599102114125). But if even in 1 year it decreased then it is not steadily increasing(759988114125). Here while from 20162020 the data has increased from 75125 but still since in 2018 the value decreased from 9988 it can’t be called as steadily increasing. Usually in 10-20 year period very few data are steadily increasing so such statements are generally incorrect.
2) S&T Question many times answer is D/All of above(Nowadays backfiring). But my say is how will you know what is exact interpretation taken by UPSC. Still D seems to be safest option. Also does anyone have courage to not mark D even when it’s remotely plausibly.
3) The straightforward answer is many times the correct answer. Ex: What is biggest threat of black money? Not land buying or gold; these are infact subsets of tax evasion which is correct answer.
4) Logical, Simple, Non-Controversial statements are generally right. Ex: Water Credit Initiative helps poor people meet their water needs without subsidy. Here this option is in consonance with the name of the organization aswell as other options in the question.
5) Be careful if the name of the organization has been changed. It is common way to make statement incorrect. Ex: UNICEF and UNESCO. Here you should become alert.
6) I have noticed that more times than not the Motto of Event(Olympics) & Endemicity of Species are incorrect options.
7) Generally a Council is headed by a Minister while Committee or Board is headed by a Civil Servant.

Will add more soon friends. Takes me a lot of contemplation and verification to frame these points.

Observations on Interview Day

Came to Delhi on Monday. Took ample rest and got in the mental frame of mind for an interview. Somehow even after realizing that good night sleep is not essential before the ‘D day’ and also mastering the art of sleeping in high tense situations, I still couldn’t sleep well before the interview.

I went for a walk on the day of the interview. Got back and started dressing up. Then went at 8.50 am to the UPSC building. Did the required paperwork superfast. This time it was in the central circular dome with round waiting table for each of the boards. Read 3 newspapers(I haven’t read so many in some time). I asked the peon which board it was to which he told me TCA Anant. I was very happy to be honest. Then at 10.50am the peon came and took me outside the board room. Then my life started.

After coming out, I collected my stuff. Then after collecting my TA, went home. Then started the analysis, recall and discussion with people who matter to me.

Interview Transcript

Chairman: TCA Anant
Date: 19th May, 2022
Session: Forenoon; 3rd/6th to go in;
Time: 11.10-11.40am;
Graduation: Chemical Engineering, IIT Kanpur
Hobbies: Cricket, OTT Platforms
Work Experience: Nomura Structured Finance
Optional: Anthropology
Home State: Telangana(But asked entirely on Andhra Pradesh)
Room: It was big room with a table and there was photo of President hanging behind the Chairman.

Chairman: Straight Ahead
1. What is your name?
2. So you have 2 first names?
3. Is one of them your father’s name?
4. What is the third word in your name?
5. What is this TA-ship?
6. How is TA selected?
7. Tell me the Pros and Cons of this?
8. That’s good for you and the professor but what about the students?
9. How many students were there in class?
10. Which course was it?
11. Were you the only one selected?
12. Were there any other TA’s?

Member 2(Female): Left 1st
1. What is Prayas? How many years were you involved in Prayas?
2. What is your most key takeaway from this program?
3. What were the problems told to you by the children?
4. You got the academic excellence award. Listen carefully to this: All work and no play make Joe a dull administrator. Do you agree with this?
5. All the time you’re studying then how are you enjoying yourself?
6. India is an inclusive nation so how to promote the inclusive identity?
7. What is Ted Talk? What is Ted-X? What Ted Talks you have watched?

Member 3(Female): Left 2nd
1. How to prevent electricity losses?
2. What is judicial overreach? When does judicial activism turn into judicial overreach? Give an example of judicial overreach?
3. What do you understand by women empowerment?

Member 4(Male): Right 1st
1. Name your famous Anthropologist
2. What is he famous for?
3. What is origin of Caste?
4. What is Happiness Index? What is India’s rank? Is it good? Do you agree with India’s rank in it?
5. Who is Jyotiba Phule? What is he famous for?
6. What is area of Northern Circars? History of Northern Circars?

Member 5(Male): Right 2nd
1. What was important world event held in Vizag a few years ago? Why is International Fleet Review important?
2. What is major health issue that is specific and endemic to Vizag? Have you heard of the kidney crisis?
3. What are the pros and cons of bio-metric attendance system? Should it be applied for all jobs? How to enforce this in an organization? What are the different types of such bio-metric machines? If people are breaking the machines then what do you do?
4. Gaming promotes violence and sexualization. What are the pros and cons of Gaming? If you are in position of authority then how will you enforce the policy regarding gaming? What game was banned by India?

Chairman: Thank you very much your interview is over.

Further thoughts on Prelims after contemplation. I believe giving raw and frank thoughts is my virtue. So gave my real feelings also:

My score in mocks were as follows: Mostly I would score from 80-95 before giving my first prelims. Before giving my 2nd prelims I used to score 95-110. This time as I was awaiting the results, I practiced few papers and was scoring ~120’s. So with each year the scores have increased for me. But I distinctly remember in 1 Abhyas Test before my 2nd prelims I had gotten only 54/200. But never let these go to your heart.

