Lucknow 16 February 2019 - With just less than 3 months left to Civil Services Prelims 2020, for most of the aspirants who are reading this, time has come to focus on key areas and prioritize their preparation.

Some of the key things to do in the last phase of preparation-

• Aspirant should have clear picture in mind as what to read & not to read at this point of time. I will suggest not to read the entire books line by line as a part of revision .Now time has come to go through the chapters – selectively as required in the exam.
• Avoid reading new things now which you haven’t touched at all till date. This may eat up your time which you can utilize in revising the areas which you have already studied.
• Instead of making time table, focus on making task table. Make short duration’s task table (Daily Tasks, weekly tasks, fortnightly task etc). Often I have seen aspirants making time table, following the same but are unable to achieve the desired task to be completed within the time allotted for it. So better to go off with task table, decide what you need to cover on daily basis, on weekly basis etc.
• Task should be well planned before going to bed every night. Well planning does not only mention about the topic which you are going to study the next day but also includes your sources of study. So that at the back of your mind you know what you have to & and from where to study the very next day. 5. Do not forget to make short notes of the topics which you are reading. This will help you to revise the topics in lesser time during the last few days of the exams.
• Do not forget to make short notes of the topics which you are reading. This will help you to revise the topics in lesser time during the last few days of the exams.
• With the revision of the static portion of General Studies simultaneously start revising the Current Affairs in the reverse order. (Start from Jan 2019 and move towards Jan 2020). Interlinking of topics from static to dynamic portion is the most key thing which every aspirant should follow.
• Make a list of Current Affairs topics which were in news for a longer period of time. Just like – SC verdicts in various cases, Important committees formed by Govt and their reports, key findings of various indexes being published etc. (Remember not to focus on any news which are politically related).
• Pen down these topics mentioned above in an A4 sheet and either stick near your study table or keep it in separate folder and revise them at regular intervals.
• Ensure that your revision plan should be realistic not idealistic. Often aspirants end up in making a revision plan which they are not able to execute it as a result it mounts the mental pressure on the aspirants which can be disastrous for them.
• Make sure by this time start solving the MCQs of the static and dynamic portion both. Just buy the decent test series of any institute and make sure that you solve the full mock test at the exact time just like you are appearing for PRELIMS exams.
• You might end up in marking many wrong answers or don’t know the answers of the MCQs. Do not bogged down by the end results of the mock .They will help you to analyze how well you are aware about the topics and what should be your right direction to study those topics. 12. Highlight all the wrong answers of mock paper and revise them atleast three to four times before appearing in the exam.

Remember – This exam is said to be the toughest exams in India but trust me aspirants who are focused, who know the upsc syllabus thoroughly and understands the demand of exam, for them it is at all not tough to go through this exam. Half of the battle is already won by the aspirants who better know what not to read for this exam. Often aspirants are stucked between multiple sources, listens to 100 people who are preparing for this exam and follow different sources for particular topics and end up making a library of sources at their study place and end up not reading a single source thoroughly. This is where more than 80% aspirants fail to understand the demand of this exam. I always suggest follow any one source and revise that source 10-15 times. Same thing goes for solving MCQS. Solving 10k MCQS of lower standard and solving 1k questions of required level for this exam and revising them 10-15 times will yield good results in the exam.

Now let me elaborate, how your revision plan should look like:

Subject – Indian Polity

Topics – Constitutional Framework, Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy & Fundamental Duties.

Time – To cover the topics mentioned above – 2 days. (Assuming 4 hrs per day, total 8 hrs in 2 days)

• 2nd Revision should be done at the 5th day i.e on 3rd day after completing the topic (Only 4 hrs should be given to revise all topics)
• 3rd Revision should be done at the 7th day i.e on 7th day after completing the topic (Only 2 hrs should be given to revise all topics)
• 4th Revision should be done at the 14th day i.e on 14th day after completing the topic (Only 1 hr should be given to revise all topics)
• 5th Revision should be done at the 21th day (Only 30 mins should be given to revise all topics)
• 6th Revision should be done at the end of month (whole subject needs to revised) 

 The key to get success in this exam is not in spending time but in investing time. Even if you didn’t get through this exam remember it’s not the end of your life. Any serious aspirant who fails to clear this exam is not a failure in his /her life. Failure in this exam is not the failure of your character; after your thorough preparation you will find a new person in you. UPSC preparation literally changes the life of people in a positive way. Only one thing which I expect from you all is that you all should not compromise with you efforts during your preparation phase.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   CHETAN GAURAV(GS Made Easy)

*All the views expressed above are from th author .Khushi Samay takes no responsbility for the views expressed aboe.