 Hi friends, welcome to my channel. I'm Aarputa Karwa. This is a very special video dedicated to students who are preparing for UPSC examination with English literature as their optional subject. In this video, I'm going to quickly tell you how to write perfect answers in UPSC exam by just using seven simple steps. Most of you must be knowing that I was always a gold mid-list both in my bachelor's as well as in my master's and I've always scored great marks when it comes to answer writing and today I'm about to share some very insightful tips based on my experience as well as experience of UPSC toppers on how you can write amazing answers so that you get maximum marks in UPSC English optional paper. I've already made a video on how to approach the syllabus of UPSC English optional and how to prepare for it and what should be the right strategy so if you are new to this channel then also I would recommend you to go and watch the video. I have put that in the description box below. Now coming back to this video, this video specifically will serve a dual purpose. I will not just share with you the perfect strategy to write good answers but I'm also going to give you a proper strategy on how you can make notes which is easy to revise and which you can revise in less than 30 minutes because if we look at the UPSC syllabus there are more than about 40 texts that you have to cover in order to prepare for UPSC optional and if those notes are very lengthy then it becomes very hard for you to revise and remember. So I'm going to give you some tips on how you can make crisp notes which are very very very easy and handy to revise so without any further ado let's jump into the topic and let's move to point number one. The very first thing that I would like to tell you before I jump on to point number one is that don't buy market notes. Now if you want your answers to be different from all the other candidates across India then please prepare from the sources where from which the other people are not preparing. So please don't buy market notes if you will use the guidebooks that are available freely in the market then your answer will look like a photocopy of answers written by other candidates as all of you will be using the same source material as well as the same language. Also at the same time the problem with market notes is that they are very very lengthy they are approximately 200 pages long and you cannot remember so much data for each work because there are approximately 40 to 50 texts that you have to prepare thoroughly if you want to sit for UPSC English optional and the third important thing is that market notes miss out on the intertextual references which forms a very important part of answer writing process. What are these intertextual references? I'm going to quickly come to it towards the end of the video. The second tip that I would want to give every aspirant out there to make digital notes. Yes guys please avoid making your notes using pen and paper. Digital notes are very very convenient to use. You can add, delete and edit information. You can also prepare good headlines and keep a copy pasting information from different sources that you are reading online. I would recommend you to make notes on MS Word if not any other note making software. Make a separate Word document for each text that is prescribed in your course. For example make a Word document for Pride and Prejudice and whenever you find something worth writing about Pride and Prejudice that can enhance your answers, paste it in that Word doc. Each Word doc should have certain headings which are nothing but things that you must include in your answer. All that I will discuss in this video so keep watching. In my last video on UPSC English optional series where I talked about the syllabus and strategy, I've discussed certain free sources from where you can make your notes. So it becomes very very easy. So please go and check out that video. Now that we have spoken about the two tips it's time to move on to point number one which is from where we are going to begin the journey of our note making process. The first very important thing that you should incorporate in your notes is the introduction to the age. Now as we know that the first impression is the last impression and whenever you are writing the answers of UPSC exam you have to begin it by introducing the age in which the writer was writing and then slowly and gradually move towards answering the question that was asked. You cannot directly start with the question. Any answer should start with a good introduction and the examiner will judge you as a student based on the first paragraph that you write. So you have to prepare that beforehand and it should be something which is very attractive, very appealing and full of knowledgeable and informational material. So for example you are tackling a text called Paradise Lost. So you have to write a paragraph in your notes about the introduction to the age where we are going to talk about Civil War, Ring of Oliver Cromwell, religious beliefs of the people of that age, significant historical movements like the one that is related to closing of the theaters and the impact it had on the people living in that place due to which John Milton was inspired to write a work like Paradise Lost. And by incorporating all this information about Civil War, Ring of Oliver Cromwell, closing of the theater, you are actually telling the examiner that you know so much more than just the text Paradise Lost. And you can prepare this