 So, good evening everyone. Welcome to Shankaray's Academy Expert Talk series. Today, we have with us all India rank 89 of UPSC Civil Service Examination 2019, Sri Nitin K. Biju, who has secured the rank in his third attempt. So, he has attended prelims two times before. Though he cleared in the first attempt, he missed the main exam by just two marks. Without getting disappointed, he gave more attempts and he tried. Finally, he has succeeded in becoming an All India Topper this year and he has secured a very high rank of All India rank 89 this year. So, we are extremely delighted to have you on board Mr. Nitin and Mr. Nitin today will be sharing his strategies about preliminary as well as main examination. How he overcame various challenges during his preparation phase and we are sure that it is going to be of immense help for all the aspirants who are in their various stages of preparation or who are planning to appear for this exam in the upcoming years. So, we welcome you Mr. Nitin to this program and also we welcome all the attendees. We are awaiting a very productive session where you can ask your doubts also towards the end of the session. First, Mr. Nitin will give a talk about his preparation strategies. So, handing over to you Mr. Nitin. Thank you. Thank you. First of all, let me thank Shankarai's Academy for providing me this opportunity to have a webinar. So, I will initially briefly discuss about my journey in several services. Later, in the second part of the session, I will be telling the strategy how to prepare individually, freelance, means and even interview. And after that, in the third part of the session, we will move towards the question and answer session. So, let us start with my basic information. So, my name is Nitin K. Biju. I am from Patanam Dutta District in Kerala. Till 12th, I have studied in Javahar Navadaya Vidyalaya Patanam Dutta. After the schooling, I shifted to Bangalore for my graduation. My graduation is in electronic and communication engineering. So, after shifting and I studied in RNS Institute of Technology Bangalore. So, the idea of preparing for civil service came to me during my graduation days. In my first and second year, I used to just listen to stories. I used to read stories about various civil servants, good work they are doing and all. And I was able to talk with Haritha Vikumar, who was a first-rank holder during those years. So, after that, I thought why don't I try for civil services. So, I started the preparation in my third year of graduation. When I was in my sixth semester, I decided to join online, I mean weekend classes. And I started my preparation there. But since it was during the graduation period, I couldn't balance both civil services as well as engineering. Because engineering in itself is a tough subject. And finally, I was a bit more focused on the family of projects. So, my actual study started after my graduation in 2016. So, 2017 was supposed to be my first attempt. I started preparing it and I was actually confident that I'll be able to do it in my first attempt. And luckily, I was able to clear the problems. After clearing the problems, I wrote my names and as Arun Lars has told you, I have missed my names by Poma. So, there was a lot of disappointment at that point of time. But when the marks came out, I was a bit happy because I didn't miss my big margin. I missed my very small margin. So, then I understood that if I am able to focus on my studies, focus back on my studies and give an attempt again, then I'll definitely be able to clear it. So, with that confidence, I wrote my second prelim. And I was in 2018. I wrote the prelims. But again, at that point, in that prelims also, I missed my prelims by 4 marks. So, I didn't clear the prelims. So, again, that was another disappointment. But now I feel that the failures had taught me a lot of lessons. So, then after that, I understood that I had to focus properly on prelims as well as the main. And I actually got a long year to prepare because since I didn't clear the prelims only, I got a long year to prepare. So, at that point of time, I was able to prepare very nicely. And I gave this year prelims. And in 2019, I gave the prelims. I had high marks in prelims. Even I cleared the Indian Forest Service prelims also. So, that was, though, and I wrote the main of both skill services as well as the forest services. And I cleared both of the exams. Both the main also I was able to clear. But in February, the Indian Forest Service interview had happened and I went to Delhi. But when the results came, I was not able to clear the Indian Forest Service examination. Then later, the COVID happened. The COVID happened. My interview of skill services was postponed. Initially, it was supposed to be on April 3rd, the last day. But it was postponed and the new date came to be July 21. Then I went to Delhi. So, that was the time of COVID. So, travelling to Delhi was itself a difficult thing for me at that point of time. So, I reached Delhi. Then the interview board was PK Joshi's board. And so, it was a very different kind of interview because everyone who came for interview were using face mark, face shield and all. So, it was a different interview experience altogether. Anyway, luckily, I'm glad that I'm able to clear the examination with AT&T rank. So, this is about my brief journey of skill services. So, now let us focus back on the strategies. I'll be giving some detailed strategy on how I prepare for freelance, main and the interview. Now, coming to the freelance preparation, I would say that for freelance, there are three main pillars. Three main pillars for freelance. One is the static part, one is the current affairs and the other one is the test series. So, when I say the static part, I mean the static subjects like polity, history, in history, ancient, medieval and modern. Then coming to economics, art and culture is there, environment is there. So, these are the static part which I'm telling. So, then current affairs. So, current affairs, what I did was like the focus was on the last one year of current affairs. So, that also we have to do. And third aspect is the test series. So, the series we have to be writing a lot of tests during the course of preparation because it is not just the knowledge part, but the skill is also equally important in civil services for clearing the freelance especially. Now, coming to the static part. So, here one thing which I want to tell you is like if you are a beginner, if you are a beginner, then start with the basic NCRT. It is preferable that if you have the time, then start with the NCRT for 6 to 12. Try to cover all the NCRTs. But if you have positive of time, then I would suggest you to focus on NCRTs in a priority basis. That is the NCRT for history and geography becomes very important from the sixth standard itself. So, the sixth, seventh, eighth NCRTs of history, there are a lot of questions which are being asked from those NCRTs. So, that is one aspect which I want to tell you. Focus, start with the basic NCRTs in case of static aspect. And after finishing the NCRTs, focus on a standard book. The standard book should be at maximum one or two. There should not be more than one or two. I prefer just one standard book per subject, apart from the NCRTs. So, this is one area which you have to focus on. Because I have seen many people who try to shift between different books. For example, if we consider, take the example of history. I have seen various people who shift. I first start with Dependsandra from modern India. Then they shift to Spectrum. Then they shift to another book. So, these kinds of shifting between the various standard books, that is not a good strategy. So, I would suggest you to focus on one standard book and continuously revise the same standard book again and again. So, that is one aspect which I want to tell you. Now, I will just briefly mention the sources, the important books which I use for my civil service preparation. Now, coming to the main pillars of static prelims. One is the polity and one is the modern India. For polity, as everyone knows, the main book is Lakshmi Khan. The Indian polity by Lakshmi Khan is the most important book for polity. So, that book must be studied. It should not be missed. Apart from this Lakshmi Khan, you can also go through the NCRTs, especially the class 11th and 12th NCRTs with respect to polity. It is very much useful. There are very good NCRTs based on various keywords on our constitution. For example, there is an NCRT which discusses about federalism, equality, fraternity. So, these kinds of keywords as a chapter. This will help you to get more conceptual clarity in the polity. So, this NCRT, 11th and 12th NCRTs plus Indian polity by Lakshmi Khan will be more than sufficient. Now, coming to the second most important pillar of prelims, that is modern history. So, in case of modern history, I told you we have to start from class 6th NCRT system. Class 6th NCRT, 6th, 7th, 8th, then preferably you can directly jump to 12th NCRTs, the theme. So, here also if you try to subdivide, the 6th NCRT is based on ancient India. The 7th NCRT is based on medieval India. And in 8th, there are 2 NCRTs. Both of