Strategy by a Novice Vidushi

Hello everyone! I am Vidushi Singh. I have secured AIR 13 in UPSC CSE 2022. My Optional Subject was Economics. I was born in the heritage capital of Rajasthan, Jodhpur, but I have spent most of my life in the holy city of Ayodhya. After completing my schooling from J B Academy, Ayodhya in 2018, I went on to pursue my B. A. (Hons.) Economics from Shri Ram College of Commerce (SRCC), University of Delhi. I graduated in 2021 and since I was only 20 years old then, I decided to effectively utilise the buffer year of 2021-2022 to prepare for CSE. I gave my first attempt in 2022 and was fortunate enough to get through. I started my preparation bit-by-bit in the third year of my college. After COVID Lockdown, I stayed and did all my preparation from my home. My batch experienced the 'online' graduation, and hence I could take a lot of time out to read the basic books for the exam. I started with reading the NCERTs from Class 6th to 12th for subjects like History, Geography, and Polity...

Initial Preparation: I enrolled in Economics Optional Course at Next IAS by Dr. Vibhas Jha, in June 2021. This went on until October 2021. This course helped me in consolidating my notes, especially for paper 1. I must confess herein that this course did help me immensely, but disproportionately more in paper 1. Paper 2 portions were sort of rushed through, and therefore paper 2 was one paper which I mostly covered after prelims. Furthermore, I did not limit myself to just this course alone. Along with the recorded lectures (which I watched at 2x speed to save time), I read all the standard books suggested by previous toppers. Booklist: Paper 1: Microeconomics: Advanced Economic Theory by H. L. Ahuja Macroeconomics: Froyen and H. L. Ahuja International Economics: Salvatore, and some portions of Paul Krugman’s readings Development Theory: Debraj Ray (I did buy M. L. Jhingan, but it wasn’t very helpful) Public Finance: DU Readings and selected portions of H. L. Bhatia Paper 2: Pre Indepe...

The key to getting through the main examination is answer writing. Getting accustomed to it sure takes its own sweet time, but once you devise your own writing style, things start to fall in place.  When and how to begin? When? Whenever you have your foundational books covered at least once. The time with perfect preparation to write the perfect answers will never arrive.  How to begin answer writing is the more pertinent question here. Honestly, with a plethora of online checking facility for answer evaluation, options for 'how to start answer writing' has proliferated enormously. I am a firm believer in self-analysis of answers over and above the other options. However, writing papers in a timed manner and getting them checked reassures you that you are heading in the right direction.  I straightaway started writing answers after 1st round of reading from June 2021. I enrolled in GS Score Integrated Test Series which had a busy schedule of weekly tests. Here, timing of ...

I followed standard sources which every topper has followed and recommended. Quick run-through the sources: 1. GS I: Culture: Nitin Singhania  Modern History: Spectrum   World History: Karishma Nair (AIR 14, 2020) mam's Notes (available on her telegram channel) Geography: NCERT Class 11th and 12th Society: Sociology NCERTs for theoretical knowledge, Mains 365 2. GS II: Polity: Laxmikant, Satyam Gandhi (AIR 10, 2020) sir's notes, and Mains 365 Governance: Satyam Gandhi (AIR 10, 2020) sir's notes, and Mains 365 IR: Mains 365 only 3. GS III: Economy: no specific preparation, covered with optional Environment and Disaster Management: PMF IAS, Mains 365 Internal Security: Mains 365 S&T: Mains 365 4. GS IV: Decode Ethics and selective reading of D.K. Balaji for theory portions  Newspapers for examples Subject Specific Points: I have tried to share the subject-specific answer writing styles which I had finalised 2 weeks before the actual main examination. Points below a...