 Hi friends, this is Sathya Paul Deepak. I am a faculty in Shankar IAS Academy. I teach Indian polity. Today we are going to see how to prepare for the prelims examination and what are the techniques that should be followed during the examination. Our academy plans to upload series of videos on various subjects to help you effectively take up the prelims examination 2020. In this discussion, I am going to deal with four important topics. The first topic is what are the mistakes that students will make during the preparation and how to avoid it. Second is the books that you should concentrate for Indian polity. Third I would like to discuss about what is the nature of questions that is asked in the examinations especially preliminary examination and the fourth topic would be the techniques that you should apply while taking up the questions to increase your mark because what happens is when you just like that take the question there is a lot of chances that you will make silly mistakes to reduce the silly mistakes and to increase or maximize the correct number of questions and reduce the negative markings. I would be sharing certain techniques at the end and there is another topic that which we have already covered last year. The topic is about what are the problems you will face when you take up polity questions in the prelims examination. So, to know about that you can browse through the same channel Shankar IAS Academy where we have uploaded the video on the title Indian polity previous year question analysis part one and part two. So, with this video along with that video your preparation will be more effective and productive. Dear friends first let us see what are the mistakes that a candidate will do during the last leg of preparation. We have about 90 days so in a hariburi most of the time we will end up doing mistakes that will affect our preparation. So, first such mistake a candidate will do is coverage of syllabus. As friends have a big problem that they end up preparing only for two or three subjects which they like. Those subjects which they do not like they never touch but prelims examination is all about questions from various subjects. So, if you are studying only few subjects then you will caught up with the problem you will not be able to attend more number of questions naturally you will not clear the examination. So, keep this keyword in your mind cover the entire syllabus. Now here one more problem is there with the candidates where you stagnate on a particular topic. If a topic is very difficult for example if you take Indian polity there will be article 21 procedure established by law due process of law many of my students stagnate in that topic because preliminary reading of it they may not understand it requires the reading of entire constitution after that only you will understand certain difficult concepts. So, wherever you find a particular concept is very difficult do not stagnate just make a mark on that area that you will revisit that area and try to cover the syllabus as fast as possible. Because when you stagnate on a particular area you spend more time on it later on you will not able to cover the easier part of other topics the same subject. So, what I suggest is that keep in mind if you are overspending the time on a particular topic immediately stop and just move on ok move on very important one has to move on meaning should not stick yourself with the same area keep on going for the preparation. So, you will be able to complete the syllabus. Then second important mistake that you will make during the UPSC preparation is you will not consolidate the UPSC preparation. So, I am want to differentiate between consolidation and revision when you plan you will plan like this first reading then revision and you would revise the entire topics and you will be doing this till the last date of the examination preparation just before the day of the examination you will do it. But you must at least have 10 to 15 days for consolidation what is consolidation revisiting all that you have read. Now, whenever you are preparing for UPSC whatever books that I have read whether it is NCRT's a core book and material ok just list down all those materials then and there just in the last 10 days you know without making much pressure on you a casual re-looking on whatever you have studied. So, if there are some areas where facts are there which has to be once again memorized or those areas where you did not have enough clarity that areas could be addressed in the last 10 days. So, consolidation is another important point please ensure when you are planning keep the last 10 days for consolidating everything quick glance of everything that you have studied till the examination date. Then another mistake that candidates will do is not looking into the previous year question. If you are not looking into the previous year questions you will never get orientation of UPSC preparation you will read everything which is there in the newspaper everything that is coming to your hand. If you want to orient yourself to the preparation you have to see the previous year question paper. If you ask how many years of previous year question paper minimum five years as much as the previous year questions you are doing it is better for you. But keep in mind when you are analyzing the previous year question paper sometimes there may be a question which is asked because of a current of air event at that time. So, do not get worried or do not get stagnated in that difficult question here also coverage is very important not getting stagnated is also important cover as much as previous year question papers as possible. If some question looks odd some question looks difficult or too factual oriented just get information about that question alone and just move on to other questions cover as many questions as possible in your analysis of previous year question paper do not get stagnated. Next is linear reading candidates also make this major mistake while revising revision. When they revision they usually go for linear reading just as they studied the subject first time once again they will be doing it. Instead of linear reading if you revise the subjects using question bank that would be more interesting and also prepare you for taking up questions in the examination because without testing linear reading will not be proper. So, that is why taking tests is very important as many