essay strategy

Preparation for Essay Paper

Essay paper had been the most neglected paper in one’s exam preparation schedule. It is considered a bit less important and casual attitude makes one to land up with casual marks in this paper.

Average marks scored in this paper linger around 80-90. But it is advisable to score above under and close to 120 to secure a position in IAS.

Let me bring you its importance— with little preparation one can have quantum jump in their final total. Do take it as one question of 200 marks.

Writing an essay is both an art as well as science. Bit of practice can bring wonders. As a science it would require one to focus on certain guidelines that are to be taken care of and as an art one has to practice it repeatedly to develop it cumulatively.

Rationale of Essay Paper—

• It reflects one’s thoughts about a particular subject; approach that one carries and his/hers analytical ability.
• It is the paper to highlight one’s ability of horizontal, vertical and lateral thinking.
• One can display his/her ability to come out with out of box solutions for complex problems that our society faces.
• It is a paper to display comprehending capabilities and communication skills. As an IAS officer one has to interact with people and this is the nodal point that differentiates various officers among themselves.

Type of topics asked in UPSC essay paper are Reflective essays. They are mostly current oriented with national and international relevance. These topics demand one to opine and justify how he/she has arrived to such conclusion.

What makes as IAS different from others is his/her capabilities to find solutions despite many roadblocks and bottlenecks.

Demands of UPSC—(Quoting Employment News)

Candidates will be expected to—

1. Keep close to the subject of essay.
2. To arrange their ideas in orderly fashion.
3. Write concisely.
4. Credit will be given for effective and exact expression.

Basic Groundwork—

• It is not required from one to write represent more of facts rather it is the analysis that matters the most. As a crude ratio distribution b/w analysis: facts it is to be kept close to 80:20. Analysis supported by facts is always more palatable.
• One can refer to essay books available in market. But in my experience I never found them to be very useful. But even then if someone wants to one can refer to spectrum’s essay book or TMGH publication book on essays.
• In my view there is no need for civil service aspirants to do any special groundwork provided they are reading their national daily on regular basis.
• I would recommend students to read “The Periscope” page of The Hindu newspaper,Yojana, Kurukshetra.
• Editorial page of Pratiyogita Darpan is awesome to read.

Penning down an Essay –

• Choosing a topic- it is better to choose a topic on rationale grounds rather than emotional grounds. Choose a topic with following points in your mind like knowledge about the topic, various dimensions that one can elicit and at last personal liking.
•  “Don’t go for a topic by calculating that most of students would write on this topic and hence examiner will be less interested to award more marks”.
• One should not waste more than 10 min. in any case on deciding which topic to write on.
• Making Basic framework before writing any essay is the most accepted practice followed by almost every aspirant. This allows one to fulfill UPSC condition no.2.
• I would recommend Basic frame working to be done according to the Horizontal and Vertical module of thinking. It would fulfill UPSC condition no.4.
•  Rechecking again and pruning down unwanted or extra points would help one to fulfill condition 3 & 4 of UPSC.
• Arranging in logical fashion is required for UPSC condition no.2.
• It is better to write with sub headings as it would reveal examiner basic structure of your essay- condition 2 & 4 of UPSC.
• Do take your time for basic framework formation in UPSC examination hall. One must spare at least 40 min. for this. (I took 50min).
• Under no circumstance this is to be done for 60min. AS one has to manage 1500 words and that too in good handwriting. (Every one of us knows that beauty does matter)
• Once you are done with writing underline key words or ideas.
• Before going for final showdown practice at least 5-6 essays at home. I am sure one would learn a lot.

Certain points are to be taken care of while writing an essay–

1. Most simple language

2. Sentence of not more than 2.5 line

3. Organized flow

4. Interesting stories to connect

5. Lucid language

6. 1200- 1500 words are sufficient or averagely 10-12 pages.

7. Subtitles at least 1 per page.

8. Paragraph not more than 20 lines. And last line of paragraph should be in continuation with next one.

“Like using similar words but with different angle or view point to the one discussed earlier or a new idea but connected to the earlier one.”

9. No extreme views follow middle path; solution to the problem must be there.

10. Unique introduction and conclusion.

Do’s while writing an essay—

1. Be pro democracy

2. Be pro poor

3. Be pro minority

4. Be pro environment

5. Be pro women

6. Be pro child

7. Be pro human rights

8. Suggestions have to be pragmatic and implementable. Don’t dream of India beyond 30-40 years.

Days are gone when there used to be 6 topics in UPSC essay paper but now trend is changing in both number of topics (reduced to 4 only) and type of topics (all being of current relevance). This gives every candidate level playing field and minimizes the so called element of subjectivity in this paper.

