CSE 2022: Plan/ Strategy/ Daily Routine
This is an everything thread for all stuff 2022. You can post your daily goals, end-of-the-day updates, weekly targets or any weird thing you use to measure your progress. You can put into words & post the soul-sucking sadness that is threatening to devour you & your productivity. You can write what made your day & let others experience the happiness too, at least vicariously. This is a thread to pick each other up. This is a thread to keep each other accountable. This is a no-judgement zone.
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“This is one more piece of advice I have for you: don't get impatient. Even if things are so tangled up you can't do anything, don't get desperate or blow a fuse and start yanking on one particular thread before it's ready to come undone. You have to realize it's going to be a long process and that you'll work on things slowly, one at a time.”
— Haruki Murakami, Norwegian Wood
Next 9-10 days aren't going to be too productive for me. I am moving to a new city. Before that I need to meet up a few people— my newly manufactured cute nephew, my nani, and some of my school friends. So, I will be travelling. And my first week in new city too will demand a lot of time like looking for a place and all the related stuff. I am also kindda trying to chillofy after prelims thingy. But I don't want these days to be total waste. So, I should just start.
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Day 1 (12/10/21): Target To-dos
- Organize all the PSIR notes, handouts, everything I have
- Ethics 2 Classes + related notes
- Hannah Arendt (1/2)
- Prelims Post Mortem: Economy Questions
Other Stuff:
- Walk + Audiobook
- Visit Dermat
Prelims 2021 Post-Mortem: Economy
Total Questions: 14 >>>11 Correct, 3 Wrong
Wrong Questions: UCBs, FDI, Financial Markets
I don’t think I need to change my source for the economy. Every single question can be answered with basics, Vivek Sir’s book & telegram channel. There are some chapters that I did not revise well & that cost me two questions. And the UCB one was posted in the telegram channel too. But I did not follow it well. I procrastinated on my telegram readings for too long and only in the last two months, I tried to cover the current affairs of the entire year. A saner strategy is to do the economy every single day. Also, the questions require one to understand the mechanics of how things work. So, if something is in the news, I must try to understand the economic logic behind it. There is some need for a little factual information as well but Sir’s book would cover it.
Every question I was sure of is correct. Every question I was doubtful about & did a wild guess is wrong. Do you see a lesson here?
Lessons for 2022: For economy, multiple revisions of Vivek Sir’s book, Study the telegram news everyday, go deep into the economic logic of a news or static portion when you don’t get a feel of the topic by primary reading. Don’t be reckless in ticking questions. My fall in this attempt is a lot due to over-attempting & many wild guesses. Also, did caffeine in my body make me extra reckless?
P.S. I went on a caffeine overload as I was not able to get even an hour of sleep at night.
This thread couldn't have come at a better time. Thank you, @nerdfighter, and everyone who is joining in!
This journey doesn't have to be lonely. We can all choose to learn and grow everyday with the community of wonderful aspirants here.
So, count me in! Tomorrow onwards I'll regularly post my to-dos at the start and update them at the end of the day.
Let's do this, y'all! 
Idk if this is the right thread, but just putting my learnings out there!
TIL
Barium Salts are responsible for giving green color to the fireworks. [ News Item: SC and the firecrackers manufacturers case - S&T angle that I observed ]
Components and their function in fireworks
Potassium nitrate, sulfur, charcoal - Burning
Nitrates, chlorates, perchlorates - provide O2 for combustion
Some thoughts which occured to me today : Long read, please read at your own discretion.
1.Understanding and confronting your feelings- I was in a denial all this while . I felt that loosing prelims did not hurt me and its pretty normal. But it is not, I have been into preparation since 3rd year. A 2 year long journey where I have sacrificed many things, which I don't regret as it was my own choice. But somebody yesterday told me you must not be feeling sad unlike all of us because this is your first attempt whereas we all are in our second/third/fourth attempt. All my attempts to forget about my prelims came haunting me back. Feelings confronted me today and I couldn't control it much longer.
An unpredictable paper it was and I would not have worried much if it had gone bad , but I am standing somewhere close to 84-86, the thing that is haunting me is those 5 questions which I did wrong against the wishes of my gut feelings - water, pressure cooker, article 14, one history question and a eastern ghat river question. I am unable to come to terms that this is going to be the reason behind my failure in prelims.
Still I am trying, trying to shift my focus from this exam and the prelims failure and move on. Moving on seems hard at this point but this is the most I can do.
