These are not normal times. The corona pandemic is once in a century pandemic. It has brought a lot of uncertainty. Everything has got disrupted. From an aspirant’s point of view, this pandemic has challenged him in multiple ways. Being stuck alone in Delhi rented room to stuck in home without books. The atmosphere of fear is all around us. The uncertainty got manifested in the exam calendar as well when UPSC came out with a revised calendar. As per the new calendar, UPSC Prelims 2020 for IAS and Indian Forest Service’s Examinations would now be conducted on October 4, 2020. It was earlier scheduled for May 31. This has changed the entire scenario for IAS 2020 aspirants. An average aspirant stuck inside home without much guidance is worried about what should be the right strategy to go forward? Should he continue his prelims preparation or shift focus on mains? This write up is an attempt to answer all such questions so that when you finish this, you get a clear strategy about Prelims 2020.
It is said that “When the going gets tough, the tough get going “
While many things remain outside your control, your mindset is key to coping with difficult circumstances and facing the unknown.
Q1. Should I only focus on mains now since there is still around 4 months for Prelims? Why don’t I pick up Prelims two months before the exam?
The smart strategy at this point would be to focus more on the easy scoring areas (Ethics and Essay) for mains and preparing major sections of your optional. But, completely leaving Prelims preparation for two months could later prove to be counter-productive. Everyone will capitalize on the additional time and try to increase their chances of clearing Prelims. Completely leaving Prelims preparation for two months can put you in a panic mode with only two months to exams.
Q2 What more I need to do because of change in date?
You need to cover current affairs till September, 2020 with extra focus on March – September 2020 current affairs. This is the extra work which you need to do. Thus the task is more challenging now. The competition will become tougher, because even unprepared candidates will get more time to prepare thus increasing the competition.
Q3. What should be the schedule going ahead in terms of balancing Prelims and Mains and optimizing my time and effort?
You need to integrate both mains and prelims preparation. But exact study plan with differ as per your present status.
There would be two sets of aspirants:
Set A: Aspirants who have prepared well for Prelims keeping 31st May in mind, then you can for the first two months set aside 2 hours daily for yourPrelims and dedicate remaining time for Mains.
Set B: Aspirants who for some reason could not prepare well and are under confident, then you need to give at least 4 hours daily to cover your remaining syllabus and gain confidence.
Q4 How will OPTIMA 2020 helpful for me?
Let us understand OPTIMA 2020 to understand its utility for you:
- A personalized dashboard
- Carefully crafted study schedule uploaded in your dashboard
- 5 Sectional + 2 Full All India Mocks = 700 Most Important questions for prelim 2020(Current Affairs linked with static syllabus)
- Entire 700 questions have been prepared and selected by Santosh Sir and expert team by going through the topics of the current affairs of last one year till September 2020. The crafting of questions will be exactly as per UPSC demands.
- SWOT analysis and Unique actionable behavior insights
- March to Sep Current Affairs with important topics
- Important Prelims Power Play Compilation
- Santosh Sir Session on Option Elimination specially designed for Prelims 2020.
- Santosh Sir Session on time and emotion management inside exam hall
Q5. Will Prelims Optima 2020 help me?
If you belong to Set A, Prelims Optima 2020 is the only last boost you need to clear your Prelims 2020.
If you belong to Set B, Prelims Optima 2020 will help you to optimize your time and effort by helping you prepare the most important topics in minimal time.
Are you ready to optimize your time and effort for the next 4 months?
Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the earth
-Archimedes
Moving the earth seems an impossible task. However, with right tools and technique it is possible.