Always remember it is you and you only in that examination hall. It is better to develop skills of writing an essay rather than reproducing someone else essay.

Essay is the reflection of one’s personality and that’s why it is better to reflect your own personality than anyone else.

IAS is a job where public image matters. Therefore it is advisable to develop your own image by practicing rather than to become someone else alter ego.

Meticulous practice and sincere efforts are key to success in this exam.

Wishing you all Good luck.

DR. Shaleen

rank-81

CSE-2011

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Strategy

I have been asked by many aspirants about the right strategy, tips, "how to study", right books so as to qualify UPSC CSE. Since I was already working in a job aspirants already working somewhere come to me with a special hope.

I too like them, had wasted 3-4 years looking for same things. 2 years while in college and 2 years while in job. During this course I met many aspirants preparing with me, read interviews of successful candidates in the hope of discovering something. If I am not wrong, they are also looking for some particular magic, thinking there must be some very special way in which successful aspirants prepare themselves.

Sorry to disappoint you all, but there is no such thing.There is no strategy, no golden list of books, no magic way. UPSC isn't looking for very intelligent, genius candidates. If at all there are some qualities that it is looking for, they could be retention, recall, reproduce.

The only strategy that would help one remember voluminous study materials and reproduce them in a desired way has to be discovered by oneself. The test that a candidate should apply to check whether his strategy is working or not is this: Whenever you have gone through a particular topic think whether you can now write 300 words ( short topics) and 600-800 words ( long topics) on that particular topic.Whether you can relate that topic to other topics in the same chapter and happenings around you. If you cannot do all of this then you have not prepared that topic.

Many aspirants (especially engineers) apply the modus operandi of their college exams to UPSC, study a chapter and then think that since they have an idea about the topic and they already brilliant they would be able to answer any question from that topic. The sooner they realize their folly and correct themselves, better for them.

The right strategy can vary anywhere from going through the same topic again and again ( 3-4 times), reading different sources ( max 3) and making one's own notes or reading others' notes including class notes of coaching classes and adding noting to it or anything else. It depends on the person and his/her ability to mug up. One has to try until one gets it right. My strategy used to going through 2 or 3 sources for a topic and making my own detailed notes for topic like one writes the chapter of a book.

My other successful friends have done it by making bulleted notes for topics after reading it from different sources or by not making any notes at all. For some people note-making leads to reproduction of book matter having no value addition. One might make notes after reading 2 basic books then come back to notes after 2-3 months and find that it was all junk. In that case one may have to rewrite the notes for that topic. This happens since note-making and reading abilities gradually improve with preparation.

One might require a slight retouch to the old notes after going through a better source ( a new book or someone else's notes). This cycle goes on till the day of exam and one need not worry too much about this. It only means one is improving. However more than 2 rewriting s does indicate that a lot of time was wasted.

Those who are already in jobs must remember that there cannot be any special exemption for them. Having a job in hand has a small advantage and a big disadvantage. One does not have to worry about financial aspects and one can free anxiety that surrounds joblessness. However, it is also true that one has to compete with aspirants who have devoted much more time for the same preparation and on an average are better prepared due to peer feedback.

Depending on one's personal conditions including financial woes, parents' pressure/support, motivation, ability to risk one has to take call whether or not to prepare while in job. It is generally preferable to devote 1-2 years fully to UPSC than slogging it out in a 5-year along-the-job plan. If one is really determined to do it while working, then take care to devote 3-4 hours daily to UPSC without fail. At this rate one might be ready in 2 years. Don't do it without a plan. The plan should not be monthly or weekly. One must have a daily plan. whenever you try to satisfy yourself with a monthly plan, you are fooling yourself. You will have to come out of your comfort zone. There are no shortcuts.

This all for now. In a nutshell, I would say the following things:-

1) Stop looking for best strategy, best tip, best book list. Get down with the books in hand and start studying.

2)Do not look for shortcuts.

3)Preparation for UPSC is painful and boring barring a few subjects. Learn to live with it.

I hope my words are of some help.I will be happy to answer any further queries.

Essay

This is what I learned from my seniors and toppers. There are plenty of articles on internet on how to prepare the essay (=read editorials daily etc.) I'm writing one about how to 'actually' write it inside the exam hall.
In the Essay paper, they give you 4-5 essays and you've to write only one. Time limit -3 hours, Max-marks=200.