information beforehand and use the same introduction if any question that comes in the paper related to Paradise Lost. And that is how you save your time during exam to write answers since you have to exactly copy and paste the answer without changing it as per the question demands. You already have those things mugged up and you just have to pour it on the sheet of the paper. Moving forward to the second point which is introduction to the author. Now whenever you are tackling any question you have to also introduce the author and speak a bit about the author so that the examiner knows that you have not just read the text but you have also understood why the author has written a text like that. So if you are looking at Westland and they ask you a question like analyze Westland as a poem then not only you are going to talk about Westland you are also going to talk a little bit about TSLIT, his literary achievement mentioning that he has even received Pulitzer Prize and you have to also speak a little bit about other works that were written by TSLIT. This will show to the examiner that your understanding is beyond the text and if you are wondering where you can get the introduction to the author, paragraphs, pointers, which you can include in your notes this is very very easy guys. There are so many free sources like lit charts, grade saver, book rags and all these sources are where you can get information about the author in the about the author section. Whenever you are trying to look for summaries of any important text you will get a section about the author in that particular PDF. Alternatively if you are preparing for UPSC exams with English literature as the optional subject then I have an amazing news for you. We have just released a separate video course covering the entire syllabus of UPSC English optional. We are proud to announce that we are the only institute in India that teaches through animated videos. Our videos are designed using 3D graphics and animation which enhance the visual memory of the student so that they are able to retain the complicated summaries of novels, plays and poems very easily and recall it effectively during the exam. In our online course we provide you with topic-wise video lessons with rich animation covering each and every topic and covering the entire syllabus in a step-by-step manner which works even when you have not done any previous preparation. We also provide you with high quality PDFs and revision notes that covers syllabus-wise topics comprehensively and ensure that you qualify your dream exam in just one attempt. The detail list of all the topics that we cover in the UPSC English optional online course is available free of cost on our website alpithaparva.com. You can even download this free list and start preparing for the exam on your own. The link of our website and all the courses are given in the description box below. You can check out the course details from our website and even watch a free demo lecture before you decide to enroll in our course. For more information related to the courses we offer feel free to shoot your queries on WhatsApp number displayed on your screen and me and my team will be more than happy to assist you. Moving on to point number three, introduction to the work. Now whenever we are talking about any work you have to also include a small section in your notes where you give a small paragraph on the introduction to the work. For example, if you're talking about Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Good All, you have to include a paragraph where you're talking about the subtitle of Waiting for Good All, when was it first performed, you also have to talk when it was published, if any awards were received by Samuel Beckett because of this work, you also have to talk about the literary movement and this work was associated with. So for example, we have a very very interesting text call to the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf, which is focused on stream of consciousness. Stream of consciousness is basically a literary movement which talks about how the work was written during this period in a stream form that showcases how our conscious mind thinks in a trail of thoughts. So whenever we are discussing to the Lighthouse in any question, you have to mention that it was a part of stream of consciousness genre that showcases that it is not just the summary that you know but you know so much more about the text. Moving forward to the next point, which is a very very important point guys and this is intertextual references. Guys always make sure that whenever you are writing any answer in UPS exam, you include at least one intertextual reference in your answer. Now you might wonder what is an intertextual reference? Intertextual references are when we compare a work of literature with another work written either by the same author or written by some other author. To make it even more simpler, let me give you an example of a poem written by Wordsworth. There are so many poems written by Wordsworth that are included in the UPSC syllabus. So suppose you are asked a question on one such poem by Wordsworth. So if you are writing the answer, always try to compare that poem and showcase how it was similar or dissimilar to any other poem written by Wordsworth. This is one kind of intertextual reference that you can use. Another kind of intertextual reference is when you try to compare Wordsworth poem with poems written by fellow romantic writers like Coleridge, Keats, Byron or Shelley. In