Srishti Singh

"Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.” ―  Sylvia Plath The essay paper of CSE is unequivocally the most yielding part of Mains examination. With minimal efforts, one can secure the most marks, if he/she knows the right way. This blog is an attempt to comprehensively discuss  the Essay preparation of Mains examination. Why is essay writing in UPSC tough? This is the first question one should ask to themselves once they dive into Essay preparations. We all have written essays in our school days. But when it comes to UPSC, there are few constraints: Length : Essay paper consists of 2 essays each of 1000-1200 words. This word limit allows you to cover variety of dimensions, but restricts indefinite flow of thoughts. Themes : Usually there are 2 types of essays asked: GS based and Abstract philosophical essays. Both require a little different set of approach. Time ...

  "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” ―  Aristotle      While preparing for the optional paper, one might face a plethora of questions. This blog aims to answer them and help you conquer the subject. This is the third part of the Optional Blog series and specifically deals with Paper 2 strategy of Anthropology paper. My story:      The real struggle with Paper 2 of Anthropology laid in creating a distinction between a GS answer and an Optional answer. Like most humanities subject, Paper 2 dealt with the Indian perspective and hence had tribal problems and administration as a course matter. But since the optional subject requires a more academic outlook, it became vital to supplement my knowledge with  deeper intellectual understanding  .     After going through my Coaching classes in Sosin Anthropology, I began thorough reading of Advanced books(mentioned later). I saw various documentar...

" Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston S. Churchill Once you delve into your optional, the prime challenge comprises of comprehensively covering the 2 papers, which have a wide array of syllabus. In this blog, we'd be looking at how Paper 1 could be effectively dealt within a stipulated time frame and explore the nitty gritty of course management. My story :       Before prelims -The syllabus of anthropology formed the stepping stone to my preparation. Once I got the primary understanding of my subject from my classes, I divided it according to the syllabus to individually prepare chapters through advanced books and internet surfing. By the end of February, I was thorough with the smaller topics left in coaching classes, written with the scope of further addition with improvement in the knowledge bank.      After prelims -The challenge after prelims was to arrange my pre acquired knowledge in...

  “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” ―  Robert F. Kennedy      While commencing UPSC preparations, one of the first question which comes up is the choice of the optional subject. Here is the story of how I picked my optional and the experience I wish to share with you.       This would be a 3 part series on Optional Preparation, Part 1 dealing with the general elements regarding the subject and more personal anecdotes. Part 2 and 3 would specifically deal with the two papers. My story :     I began preparing for UPSC on 25th July 2019, 2 months after finishing my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Coming from a family with no background of Civil Services, I lacked the fundamental awareness towards the preparation in my initial days. For the first month, I wasn't even aware of the different subjects available as optionals in UPSC!       In the beginning of September 2...