Mains 2023 - In or out?

Averageaspirantsaid

What are folks who did not get in planning now? Other than next attempt.

HermoineGrangersaid

@tedmosby @LetsGetThisBread @GaryVee When deserving people like you are not in the list, it breaks heart and the success in this exam seems even more elusive. I was expecting your selection as well, have been a silent observant here on this platform since last 3-4 years and have admired your focus, hard work and consistency.
Hope you get the deserving rewards for all the hard work you have put, whether in UPSC or elsewhere. 

Averageaspirantsaid

tedmosbysaid

HermoineGrangersaid

@tedmosby @LetsGetThisBread @GaryVee When deserving people like you are not in the list, it breaks heart and the success in this exam seems even more elusive. I was expecting your selection as well, have been a silent observant here on this platform since last 3-4 years and have admired your focus, hard work and consistency.
Hope you get the deserving rewards for all the hard work you have put, whether in UPSC or elsewhere. 

Thanks for saying this! 

Well I am preparing again now. I was already started preparing 3 days post Mains. I was almost done with Analytic Geometry when this result struck. 

Though I would need some guidance regarding various aspects in maths opt and some answer writing techniques. Not the syllabus, just the strategy. I am quite well versed in Essay and GS2, I had a score of 126 and 112 respectively in Mains '22. Other scores were - 1: 82, 3: 60, 4: 101 and Opt - 192*. 

*I just somehow sat for my opt paper, I did not sleep for an entire night because of tonsillitis.

So if someone has suggestions for improvement, I would really appreciate it. 

What did you refer for GS 2?

aryabhatasaid

@tedmosby 

I don't find myself eligible to suggest any strategy. But I have analysed my failure in optional and what needs to be done. Based on that, here are few points:

1. Ayush Gupta(score 296) told that he gave 40-45 mock tests. This ensured no silly mistakes.

2. Shubhankar (AIR11) said that he had solved all PYQs of IAS + IFoS.

3. Self made short notes. I think this ensures comprehensive understanding and also helps in revision. Although for revision, one can refer toppers' short notes. But self made short notes ensure that you have comprehensive understanding of every inch of that topic.

Neyawnsaid

tedmosbysaid

@GaneshGaitonde GG sir humesha bas ek post se purra reality yaad dilwa dete hai. :D

After my Mains 2022 failure, I thought that I am really close to the cutoff but when the marks were out I saw that my opt score is very low. For CSE 2023, I thought I will read and solve so much that Maths mai "highest" marks lekke aaunga (Sabse badi problem over-ambitious logo ki).

Now that I have failed Mains 2023 again and found Maths Opt to be the culprit, I realised that knowledge doesn't matter that much rather it is the strategy that matters. And how to build it? Mocks and PYQs karo acche se.  

To outline what I have done for Maths - I have solved almost every recommended book for Maths but yet I did not solve and revise PYQs for four important topics. I thought may be this blunder wouldn't matter much BUT UPSC just made me realise that the whole exam is anarrow margingame. 

Every failure is a lesson and I am thankful that I got to know about it when I have two more attempts left. Kuch nahi toh I will have a lifelong lesson from this process. 

Moving forward, I have always lacked guidance in my prep but yes I will save enough money to join Forum MGP this time so that atleast GS ka part accha rahe. Maths ke liye toh idk mocks hi zyada karne honge. Idk marks increase honge ya nahi lekin ab attempt hai toh karke dekh lete hai. Obvio I can't overlook Pre 2024. Usse toh bohot darr hai mujhe xD

To everyone here,thank youfor being a guiding light. Even I don't know many of you personally, I made some really good connections on this platform. I wish that you people find your light some day. For me, I will give my 100% again. Wapas ladenge. Wapas purri jaan lagayenge. Backup toh dhundna hoga hi vo toh kar hi rahe. Ye sab pata nahi kaise hoga lekin I did it for Mains '23 after failing Mains '22 so I will gain the same rigour again. Wapas utni mehnat karenge. For this attempt, I would like to quote Faiz Ahmad Faiz on this aspect- 

"Gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai,

Toh jo bhi laga do darr kaisa,

Jeet gye to baat hi kya,

Haare bhi toh haar nahi…"

Need to gear up for my 5th attempt and plunge into the uncertainty of my 7th year in this prep. For those who exhausted their attempts or might be exhausted with the journey, I know I am not someone who can speak about how you guys are feeling but a small story from my side- 