In a 2 marker question, UPSC specifically mentions that answer it in 20 words. So with that logic, you're expected to write an essay containing around 2000 words for the 200 marks.

Tip#1: Think for 30-45 minutes before you start the Essay writing

Take this example.
They asked an essay on Gandhi, I start writing it. I write something like

Gandhi was born in Porbandar & then He went to England…africa..come back…freedom struggle..Gandhi-Irwin..2nd round table….partition…etc.

After 1 hour of writing, I realize that I forgot mention about Champaran's Indigo Struggle when Gandhi got actively involved in Indian Freedom struggle for the first time! Now I can't add it. Because there is no space in initial pages. However I can still try to add it in the conclusion like

…in 1947 Gandhi won the fight he started with Champaran…"

But when Examiner doesn't find the mention of Champaran in the initial pages, then he gets an impression you forgot it = less marks. Hence everything has to be written in its place.

That's why you must…..

Think for 30-45 minutes before you start the Essay writing 

You've 3 hours to write the essay. Don't immediately start

• 1st try to recall everything that you can remember / want to say about the essay. 
• Take a pencil and write them all (in very brief) on the end of the answer sheet 
• See if there is any chance of adding some diagram or table in it?  

Do you remember any? 

1. any famous quotes? 
2. Current events 
3. People 
4. Historical events 
5. Laws / Administrative polices related to it 

*Related to that topic, What are the 

1. Positive 
2. Negative sides 
3. obstacles 
4. Reforms you suggest?

Once you're done adding everything that you can think about, regarding the essay- then give those topics, order of preference. 1.2.3.4.
The order is very important, just like in wedding parties you start with Soup…dal-roti and…Ice cream in the end.
The order should be

1. Introduction 
2. Background / History related 
3. Main concept / theory / what the subject is about 
4. Current scenario related to it. 
5. Good sides 
6. Negative sides / obstacles 
7. Suggested reforms 
8. Conclusion

everything has to be written in its place. Gandhi's Champaran must come in the beginning not in the end.

Tip#2: SOME DON'Ts: What not to write in essay

1. Autocracy is better than democracy. (know that it's the democracy that's allowing you to criticize it) so you should never justify certain solution to India's problems.
2. Excessive criticism of Govt. / administration (I mean the frontline and The Hindu's stand)
3. Seeing negative sides with out suggesting reforms in it.

Tip#3: Provocative Essays:

Sometimes the essay topics are given in such a way, that you want to agree all the way. E.g.

1. Panchayati raj is wastage of tax payer's money. (yes it seems so, just like NREGA but when you're writing an Essay you need to maintain some balance)
2. Poor people are their own enemies.

In such cases - just because he gave you statement doesn't mean you've to sing in his tune throughout the paper.DO NOT forget to show the other side of the mirror.
Its Easier to criticize a non working things than to fix it. (Remember this all time during essay.)
Donot give filmy solutions to real life problems. (Munna Bhai MBBS / Slum Dog Millioner.)

Tip#4: Donot get personal

• Don't go naming individual politicians - their achievement / scandals (Kalmadi, Raja,Amar Singh etc.)
• (except in the foreign policy related essay, where you've to analyse from entire Nehru's Panchsheel era to Vajpayee's Lahore Bus visit and current affairs.) our Foreign policy has changed with every prime minister so their names need to be mentioned.
• Never write essay talking like "Congress did this and BJP did that." It's the trait of a common man, not of a future officer.
• Give a balanced answer With out getting into hero-worship or mud slinging
• If criticizing Govenrment in the essay alone was going to make you IAS officer, then every journalist of Aaj Tak would be an IAS officer.
• An officer's trait is to remain 'anonymous', 'faceless' and neutral- meaning your essay should look like it has been written by a graduate.

Same applies for

1. Religion / culture/ language-literature (in philosophical essays)
2. States (in polity / federalism / Development)

I'm not saying you should transform into a sterile person writing the essay with out having any personal view/ opinion or righteous anger but, you mustn't become too much passionate about certain things.
I'm saying all this because you can never be sure about what will be the political / ideological / religious / regional alignment of the examiner.

This suggestion also applies while dealing with Public Administration (optional subject).

Tip#5: Quotes

1. Don't make mistakes in writing who said what. E.g. you quote Abraham Lincon's sentence and write George Washington said it. nothing will make you look more stupid in the eyes of the examiner than that.

2.Quote Exactly as it was said. Mao said "Power flows from the barrel of a gun" so you should not write it as

 "barrel of the gun contains power" or
 "muzzle of the gun flows the power"

You must quote the quote verbatim. If you're not sure then don't quote it.

