Prelims 2016- Last month tips from Mukul Kulkarni ( Rank 238, CSE 2015 )- Part 1

To be precise, it is 27 days to go for civil services preliminary examination 2016! I am sure everyone must be nervous,tensed, a little curious( applies to first timers only:D), excited and of course, studying. I was thinking of writing something regarding what could be done in these last remaining days as well as some important things for the d-day itself. I am certainly no expert but I thought sharing whatever I have learnt all these years might help all of you as well as might help me in having a compact strategy for the examination. So here are certain points that need to be kept in mind while approaching the examination in the last few days.This is the part 1 of the post

- DON'T read any new sources anymore. Just stick to revising whatever you have read till now. Reading new things is pointless as it will be very difficult to retain new information 27 days before the exam.

- REVISION is the key in the last days. Just revise and re- revise. There is no ceiling for maximum number of revisions but if we consider the number of prelim topics (7) and the number of remaining days then minimum 2-3 revisions of all the topics is a must before the exam

- certainly do solve practice questions and question papers but REDUCE their frequency. For e.g. everyday out of 10-12 study hours, one hour of solving questions should be good enough. Actual 2 hr tests ( comprehensive more preferable now rather than module wise )can be solved once in a week making it 4 tests in 27 days which again is sufficient I feel. The reason for this is that question quality and even answers are sometimes subjective and might demoralize rather than help.

- THE RIGHT FEEDBACK from solving of papers and questions is important. Marks in tests do not decide your marks on the day of prelims.Use paper solving for 3 things mainly- Feedback mechanism to determine your preparation level and future strategy, Logic building especially for partly sure and completely unsure questions, and lastly as a source of information.

- DON'T completely stop reading newspapers but read only one paper( if you are reading two)- either Hindu or Express. Give maximum 1 hour for reading newspaper and stop reading it after that time is over irrespective of how much you have read. Can stop reading editorials in the last 15 days before the exam.Reduce newspaper notes making at this stage for mains to bare minimum by writing down only critical points ( that is included in that 1 hour) and can stop notes making for last 15 days.

- There are different techniques for revision . I will mention those which I have followed. One is the visualization technique. That involves just keeping the book that you are planning to revise closed in front of you( or max with its index page open) and trying to remember the points given in the book chapter wise. For eg education system chapter in spectrum. Just looking at the heading of the chapter and without looking or referring the book, revising the points of recommendations of various committees for education. Such visualization or revision in the mind itself without seeing written words helps in better retention I believe.

- Another method I follow for revision is by forming questions. While reading and revising a particular topic, I think as to what MCQs might be asked on this point or topic , forming a question on it on UPSC lines along with the options ( in the mind itself or by writing,but writing is more time consuming) and den answering that question to yourself ( some of the options that you form can be twisted or unique and which are liable to be mistaken wrongly as either true or false)

-That is it for today. Will write about actual d-day preparation and things to keep in mind in the next post.
Happy Studying till then! :)