UPSC Prelims 2021: One week left for IAS Prelims- Here's how to revise UPSC Syllabus & excel in CSAT by experts
Its just one week left for UPSC Prelims 2021. The exam is to be conducted on October 10, 2021. Here are some tips and last minute strategies shared by experts and previous years toppers to be followed by the aspirants for the UPSC CSE Prelims 2021 and crack UPSC CSAT with flying colors. In the article you would get to know 6 major tips shared by UPSC Toppers 2020 and various teachers of subjects in UPSC (IAS) Exam 2021.
UPSC Final Result 2020 were out recently with Bihar boy Shubham Kumar making history again by excelling with top rank in the civil services exam. This leaves the aspirants of UPSC IAS Prelims 2021 inspired to crack the exam with even better marks now.
The UPSC CSE 2020 toppers have shared various strategies that helped them crack UPSC Civil Services Exam which may be helpful for various aspirants of this year. Take a look below on the strategy followed by Shubahm Kumar, Ria Dabi and Jagriti Awasthi combined for your knowledge. The UPSC Prelims would be conducted on October 10, 2021.
Check UPSC Results 2020 full merit list here
The preliminary exam is divided into two parts, the first being GS 1 or general studies and the second being GS 2, more popularly called CSAT Paper 2. The Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT Paper 2 is a qualifying exam for clearing UPSC CSE Prelims. This means the marks would not be added but the candidate would need to score the minimum marks in this paper in order to clear the prelims exam.
Related| UPSC CSE 2020 Final Result Declared: Shubham Kumar Tops, Download List Here
UPSC Prelims 2021: Last Minute Strategy By Toppers and Experts
- Ideal Preparation Time: The aspirants must begin their preparation a minimum of 4-5 months before the date of the exam for CSAT. The time would be apt for them to clear various concepts in arithmetic/ numeracy, logical reasoning, and mental ability.
- Time Division: The candidates are suggested to first take a test and analyze themselves. Once they do that it would be easier for them to decide on the course of action. In case they score less than 100 marks in the first test, they are suggested to begin their preparation at least 5 months before the exam. The candidates must invest 3 hours on a regular basis every day and undergo weekly tests as per the set format of the exam.
- Practice Previous year papers: Candidates are advised to go through at least past 6 previous year exam papers to understand the exam.
- Do not compromise on Paper 1 preparation: One must not forget that the GS Paper 1 is the more important part of the exam as the marks for the exam are counted based on that. The aspirants must not forget that even if they clear CSAT they would not succeed in qualifying Prelims if they do not clear the minimum cut off of the GS paper 1.
- Stay clear of too many books: During the preparation, one may come across various books and study material. It is however advisable to follow one book per subject for concept clearing. Test practice may be done from as many sources as possible.
- Success Mantra: Practice, Accuracy, and speed is the only requirement to qualify the CSAT Exam. This can be obtained only through practice. However good one is, without solving at least 1 paper in a day, their chances decrease to 50 percent of what they would have been otherwise.
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UPSC Prelims 2021: Subject-wise Preparation Strategy for CSAT
As all aspirants would have seen in the previous year’s papers that the CSAT exam is divided equally into various sections consisting of questions based on Mental ability, numeric aptitude, logical reasoning, decision making, English comprehension, etc. So candidates are advised to identify their weaknesses and work on them.
It is advisable to clear the doubts and go through the tricks to solve mental and numeric ability problems as they prove very handy in the exam.
For English Comprehension: It is advisable to read as many articles as possible in the shortest span of time with the clearest understanding. One can easily note that UPSC does not give easily comprehendible articles/ passages in exams. They are generally conceptual and not easy to understand. The pressure of the exam adds to the troubles of the aspirants. Thus if the candidates develop a good practice of reading and understanding, it would prove to be beneficial in the exam. The target must be finishing a comprehension question within 4 minutes, as the general pattern followed by UPSC is giving a minimum of 3 questions per passage.
For Arithmetic Ability: Candidates need to revise all the concepts mainly from Profit, Loss, and Discount, Simple and Compound Interest, Algebra, Pythagoras theorem, and Unitary method for the exam as basic questions are asked from here. The next step would be to practice as many questions as possible from each of the topics. The aim of the candidates should be to solve 1 question per minute in this subject.
Decision Making and Problem Solving: This section involves any candidate’s practical knowledge application testing, ethical knowledge testing and it’s situational fitting. Thus one must not blindly follow ethics nor he must completely ignore it. It must be noted by the candidates that in such questions UPSC has considered more than two options to be correct.
Logical Reasoning: This section has no solution until one practices the problem. The candidates must develop their skills for syllogism, pie chart, series questions as they have been continuously out up by the Commission.
The only way to crack this is through practice. Go through the previous year’s UPSC CSE papers for the same.