Tip#6: Padding & Deviating from the subject

Even in the worst case, you're supposed to write 1200-1500 words for a 200 marks essay.
Padding means, you don't know the exact answer so you just beat around the bushes and write the garbage stuff to fill up the pages, while this tactic does work in the school and college exams but don't try it in the essay paper.
Don't write too many proverbs / quotes/ (invented) case studies/examples per page. It makes the examiner think that you've no input of your own so you're just filling up the pages.

Donot pick up the subject where your idea or thought content is very low. 

• Ex. you picked up "Do we need nuclear power" - So you start with how thermal power-stations create pollution, there is huge demand and low supply of electricity, nuke power is cheap, and then the dangers such as Japanese Tsunami etc. 
• After 4 pages, your thoughts and ideas are exhausted-you've nothing more to say and assuming that you write 100 words per page, you realise that only 400 words won't get you any marks ! now you can't scratch those pages and write a new essay on new topic, you've wasted enough time on this one. 
• So you decide to continue with this nuke-power essay and start rewriting the same stuff you already stated in different ways and then you'll deviate from the main topic- like nuke power is unsafe as we saw in Japan so we need to switch to renewable energy source like Sun, Wind and Water -> then 4 pages on advantages of renewable energy as if this is an essay on "the benefits of Non-renewable energy" and not on nuke power, you write about the pro-cons of hydro-electricity like dams and displacement of people. 
• Then you realise "omg, displacement of people also applies while making nuke-powerplants like in Maharashtra!" so you come back to the topic -half page written but still you've not filled up enough pages so you start talking about to land-acquisition policy and start writing the pro-cons..another half page on it. Then you think "oh i must talk something about the Indo-US nuke deal" so you go on talking about how we haven't signed the CTBT and yet N.S.G gave us clearance and China-Pakistan couldn't stop it so we are a global power now and we deserve a permanent seat in UNSC! This kind of padding goes on until time is up.
• You've messed up the whole thing, you totally deviated from the subject. Your essay doesn't have any flow of thoughts or proper rhythm. The seasoned examiners immediatly sniff out this padding and they don't give much marks for it, your expected score for this kind of garbage writing is less than 50/200, means even with decent score in all other papers, your chances of getting interview call is close to zero. You've jeopardised your chances of selection in IAS, you've digged your own grave. That's why 

1. take great care in picking up the subject
2. first 30-40 minutes for thorough thinking. 
3. stick to the subject

Same applies while dealing with the big 60 marker question in GS and optional papers. (not 30 minutes of thinking but atleast 5-7 minutes!)

Suggested Reading

Essay is not something that can be learned reading one book or reading for 1 month.
It's a continuous and long process takes some diverse reading before you've enough content to write something decent and something big enough to fill 20 pages to fetch 100+ marks.

1. Editorials of english newspapers ( but don't get swayed about by either leftist or capitalist stuff preched by both sides)
2. Magazines like Frontline, yojana, Kurukshetra. (it gives you the fodder material: statistical data to quote like how many % illiterate and so on but again don't use too much statistical data forpadding and most importantly don't 'invent' your own case studies and stat.data)
3. Watch English news channel - discussions / debates.
4. See the old question papers and try to make an outline of each and every Essay asked so far.

Me and my ruined essay

In 2009's mains attempt, I got only 20/200 marks in the Essay. It was about 'are we a soft state?'. I wrote it only from the foriegn policy and law-n-order point of view, without seeing the cultural -historical contexts. It was a monotonous essay without any spark. Moral of the story: First 30-40 minutes, do try to see different angles of the subject and give a thorough thought before you start writing.

-Some veterans are in opinion that you should pick up the essay on technical subject, example space-technology, advances in medical science, how IT has changed lives and so on. Because only a few people attempt them, and due to technical nature, your ideas are unlikely to be in conflict with the examiner so you'll get more marks. But then again you need enough 'content' to write 1500+ words else the padding route=digging your own grave. And there are enough toppers who wrote the non-technical essay and still got in the top-merit list so as usual for every generalisation made about UPSC, you'll find a counter example! 

Strategy

http://bijayketanupadhyayaias.blogspot.com/

Quotation

"Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's greed”.
-Mahatma Gandhi
[Environment related issues,mining,over exploitation of resources, man v/s nature type etc]


The ballot is stronger than the bullet.”
-Abraham Lincoln

[Democracy related, rule of law, anarchy, current political issues, civilian participation etc.] 

