Many of us aspire to work as civil servants and join honourable government agencies like the IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS, and PCS. Best way to start mains answer writing practice?Millions of students take the IAS (Civil Services Examination) and PCS exams each year in an effort to fulfil their aspirations of entering India’s most sought-after services. Given that these officers hold nearly all of the top posts in both the Central and State Governments of India, these services provide the greatest government careers in that country.
However, it is difficult to be selected in the Civil Services Examinations. Every year, millions of aspirants participate in these events, but only a select few are successful. There are three stages to the examination: the preliminary, UPSC mains, and interview (Personality Test). Although Prelims is simply a qualifying test, candidates are chosen and assigned to positions in these exams based on their performance in the Mains and Essay writing and Interview introduction examples.
Thing you need to do before starting answer writing?
A1. Become an expert in the syllabus
- Read the UPSC Syllabus thoroughly
- make notes of each topic given in the syllabus
A2. Read the last 2 years mains questions, topic wise and their solutions:
- This will help you understand what kind of questions UPSC asks and how deep you need to study to answer them
A3. Static content
- Focus on static content to build a strong foundation
- parallel to that, read the current affairs from newspaper to build vocabulary
A4. Maintain fine balance between all subjects and topic
- Don’t try to over study the subjects from where less questions are expected. for example Disaster management
- Study 70% subjects equally and spend more time on heavy weightage subjects like Polity, Economy, Environment and Ecology.
How, when and where to start doing answer practice in UPSC mains?
Before we give you an answer for how and where, we will adress the “when should you start practicing for answer writing?”
Don’t listen to the people who say- START FROM DAY-1
Where to start mains answer writing?
1. Test series
For the Test series we would recommand you to go for Vision IAS for GS 1, 2, 3 and Lukmaan IAS for GS 4. Online test series are also available and I feel that is the best way to do it. It helps you to be disciplined in your weekly and bi-monthly preparation and to get feedback from your writing also.
2. free upsc mains answer writing practice: Self practice
You can use the online platforms like: Insights on India, Forum IAS, IAS Baba, Vision IAS mains answer writing etc. these websites post a lot of questions on a daily basis on their portal, I suggest you to write answer static type of questions more than current affairs questions.best coaching for upsc in delhi answer writing practice gs test
3. Where to write these answers?
You should simply take a notebook or A4 sheets, draw rough lines on two sides or you can buy UPSC answer writing sheet. keep a normal gel pen, eraser, stop watch with you this is sufficient.
The question arises, what is good content? and mains answer writing in UPSC mains
- Your answer must showcase your understanding of the question asked by UPSC
- Your answer must address all aspects and parts of the question.
- It must be to the point.
- Informative and analytical and not speculative.
- Coherent flow while addressing the question.
Understanding mains answer writing skills for upsc mains and The Question And Answering Difficult Questions In UPSC
It is not uncommon to see that aspirants are not able to understand the questions. There can be a few reasons for this:
1. You are not aware about that particular topic. Sometimes, you are a bit familiar but don’t know much about the topic asked in the question. Othertimes, you know where the question is from but you have not studied thatportion from that part of the syllabus or missed that topic. Or maybe you are vaguelyaware of it.
In these situations, try to understand the broader context of the question and answer from that broader perspective only. This is because you are not too familiar, therefore it is best to just write an average answer without much details.
2. You are not able to understand what exactly is the question asking. Sometimes the question itself is framed in a statement form that it becomes difficult to decipher it entirely. This trend has reduced in recent years. In 2021, pretty much straight
forward questions were asked. However, I will still show you some questions along those lines.
Types of questions asked by UPSC
- Definition based or straight forward
- statement based questions
- Differentiation between two or more concepts
- Causes or reasons
- Affects or outcomes
- critical exaination of the concept
Indicative words like Explain, Discuss, Enumerate Etc in Mains answer writing
- Discuss: Means to write the topics formally
- Evaluate: Means to give a opinion based on facts
- Examine: Means to write after studying carefully
- Comment: Means to provide an opinion
- Argue: Means to give reasons
- Do you agree: Providing reasoning for taking whatever side of an issue
- Throw light: On the significance of the topic
- Enumerate: To list something or give points
- Elaborate: To illustrate, to give more details about the topic
- Explain: Means to clarify and tell reasons
- Justify: Give good reasonong with examples
- Crticially examine: Means to examine an issue analytically
- Highlight: To critical challenges and other factors of influence
- Define: Provide a definition or meaning
How to Write an introduction?
An introduction is simply the definition of the main concept or keyword asked in the question. Few ways in which you can write any inroduction are as follows:
- Providing a definition of the main concept
- Providing context of the concept. example : time period from the History
- Providing linking statement in the introduction.
Wordlimit: 30 words for 10 marker question and 40 for 15 marks question
What is an example of a introduction?
Question: Trace the rise and growth of socio- religious reform movements with special reference to young Bengal and Brahmo Samaj. (10M)
Introduction: Socio religious reform movements started in India during 195h AD. these movements focused on addressing various social and religious evils prevalent in India during these times
How to write Body of an answer?
It is the body of the answer where you fetch the most makrs, it is here you must spend most of your time and write all the points that you know. the main aspects of the body of the answer are as follows:
- The body should be to the point and addressed what is asked in the question
- You can use headings and sub heading
- Ensure that all parts of the question are answered in the body
- Use atleast one example in each point you use in your answer to support
- Provide relevant data, diagram, mindmaps when required.
whether to write in Paragraphs or points?
The best way to write an opinion-based response is in paragraphs. These responses often take the form of essays and may include an introductory paragraph, a body of paragraphs, and a conclusion. A fact-based response can be presented in both paragraphs and bullet points, or it can use both. The introductory paragraph, the main body of the response in bullet points, and the concluding paragraph make up a fact-based answer. It is vital to build an approach that works for you organically because the majority of CSE questions will almost always be a combination of both facts and views. Take a look at this CSE 2016 question, for instance.Discuss the role of land reforms in agricultural development. Identify the factors that were responsible for the success of land reforms in India.’ – and then take a look at the suggestions given below.
- Case 1: The opinion-based question – ‘Discuss the role of land reforms in agricultural development’ – this part of the question is opinion-based and as such could be attempted in paragraphs.
- Case 2: The fact-based question – Identify the factors that were responsible for the success of land reforms in India’ – this part of the question has factual elements to it and as such can be presented in either paragraphs or bullets. Choosing the latter here could surely save time if not fetch extra marks.
A maximum of 200 words may be used for each question in the General Studies (GS) papers, with the exception of GS paper IV, which is the Ethics paper. Given the allotted time for answering a question, this word restriction is reasonable. Here, it’s important to use concise language. Even though you might think that connecting two statements with a “and” will save you time and words, avoid using compound sentences. Instead, divide a statement into clauses by using a semicolon, with each clause addressing a similar but distinct concept or argument. If the question asks you to write down factors, causes, etc., you may also divide your response into bullet points.