them are based on modern India. And even coming to themes also, theme 1, 2, and 3 actually deals with ancient, medieval and modern India. So, these NCRTs plus the standard book. I have preferred Bibin Chandra. There is a small book of Bibin Chandra. Not the sad one. It is a small book of Bibin Chandra. It is actually the copy of NCRT, the old NCRT. So, that is a really good book of modern history. So, you can either choose Bibin Chandra or Tehran, but enjoy that you choose only one and stick to it. Now, coming to the forces of economy. In case of economy, I had actually preferred very less books. Like I didn't even go for a standard book to be honest. So, what I did was I started with the NCRTs. I started with the NCRTs of class 11th NCRT is there. That is about India's economic development. So, that is a very good NCRT, especially for the main. And in class 12, there is an NCRT called introduction to macroeconomy. So, that was the soul and the main source which are used for economy. So, that NCRT is very small as well as it is a very knowledge standard also. So, if you are able to understand that NCRT and revise it multiple times, you will definitely be able to get a grip on the economy, the subject called economy. So, apart from this, if you have some issues with understanding the basic concepts, there are many YouTube videos on economy. For example, I had referred to canal economy videos also. So, these kind of help from YouTube can also be taken. So, these were my and see what I would tell you is like how do you understand whether you have studied sufficient enough or not. For this, what you have to do is you have to practice more test after a particular subject. So, assume you finished the Indian quality you have completed. Then what you have to do is you have to write a more test on Indian quality and see how the marks is. So, if you are getting sufficient enough marks, then you don't have to go for like other sources, especially in case of economy or such thing. So, I referred only this macro from NCRT and the renal videos, then I came to know that and I wrote a more test. Then I understood that I don't have to refer a standard book because I am getting sufficient enough marks in the more test. I am able to attend the questions. So, I didn't go for multiple sources there. So, this is regarding economy and coming to another very important subject called environment. So, in case of environment, again like already has Lakshmi Khan in case of environment, the only book is Shankar Reyes Academy's The Book on Environment. So, that book you can definitely prefer. So, that should be your primary source. Apart from this NCRT, class 12 biology, NCRT, last four chapters can be studied. And apart from this ensure that if there is any areas which are missing in this from these two books, then definitely you should go to internet and just check for it. For example, there are some areas in environment where UKC is continuously asking questions from the biosphere reserves, the national path, etc. So, what I did for this is I made an A4 sheet where I'll be having a list of all this. Like one A4 sheet where a list of the biosphere reserves are there and the state to which it belongs to. And another A4 sheet where the list of the national path, there are around one or four national paths in the country. A list of all the national paths and the state which it belongs to. And categorize it state-wise and after that you should be able to make some kind of a mnemonic for that you will be remembering the national path. And make a list of all such things. For example, there are wetlands in the country, the important wetlands, I mean the Ramsar sites there. The World Heritage site. So Tiger reserves in India, Elephant reserves in India. So make an A4 sheet, it has a list of all these stuff. So this will be very much handy for you to revise. So that is all about environment. Apart from environment, you have art and culture. In case of art and culture also, NCRT is a very good source. Introduction to Indian art. I think it is in class 11th or 12th. So that is a very good book for preparation for films. Apart from that, standard book is there. So these two sources will be sufficient. So that is what I am telling. Try to limit the sources to 1 or 2 and try to revise it multiple times. So apart from this, geography is there. In case of geography also, ensure that you start with all the NCRTs starting from the 6th standard itself. So 6 to 12, all NCRTs should be dealt with. So actually apart from NCRTs, I didn't go to any other sources for geography. So that is one thing. Like although people recommend GC Leong and all, I had that book but I couldn't study it. So I felt that for geography, NCRTs are sufficient. Apart from NCRTs in geography, another area which you should focus is the atlas. The atlas you have to separately prepare. So what I used to do was, I used to prepare the atlas. The map of India as well as the world. So first learn to draw an India map. Learn to draw an India map and try to mark all the important geographical features of it. The rivers, the mountains, the major cities, all these kind of things you should be studying thoroughly. And apart from this, it is preferable to focus on those areas. The global area, the world map which is in use now. For example, West Asia. West Asia was mostly in use throughout the years. And UPC had asked questions from West Asia continuously. So you should be definitely knowing the map of West Asia, the seas which are there, which country borders, which other countries, the bordering countries of different seas like Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea. So these kind of facts you should be thorough with. And ASEAN is another region which is mostly in use. So you should be able to draw a diagram, draw a map of the ASEAN countries with the exact borders. So this is how I used to study for the maps. Then apart from this, so I think I have discussed most of the static subject. Even if there is one or two subject left, just try to understand the philosophy which I am trying to say. Minimum books and maximum revision. So this is the important aspect related to static parts. Now coming to current affairs. So we have discussed about one pillar of freelance. The second pillar is the current affairs. Under the current affairs, what you have to do is, you have to read the Hindu newspaper daily. That is a must. You have to read it continuously for one year. I don't recommend making notes out of it because it will become bulky again. I will discuss non-making strategies separately when I am discussing about me. So read the Hindu newspaper continuously. Apart from that, I use one monthly magazine. The magazine can be from any institute. So there are very much qualified current affairs magazines which are available in the market. So any one magazine. But again here the main area which we should focus is to stick to that one particular magazine and revise it again and again. So again the same. Minimum materials and maximum revision. So that becomes more important in case of current affairs also. Heroes, I have seen many aspirants who are doing a mistake by trying to... I have seen many students. I hope I am audible now. So I have seen many students who are actually going behind daily current affairs. After that going to monthly current affairs. Then when the brilliance is near a lot of materials will again come in the market. And people tend to go behind those materials also. So this kind of a strategy should be avoided. Here what happens is you are not able to revise the one magazine which you have studied throughout the year. Hello, am I audible? I don't know, am I audible? Hello? Yeah, yeah. Your audio will please continue. Please continue. Okay. So fine. So here also what I would say is again the same strategy. Minimum materials and maximum revision. So don't go behind multiple materials which will keep on coming in the market. Whatever current affairs magazine which you were following try to follow the same. Okay. So this is another area. Now coming to the third area, third pillar of problems is the test series. So when you're attending the test series, you have to focus on one, one, two things. Okay. Like usually everyone focus right. The test is keeping in mind that the content should be right. But that is not the main thing, but you have to ensure that the technique of writing the problems. The technique of writing the problems should be you have to have a technique. Okay. For example, in my case, my technique of writing the problem was as follows. Initially I would at least go through three rounds of questions, three rounds of questions going through the paper. So in the first one, what I would be doing is I'll be under 100% sure of some. That might come around these are options, that you are sure that this is your question. You will be able to eliminate the problems. Can you please hold that mic little bit one second. He is suggesting the voice. One second I think Mr. Nidhin is reconnecting. I hope I am clear now. It's better now. Please continue. So coming to the technique of the test series. So what you have to focus is you have to have the technique of the test series