The most uncomplicated way to mess up Prelims in my experience is-
1. Not getting a good night's sleep (@AzadHindFauz is spot-on about the importance of sleep/rest)
2. Not staying calm/ in the moment
Apart from not getting any sleep the night before the invigilator somehow managed to mess up mine and the guy ahead's OMR sheets (2021 attempt). Small benches, a an october sun burning my back, questions on Sports and many more were mere actors of a snowball effect that was my state of mind. I was inches away from losing my shit. Mere inches were also what remained between my alleged score and the supposed cut-off last year. This time around I hope to not commit the same mistake.
I don't mean to sound pessimistic but a lot of things can and will certainly go wrong on D-Day. Nothing really prepares you for the pressure of the 2 hours each of Paper 1&2. Like that saying goes- no plan survives contact with the enemy.
A nice technique that has helped me stay calm and get good sleep has been to-
1. close your eyes and count till 10 (or any other number)
2. only think of the numbers and as you count if a thought bothers/disturbs the count
3. you start again from 1
4. count till you reach the final number with nothing else running in your mind (or start again from 1)
It gets frustrating initially but can manifest in an efficient quick fix. The beauty of it is that you only need to do it once. The result is either instant sleep or when you open your eyesyou're in the moment.
And thats where one should be in the Prelims. In the moment. One question at a time.