I fear three newspapers more than a hundred thousand bayonets."
~ Napoleon Bonaparte

“Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
~ Lord Acton

[Power, politics, bureaucracy, leadership, accountability, transparency, empowerment etc.]

"After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."
~ Nelson Mandela

[Gen. can be used everywhere, achievement related ,reforms,etc] 

"Education is the manifestation of the perfection already in man"

Africa's richest resources are not it's minerals but it's people" - Manmohan at UNGA

Essay

Education is the most powerful tool for the progress
of the country and is a social and political necessity

Essay-strategy

Essay:The essay paper (200 marks) in the civil services main examination is crucial in determining the final outcome/ selection and ranking. It is critical because it is a compulsory paper and its score is incorporated in computing the total. It is decisive because there is no specialisation in an essay and so no aspirant can not claim expertise, unlike optional subjects.
Finally, an essay is a paper, which does not have a reservoir of definitive information as in the case of general studies. All this constitutes a challenge. For every effective composition one should ideally begin with clarifying the purpose of the composition to oneself. This is true about all written and spoken communication. It's best that this principle be applied to essay writing. Although, the question cues that are recommended at this point may appear archaic, they are useful and often overlooked. At every critical juncture, while writing a topical text all applicable queries must be asked to oneself about the issue in question, e.g. who, what, where, when, why, how? These questions would obtain answers that would make the text organised and accurate and also ensure that no aspect has been omitted. Proficiency in applying this principle, i.e. the appropriate choice of questions, will come with extensive practise, periodic evaluation and critical analysis.
It is vital to understand that an essay is a reflection of the personality - ideas, views, analysis, assessments and inferences, values, attitude, aptitude, orientation and communication (written) abilities, all the attributes that are wanted by UPSC in an aspirant.
An essay is considered a complete composition. The essentials of essay writing would be the format (framework, structure), information (content, substance), language (expression, presentation), and logic (analysis and information).
The conventional design of looking at essay writing in terms of the introduction, body and conclusion is only the format. Although, this is fundamental to essay writing, the concept of an essay is quite intricate. An essay is expected to be a topical text that is self-explanatory and comprehensive, concise, composite and unambiguous, informative and logical.

The format comprises:
An impact-oriented thematic introduction containing the core conceptual scheme, the defining criteria, the central idea, etc.
A series of paragraphs containing arguments based on information, analysis and systematic inter-connectivity
An overall impressive synoptic presentation or an effective conclusion or a final inference.
The introduction is the opening part of the essay and should be confined to a paragraph, especially since, unlike a book, the introduction of an essay is not captioned. The introductory paragraph is expected to introduce the topic, and wherever necessary, explain the central theme or idea, basic or core concepts, and definitional criteria. The introduction should arouse interest and generate curiosity in the mind of the reader, be it an examiner.
The main text of an essay, after the introductory part is over, essentially is a systematic organisation of information based on a consistent methodology. It deals with the topic and related issues to be addressed, the correlation of facts, figures, ideas, views, concepts; an in-depth, systematic, coherent analysis based on the topic leading to logical inferences; as well as making (if it is required) plausible projections and providing with (if necessary) viable solutions. The text of the composition must develop, support and explain the main ideas stated in your introduction or thesis paragraph.
As the text draws close to the conclusion, the essay should have reached the stage of 'critical mass', a sort of a climax. The conclusion, a summary, should express the essence of the essay. It should not contain any fresh evidence, facts or figures.


Stategy for essay:

For essay first and foremost is studying the topic......topic always has 3-4 dimensions..............try to analyse all dimensions but initially should focus on simplest dimension.........never leave out of topic always keep urself nearby the topic........a simple way is after every 200-300 word repeat the topic in answer.....this will ensure u tht u have not gone off the topic.........

40-50 marks are only given to those people who deviate out of topic...theres no other way this much less marks are given...........a normal ratta hua essay gets 80-100 marks.........and a good analysed topic gets 100-120 marks..........if u have chosen the rarest topic and analysed well then u get 120-140 marks............so choosing the difficult topic is also beneficial......but its a double edged sword.....u can easily misunderstand the crux of ques and land up in 50-60 zone......i always played safe kyunki my phenkne waali power was zero.........and attempted the easiest ques........

essay should be in paragraph form, no bullets, points,diagrams.........but definitely lots of examples and cases to substantiate ur point...........pubadm, socio guys definitely get one essay on their topic.........

To prepare no need to go for any coaching........no need to study any book........

just try to make a plan and write one or two practice essays........and get them evaluated by expert..........thts enough............in my case ALS was my all time bakra...........