where you will be attending the paper multiple rounds. So in the first round focus only on the questions which you are 100% sure of. Second round you have to focus on those questions where you are actually guessing and that guessing should be informative. Either you should be able to eliminate one or two options then only you should guess on that answer. Try to ensure that you don't guess without any information regarding that without any elimination of any of the options. Because I have seen like even I used to do a mistake in my prelims that in some questions even though we don't know the answer even though we are not able to eliminate some of the options. But still we feel that option C is the answer even though I am not able to eliminate option A, B and B. So that is something called the intuition is coming. Intuition is telling that you should attend this. Like even though I am not able to eliminate it any of the options the intuition says that mark it. So in my third attempt I actually try to avoid these kind of intuitive guessing without any information. So that actually saved me from getting some of the negative marks. So this is one area which I want to tell you. So practicing get practicing this technique of test series. That is the most important aspect of what you have to focus on when you are attending the mock test of the institute. And those attending the mock test is very much important because if you don't attend the mock test then you will not be having that technique. That technique of the mock test. Technique of writing the actual penance. Also try to give the mock test in the actual exam like environment. Don't try to just read the question and read the synopsis. Then learn it like that. Don't try to do that. Attend the mock test in the exam like situation itself. So these are the three main pillars of prelims. I am coming to not making for prelims. I actually didn't make much notes for prelims. Because if you start making notes from the standard books like quality of Laxmikand or Shankaray's academy and all. So then it will become again bulky. So what you can do is you can use a highlighter. You can use a highlighter and keep marking on the textbook itself. And the note making will be very much limited to what the things which I have told earlier. National Park, the biosphere reserves and the reports which are being continuously asked etc. So another aspect which I would like to tell like many people missed for the prelims preparation as that. The previous year questions are not being solved. Along with solving the mock test of the academies. You should also ensure that the previous year questions of the actual UPC exam is also being solved. So the benefits of this is two. One is that you will understand that UPC tends to repeat some of the area. Repeat questions from some of the area. So you will be able to read those particular areas. For example if I in my brilliant in 2019. I did the previous year question analysis. And I found that UPC keeps on asking questions about biosphere reserves and national parks. So what I did as I told you I made a list of all the national parks. And I read it continuously and I was very much thorough with that. And two questions were about national parks in the national parks and biosphere reserves in the 2019. So I was able to easily attend to two questions from that area. Also I came to know while analyzing the previous year papers that UPC keeps on asking questions on schedules of Indian constitution. So I prepared the schedules of the Indian constitution. So that is a very easy topic. So I prepared it. I prepared it and this year in 2019 two questions again. Where from the schedules of the Indian constitution. So easily I was able to attend for four questions. Four questions means eight marks. I was able to increase eight marks just because of the reason that I analyze the previous year questions. So you also should be able to analyze the previous year questions along with giving them off. So you'll be able to gauge your performance in the actual UPC exam also if you're giving the previous year questions. So these are the some of the areas which I wanted to cover with respect to the problems. If you have any doubt regarding the problems you can ask me during the question and answer session. Now let us move to the main examination. So I would say the main examination is the most important aspect of the UPC examinations because thousand 750 marks. So it contributes to a very big percentage of the actual exam ranking. It will contribute to your ranking. So for me the most important part of the exam was the UPC main examination. And this is the area where the luck is the minimal. Luck is the minimal. I believe is that UPC means is all about hard work. If you have done a lot of hard work, then you'll definitely clear the main. So you can actually get to know whether you'll clear the main or not purely through hard work. Okay. Now coming to UPC means my strategy was something like this. Focus completely on the syllabus. Okay. Don't go away from the syllabus. Have a print out of the syllabus in front of you and try to analyze the key word. Each key word which is mentioned in the syllabus. On each keyword you should be having micro notes. So when I say micro notes what I mean is consider an example of a topic in syllabus. E-governance. Okay. So I'll be having one page notes on E-governance. So in that what I would be writing is E-governance. I'll be writing E-governance, the definition of that. So what this meant by E-governance. So it is something like including the information and communication technology, ICT in the governance process. So that'll be a definition. I'll be writing some examples and case studies that are related to E-governance. So I'll be making a note, one page note about E-governance, the successes of it, the challenges which are there. So I'll be having some, and I'll be writing only the keyword. I won't explain it in sentences, come dates and then it's the standard. We just need some keywords related to that particular keyword in the syllabus. In this manner, we'll be covering a lot of syllabus. Okay. All the keywords in the syllabus. Here the internet was a main source for me. So what I would do is I would just search in internet, E-governance, UPSA and a lot of materials will come in the internet. So I'll just select one of those and I'll stick to that and I'll be making notes on it. And here also very minimal notes, one page notes on every keyword in the syllabus. So the entire GS preparation, you should be having a maximum of 50 to 60 page notes. Maximum, it can go to 70, 75, not more than that. I'm telling you about the entire GS papers. GS1, GS2, GS3 and GS4 included all of them from 75 page of papers. Okay. In my case, I had only 20 page notes for GS1, 20 pages for GS2, 20 pages for GS3 and around 15 pages for GS4. Right. So this was my strategy of not making for means and not making is very much important for means because whatever you make in that notes, you will be able to replicate in the exam. That will save a lot of time in the exam. Okay. So that's why not making is very much important. So this was my GS strategy and try to continuously write more tests for means also because for means what matters is answer writing practice along with quality of the answers. Because the quantity is also a must in main cancer writing. So here try to write as much as mock test during those three months between problems and means. I had actually written around 30 to 40, at least 30 mock test in those three months. Okay. So while writing the mock test, what you have to focus is a completion of the paper. Try to attend all the 20 questions. Even though you don't know a question, try to write something which is relevant. See the keyword and try to write something which is relevant in those in that answer. Okay. So this is one thing which you have to focus on. So this was my GS strategy. And coming to the book list, the book list remains the same. But you have to prepare extra for the extra subjects in means. Like it means there are some extra subjects like internal security, disaster management and all right. So for this again internet was my main source. And coming to the essay strategy, essay is one very important subject because of two reasons. One is that it is a very easy subject to score. It is a very easy subject to score. If you have put in a bit of effort, you will get the results in a very fast manner. Come back to GS and GS. How much of a study we might get stuck at 110, 115 marks and all but coming to essay you can go till 150, 160 and all. So that is why it is very much important. Also the variability of the marks in essay is more. In DS mostly everyone will be getting around the same mark. But when it comes to essay, a person can get 100 also a person can get 150, 160 also. So the variability of 50 to 60 marks you can achieve there if you are well prepared in essay. So coming to essay also my strategy was to be more original. More original in case of essay. Don't try to follow a mechanical approach. So there are many answers like even in my initial process also I try to follow a mechanical approach. Where I usually follow a special