Anjali Shrotriya

Anjali Shrotriya (AIR-44, CSE-21) Prelims & Mains Strategy

Hi All,

It feels great to present this particular blogpost to you all. Having known Anjali since last few years, it is special for me as well that she cracked CSE-21 with AIR-44. Following is her strategy in her own words:

Hello everyone,

This is Anjali Shrotriya. I hail from the city of Indore (MP). I have secured Rank 44 in UPSC CSE 2021. This is overall my 4th attempt and 2nd interview at UPSC. I would be happy to share my strategy with you all:

Prelims: REVISION and PYQ’s are must.

Previous scores: 76 (2018), 88 (2019), 105 (2020) and awaiting 2021 (cleared forest cut-off this time).

You can contact Anjali at her instagram profile.

Prelims was a major hurdle for me. I could not clear it in my 1st two attempts but with consistency I learnt the art of clearing prelims. I call it art because prelims is much more than knowledge. It requires you to be calm and composed, have faith in your preparation and hard work ofc. But once you are good at prelims you will make it even with less efforts. I had only 10 days at my disposal after 2020 Interview results were out to prepare for prelims, yet I cleared it with a comfortable margin because I happen to decode prelims. I will share my learnings regarding the same:

Keep sources as limited as possible:

Polity Laxmikant– Bible: Read cover to cover

  I made 2-page notes of every chapter of Laxmikant to revise fast. I also made 1 big sheet in which I wrote all the Constitutional and Non constitutional bodies as I got confused every time. I also went through class 11th and 12th Polity NCERT’s too in the time between 2020 covid wave and prelims as UPSC is now asking unconventional questions.

Modern Indian History Spectrum by Rajiv Ahir: Again bible I made 2-3 pages notes of each chapter of spectrum and compressed into 70 pages which were very easy to revise. Tables at the back of spectrum are very important. I revised them in last couple of days before exam. I also read class 12th NCERT (Themes part 3)and class 8th NCERT for modern India. Really good NCERT’s.

Environment Shankar IAS and looked at PMF IAS notes. Monthly magazines and newspapers are a good source to cover Environment. As it is mostly dynamic. Made notes of important acts of environment and Shankar IAS book.

Economy SRIRAM IAS book beats all. I read Mrunal in 2019 but because it is bulky and difficult to revise, I switched to SRIRAM book, and it is good. However, I had also compressed Mrunal Sir’s book into short notes, so I revised them as well.

Sc and tech Newspaper + Monthly magazine. I googled every new term that I came across

Mapping Prem Patel + Atlas as main source. I marked all important places in news, static mapping points on the maps. All the important dams, places in news, countries, national parks, GI tags etc I marked on map and revised them.

   

Join Decode Civils Telegram Group For Free UPSC CSE Guidance From Mudit Jain, IRS CSE 2017 (Ex-IPS CSE 2014 & 2015), Author of Decode GS-2, Decode Ethics and Decode History Books

You can reach me at Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Youtube and Telegram.

All My Notes @ 1 Place

Revision is the key to prelims: Atleast 10 times revision of all the sources. That is why I prepared my own short notes of everything even for prelims so that I can do a greater number of revisions. I never made notes in 1st reading. 1st reading was just cursory, I highlighted important parts and in 3rd or 4th read I made notes.

Previous year Questions (PYQ): in my first 2 attempts I never gave importance to PYQ’s but in 2020 and 2021 I solved all the PYQ’s (used DISHA publication book). Also analysed each option of the PYQ’s-> googled it and made notes for the same. This single exercise helped me understand UPSC pattern of asking questions in prelims.

Test series for Prelims:

Forum IAS: SFG helped me to have a disciplined approach. I subscribed to it in 2019. Simulators are really good.

Vision IAS: Did FLT’s and Abhyaas

IASBABA: Did FLT’s

Practised all the FLT’s of different coaching to increase my width of Current affairs.

Current Affairs for Prelims:

Newspapers are indispensable

Any monthly magazine. I followed Vision IAS.

Mains: 787 (2020); 838 (2021)

Before I go down to my booklist, I wish to emphasise few things:

Most important break or make phase of the journey is Mains. Your selection depends on how well your mains go. Put everything you have in those 3 months of mains. I never speculated if I would clear prelims or not. I started right away for mains. 1st month is very crucial to get into mains mode. Start early .

Importance of PYQ’s for Mains: I solved and made frameworks and even answers in some cases for all the PYQ’s asked by UPSC from 2013-2020. This is the most important part. I never ran after Mains test series, nor did I write many tests. Only 4 FLTS of Abhyaas in the end to check my speed. I solved PYQ’s diligently and this helped me a lot. From the PYQ’s I was able to map important themes and topics that UPSC is asking these days and I prepared them. For instance: river interlinking was asked in 2020 mains, and it had been asked twice before as well.

Introduction and conclusions: I already had prepared introduction and conclusions for each important topic w.r.t. GS and optional which helped me save time.

Diagrams and schematics: I tried to put diagrams and schemas, flowcharts in my answers wherever possible to make answers look appealing

Breaking the Question: Most important. Try answering the question by dividing it into different categories and answering each subpart. It makes the life of the examiner easy.