I failed to get into IIT for UG even after working extremely hard in my drop year. That time was cruel. I was bedridden due to left leg fracture and nerve damage on my hips coupled with efusion on my right knee (This happened back during JEE Adv '16). I cried daily due to the pain of my fracture. I was so sure of my selection in IIT that I did not fill forms for other colleges. I thought everything was over and there's only darkness for me ahead. Most of my then classmates used to laugh at me behind my back. Many relatives mocked me. There were very few who actually understood how I felt. The only thing people saw was the fact that I couldn't get into IIT. They didn't care about what I had faced. I was declared not intelligent, incompetent, useless and what-not. 

But thattime passed as welland I did overcome everything. I eventually got into IIT for PG. I even had a chance to get into IIMs & other good colleges because of a decent score in CAT. All of this with no coaching. I just repeat my own story to myself several times just to motivate myself again.Itne aage aa gaye hai toh aur bhi aage chale jayenge. 

Biggest learning from all these failures is -Things will work out eventually. You just need to be patient. Never stop working hard. Ek din sab theek hojayega. 

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." - Steve Jobs

@tedmosby Have you spoken to people with maths who have made it? How have your successive scores been? Just don't keep writing the exam. Take a step back. Sometimes we step back, not because we are afraid, but do that we can see a bigger picture.

Neyawnsaid

tedmosbysaid

Neyawnsaid

tedmosbysaid

@GaneshGaitonde GG sir humesha bas ek post se purra reality yaad dilwa dete hai. :D

After my Mains 2022 failure, I thought that I am really close to the cutoff but when the marks were out I saw that my opt score is very low. For CSE 2023, I thought I will read and solve so much that Maths mai "highest" marks lekke aaunga (Sabse badi problem over-ambitious logo ki).

Now that I have failed Mains 2023 again and found Maths Opt to be the culprit, I realised that knowledge doesn't matter that much rather it is the strategy that matters. And how to build it? Mocks and PYQs karo acche se.  

To outline what I have done for Maths - I have solved almost every recommended book for Maths but yet I did not solve and revise PYQs for four important topics. I thought may be this blunder wouldn't matter much BUT UPSC just made me realise that the whole exam is anarrow margingame. 

Every failure is a lesson and I am thankful that I got to know about it when I have two more attempts left. Kuch nahi toh I will have a lifelong lesson from this process. 

Moving forward, I have always lacked guidance in my prep but yes I will save enough money to join Forum MGP this time so that atleast GS ka part accha rahe. Maths ke liye toh idk mocks hi zyada karne honge. Idk marks increase honge ya nahi lekin ab attempt hai toh karke dekh lete hai. Obvio I can't overlook Pre 2024. Usse toh bohot darr hai mujhe xD

To everyone here,thank youfor being a guiding light. Even I don't know many of you personally, I made some really good connections on this platform. I wish that you people find your light some day. For me, I will give my 100% again. Wapas ladenge. Wapas purri jaan lagayenge. Backup toh dhundna hoga hi vo toh kar hi rahe. Ye sab pata nahi kaise hoga lekin I did it for Mains '23 after failing Mains '22 so I will gain the same rigour again. Wapas utni mehnat karenge. For this attempt, I would like to quote Faiz Ahmad Faiz on this aspect- 

"Gar baazi ishq ki baazi hai,

Toh jo bhi laga do darr kaisa,

Jeet gye to baat hi kya,

Haare bhi toh haar nahi…"

Need to gear up for my 5th attempt and plunge into the uncertainty of my 7th year in this prep. For those who exhausted their attempts or might be exhausted with the journey, I know I am not someone who can speak about how you guys are feeling but a small story from my side- 

I failed to get into IIT for UG even after working extremely hard in my drop year. That time was cruel. I was bedridden due to left leg fracture and nerve damage on my hips coupled with efusion on my right knee (This happened back during JEE Adv '16). I cried daily due to the pain of my fracture. I was so sure of my selection in IIT that I did not fill forms for other colleges. I thought everything was over and there's only darkness for me ahead. Most of my then classmates used to laugh at me behind my back. Many relatives mocked me. There were very few who actually understood how I felt. The only thing people saw was the fact that I couldn't get into IIT. They didn't care about what I had faced. I was declared not intelligent, incompetent, useless and what-not. 