approach. Like you might have already heard of it like political, economical, social, technological. So this special kind of approach I used to follow in my first step. But in this certain what I did is I tried to be more original with my essay. I focused on what exactly is asked in the question. What are the keywords? The keywords and I try to think about it for 10 minutes. Prepare some points on it and I try to be very original in my essay. Apporting personal examples also. So this is another aspect and so regarding essay one more very important aspect. One more very important aspect regarding essay is that you should be learning to write a philosophical essay. Because in 2018 many people got less marks in essay because they asked a philosophical essay without any options for that. Like in that section all essays were philosophical. So there also you should be ready to write a philosophical essay as well as an essay which is similar to the general study. So these two aspects you should focus on essay. And apart from this optional in case of optional I guess many of you might be beginners here. So I will just briefly tell about how to choose an optional then how to study the optional subject. So how to choose an optional in my case my optional is public administration. So how I choose the optional work based on my interest on the subject. So what I used to do was I just went through the syllabus of various optional subjects. And after reading the syllabus I even saw the previous questions of it. And after that what I focused was I just took a book on that optional subject and I tried learning 2-3 pages out of it. So when I did this I felt that public administration is a really interesting subject. So based on my interest I chose public administration. So then also apart from that some other reasons that Abad was actually a concise very concise subject which I would be able to finish it then 5-6 months. So this was another consideration. But predominantly the consideration of choosing the optional should be purely based on the interest. Now how to prepare the optional. Ideally you should try to finish your optional by December. Assume the problem is in June. I am telling assuming the problem is in June. Try to finish the optional by December maximum Jan. So apart from that don't focus much on optional. Then try to do it after the plane. So this was my strategy. I try to finish my optional by Jan to set maximum. So in this manner you will be a bit confident about your main plan. You can completely focus on the freelance in those 3-4 months look at the freelance examination. And so this is regarding optional here also. The answer writing factors which you do in the GS. General studies will actually help you to do well in the optional subject also. And one important aspect which related to optional is try to differentiate your optional answer from a normal GS answer. The questions will look the same. The questions of public administration if I take that example. It is actually very much similar to the polity answers which we write. The questions are very much similar to the polity questions. But what makes the difference is the answers which we write. Here we have to write the very much conceptual answers. Which is actually with respect to Pabad itself. Like the thinkers in case of Pabad. I have to incorporate various thinkers into the answers. So answers should look like actually a public administration answer rather than a general studies answer. So this differentiation will actually differ subject by subject. But you should ensure that you are able to differentiate a normal GS answer from a public administration. I mean optional kind of answer. So this is another area which I want to tell you. And apart from this. So this is about the I think I have discussed all the 7 subjects in the optional. Apart from that you have the language papers which is very much easy with the basic knowledge. Standard knowledge about the language papers. You will be able to do it very well. So and coming to I think I have missed the CSAT preparation. So I'll just briefly tell about the CSAT preparation. So in CSAT preparation as you all know there are 3 main parts. That is the mathematics, the quantitative attitude, the reasoning and the passage. So here my focus I was an admin engineer. So my focus was to focus on the areas of quantitative aptitude as well as the reasoning part. So I was getting a lot of negative marks due to in the passages. So I tried to minimize the questions which I wrote in passages and I focused on quantitative aptitude and reasoning. So here also depends on which is your strength. Many people for whom passage is very easy and passage is very strength. So those people try to focus on passages but if you are an engineer and if you are good in mathematics. Then in that case you should definitely focus on the quantitative aptitude and reasoning. So that will be ensured of that 66.6 marks. So we have discussed about prelims. You have discussed about means. Now coming to the interview preparation. So still brilliance and means I would suggest that you should focus only on one newspaper. But coming to interview preparation try to go more than one newspaper. One, two or even three newspapers. Selectively two or three newspapers you can do. In my case I had actually run the Hindu in Indian Express. I started Indian Express also especially the explained page in Indian Express. That was very useful for me. And in economic times also the editorials of economic times I used to focus on. So this actually gave me in-depth knowledge about various subjects. Also I had extra time due to covid postponement of the interview due to covid. So I was able to focus on two three newspapers at that point of time. Apart from this the mock interviews are also very much important. So here for my mock interview I had again come to Shankaray's academy. I had at least attended two to three panel interviews. And even one-on-one sessions with various civil servants I had attended. So this was actually very much useful because the input which we get from the senior bureaucrats. That actually helps us to improve our confidence while answering the way of answering etc. So I was able to interact with Ramachandran sir who actually gave me two to three very important inputs which I had incorporated in my interview preparation which helped me to improve my interview preparation. So try to attend around four to five mock interviews before you go to the actual interview. So that the fear of interview will go away from you. Also you will be getting very important inputs from the mock interview. So I am very much thankful to Shankaray's academy for providing me the kind of interview panels which I got during that interview preparation. So definitely try to attend as many mock as possible as early as possible. It is not advisable to attend a mock interview just two to three days before the actual interview. This was a mistake which I made in the forest interview. During my Indian Forest Service interview what happened is just two to three days before the forest interview I went to an institute in Delhi and I tried to give a mock interview. What happened was the panel was very much serious. They were very much serious and they were very much critical on my interview preparation. They asked me a lot of questions and they even told me that they don't actually see something. See some knowledge in me which would make me a civil servant. So that was very much demotivating just two days before the actual interview. But for civil service I ensured that I stop the mock interviews at least a week or even ten days before the actual interview. So these are some of the tips which you have to focus on. And one important tip which Ramachandra told me was to ensure that the interview panel doesn't overpower you. You should be very confident. You should be very much confident in presenting your points even if they are telling against it. Don't go into arguments but stand with your point. So that is the important message which Ramachandra had told me. I had actually implemented it and I was able to actually see a lot of improvements after the mock interviews which I gave in Chankar. Apart from this a lot of institutes will be giving mock interviews. So you can try diverse panels. So this is regarding the interview preparation process. And apart from this all three of this like prelims, apart from prelims, means and interview what I want to share with you is a mental attitude. The attitude which every aspirant should be having for this interview. Why I say this is important is because a lot of issues you will be facing a lot of issues during this long journey, long exam process of civil services. At that time what you have to have is the mental strength and attitude towards the exam. Why I am saying this is I have experience in first hand. For example in case of prelims just a week before writing the prelims I had written the full length test of two academies and I found that my marks are only 70 and 75. So you have to see that it is just a week before the actual prelims I am scoring 70. So then I just thought it was actually a bit depressing. But here the mental strength