tests as possible when you give as much as information you will be getting at the same time you will also know what are the mistakes that you are making. When I talk about taking tests I find candidates are not learning from their mistakes. You take tests not for knowledge purposes only but for clearing this examination so you should know the techniques also. So, instead of information orientation you have to review your test taking after every test whenever discussion is taking place or you discuss with your friends you just note down the areas where you make mistakes especially in techniques where you made a silly mistake where your interpretation was wrong how you could have you know interpreted in a alternative way. So, all these things you should note it in the first page of the question paper whenever you take a test you know note it down. The last 10 days 2 days allocate for reviewing all the question papers in which you have to reread whatever you have written about yourself the comments on yourself in the first page because many a time we do lot of mistakes in the test batches or whenever we take tests from question banks at home but what we do is we just look on the additional information but do not record what are the mistakes that we do. So, year after while you are taking questions if you are making a biggest blunder take that question paper first page you just or stick a sheet and note down what are the mistakes that you have done and review it just 2 days before the examination. So, your mind will be having the memory of those mistakes freshly so you will completely avoid the mistakes you can reduce the silly mistakes. In in preparation time we have to prioritize that subject when I say prioritize the subject you have to concentrate more on the major subjects first then on go on the less important topics when I say core subjects the core subjects are quality, economy, geography with environment orientation then modern India ok. So, there are going to be questions you know from these 4 core subjects and an average 15 questions from each so totally 60 questions. Here sometimes you may say sometimes quality they are asking only 2 questions or economy they are reducing the number of questions in a given year but the prevailing pattern is that if they are reducing the question in one area they will be increasing the questions in other areas. So, in 4 of the subjects one subject if they are going to ask only 2 or 3 questions in any of the other subjects they are going to increase so an average 60 questions will come from these areas. So, in these areas out of 60 ok for 15 questions from each topic if you are able to answer 10 to 12 questions ok you are already answered 40 to 48 questions and that too it will be correct also if you have already covered this. Now, what is the average cut-off say let us assume 110 higher figure it is actually average around 100 let us take 110. So, for 110 you need 55 questions to be correct see you are very near ok. Now, I have not mentioned current affairs so apart from this if you are you know covering the current affairs part you will be able to cover this area also. So, current affairs out of on an average they ask around 35 questions 20 questions solidly you can directly answer. So, 40 to 48 plus 20 you have well crossed the 55 mark. So, these 4 core subjects plus current affairs you have to cover when I say small subjects topics like rights issue governance and other small small it will be science and technology also it will be covered in the current affairs itself. If you are thorough with current affairs no need to worry about the smaller topic you can first cover the major topics and then later on move on to the topics. And with respect to other topics like ancient Indian history medieval history concentrated in the cultural part alone no need to go for a linear political history ok. And those least priority areas also my suggestion is it is better to go by question banks. So, more the question banks you take it is easier you cover these areas instead of you know direct reading. Next area I would like to deal with is that many of the aspirants overlook C-SAT do not overlook C-SAT ok. So, most of them you know think that C-SAT is easy part. So, they never work on it, but the examination day they will feel that you know because of want of time they are not answering enough number of question. After making C-SAT as a qualifying paper many are not you know so much concentrating in the subject that is wrong. You have to work out you know at least 20 question papers in C-SAT to make yourself familiar. At the end of this video I will be discussing the major mistakes that you will be making in C-SAT as of now do not overlook C-SAT. Yes friends now we are moving into the second topic that is what are the books that should be read for Indian polity. First is Lachmikan book is enough. Some of them would suggest that sir I would want to like to read B. D. Basu ok it is your choice but my preference is Lachmikanth and remember even if you go for other books stick with one book that is the important message that I want to give it to you because you keep on reading multiple books for the same subject you do not get time for other subjects. So, one book is for a topic not multiple books keep that in mind. Now, Lachmikanth has sixth edition most of you would have started with fifth edition and almost completed the book. Now recently this edition has been published you may have a doubt whether to go for the new edition. I would suggest that you stick with the earlier edition itself the topics that has been added by Lachmikanth in the sixth edition can be read you know for mains examination or it can be answered if questions are coming from that area it can be answered by current affairs knowledge and application. So, you can stick with the same book because our memory works through photo memory which means you know more we see something more is recorded in our mind. So, when you have read in the same book keep reading on the same book instead of changing the book that would be an additional work. So, for those who have already started with the fifth edition remind with that and some of them may have this doubt I have started preparation now only I need a smaller book where to find it Shankarai's academy polity material is the best choice for that ok. So, the polity material is very concise in our academy which can be read for those