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What are some of the important things one should keep in mind while preparing for the UPSC Mains general studies?

Well, honestly, it depends on what stage of preparation you are at. If you are a newcomer or have appeared for the PT. I am assuming that you have cleared PT and are then going to write for your mains examination. I am going to write from that perspective.

What are some of the important things one should keep in mind while preparing for the UPSC Mains general studies?

Well, honestly, it depends on what stage of preparation you are at. If you are a newcomer or have appeared for the PT. I am assuming that you have cleared PT and are then going to write for your mains examination. I am going to write from that perspective. 

You should try to get the full coverage of the syllabus because, at some point of time, we leave a specific area, and then some parts of the questions come from that particular section, while others come from another area. In that process, if somebody has not prepared themselves fully for the exam, they may not be able to do justice to the entire range of the questions. It is very important that for understanding that inter-connectivity you covered the syllabus fully, and then also try developing a nag for understanding the current component for every single topic in general studies. 

And the things which I would like you to do is, you should do a lot of practice for writing answers, where speed is the very crucial component. A lot of time we do not take this into account and then as a process, we end up not being able to complete a paper and that very very sad thing to happen to any person who knows the answer and cannot complete it. So speed is a very important thing. So do the practice of writing answers, and that is something very essential.

You should also work towards having a differentiator in your answers which others may not think of. And that differentiator can be a real important thing that is required there. So these are the few do’s that I will suggest you.

Here are a few dont’s: I will mention that do not enlarge the list of reading. That is something a lot of students do. They become very vulnerable and they start enlarging the list of things they read, and it really takes a long time to complete. Even if they are completed, they may not be in a position to use them in answers, and that is something precise to be avoided. 

Other dont’s I would like to tell is, do not get into detailed note-making. Detailed note making is also something that is to be avoided for the reason that if you get into too much detailed notes making, you will be just completing the notes by the time your mains approaches, so that’s something which is to be avoided. 

Also, some Students are imbalanced in their preparation. They give more importance to one paper and somewhat less importance to other papers. All the four GS papers got equal marks, and I suppose it is very important to give importance to all of them. And that is how I would like you to go about it. Infact it is important that you should not only work on the content but also work on the skills that allow you to express the content that you have prepared all along.

Thank you. 

My best wishes are with you.