comes into a picture. I told myself that see you have scored 90s and 100s earlier. So there is nothing to worry even if you scored 70s in one or two tests because that should not affect my actual prelims. So I just came over it and I gave the actual prelims and I scored around 120 there. Also during my main examinations also I think due to taking a lot of stress I actually encountered with health issues. While writing the examinations I actually had low blood pressure and low sugar. I actually almost fainted. I had to lie down on the bench for some time. So there were a lot of health issues which happened. So this continued with the GS papers also. So I was writing the essay and the GS papers with very bad health. Even with bad health I was able to complete the papers because of the attitude which I had. I told myself that whatever comes this is something very important that I have prepared for. I will be writing the exam. I will be giving my best. I am not going to get sad because I got these health issues at this crucial point of time. Why I am sharing this is many of you, at least one of you might face some issue which is going to come during that exam process. At that point of time if you are able to get some mental strength from my experience I would be very glad of it. Before my interview I already told that it was postponed due to COVID. There was a lot of uncertainty and all. So you need a positive attitude to actually cope up with all this stress, uncertainty which comes during the course of the preparation. So this is the main aspect, the positive nature and the mental strength which you have. So these are the main aspects which I have had to discuss with you. Now I would definitely love to answer the questions which you are having. So if you have any questions please tell me. I would be very glad to answer it. Thank you so much Mr. Nidhin. We are very grateful to you for the kind words. You have been telling about strategies like minimum books, maximum revision so ultimately speaking about the positive attitude that any candidate needs to maintain throughout his preparation stage being a very long journey, you have shared with it. Now we will take a few questions from the candidates. So you can throw up questions in your question answer. Already we have got 2-3 questions so I will ask the questions to Mr. Nidhin. First one, what source did you refer for governance? Is it important to read the second ARC report? So this is the first question by Ms. Indulekha baby. So if you could answer this Mr. Nidhin, she is asking about governance. So for governance again as I already told you like any other topic in the main examination syllabus should be the main thing. So under governance there are a lot of sub parts. I have already told the governance to you. Apart from the governance there is citizen charter and there is good governance and a lot of other topics like that. So on these topics just Google citizen charter UPSC will be getting a lot of materials in the internet, make very crisp and short notes on those. Keep revising it again and again. And coming to second ARC you can read it selectively. There are a lot of summaries of second ARC given like which are available in the market. So focus on the summary. But in my case I had public administration as an option. So second ARC was very important there. So I had actually read some of the areas of second ARC completely. Again it should be very selective. It is a very long document, very big document. Be selective in it and try to make very short notes so that you can revise it again and again. Thank you. I'll get the second question. Did you face any kind of questions related to Corona pandemic in your interview session? It is asked by Mr. Albin Loneppan. So I think he is asking about the interview during the COVID times. Yes, yes. So I had good questions regarding COVID. The main questions are focusing on the COVID. I think your interview was first day of COVID. I think Mr. Nitin your interview was first day after the COVID interviews began. Post COVID interview. I think yours was the first day. Second day. Second day. It was the second day. It was on 21st. So actually during the initial days of the first or the second day definitely we expected questions from COVID. So the questions which was asked related to COVID to me was regarding to my home state system. They asked me how Kerala was affected by COVID. What is the effect on Kerala economy due to COVID? So I answered in such a manner that tourism was affected. The remittance coming from other countries is reduced. So here while answering this I ensured that I tried to say some of the statistics. Like if the tourism was affected tell the statistics what was the revenue from tourism in the last year and how much it had reduced. So it had reduced by around this much percentage I should be able to say. Even coming to remittances I should be able to say due to COVID the remittances which are coming into the country and into the state especially had reduced by this much percentage. So these kind of statistics which actually will add weightage to answer. Also another question related to COVID work. How Kerala economy can revive from this COVID. So I told about Kerala should focus on its strength especially in the areas of health sector, IT sector etc. So that the excessive focus on tourism and other services sector will reduce and Kerala strength can be utilized. So I even told a catchy line which I actually found in some newspaper. Kerala said to be God's own country because of the reason that mainly due to the tourism aspect. So I told that Kerala should shift from being a God's own country to a healthcare's own country. So that kind of a shift is necessary. Also if India is the pharmacy of the world then Kerala should act as the hospital of the world. So these kind of some kind of catchy kind of different answers I tried to say during the interview. And I think it might have definitely helped me to get bit more marks in the interview. Actually the interview was taken by PK Joshi. The board was very serious even though I said these kind of points they were actually very serious. They were not at all responding but still I feel that I have done well in the interview. So these are the main questions which are related to COVID in the interview. Thank you Nitin. Next question is asked by Shruti. Can you please tell the strategy you adopted for ethics paper? I think paper 4. Okay so ethics is also another important paper where you can actually put in less efforts and get more marks. So that's why ethics should not be neglected. So here I would say the basic strategy should be again as I told minimum adherence maximum revision. Try to take one book, one standard book of ethics and read it like a revision strategy. There are a lot of books in the market like Lexicon is there, Decay Balaji is there. So these kind of books you can refer any one book is sufficient. And for case studies also try to refer to like I had actually referred a bit of case studies from Subarao also. So try to actually limit your sources to one or maximum two books. And apart from this, try to practice case studies a lot because around 130 marks will be from the normal questions and around 120 marks will be from the case studies. So you have to actually give equal importance to writing the case studies also. While writing case studies you have to, it is preferable to follow a standard structure. For example in the introduction I will be giving the crux of the case as the introduction. Then I will be analyzing the stakeholders who are the stakeholders involved and what are the ethical issues involved in those with respect to those stakeholders. Then the various options, the various options which I can adopt the positives and the negatives of those particular options and the option which I am choosing. Another important aspect is the option which you are choosing you should be able to justify with ethical theory. So assume I am choosing option B. So I should be able to analyze it with respect to the theories, various theories. With respect to utilitarianism this will be the right step to do with respect to categorical imperative of Immanuel Kant. This will be an appropriate step to do. So in this manner I should be able to justify my step, the options which I have chosen with respect to the various ethical theories. So try to bring a lot of ethical theories, ethical keywords and examples into the answers. Ethics is an area where you can even use your personal examples also. The areas where you have encountered honesty, empathy, compassion etc in your personal lives. So these kind of personal examples can also be added in ethics. Apart from the other examples which you get from newspapers and even from the lives of great personalities. So I try to add quotations into the ethics answers and try to be more philosophy oriented in the ethics answers. So these were some of the strategies which I followed in my ethics paper. So thank you. I think that question has been clarified. Now we have a couple more questions. In case of, it is asked by Shiva Surya. In case of NCRT from which class we have to read either from 6th class level or from 10th