To remove this guilt feeling simply solve one easy mock soon after the bad mock and revise the mistakes you have done in both papers. This is the best method to avoid disappointment associated with mock scores. This motivates a person for further studies. Otherwise we would be sulking about our performance and waste 2-3 days. Please solve few CSAT paper’s also.

1st iteration used to take me around 50 min. 2nd iteration would take me 35 min. Last iteration would also take me 35 min. One major distinction I remember between mock and real exam is that I was much slower in the real exam. It would take me entire 2 hours to solve the questions but I could solve the mock completely in 1.15 hours. This is because in mocks there is no fear of taking guesses but in real exam stress is more. This reduction in speed can also be used in positive way to your advantage as it helps carefully read the question and apply logical elimination.

In the 1st iteration, I never stop at any question and break my flow. I would do only questions I was sure about and which were not time consuming. In 2020, I had managed only to do 18/100 questions in first iteration. In 2021, this number increased to 33. In fact I couldn’t solve first 8 questions in the beginning in 2020. Don’t worry about this at all. That’s what 2nd and 3rd iteration are for. In my 2nd iteration, I used to just give reasonable time for each question and apply my skills. In my 2nd iteration, I used to attempt around 30-35 questions. Rest were left for the last iteration.

Solve questions one by one from first to last. Don’t jump questions in between at any cost. This will break your flow and also make you nervous. The correct method would be to mark it and again attempt it in second iteration with fresh mind. Many times I noticed that questions which at first glance I found difficult were very easy to solve in my 2nd iteration. Also the time taken to solve each question by 3rd iteration would drastically decrease as I am already exposed to the question twice. In addition, few options were already eliminated by me before.

You can revise factual things like modern history, global reports, environment (parks, rivers, etc) & british laws now. Don’t take too much stress about anything now. Just be in positive frame of mind. Stay away from negative people who are like a poison in your life. I would actively never cross their path. Just Ctrl+Del them from your life. Don’t engage in any discussion good or bad with them. Unfortunately, there are many such.

When I was in exam hall, I used to repeat to myself that you are the one who is going to be selected. Half the people didn’t even turn up for the exam and this acted as a confidence booster for me. I would take deep breaths just before the 9.00am bell so that I become calm and composed. This actually works because your brain receives more oxygen and is stimulated. Please take atleast 10-15 breaths. I would close my eyes for few min & look down.

Friends I will recall a short story from Kung-Fu Panda Movie which relates to so called 'secret' for qualifying the Prelims: " Po(The Panda) keeps on trying find what is in the secret scroll !!!!!! He annoys Master Shifu day in day out .....Ultimately he realizes there was no secret. It was just himself."

Similarly many try to find that one secret book, pdf, summary sheet, top 500 shitlist.....that would magically change their life. I would turn the question on it's head. If such a book existed then it would be known to all. The closest a book comes to it is Lakshmikant. Ex: Environment ka koi ek source nahi hai. They ask flora, fauna, conventions, pollution, rivers, bodies, etc..... there simply doesn't exist such a magical formula. Thus what matters is having trust and belief that whatever source you referred is sufficient and revising it again and again. As Mrunal Sir often says: "Thoda Pado Aage Bado. Ab woh kya puche kaha se puche....ant mein toh Bhagwan Malik hain:)''

6. Don’t for God’s sake miss easy questions as then you will be lagging behind in the cutoff. Ex: If you don’t know difference between Mitakshara and Dayabhag then it’s alright but Please mark 8th Aug as start of QIM movement.
7. I would do in 3 iterations…I bubble after each question as it gives me slight breather(personal choice). My golden rule is if I can’t eliminate one option then I don’t attempt. If I eliminate 2 options then I 100% attempt no matter what. If only eliminate 1 option, then depending on my judgement I choose to mark. One exception is that if I feel that Shah Nawaz Khan is from INA and my gut says so then I mark. I would always attempt 90+ questions in any mock. But this is based on personal comfort levels.
8. Since few years Polity and Economy have been very direct and straightforward. Please try to maximize score here. But no guarantee that the same trend will hold. Don’t get bamboozled by the Set you get. Some might get One-Liner History questions from 1,2,3,4,5….and then easy polity from 82,83,84…. Each question is a battle in itself to win the war. Don’t rest until the bell rings.
9. Don’t judge your paper 1 performance in the break. Break is meant for relaxing or revising CSAT. Trust me on this and you will be rewarded. Don’t check any key also. Ex: In my mind I felt that Bollard 1 Tech was about Gene editing so marked it. NO NEED TO VERIFY IF I MARKED CORRECT IN THE BREAK.
10. Please don’t take CSAT lightly….it is a very difficult exam nowadays. I got 135 in 2020 but only ~95 in 2021. This despite being an Engineer form IIT! I always practice 2-3 CSAT before going to real exam. Also don’t bank on only 1 section either Maths/Comprehension. You will get mental fatigue by solving vague passages or brain twisting math questions. Ideally there are very easy questions from both sections that must be solved. Then the cutoff can be easily passed. If you are doubtful about some comprehension best move on and solve another less ambiguous one. Don’t get stuck on any one question and take it as matter of ego. It makes the rhythm of the paper go astray.