So to everyone reading this, confront your feelings, don't be in a denial and accept your feelings with open arms. Let this flow, because if you allow feelings to quell up, it would block the veins in your body, your heart and brain would stop working and you will react or over-react to things. In these two days, I got irritated pretty easily, shouted , screamed and cried. The more I tried to forget the more it came back haunting me making my life more difficult. Welcoming it with open arms would have been much easier.
2. To deviate my mind I watched Criminal Justice ( I know a little late) - One thing that struck me was UPSC chahe jitna bhi unpredictable ho, it actually offers you a lot to work. The situation in prison made me think why prisons are even created? Are they created for the purpose of punishment or for reforming the person? The prison where the guy aditya sharma was kept, was not reforming him but instead it created another monster from humans. The state of our prison is one of the worst in the world, we need urgent reform, for protecting and promoting the basic human rights of people. Unsanitary conditions, constant threat to life , politicisation of prisons and many more things. It just gave me one more reason to continue trying for this exam. Baaki as life would take, kuch nahin toh dhairya ki tarah NGO hi khol legen.
Some thoughts which occured to me today :
1. Understanding and confronting your feelings - I was in a denial all this while . I felt that loosing prelims did not hurt me and its pretty normal. But it is not, I have been into preparation since 3rd year. A 2 year long journey where I have sacrificed many things, which I don't regret as it was my own choice. But somebody yesterday told me you must not be feeling sad unlike all of us because this is your first attempt whereas we all are in our second/third/fourth attempt. All my attempts to forget about my prelims came haunting me back. Feelings confronted me today and I couldn't control it much longer.
An unpredictable paper it was and I would not have worried much if it had gone bad , but I am standing somewhere close to 84-86, the thing that is haunting me is those 5 questions which I did wrong against the wishes of my gut feelings - water, pressure cooker, article 14, one history question and a eastern ghat river question. I am unable to come to terms that this is going to be the reason behind my failure in prelims.
Still I am trying, trying to shift my focus from this exam and the prelims failure and move on. Moving on seems hard at this point but this is the most I can do.
So to everyone reading this, confront your feelings, don't be in a denial and accept your feelings with open arms. Let this flow, because if you allow feelings to quell up, it would block the veins in your body, your heart and brain would stop working and you will react or over-react to things. In these two days, I got irritated pretty easily, shouted , screamed and cried. The more I tried to forget the more it came back haunting me making my life more difficult. Welcoming it with open arms would have been much easier.
2. To deviate my mind I watched Criminal Justice ( I know a little late) - One thing that struck me was UPSC chahe jitna bhi unpredictable ho, it actually offers you a lot to work. The situation in prison made me think why prisons are even created? Are they created for the purpose of punishment or for reforming the person? The prison where the guy aditya sharma was kept, was not reforming him but instead it created another monster from humans. The state of our prison is one of the worst in the world, we need urgent reform, for protecting and promoting the basic human rights of people. Unsanitary conditions, constant threat to life , politicisation of prisons and many more things. It just gave me one more reason to continue trying for this exam. Baaki as life would take, kuch nahin tohdhairyaki tarah NGO hi khol legen.
You are feeling sad because you tried and you really wanted to pass this exam number of attempts do not define the extent of sadness amount of effort does. Kudos to you because you made an honest attempt. ATB!
Next 9-10 days aren't going to be too productive for me. I am moving to a new city. Before that I need to meet up a few people— my newly manufactured cute nephew, my nani, and some of my school friends. So, I will be travelling. And my first week in new city too will demand a lot of time like looking for a place and all the related stuff. I am also kindda trying to chillofy after prelims thingy. But I don't want these days to be total waste. So, I should just start.
---
Day 1 (12/10/21): Target To-dos
- Organize all the PSIR notes, handouts, everything I have
- Ethics 2 Classes + related notes
- Hannah Arendt (1/2)
- Prelims Post Mortem: Economy Questions
Other Stuff:
- Walk + Audiobook
- Visit Dermat
What all got done?
- Organize all the PSIR notes, handouts, everything I have >>>This is half done
- Ethics 2 Classes + related notes >>>Completed 1 Class; Did not read any notes though
- Hannah Arendt (1/2) >>>Did this for one hour; Should have done more
- Prelims Post Mortem: Economy Questions >>>Done
Other Stuff:
- Walk + Audiobook >>>Half an Hour of Walk + Audiobook (Difficulty of Being Good)
- Visit Dermat >>>Did not go as I was sleeping when I had my appointment
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A large part of the day went in packing stuff & feeding the dopamine hungry monster in me (Forum, Youtube, Reddit). So, I set up a time dependent block on Forum now. Will slowly expand the block to cover other distractions as well. But this is still a chill time & I don't want to rush things up. Jitna bhi hua is okay.