class level? So here, as I already told, it is preferable to start from the 6th standard NCRT system. Because the 6th standard NCRT is like history, geography and all have a lot of content in it. And you can say 10 to ask questions from those NCRT. So don't miss any NCRT. Only if you have a positive of time, then start from 10th standard NCRT, 10th or 11th and 12th. Otherwise start from the 6th standard NCRT. Yeah. A few more questions if time permits. So the next question is when can I start preparing for UPSC, CSE being a college student. Will preparing from now be good? I think the person has not given his name or his or her name. Please the question is when he wants to prepare. He or she wants to prepare being in college. So here also I would suggest that it is better to start the preparation as early as possible. Because knowing the syllabus, knowing the demand of the question and all these things take a lot of time. So try to understand the syllabus and the demand of the exam during the college phase. Because I see many people are doing that. Many people are even starting the preparation from the first year of college. As soon as they graduate, they will give the exam and they are able to correct it in the first attempt. There are many examples this year also. So if you have the chance to start preparation during the graduation, even in my case also I also started during my third year of graduation. It definitely helped me to crack my problems in my first attempt. So even though I couldn't crack the means, definitely cracking the problems in my first attempt was definitely a confidence booster. It helped me during the latest stages of preparation. So try to start as early as possible. Thank you. I think I hope that question is answered. We are having a flurry of more questions. I think this is being a highly competitive exam students have many doubts in their minds. They would be really happy to have a topper able to clear those doubts. So one more question from Kiruba Shankar. How much important it is to study the Yojana and Kurukshetra for civil service examination? Yojana and Kurukshetra, they are actually excellent sources for civil service preparation. But again here it depends on the time that you have. If you have a lot of time then you can definitely start preparing it. But what I felt was in my case the newspaper and a current affairs magazine was sufficient enough to cover my current affairs. But for interview preparation I had gone through some of the Yojana magazine so that I have a more conceptual clarity. So it actually depends on the amount of time you have and how well prepared are you with the other subjects, the basic subjects. So Yojana is more like a value addition. So I would say depending on your time and preparation of other subjects you can definitely go for Yojana and Kurukshetra. First I would prefer Yojana then again if time permits you can go through Kurukshetra also. Okay thank you. So what is your advice for aspirants preparing for UPSC while having a job in parallel? So I think it's a question by working professional someone. Okay so this question see I wouldn't be able to answer it clearly because I was mostly I have never did a full time job. But I have definitely done part time jobs and during the course of preparation. So what I do understand that having a job is a very much tiring process. You will be after completion of the job you won't be able to open your book and study. So that is an issue with the working aspirants normally paid. But what I would suggest is if you can get at least 4-5 hours of preparation while doing the job then it would be great. So here time management becomes very important. Try to prepare for the exam during your most productive time. In my case if I was a working professional I would try to get up early in the morning like 4.30 or 5. And I get around 2-2.5 hours of preparation in the morning then I go for job. Then in the evening again 2-2.5 hours of preparation. In this manner you should be able to balance it with utmost discipline. So that is an important requirement if you are a working professional. I hope he got few insights into that aspect. Now we have couple of similar questions so I'll club it together. So how many hours we need to put in for successfully creating the exam whether there is 10 plus 6 plus 6 formula. I'll just add one more question which is similar. This question is asked by how to manage daily time schedule management few words. And one more question how to manage and schedule the preparation on a daily basis something like that. So I think they are basically asking about how to manage the time daily. Regarding time management here what I would say is again it depends on the individual. There is no fixed time for which everyone can study. When I was a beginner I couldn't study for more than 4 hours. I would get tired by afternoon. If I started in the morning I would get tired by afternoon. But still I just continued that. I ensured that I studied for 4 hours and slowly I started increasing my time. And I was able to get around 7-8 hours of preparation. So that was my ideal time of preparation. So here again we want to focus that it's not the quantity of the time that matters. The quantity do matter but apart from that the quality matters a lot. How efficiently are you using this time which you have that matters a lot. If I am just sitting in front of a book where I am spending a lot of time reading very less content. It's like very less productive. So here try to be productive in those very less hours which you are putting. If I am putting 8 hours a day I will be at my utmost productivity there. That is my only aim. Apart from that try to break this session throughout the day. In this 8 hours try to break it throughout the day. One and a half hour early in the morning. One and a half hour after breakfast. Then take a half an hour break. Then again one and a half hour. Then after lunch try to take a nap. If you take a nap the benefit is that the rest of the day. The rest of the day will be as productive as a new day. That is what I said. So in that manner again some two one and a half hour sessions would definitely be sufficient for preparation of this exam. So one and a half hour session with proper breaks and maximum efficiency at the time you are studying. So this is what I would suggest for time management. So thank you Nitin. I think he has busted many myths that UPSC toppers will not take a nap or they will not sleep. They are like normal human beings who prepare. So I think that is a great piece of advice. Next one more question. Somebody has asked he is in third year of engineering when I can prepare for UPSC. I think it is related to the degree question. I think he is in third year of engineering. So here again you have to focus engineering as a first priority. Because the minimum qualification to write UPSC is having a graduation. So focusing on civil service should not affect your graduation. It depends on how much marks you are getting usually. Because during the start there are a lot of things come into nature. You will have a final project. You will have placements coming. A lot of time will be consumed for all these things. There is a good chance of getting a backlog during the start and forth. Many of my friends actually got that. So if you are a person who is consciously getting around 80% I should get my aggregate in engineering as 85%. So for me it was not a big deal. I was sure of not flunking in any subject in engineering. So if you have that confidence then you can definitely concentrate on civil service. If there is a chance that shifting to civil service preparation along with earlier project placement and engineering if it affects you or if it costs you to fail a subject then definitely you should not try it. Don't try to balance it. Primary focus should be completing your graduation. Then comes UPNC. Thank you. We have one more question from Tirumalini. She is confused about choosing optional subject. How to choose it? Short content or favorite subject? I think one earlier clarification was there but I think if you could just clear a bit about this. Choice of optional? Choice of optional. As I told you already the primary factor should be the interest in the subject. Because optional is a subject which has 500 marker weightage in the mains and apart from that you will be spending a lot of time on your optional. So choose the optional wisely. And regarding primary factor being the interest the other aspect which you can consider is hindsight syllabus. Another aspect you can consider is overlap between other subjects. For example in my case when I took public administration I came to know that it is overlapping with BDS2 paper. It will definitely help me in my essay paper. It will also help me in my ethics paper. So these are some of the other areas where my optional will definitely help. So these are some of the areas which you have to consider. Also the relevance of the subject. Public administration was very dynamic. So the current affairs which I am preparing for GS I can utilize it in public administration. Also the public administration concepts I can use it in GS answers also. So these are