My Suggestions for Answer Writing in the Mains Examination..!!

Here is my opinion for the success in the Civil Services Mains Examination.
I shall try to give a rational argument for each of my suggestions. If u feel they may be helpful, implement them according to your needs and if you feel they were not helpful, pardon me for wasting your time. I implemented these measures and got a decent rank in the Civil Services Examination recently. Many, including myself, believe that the rank is not up to my expectations and my hard work but i and you all must remember that we have no idea how much hard others have worked and its a competitive examination. So if other person worked harder or smarter than you, you are defeated no matter how much effort you put in.

Also, remember Luck has its role in the making of a civil servant but it will come into picture only when you have given your best.

1) In my opinion, the most important thing is that you LOOK AT THE QUESTION (whose answer you are writing) AFTER EVERY 30-40 WORDS (or every para) you have written in the answer. Make it a habit to look at the question again and again. Do it for Essays also

Rationale: We generally read the question once, make an overview of the answer to be written, in our mind, and then start writing the answer, without looking at the question again because we believe that we have read everything that was there in the question and have even framed an answer and so there is no need to re-read the question again. Also we consider it to be a distraction and a waste of time to read the question again and again.
But this is not the case. It has happened with me a number of times that i read a question once, made an answer in mind and wrote the answer. Then after the examination, while discussing or while checking the answer sheets (in school and college exams), i came to know that i had written 'What' instead of 'Why' or 'How' instead of 'What' or such way. This is frustrating. Teachers have always guided us that read the question carefully, which can solve this problem. That is correct. But another problem persists where we deviate from the topic and start writing all we know about the topic in the exam rather than what is being asked. This especially happens in case of Essays and long question answers. In UPSC, though 60 markers were generally considered long but in my opinion, even 20-30 markers, wherein we have to write close to 200-300 words, we can deviate from the answer at every 40 words (or at every para) and thus, get less marks. By looking at the question again and again while writing its answer, you not only make sure that you don't deviate from the topic but also make sure that you only write relevant things about the topic and not everything that you knew. Similar is the case with Essay where we have to write so much that we can very easily get deviated. So by looking at the essay topic again and again, we stay stuck to the topic and write meaningful and relevant things. I hope i have clarified my argument.

2) As part of answer writing for Optionals, another suggestion that i consider stood out for me is that IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO START YOUR ANSWER 2 STEPS BEHIND THE QUESTION (what is being asked) AND END YOUR ANSWER TWO STEPS AFTER THE QUESTION (where the answer ends according to question)

Explanation through examples in a couple of optionals:
(a) PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION: Question – “The success of Taylor’s Scientific Management theory led to the development of the Human Relations Theory.” Comment? (The question is only an example and not the real question)
Answer - In this case, you can not really start with How/How not the success of SMT led to the development of HRT. You have to first explain what is SMT and how it developed (this is what I mean by TWO STEPS BACK) and then when you have explained that how its success led to/ didn’t lead to the development of HRT, then I would suggest to end the answer with the contribution of HRT through the success/failure of SMT.
(b) GEOGRAPHY: Question – “The problem of urban waste management is a serious menace to overcome”. Comment? (The question is just an illustration and not the real question)
Answer – Here again, the answer (in my opinion) should ideally start from what do you mean by UWM and what are the various ways through which it is generated and then move on to the problems, rather than beginning the answer with the problems of UWM. And the answer should be concluded with what is being done to manage the menace of UWM and what further measures can be taken, rather than concluding the answer at the problems only. (Therefore TWO STEPS FORWARD)

HERE I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO SUGGEST THAT THE SUGGESTIONS SHOULD FORM A PART OF ALMOST EVERY ANALYTICAL QUESTION, though not much of the factual questions. And therefore, ARC 2 is highly recommended for Public Administration students and while going through it, focus not only on the recommendations part but also on the problems that are aimed to be solved through those recommendations.

3) ALWAYS WRITE ALL THE POINTS IN THE ANSWER, BOTH NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE, WITHOUT TAKING MUCH INTO CONSIDERATION THE NUMBER OF WORDS YOU HAVE WRITTEN.