But thattime passed as welland I did overcome everything. I eventually got into IIT for PG. I even had a chance to get into IIMs & other good colleges because of a decent score in CAT. All of this with no coaching. I just repeat my own story to myself several times just to motivate myself again.Itne aage aa gaye hai toh aur bhi aage chale jayenge. 

Biggest learning from all these failures is -Things will work out eventually. You just need to be patient. Never stop working hard. Ek din sab theek hojayega. 

"You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future." - Steve Jobs

@tedmosby Have you spoken to people with maths who have made it? How have your successive scores been? Just don't keep writing the exam. Take a step back. Sometimes we step back, not because we are afraid, but do that we can see a bigger picture.

@Neyawn sir, I know someone who made with Maths in Mains 2023. Even he wasn't very sure what worked. He broadly said that he did PYQs but he needs to see the Marksheet so as to confirm what worked. Though I would like to interact with people who got selected with Maths Optional w.r.t the strategy part. 

I discussed Mains 2023 paper with my friends and I had also discussed Maths paper just after Mains 2023 got over. I know exactly where I went wrong in Maths Opt 2023 paper and I know what has to be done but the uncertain part is that- whether I will get an interview call or not (Need to see Marksheet of 2023 Mains for that). When I discussed GS papers, my interpretation of the questions were in line with what others wrote. Certainly, it was my fault in giving lesser number of hours to Mains mocks and more number of hours to content enrichment. I will admit that though I know what comes in the exam, I am not able to implement it properly. For which I would need answer writing practice and an oversight. For this purpose, I would like to join the MGP (which I took somehow in 2022 but couldn't complete it due to academic overload - I found it to be good but the evaluation was not upto the mark so people told me to leave and do without evaluation). Even for Maths Opt, I have knowledge but the thing is that I had not practiced mocks properly. So in the actual exam, I could solve questions from topics like Fluid Mech and Mech but couldn't even attempt questions from Numerical Analysis (one of the easiest topics in Maths Opt). I clearly remember how I totally screwed up Section B of Maths Opt and my distress was visible on my face. 

So I have identified some of my mistakes and I have started working upon them (I had started with GS 3 days post Mains already and with Analytic Geometry in Maths from mid Oct onwards). What I don't know is that whether I will clear Mains or not. For the moment, I am sticking to short-term goals and avoiding this one big question. 

Haha, the ONE big question. Can you share your maths score over years here or over PM ?

Don't swing from one side to another. One year you do content enrichment, next year you do answer writing. Find a sweet balance. Content enrichment is nevessary too.

Also, if you did not find evaluation appropriate, you get a feedback mail, and request for re-assessment.

The person examining copies is just someone, who has seen tons of such copies, and isn't completely thoughtless. There are many people in evskuation, with a lot of experience, and still choose to work - with few copies. 

All I am saying is take action wherever you deem necessary, and never never never assume that things will get better on their own without you doing something about it. 

I have lived my college years watching HIMYM - it was the fancy thing back then, so your name catches attention. All the time.

Neyawnsaid

@tedmosby Also if you are doing things from forum, make sure it internalise it. Also don't copy content from toppers copy as a few ten thousand people copy things from there, and they end up writing same things.

It isn't YouTube that's the problem. It's about cutting out the noise. Trust written blogs over videos where there is a fight for attention.

You see attention is a currency too. This is an era of attention economy. Watching random videos on YouTube without direction does not cut it.

We are now getting lot of students who have done youtube studies and are learners ( not students ). This means if you ask them to write for 6 hours a day, they can't because they have not sat in a class of 3 hours, but watched video of 1 -1.5 hours. It's a different pandemic out there. Make some foundational chnages to preparation. And seek parents guidance in some matters where they have the wisdom which comes with passage of time. 

JaiBabaKisaid

@tedmosby why are u reading gallian? 

Modern ka question muskil aayega to hona nhi especially euclidean domain UFD ka

Aur baaki isomorphism, Lagrange theorem , cayley , ring ideal k questions to ims k notes pdne se ho jaate h 

Aur maths me bhut repetition rehta h, so I  want to know what motivates you to diversify your source so much ?

JaiBabaKisaid

@tedmosby 

as you seem seasoned player in business , any idea what should be correct attempt in P1 and P2 separate to have around 300-310 range marks ?