people who have started the preparation now only for a shorter period of time. As I said already if 15 questions are asked in Indian polity if you read one time Lachmikanth you will be able to answer around 10 if you revise well do questions and all 12 to 13 questions you can answer ok. So, 12 questions 3 questions will be difficult for all of them and it could be applied only through application. Remember it cannot be answered by reading extra extra books ok. So, even if you are reading 2-3 books additionally you may able to score another one instead of reading multiple books for the same subject you can go for reading more subjects more area coverage. So, that you will be able to maximize your score fine friends. Now, we will move to the third part of this video then this part we are going to discuss about the techniques a candidate an aspirant has to follow during the examination process. So, the first thing you have to do after receiving the question paper is read the instructions. You may think that you know the instructions may be the same as the previous year, but there are some problems examination in which they have changed the rules and just because people have overlooked the instructions they were not able to be effective. For example, one time CSAT paper they were 80 questions and 8 questions were a simple one at the same time no negative marking for that, but that questions were asked in the last 8 questions was no negative marking. So, you have to take that questions because even if you are marking wrongly you are not going to be penalized that is going to be full advantage for you, but what happened many of them did not read the instruction they took the question from first initial questions are very difficult. So, most of the people read only 60 questions 60 or 62 questions. So, last 8 questions they left, but those who have read the instruction first answered that 8 questions first then they went on to other areas. So, their scores were maximized. So, you have to read the instruction that is very important point one. Second is when you read the question you have to think that time management is very important. So, here what is time management once again I am giving the same principle coverage of all the questions do not stagnate two principles usually what the candidates that is in the eagerness of correcting giving correct answers for all the questions. If they are finding some question no very difficult or interpretative nature they still stagnate on that question worrying too much on one question. Whenever you are taking the questions you know you have to take multiple rounds at least three rounds first second and third round. The first round you should try to complete the question paper within 1 hour okay 45 minutes to 55 minutes within that first round of reading should be over. In the first round of reading if you find a question you are having a dilemma you are not knowing the correct answer okay just move on to other questions. In a given paper okay there will be 25 to 30 easy questions. It will be scattered across the question paper. It may be in the first 10 in the last 10 in the middle okay so what you do is cover the entire paper to find out for this 25 to 30 questions. It will be easy for you to answer if a well prepared person know even 40 questions will be like that. So, when you cover all those questions definitely it is going to be correct already of 45 40 marks. Then you can go for the dilemma questions remember do not waste time in the questions which are very difficult or interpretative in nature or you find it difficult to find the options. So, that is first round. In the first round you must remember that you will have to categorize the question meaning what is the type of question whether you want to have a real look on the question or not like that you have to categorize. First is okay easy question the question or I would call it as sure shot question. If the question is easy and sure shot if you know the answer immediately you can mark it on the OMR. But remember in easy questions only we make maximum silly mistakes because overconfident okay. So, to avoid silly mistakes what you have to do first go for elimination method meaning eliminate all other options okay make sure it is wrong okay it is not correct then arrive at the correct answer then you mark in the OMR. Even you can slightly mark like this okay across a statement if you think that the statement is wrong okay in order to be sure then eliminate the options and then finally arrive at the answer. And another thing I will tell you is visualize and verbalize. Supposing you are finding the question question number 43 and A B C D options are there in these four options you know you are eliminating D eliminating A eliminating B C is the answer. Now without making noise okay verbalize it 43 C 43 C like that your mind should keep thinking move on to the OMR okay in the OMR also look at the question number 43 ensure 43 and then linearly just go and shade okay this cross checking is very important in order to ensure that you are not marking in the wrong way because every question is precious you have to secure it so be cautious while answering in the first round you tend to make a lot of silly mistakes likewise you know the last 15 minutes also you will make maximum number of mistakes because in a hurry to complete the examination you will be maybe marking the wrong answer or wrongly interpreting the question you will not fully read the question. So, to avoid all these problems you know you have to categorize go by these methods okay now as I told you you are going to go for easy and sure shot questions okay you are not going to make any marking on that question paper on that question now there is another type of question which is called as 50-50 type meaning you will be able to eliminate two options say for example A B C D is there you may be able to eliminate B and C you will be having doubt between A and D in those cases what you do is okay just keep a mark maybe put a round against the question number for example question number 2 you are having a trouble 50-50 type just mark it meaning this particular circle symbol whenever you put it on a question you are going to look it in the second round then there is third type of questions that is okay you have eliminated one option you are confused with three options say for A B C D is there okay you have eliminated all cut