some of the aspects which I considered before choosing the optional. But here also don't take any optional based on what another person is spending. Many people told me to change my optional subject because it is public administration and it is a law scoring optional. But still I didn't change it because I was very much interested in that subject. Also the effort which I have to put in another subject to change my optional that would be humongous. And I didn't want to do that. So I continued with that. So if again I have to say concisely it is your interest in the subject that matters. Thank you Nithin. With your permission can we take couple more questions. Like I think they are having few doubts in their minds. So few more questions we are having. Definitely. Definitely. We can take any number of questions. Thank you. Thank you so much. So I think if you have any more queries attendees can ask. I think we have got couple more. This is the question about an edition of newspaper. Which edition of newspaper should we read for UPSC like Hindu paper of Delhi or some other city and how to omit unwanted news which is not asked in exams. It's about newspaper reading basics. Okay. One more question. Just one more question related to the option which you are already answering. If graduating subject is not there and you choose the option. So maybe you can start with that and then enter the newspaper thing because it was in continuation of the already. Newspaper. Yeah. Okay. Okay. See in my case also the graduation subject was not there in the list of UPSC options. My graduation is Electrical Communication Engineering. So what you have to do is you will already know from your school days and all this subject you are interested in. Whether you are interested in political history, geography. You will have an idea about it. Right. So based on that idea, you should go through the syllabus of various options. From the syllabus, you should see the various keywords, various factors in that particular option. Then briefly if you can you can read the various books to three books. Just two pages of any book. I try reading it. And again, if you find it interesting then continue the subject. So that was the methodology which I used while choosing a subject which is different from my graduation. So I hope that doubt is clear and coming to the newspaper reading. The edition doesn't matter actually because you can go through what is available with you. And if you are going for offline subscription and you will mostly get the edition which is available at your place. But if you are actually subscribing for online edition, you actually have the chance of choosing the edition. There if you want you can actually choose the daily edition or something. I actually used it only for the interview purpose. I read the daily edition of Indu only for the interview purpose. Otherwise I was actually using the edition of Bangalore. Okay. And coming to how to read the newspaper. Ensure that I will tell you my method of reading the newspaper. I will start with the first page. First page I will start with the first page. I will read the important news which are there. Then I will directly go to the editorial page. In the editorial page on the left side of the Indu newspaper two editorials will be there. Those are the most important part of the newspaper. So those two editorials if you can prepare notes also that is fine. Only for those two editorials. And other than that how you should in the editorial page there will be other articles. There also you have to have the UPSC syllabus as your guideline. Okay. Try to link that article with the UPSC syllabus. Only if it is fitting then read the article. Otherwise leave it. Okay. So here you should have a thorough understanding of the syllabus in order to identify which article is important and which is not. Most of the political articles are not much important. But if it comes related to any laws, the economy. Those kind of things it becomes more important. First page then shifting to the editorial page. Then shifting to the next page, the news page. There is a news page that also you can read about the political news and all. Then go to the economy page. Then go to the international relations international page. So in this manner try to complete the important crux of that newspaper within one to one and a half hours. More than this you should not spend on newspaper. It's not that much necessary to write notes out of it. Because if a news is important it will keep on repeating for 4 to 5 days. At least 3-4 days will be repeating. So reading it continuously for 3-4 days will actually help you to internalize that news. And when you are reading a monthly magazine it will be like a revision also. So no need to make notes from the newspaper. Consume a lot of time. Okay. So yeah this is what I want to tell about newspaper. In between all the local news centers you can avoid actually. You don't have to read all the news which is there on the newspaper. Just continuing a question about newspaper. I have been reading Indian Express for the last 10 years. Should I change to the Hindu? It's a question by Mr. Aravind. I think the choice of newspaper is a question. Okay. So if you are reading it for last 10 years and if you are comfortable with that newspaper then you don't need to change it. Because in Indian Express also it's actually an excellent newspaper. The explained page of Indian Express. I was actually seeing that for the first time for my interview preparation. I actually wish if I could see it during my preliminary preparation. Actually Indian Express is also very excellent newspaper. Continue with that. There is no issue in... You don't have to change the newspaper if you are comfortable with it already. Okay. I think eligibility for 4th year of engineering to write UPS. I think he would be eligible to write UPS. 4th year of engineering. Final year graduates are eligible. Yes. They are eligible. If you have close 21 years of age then definitely... And final year of graduation. You just have to show your graduation certificate before the lease. It is before the lease when you have to upload the certificate. So you can definitely write the film. But ensure that before the lease you get the graduation certificate. So that is the only thing that matters. One more question about how to effectively use the monthly magazines. I think that is one more question. Okay. So monthly magazines... Here I guess focus on 12 months of monthly magazines. And don't try to make lots out of it. As I already told you, use a highlighter. Use a highlighter and try to mark the aspects which are important for problems. And which are important for me. So mark P for those facts which are important for problems. I used to highlight it and mark P there. So that when I come back for revision I will be able to easily understand. Okay. This is important for problems. This is not important for problems. So I can skip those aspects. So for revision this will help you. And try to rework the monthly magazines at least 3-4 times. Before the actual release. That is very important for retention. Because reading the monthly magazine once it will not help you to remember anything. Okay. So try to revise it at least 3-4 times. And another important aspect is don't go behind new materials. You might think that in this monthly magazine the content is not sufficient. I have to go to another magazine to cover it up. So don't give up to those kind of temptations. Believe in one magazine which you have followed. And believe in that institution which have created that magazine. Just believe in those because the people who are creating the magazine. They are actually experienced. They are qualified enough. They know what is important, what is not important. So just believe in the magazine which you have chosen. Don't go behind a lot of magazines. And revise maximum from that one magazine which you have already covered. Thank you so much. Just last couple of questions we would like to take. One is how to make effective notes for how to make notes for mains effectively. I think you have already covered it in your initial discussion. What is the conclusion part about effective note making for mains? So when I say about effective note making. What I want to say is to just make notes of the keywords. Take a topic. If there are 5-6 keywords which are associated with it. Then just note down that. If I take an example. Consider the case of citizen charter. It is a topic in the syllabus. On the citizen charter what I will be noting down is. Just a couple of points. It was started in 1991. John Major government of the United Kingdom. He started it. In India department of administrative reforms and public grievances. So this is the department which is focusing on citizen charter. So like this 3-4 points. Nothing more. You don't have to write it in English and then this also. In my case I used to actually cover at least 4 topics in one side of an airport. So in one side 4 topics. I will be dividing that A4 sheet into 4 sub parts. So 1 quarter of a side of an A4 sheet will be 1 topic. That much thought was my A4 sheet. So this will actually help you to revise. Even in