Keywords of the Question: Vision IAS and IASBABA website has explained what each keyword means. Critically analyse is different from Explain or elaborate. Please read the question carefully and then start answering.

Focus on revising more. If you can’t recall in the exam no point of having things in your notes. Revise atleast 10 times before exam. Things should be on your tips.

Importance of test series: Do not spend too much time thinking which test series needs to be taken. All are good and similar. Take any and start preparation. In my case I subscribed test series not to write but see the questions being asked to widen my horizon of questions and Current affairs that could be asked. Also, I had done a lot of answer writing in geography hence I was confident I could write good answers in GS presentation wise. The only thing I needed to work was on content, so I focused here. I referred to FORUMIAS tests, Shankar IAS, Vision IAS and Lukman IAS (ethics)

Some good blogs I was ardent follower of: Decode CIVILS, Shubham Kumar sir’s channel , Anudeep sirs blog.

Some myths: Fill all pages – Not at all true. I never used to do that and yet scored above average in mains. Don’t leave any question even if it means writing any thing in technical questions like BLUE LED or Bose Einstein condensate. The examiner can’t be fooled. Pls don’t write 3-page rubbish to expect marks in such question. Better to save time here and use in other questions.

GS 1: 101 (2020) and 108 (2021)

GS1  

Art and Culture Nitin Singhania Book. Made short notes for each important topic from the book. Made diagrams that I could use in my paper for ex: Stupas, Architecture etc.  

Modern history Spectrum: But this time I made notes thematically for each topic in the syllabus asked. I had notes on governor general, important movements like NCM QIM etc and not just information but analytically I tried to write points in my notes. Referred to Mudit Jain sir’s 78 pages notes on modern India.

Geography It was my optional, so I had to put less efforts. Nevertheless, I compiled diagrams all at one place and revised them.

Society I had made 1-page notes on each topic of the syllabus with examples. Examples are must here. I also read class 11 and 12th Sociology NCERTS.

World history Decode World history book by Mudit sir. Took the online version and prepared notes. In 2020 I saw Prateek Nayak sir’s videos on YouTube

In GS1, we do give importance to Geography and Society but forget modern history and art culture. Pls revise that too. It gives an edge to score high in exam.

GS2 (101 in 2020, 120 in 2021)

 It is not totally dynamic as it seems. Many questions come from static areas. So, prepare static part well.

Polity Revised the basic from Laxmikant. Made 1-page notes on all static topics like Governor, Ordinance, Bills, parliament etc. Made a list of all important amendments, committees, and articles which I needed in answers. This year there was a question on Legislative council, and I was able to write the article associated. So, such things help a lot to get that ½ mark extra.   Referred to Polity Mains 365 for dynamic part

Governance and Social Justice I made my own notes for the same. Took the help of syllabus and google. Included reports/ committees wherever possible along with examples.   Referred to social issues Mains 365.

IR Made 1 pages on each country’s relation with India. Tried to include important keywords and acronyms used by Hon’ PM in his speeches.   Referred Mains 365 of International Relations.

In GS2, focus on stats / reports / committee name for value addition.  No need of any Yojana / Kurukshetra etc. Focus on keeping your sources limited. We any way need to write only 2 -3 pages in exam.

Decode GS-2: Governance & Social Justice Sample & Format Explainer:

decode-gs-2-sampleDOWNLOAD

GS3: 92 (2020) and 98 (2021)

Use diagrams / names of important committees / SDGs. Keep reading newspapers helps a lot here. Can read NITI Aayog document for the same. (I never read though)

GS-3  

Economy Revised the Basic economy concepts well from SRIRAM book. Took pointers from syllabus and prepared own notes from google. And kept on revising. Referred Mains 365 for Current affairs

Agriculture Overlap with geography optional. I prepared notes separately here too. Plus committees name and diagrams if any

Security Maximum marks fetching area. I prepared separate notes from syllabus using google. There is no need to read any book. Directly google pointers of syllabus and use Mains 354 to enrich the content. Use maps wherever possible

Ecology and Envt No separate notes. Just read Mains 365

DM Prepared a list of all disasters, NDMA guidelines for the same and diagrams wherever necessary.

Science and Tech Mains 365 and Dipin sir’s handouts.

GS 4: Ethics – 92 (2020) and 103 (2021)

Prepare a list of all important key terms of the syllabus in a tabular form. See Shubham Kumar sir’s notes. Example of each term, quote related to it.

I did all PYQ’s from Decode ethics books and made a list of all diagrams from the book.

I also was part of online sessions where Mudit Jain sir discussed all PYQ’s of ethics and referred toppers copies to see how they wrote answers. Some good copies I referred were Vishaka Yadav ma’am, Divya Mishra ma’am, Anudeep sir, Pradeep Singh sir. Please do this in ethics.

Keep brainstorming the case studies with friends to develop insights into different cases.

Prepare a list of examples that can be used in answers.

Keep answers simple and not very technical in ethics.

Ethics paper is the lengthiest so keep a track of time here.

I wrote tests in Ethics because it is one paper where writing matters the most as we need to prepare less.

I used Lukman IAS solutions to see how to write answers and also referred good answer copies given by them.

ATB!!!