this is wrong if A B C D is there eliminated only A but you are having confusion between B C and D in that case it is called as eliminated one option question so such type of question you know you give some other maybe this sign means that you know then there is another type of question instinct based question you are not able to eliminate the options but your instinct is saying that it may be a correct answer so in those cases you are going to look it in the fourth round and finally you have a question is unknown questions another type of question that you may find is unknown meaning the question itself is completely unknown area you are not able to even think on that subject then you just put into mark which means you are not going to read this question again see this categorization is very important to save time because every round you cannot read all hundred questions so those questions easy and short short questions you are not going to give any mark so second time when you're going for second round no need to see any of the perfectly answered questions you can just check on the circle marks okay in order to go for second round questions and you need not read the questions that has to be dealt with third round eliminated one option question no no need to read that question no need to read instinct based question no need to read unknown questions the second round you just read those questions which has made a circle symbol okay so that you are able to cover all these questions and the chances of getting correct in these questions is higher compared to other questions and here also remember coverage is very important in second round don't stagnate okay meaning once again in the second round if you still find that 50-50 dilemma is not able to be resolved by any logic you just leave the question and go for the other question because among the second round questions some questions will be easily arrived at the answer because you have got the confidence see in the end of first round you have to go for a count okay just count how many questions that you have already answered so if you count and if there and finally it is 40 questions or 45 questions you will be very much satisfied that almost 80 percent you are inside the main examination because few more questions if you put right you will be able to clear the examination so the first rounds will give you confidence that confidence will help you to answer very well in the second round if you are worried about the interpretation based questions in the first round itself you will end up making mistakes in consequent questions so after the first round make a count whatever you know correct answers are marked if it is coming around 35 to 40 or some you just be happy that you have already fortified your seat in mains only some more work has to be done this confidence will ensure the 50-50 questions are answered in a correct manner when you are in stress anxiety and then go for a 50-50 questions all that choice you go will be negative but when you are confident when you are satisfied and then you take up the question your mind will work in a right direction and you can arrive at the correct answer and remember apply some logic in the 50-50 questions in the second round you are going to go for 50-50 questions okay so apply some logic and eliminate one option then arrive at the correct answer now the end of the second round once again go for a count definitely you should crossed around 80 to 85 if you have arrived at 80 to 85 questions the next thing you have to do is to go for third round calculated risk okay so when you have come to 80 to 85 questions almost you are in so you can put another five to eight questions okay try to cross 90 okay in order to ensure that you know you for sure clearing the prelims examination with a bigger margin and also to ensure a place for Indian forest service okay cross 90 those who are right for forest service go for more than 95 okay take the calculated risk okay when you take risk sometimes it will be positive even if this 56 questions is going to be wrong it will not much affect your mark because only two marks are going to be reduced okay so in third round once again one third of the third round marked questions has to be answered at least now after the third round still you find 80 is not touched a person is going for first round second round third round still 80 questions have not been completed wavering around 72 72 in that case you know go for the fourth round that is instinct questions going for instinct question is high risk but anyway when you have put only fewer number of questions the chances of clearing is less because negative marking is also there so only when you go for a higher number of questions you will be able to clear this examination so when the count 80 to 85 is not arrived at it is better to take the high risk okay anyway it is almost 80% you may not clear the examination so at that time taking high risk is called for but if you are solidly 80 to 85 you have scored in the second round itself in the third round itself this count is coming then don't go for this instinct question because supposing some 45 instinct questions are there okay if it is all negative there is a problem that you know further two marks is reduced so there is a big problem so don't go for it so this examination is about management of time and how we manage the question supposing the question paper is lengthy and you feel it is difficult it will be difficult for all so at that time the number of questions you can reduce to 75 to 80 okay that must be attended if you have covered the syllabus remember 50-50 question and the third type of question that is only one option you have eliminated no those questions maximum will be correct I will demonstrate that for you for example 10 questions you are taking in 50-50 and the probability of getting correct answers is 5 so out of 5 okay you get 10 marks then remaining 5 will be negatives okay so negative marking 0.66 marks they will reduce so 5 into 5 into 0.66 that is around 3.3 or 3.4 okay so 6.7 so what happens when you take 50-50 questions in the second round and you have prepared well for the examination it is going to be an additional value for you negative marking will not affect you negatively definitely you end up you know gaining more marks so what I suggest is second round questions do attend never leave the second round questions if you