those times. Between the main exams also. If just 1 is in the morning. That is the main. That is just 1 in the morning. And just 2 is in the afternoon. Between those gaps you should be able to revise. In those 2 hours you should be able to revise your class. So for that I will make this very concise. What I have already told you that my entire GS1 was only 20 pages. Similarly the other GS1 also was around 20 pages. So this is the short notes making which I used to do. The same person has asked whether it is important to study 6-8 months of current affairs or 1 year current affairs itself. I think about current affairs. So current affairs like for prelims definitely 1 year of current affairs is important. People are actually referring more than 1 year also. But definitely more than 6 months of current affairs. Definitely around 1 year of current affairs is a must. But when it comes to main. So that time you can actually limit the current affairs. Like my main was in September. And I actually focused on the current affairs which were there from January to August. But definitely more than 6 months. For prelims you need at least 1 year of current affairs. Try to do 1 year of current affairs. So I think we have got some questions now. Just to conclude my general last question. Any message to people who don't clear in their first attempts? How did you keep that motivation to keep fighting again and achieve the success that you have done now? Okay, see what I would say is whatever happens. Whatever bad thing happens you should see it in a post day night. That is what you should see. See if you didn't clear the prelims in the first attempt. Then it is actually a bone for you. Because you will get 1 year, 1 complete year to prepare for your second attempt. And you can definitely clear the second attempt with a very good rack. In my case what happened? The first attempt I cleared prelims. I wrote mains. So by the result some came it was January. And my next prelims was in June or something. So this I got 5 months and in between I got distracted, diverted due to the failure of that mains. And I couldn't clear my second prelims. So if I wish something, now I wish that I should have failed in my first prelims. So that I would have cleared in my second attempt at least. Okay, so whatever comes to your life you should see it in a post day manner. So that is what I would say. If you didn't clear in first attempt you will clear in your second attempt. Be happy about it. Don't take failure to your heart. Don't take failure to heart. Whatever happens, see it positively. That's what I would say. Any last piece of advice for those candidates who are giving the prelims this year? I think we have the prelims in another 40 days. So how to keep the focus in this difficult time of COVID also? Because you are someone who has prepared for interview during this COVID time. So all those mental challenges would have come forward. Yes, yes. So I do understand that preparing during this time of COVID is very difficult. Because many of you might not be even having the hard copy of the books which you used to study. Many of you might not be able to go to the libraries. Like even I am a person who cannot sit in home and study. I need a library to study and I need a peer group to study. But during the times of COVID I lost all of that. Like no libraries, no peer group, nothing. We have to depend on ourselves. So this situation I do understand. But again, you should understand one thing. You are not the only person who is facing it. This is a very relative kind of exam. Everybody is facing the same. And a person who is able to do relatively better will be able to crack the exam. So try to be that person who is doing better than the people who are around you. So I won't tell you to be perfect in your preparation and all. But try to be better. Try to have that positive mindset. Try to be better, relatively better. And apart from that, what I would say is regarding the last 40 days of preparation, focus on revision as well as test series. Don't go for new materials. There will be a lot of syllabus which you might not have completed. Nobody completes the syllabus and clears the exam. Now I have not completed the syllabus of medieval India, ancient India and there are a lot of other syllabus which I have never completed. But that doesn't mean that I won't clear the exam. So focus on revision. Don't go behind. Definitely there are a lot of subjects which you are not complete. Don't go behind that. Focus on the main pillars. Focus on the pillars like history, modern history, then environment, etc. Read the basic books which you have already read. Revive them multiple times and try to give a test as frequently as possible. In my case, I used to give a test once in two days. There are people who give a test every day. Depending on your face, try to give a test because testing is very much important at this last kind of time. I have already told you and try to stop giving a more test one week before the accident. Then just believe in yourself, have faith in yourself. Just go write the exam while writing the exam. Try to be very calm. Don't stress yourself out. Very calm. Just see the actual brilliance of another mock test. Be calm. Write the exam. I want to tell you one thing. In my actual brilliance, in my two brilliance which I cleared, I was able to attend only 25 questions after one hour. After one hour, only 25 questions and I have to actually reach around 85 within the next one hour. These are the situations where fear will start coming to your mind. But you should ensure that you believe in yourself. You should believe that you will be able to do it. You should be able to complete it and clear it. Believe in yourself. Nobody is believing you. You should be starting to believe in yourself. Parents might not believe you, friends might not believe you. But have utmost belief in yourself. This is the most important aspect at this point of time in the brilliance system. Many of you might be fearing of failure now. You have enough time to fear about failure after your brilliance. Till you write the brilliance, you should be 100% sure that you are going to clear this exam at any cost. That should be the confidence you should be having. This is my advice to you before this brilliance. Thank you, Nitin. It has been an extremely inspirational session so far. We would like to wind up the questions with the very last question by somebody, Raghul. That is the last question in today's session. I am weak in mathematics, so what should I do for CSAT? Any particular aspect about CSAT maths he is asking? That is the last question you are taking for today's session. Okay. If you are weak in maths, then you should actually analyse the system. Are you good in passage? Are you good in comprehension and reasoning? If you are good in these two things, then focus more on this. If you think that you have to improve your mathematics, then there is a book called Quantitative aptitude by R.S. Agarwal. That is a book which usually everyone uses to improve the quantitative aptitude. So just try to attend the examples which are given in those books. That will actually help you to improve your mathematics. Otherwise, focus on your strengths. If aptitude and comprehension and reasoning is your strengths, play with your strengths. You just have to get 66 marks. You do not have to score 120 and all in that. Just score 66 marks. For safety, try to score 80 marks in that. That should be your aim. And R.S. Agarwal is a book which I would recommend you. Thank you so much, Nitin. I think it has been very elaborate as well as informative session. In fact, it has been really motivational for all the candidates because you have taken us through the journey of how you overcame challenges related to COVID also, related to your failures in earlier attempts. Because these are things which many candidates could relate to themselves also. They must have gone through similar situations, feeling let down and all. Words from toppers like you will be really inspirational for any such candidates. You have talked about maintaining the quality of time rather than putting in certain number of hours. Whatever hours are there, quality hours are important. Minimum books, maximum revision. You have talked about a very important aspect which is sometimes missed out. That is maintaining a positive attitude towards preparation. We are really sure that you as a civil servant would be taking forward that attitude into your job as well. Your career into Indian civil services as well. And from our side, we wish you all the very best for your upcoming service allocations. And we thank you from the bottom of our heart for your time for such a wonderful session for all the candidates. And we are sure that it has been really helpful for all the attendees. So thank you once again, Mr. Nitin. And we wish you all the best. Thank you to all the attendees. We look forward to having many such sessions in the future with Mr. Nitin as well. So thanks everyone. Thank you for your time. Thank you so much and all the best for the privilege. Thank you. Thank you Nitin for everyone. Thank you. So we are done with the session. Thank you.