Practice means to perform, over and over again in the face of all obstacles, some act of vision, of faith, of desire. Practice is a means of inviting the perfection desired.

 – Martha Graham

Since the introduction of the new scheme in 2013, UPSC has stressed the importance of deeper thinking specially in the GS Mains Examination. The commission stresses on developing a perspective rather than simply information procurement. It is evident from the question papers. Just pick any previous year's paper, and you will see this shift. This calls for the right strategy and direction. 

Achieving The Peak Performance

To address this shift from 2013, one has to understand the importance of the right direction. Right direction means setting up the right milestones, achieving them at the right time and consistently following the right approach. 

If you work hard and your direction is not right, then your efforts will be futile. Getting high marks on this examination requires you to write thoughtful and perspective-driven answers. Perspective must be the driving force behind your answers.

 Developing your perspective is not an overnight miracle. It needs consistency. Let's see how to achieve Peak Performance in a stipulated time:

1. Concept-building through Syllabus: Every topic you study or cover must be linked to your syllabus. Concept-building simply means knowing the basics of a concept. 

• Go through the micro-detailed syllabus of each subject: Whenever there is any current happening or you study any topic, you should be able to relate it to the part of the syllabus it belongs to. You will be able to attain this ability only when you know your syllabus well.

2. Combine Concepts with Context: Once you inculcate a complete understanding of the concepts. You must understand the correlation to any current happening and know its various applications. 

• This will help you build Perspective: Thoughtful writing to achieve the right results. It helps you build a perspective towards every change in society. UPSC demands this skill the most. 

• Go through the Previous Year’s Questions and practice: See if you can draw the context of the questions. Practise these questions by addressing the various applications of the concept. This will help you create an effective expression.

3. Assess Yourself: Consistently assess your growth. Give frequent tests and assess yourself with the topper’s copy or if there is any model answer available. Try to get yourself an honest evaluation. This will help you identify your strengths and weak areas.

• Keep a tracker: Evaluate your answers based on some metrics. These metrics could be structure, dimensions covered, proper substantiation, keywords addressed, etc.

• Give Mock tests: You can also give frequent mock tests. The more you practice the better you will be able to perform in each answer. 

Repeat this process and you will see the difference in your expression. 

We at GS SCORE understand the value of the right direction. This is why we craft our courses based on the right strategy to help students develop all the important skills. The GS Mains Classes 2024 (Basic to Advance) is a crisp yet substantive program to cover the entire syllabus for Mains 2023 (Basics to advance) in 6-8 months. 

This plan will cater to both types of candidates, one who is doing full-time preparation and others who roped in other engagements during weekdays and can spare only weekends for their preparation. Our outcome-based pedagogy helps develop the "critical thinking" of our students, the niche skill required to excel in Mains. Our GS Mains Test Series is part of this program to monitor your progress and also helps us to know whether someone requires additional support. Check out the course here.

A sincere effort by,

Samiksha

Team GS SCORE