As I was packing the stuff that I need for the next year, I saw how many of the books I've bought for UPSC are useless to me. 2/3rd of the UPSC books I own haven't been opened for a year. In the initial stages, I had this book hoarder mentality, an irrational hope that I would be able to study everything under the Sun. I am happy that I am taking lesser UPSC books to Bangalore.
Also, I will miss my non-fiction collection. It has travelled with me wherever I went for the last 7-8 years. But I am taking bare minimum stuff. So, they will have to stay home.
Total Hours Studied: 3 Hours 15 Minutes
Some thoughts which occured to me today : Long read, please read at your own discretion.
1.Understanding and confronting your feelings- I was in a denial all this while . I felt that loosing prelims did not hurt me and its pretty normal. But it is not, I have been into preparation since 3rd year. A 2 year long journey where I have sacrificed many things, which I don't regret as it was my own choice. But somebody yesterday told me you must not be feeling sad unlike all of us because this is your first attempt whereas we all are in our second/third/fourth attempt. All my attempts to forget about my prelims came haunting me back. Feelings confronted me today and I couldn't control it much longer.
An unpredictable paper it was and I would not have worried much if it had gone bad , but I am standing somewhere close to 84-86, the thing that is haunting me is those 5 questions which I did wrong against the wishes of my gut feelings - water, pressure cooker, article 14, one history question and a eastern ghat river question. I am unable to come to terms that this is going to be the reason behind my failure in prelims.
Still I am trying, trying to shift my focus from this exam and the prelims failure and move on. Moving on seems hard at this point but this is the most I can do.
So to everyone reading this, confront your feelings, don't be in a denial and accept your feelings with open arms. Let this flow, because if you allow feelings to quell up, it would block the veins in your body, your heart and brain would stop working and you will react or over-react to things. In these two days, I got irritated pretty easily, shouted , screamed and cried. The more I tried to forget the more it came back haunting me making my life more difficult. Welcoming it with open arms would have been much easier.
2. To deviate my mind I watched Criminal Justice ( I know a little late) - One thing that struck me was UPSC chahe jitna bhi unpredictable ho, it actually offers you a lot to work. The situation in prison made me think why prisons are even created? Are they created for the purpose of punishment or for reforming the person? The prison where the guy aditya sharma was kept, was not reforming him but instead it created another monster from humans. The state of our prison is one of the worst in the world, we need urgent reform, for protecting and promoting the basic human rights of people. Unsanitary conditions, constant threat to life , politicisation of prisons and many more things. It just gave me one more reason to continue trying for this exam. Baaki as life would take, kuch nahin toh dhairya ki tarah NGO hi khol legen.
Your words cut deep, deeper than any blade.
Did my optional once but as you say doing once is not doing at all, now thinking to give daily 2 hours for optional answer writing, Prelims 2021 was scary and I have developed the prelims phobia, trying to do an integrated preparation for both prelims and mains and will focus completely on prelims by test series in March.
should I write mains test as of now?
Also waiting for your blog for us (first attempt in 2022)
Did my optional once but as you say doing once is not doing at all, now thinking to give daily 2 hours for optional answer writing, Prelims 2021 was scary and I have developed the prelims phobia, trying to do an integrated preparation for both prelims and mains and will focus completely on prelims by test series in March.
should I write mains test as of now?
Also waiting for your blog for us (first attempt in 2022)
I woke up at 5 am just to tell you this, please get the exam calendar right. Not March. If you are poor at Prelims, you do it from December 31st. Period. Man, it takes 4 month. If you have not cracked prelims before make that five.
Give the exam the respect it deserves. I had a guy who flunked and said I have it two months. The next year, he flunks again and said this time I gave it three month, then the next year he goes four months and flunks.
In the last attempt, I asked him how many months? He said sir - five months. That’s how you are thrown out of the game.
He would have been much better if he had given five months in the first attempt , if any later attempts would have been taken, they would be diminishing ..
Did my optional once but as you say doing once is not doing at all, now thinking to give daily 2 hours for optional answer writing, Prelims 2021 was scary and I have developed the prelims phobia, trying to do an integrated preparation for both prelims and mains and will focus completely on prelims by test series in March.
should I write mains test as of now?
Also waiting for your blog for us (first attempt in 2022)
And for competitive exams, we do things ten times. Once is not enough. This isn’t PU - people say down South.
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