Friends we all know how dicey the Prelims exam is. Fortunately I was able to clear it in both attempts with very good score. It is the stage of the CSE that I am most frightened about. Hence, I gave the prelims exam the due respect it deserves and it too hasn’t disappointed me. I will share many nuances that have propelled me to get ~+140?(Applied for Forest Service so my marks are not released yet).
1. Focus for entire 2 hours on the paper. Don’t look left or right….simply look down on the paper and start applying your basic logic. It is 2 hours that quantify your 1 year hard work. Don’t fool around. In my IIT JEE exam in 2016, I was very casual in the way I attempted the paper so it did affect my rank then.
2. General Consensus among toppers is that pleasant mood and sharp attention can overcome any FOMO and Revision Regrets. Don’t fret about what you could have studied in last 2 months. I guarantee you 100% even if prelims is postponed by 6 months then also everyone will feel that revision was inadequate.
3. Mock Paper is for acquiring knowledge and general performance guessing. FLT, Abhyas, Simulator, etc…. are like Pre-Wedding Photography. Even if you didn’t do well in them the real marriage is still pending. FOCUS on real exam. If you are feeling the exam paper is hard…then always remember it is hard for everyone.
4. Always be sure that in multi-statement options, the basis on which you have chosen to eliminate options is foolproof. Else you will be lead to wrong answer. Ex: Which grows on rocks/barren land? Correct answer was Moss and Lichens. But logically even Mushroom seems legit. If I had chosen Mushroom as fundamental basis for eliminating a,b,c,d….then my answer would be wrong. Hence, be careful about logical guessing.
5. PYQ must be at your fingertips. Start from 2021-2011 in reverse order. Since time is very less leave some weird questions like: Where is Medieval Kingdom called Kuluta State found(Himachal Pradesh near Kulu Valley). I can show atleast 15 questions from 2021 that have come from PYQ of 2011-2021. But still many aspirants don’t do the PYQ’s and revise them: Ex: Money Multiplier(2019), Constitutional Government(2020), Virus in Synthetic Medium(2013), Sea Horse is not detrivore(Deduced from PYQ once asked before), Inflation & Repo Themes are repeated atleast 5 times in 2021 and Env Prem about Lichen, Moss , Diatom all terms have appeared previously. No excuse for not knowing that Diatom is called Phytoplankton(So it becomes Primary Producer).

Update on Anthropology:

I have referred to over 20 toppers notes, videos, copies, etc.... over the past 2 years. Right from the days of Koya Sree Harsha to Vivek Bhasme to Aashima Mittal to Akshat Jain to Mandar Jayant Patki to Yogesh Patil to Shubham Kumar to Ishant Jaiswal) all have helped me enrich my content. I think Newton once said: "It is only by standing on the shoulders of giants that I am able to see so far". In Anthropology, the aforementioned people and others have contributed to the tremendous performance of the subject. By building upon their work(adding 1/2 new points; converting to diagram) has been the primary focus of my preparation in Anthropology. Getting 306 in Anthropology is the 'single reason' for getting this rank. I'm getting little emotional as I cultivated my notes in Anthro for over 2 years

PS: I will try to put my notes as soon as possible. So that mains candidates can get sufficient time do value addition from them

Friends since 'Integrity' is best 'not left' just to the Ethics Paper; I feel every UPSC Aspirant has certain strong points in his preparation. These points can add as value addition and guidance for others. it is my duty to make them freely and easily available to all. In other areas, the knowledge of oneself might be limited. Hence to avoid adding more water to the ever bulging ocean of 'UPSC Guidance' I have taken a conscious decision to keep myself limited to only those aspects where I can add value to your preparation. (Nowadays there are so many guidance and mis-guidance videos that a person gets depressed while scrolling through youtube)

The areas I will confine myself to are as follows:
1) GS2(107 and 110; consistently a good score)
2) GS4(101 and 114; good score and very good score)
3) Optional(257 last time and whopping 49 marks increase to 306; possibly highest; I will tell what changed and my unique insights)
4) Prelims Paper 1(Got 135+ this time; 109+ last time)

Brief Intro: Hello all, it's really a privilege to be writing this post. So without further ado lets get started. I'm Narayan Amit and I got AIR 70 in UPSC CSE 2021. I'm 24 years old and graduated from IIT Kanpur in Chemical Engineering in 2020. This is my 2nd attempt. I had got AIR289 in UPSC CSE 2020 but was fixated on getting IAS/IPS/IRS so I wrote again and due to grace of Lord Balaji I am successful. My optional is Anthropology:)