are leaving you should be leaving the third type of question instinct question and unknown question but never ever leave the 50-50 questions you will end up positively only you gain 6.7 marks okay for a 10 question if you there is more number of questions you just imagine some of you may ask sir when 50-50 we put what if more number of questions is coming wrong those people would not have covered the entire syllabus they would have stagnated in a single subject once again okay the entire theme of this video is cover as much as possible don't stagnate okay in any one particular area topic of the subject or in any one of the subject if you cover the 50-50 type of questions maximum you will get it correct only you will be able to clear this examination then throughout the process you must never get stressed you should always remain calm okay it is very important to remain calm when you are dealing with this 50-50 type of question there is a big chance that you may end up marking the wrong answer if you overthink so next important point I would like to talk about is don't overthink but it is the same you should think think but don't overthink so I'll tell you the psychological reason behind this human mind and that too the modern generation is trained in such a way whatever we see in a printed form we believe it to be true recently this fake news issue and all know whatever comes in social media what so you believe like that printed material when we see there is a more chance in the human mind agrees that it is a true fact so now when the 50-50 question you are overthinking on that the wrong statement slowly you will start to conceive that as a correct statement because you are looking at the statement for a longer period of time mind records that statement and your mind starts to believe that it is a fact so in the first instinct you would have marked that statement as wrong but after looking on the question again and again for a longer period of time when you overthink you start to agree that it is a fact and you will mark the answer wrongly so that is why deciding quickly is very important this examination okay you should not overthink and an average you know you should take only 30 seconds maximum for a question if you find you are taking more than 30 seconds for a question always keep a watch in the visible area so that you are able to estimate what is the time you are taking for each question okay if it is crossing one minute then leave the question and go for other question okay as I said you know you can find the easiest question later even in the second round 50-50 questions some questions will be more difficult some question is easily crackable so first finish the easily crackable questions then come to the difficult ones so don't overthink that is the biggest problem and when I say don't overthink and I also should say don't worry be calm in the examination if you don't know the answer if you find a question difficult don't show that anxiety in the next question okay deal questions one by one if a question if you have answered satisfactorily be happy use that to motivate to answer the other questions in a positive way but if you find a question is very difficult okay don't worry you think that you know with the other questions you will be able to clear the examination if one question is worrying you definitely it will have a ramification on other questions so deal questions one by one until the end of the examination trust that you will answer maximum number of questions other than maximum number of questions compared to other candidates so that you will clear the examination a positive outlook is necessary and as I said you know I should also talk about certain mistakes that you will be making in the seaside paper the first mistake that all of them do in seaside paper in reading comprehension now the title itself comprehension what you understand from the paragraph that is given so while choosing the options for the question while answering the question you stick to the paragraph just cross check the paragraph whether that particular option is relevant for the paragraph you should not answer based on your own assumption for that matter you should not answer from your knowledge okay your answer should be well within the paragraph according to the paragraph whether the statement is correct or not whether the answer will be relevant to the question that you have to choose so that is the one mistake that you do second is some problems will be very difficult in seaside paper okay people you know used to dwell on that particular question and leave on once again not covering the entire paper now whenever difficult question is coming don't stagnate leave it go on to the easy questions out of 80 questions they are going to ask in the seaside okay definitely okay 40 is going to be easy and you know that it is a qualifying paper okay so if you are comfortably you know so 26 to 27 questions so even if 30 questions if you are answering correctly RMS you will be able to clear the examination so don't worry about that one question you know which creates a headache to your mind so decision making skill is tested here okay a person who is able to first complete the easy questions then next level difficulty and finally deal with them more difficult questions those have more chances of clearing this examination than others as a conclusion I would like to reiterate this you have to cover the syllabus don't stagnate while preparing apply the same technique in the GS films paper as well as seaside paper and keep calm throughout the examination so two key words that you should take away from this video is coverage and don't stagnate and don't overthink okay if these three things if you keep in mind you have almost crossed the well half I'll repeat coverage don't stagnate and don't overthink there is a policy that will help students well in throughout their preparation till the interview that is kiss policy what is it kiss policy k i s s keep it simple and stupid meaning if you think something as a overburden if you are you know viewing something as a complex thing it'll remain complex forever when you start to see things simply and do things simply clearing the examination or making any achievements and success in any sector will be easier so remember this policy and prepare well deep wishes from my heart that you do well in the preliminary examination and write the mains 2020