a similar fashion, suppose you get a question on Pride and Prejudice written by Jane Austen. You can either compare it with Sense and Sensibility or Mansfield Park, which are two other works written by Jane Austen, or you can go ahead and compare it with Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre, which is another female writer who had a female protagonist just like Elizabeth in Pride and Prejudice. And this showcases that you are a literary scholar and that makes your answer stand apart from the rest of the India. This is one of the most important points that every UPSC aspirant should remember. This is something that will give you that extra advantage that you need to crack this exam. Moving forward to point number five, which is to include quotations in every answer of yours. Guys, I'll tell you a very simple trick. For each work included in UPSC, ensure that you google almost 10 important quotations. For example, we have Charles Dickens, Hard Times. So you can just search 10 famous quotations by Charles Dickens, Hard Times, and you'll get a few websites telling famous lines from Hard Times. You can then copy and paste it in your notes, and then whenever you're writing answers, try to use at least three or four such quotations in your answer. Irrespective of what the answer is demanding from you, you should know the trick of how you can put those lines to substantiate your points. That is very, very, very important. But not just using those lines is important. It is also important that the examiner notices it, that you've taken this extra time to look and search for some quotations. So whenever you're using any quotation, either change your pen, use some other colored pen, or highlight it, underline it, or just write it in a way that you leave one line above and below so that the quotation is highlighted in your answer. By doing so, you are leaving the impression on the examiner that you have read the text. Even if you've just read the summary and not the text, still by incorporating quotations, you are actually telling the examiner that you know the depth of the text. And I would also want to tell you that you don't need to remember a lot of quotations. Different quotations from different answers? No, you don't need to do that. You need to remember only few quotations, which you can use in any possible answer. Before I move to the next point, let's make this video a little more interactive. Pause this video and comment below one of your favorite quotations from literature. I have so many favorites that it becomes so difficult to choose one. Let's see how many of us share the same favorites in the comments below. And this makes us come to the point number six, which is to make short notes on main characters, themes and symbols. Now guys, most of the questions that you will find in UPSC exam paper come either from these three topics namely character, theme or symbol. There can be two kinds of questions that are asked from above mentioned topics, either direct or indirect. So, there can be a direct question like, discuss the symbols used by WB Yeats with reference to Easter 1916, where they directly ask you to comment on the themes used by WB Yeats in his poem. Or there can be indirect way of asking this question like, discuss the way in which King Leor explores the dynamics of power, varying you have to directly comment on the theme of power and how the dynamics of power kept changing throughout the play. So, if you prepare quick short notes on all these topics namely characters, themes and symbols, then no matter which question comes you are always prepared to answer all of them in the paper. And last but not the least, you should follow on making short notes on repetitive questions. So, in the UPSC exam paper, if you combine all the questions that have been asked in past 10 years from one particular topic in a page, you will find that there are certain questions which are repeatedly asked in the exam paper. I'll give you one simple example. So, comment on the ending of Look Back in Anger by John Osborne is one such question which is repeatedly asked in UPSC exam. So, for such questions which are repeatedly asked, they're just changing and twisting the language of the question, please prepare short notes in advance so that on the day of the exam if the same question pops up, you know exactly what to write. And it is going to save a lot of your time. And also it is going to help you write in a very systematic way since you've already made short notes on it. If you are looking for past year papers of UPSC English optional, then I invite you to visit my website, arpathakarba.com right now. We have provided past 10 years UPSC English optional papers free of cost on our website. You can simply go download the paper and start your preparation right away. If you want to see the short notes that I prepared for my students who are preparing for UPSC exam, you can just WhatsApp me and my team is going to share with you some short notes which can serve as a blueprint for you and you can use the same to create similar short notes for all the other texts. If you found this video helpful then please like this video by giving it a big fan thumbs up and also share it with other fellow aspirants who are struggling with similar kind of questions. So, with that note I would like to take your leave. That's it from my side with this video lecture. We will meet soon in the next section. Till the time we meet next, happy learning, keep loving literature and stay tuned to arpathakarba.com