Rationale: I will try to explain this point through the help of a common example (in the form of a story) which almost every aspirant faces during his preparation for the Civil Services Exam:

One day a New Civil Service Aspirant visits his friend who has recently scored a top rank in the examination, enough to be an IAS. Now the aspirant asks him “WHAT SUBJECT SHOULD I CHOOSE AS MY 2ND OPTIONALS FOR MAINS, apart from mathematics? I am confused BETWEEN PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND GEOGRAPHY.”

The IAS answers that “CHOOSE PUB-AD”
The Aspirant asks “WHY PUB-AD”
The IAS replies “BECAUSE ITS SCORING, SHORTER SYLLABUS AND HELPS UNDERSTAND THE JOB OF AN ADMINISTRATOR. ALSO HELPS IN GS”
The Aspirant goes back home but returns back and asks “MY FRIENDS TOLD ME THAT GEOGRAPHY IS ALSO VERY SCORING, HELPS IN GS AND ALSO IS VERY SCIENTIFIC, KEEPING IN MIND MY SCIENTIFIC BACKGROUND (Engineering)”
The IAS replies ”YES ITS TRUE. BUT GEOGRAPHY IS VERY LENGTHY”
The Aspirant returns back the next day to ask ”BUT IN P.A. WE HAVE TO READ A LOT OF REPORTS AND I WONT BE ABLE TO READ THOSE REPORTS”
The IAS replies “BUT IN GEOGRAPHY YOU WILL HAVE TO REMEMBER A LOT WHICH IS NOT EASY WHILE IN PA, THERE IS NOTHING MUCH TO REMEMBER”

Now, my story and the answers in it may not sound convincing but I hope I am able to make the point out of it. In this story, we realize that if the IAS had given the comparative Pros and Cons of each of the optional subjects, it would have saved both the IAS and the Aspirant a lot of energy and time. The similar is the case with our papers, the only difference being that WE WOULD NOT BE SITTING BESIDES OUR EXAMINERS AND EXPLAINING THEM EACH OF OUR POINTS. We need to explain everything that is asked in the question to save ourselves from losing any marks.

And the word-limit put by the UPSC for each question is only a guideline to the students to enable them to finish the exam in time. (There is no source for this information but I am saying this is because in any of my optionals, I never wrote a 20/30 marker in less than 300/400 words and still got enough marks to be somewhere in the final list. Had there been a word-limit, I am sure not to have cleared the mains even once. However, I was able to write this much and still complete the paper was because I write pretty fast and that too in decent handwriting. This applies in GS also, but the problem is that mostly we are short of material to write or have too less time to even reach the word limit)

4) Though I USUALLY PREFERRED WRITING IN POINTS, its your individual choice whether to write in points or paras because it hardly makes a difference to the examiner as all students who write good get marks.

I would like to share this that the quality of your answer matters the most and then only your handwriting. This is depicted as the examiners who are checking the exams are constantly insisted upon by the officials to be extremely careful in checking the answer sheets of all the candidates. (Again there is no basis for this statement but an observation proved correct again and again.)

5) Always end the question on a positive note. This can be done either by writing the importance of the topic/writer, or by suggesting ways for improvement, or by highlighting the measures taken by the government for the improvement.

6) I guess i missed it at point#2 but i should write it here. Answer writing is the most important thing for this examinations (the mains part). Write as many answers as possible. Show it to anyone - your friends, teachers, etc. But do also read it yourself. You will realize that you automatically become the examiner while going through your answer. Make it a habit to write at least an answer each day. You may start by writing with open notes and books but do write. I can not emphasise on anything more than answer writing. Thats why this should be Priority#2.
Rationale: When you write with an open book you will know that what can be the best answer to that question. Generally we dont know what can even be the best answer in our opinion. So writing with open notes gives us a benchmark towards which we can strive in our preparation. Further, we read and memorize so much information for this examination but whats the use if i am not implementing it. So writing is the method through which you test all your answer writing strategies (like whether writing in points or paras is beneficial,etc.). Also, you will be able to manage your time well.

I sincerely hope that i did not waste your time. All the best. God Bless.