In what order should the questions be attempted during the preliminary examination of UPPSC? Is any particular order beneficial?
The answer to this cannot be the same for everyone. If you are comfortable in all the subjects of General Studies and your speed is also satisfactory, then you can succeed by solving questions in any order. In such a situation, it is better to proceed by doing the questions in the order in which they come. But if your situation is not so secure, then you should consider the order of questions. In such a situation, first of all, solve those questions which take the least time.
If you have a good understanding of the state specific affairs, then you should first solve it, because they will take less time and the chances of getting the answer correct will be higher. After solving these 15-20 questions, your position will have become much stronger. After this, move quickly to the questions you are comfortable with and skip the ones that are beyond your understanding. Keep marking those questions in respect of which you feel that they can be attempted if sufficient time is available.
One suggestion could also be to avoid attempting the same type of questions continuously. If you feel like this, then quickly move to the questions from other segment/ subject. Since there is a provision of negative marking (1/3rd) in this examination, hence solve any question only when you know the correct answer, do not try to solve it only on the basis of guesswork.
Time management becomes the biggest challenge in UPPSC examination, what should be done for it?
Pay attention to the suggestions given in the question and follow them religiously (like said dimensions, word limit etc). Apart from that, participate in mock test series before the examination and analyze each question paper to see which category of questions you solved in how much time. If you identify the time-consuming questions in advance, you will not waste time in the exam. Speed can be increased by repeated practice.
As per the recently revised latest syllabus of UPPSC Examination, how should we target GS Paper 5 & Paper 6?
Recently added GS Mains Papers 5 & 6 are state specific, i.e., you need to cover each and every segments of GS Mains Paper 1-4 keeping an eye to the state. This means, while preparing for GS Papers 5 & 6, you need to cover the History, Art & Culture, Society, Geography, Polity, Governance, Social Justice, Disaster Management, Economy, Environment & Ecology, Security and other segments pertaining to the State.
The best approach to cover these two papers are –
- Understand the basics of the subject first.
- Try to see the larger picture first, e.g., Understand the Geography of the World & India first.
- Then, after understanding the general rules and concepts, dive deeper to the State specific events and phenomena. Apply those general concepts now and try to analyze the events more specifically.
- Secondly, as these two papers are state specific, hence some relevant latest data would be very helpful to fetch good marks in the paper. So start making your own notes of key areas with some latest and relevant data and try to incorporate it in your answers. Drawing a map, graph and chart would be an added advantage.
- Lastly, make sure that you answer any question “to the point” and “within the word limit specified”. Work on your handwriting regularly.
What should be the strategy for the ‘Essay’ paper of UPPSC Mains Examination?
In this Paper (of 150 marks total), there will be three sections and Candidates will have to select one topic from each section and they are required to write an essay in 700 words on each topic. In the three sections, topics of essay will be based on following sphere:
- Section A – (1) Literature and Culture (2) Social sphere (3) Political sphere.
- Section B – (1) Science, Environment and Technology (2) Economic Sphere (3) Agriculture, Industry and Trade.
- Section C – (1) National and International Events (2) Natural Calamities, Landslide, Earthquake, Deluge, Drought etc. (3) National Development program and projects.
The role of this paper is very crucial in your final selection. Hence, for getting good marks in this paper, the in-depth study of contemporary topics and continuous writing is expected from the candidate, as writing an essay is an art which needs diversified knowledge base, deeper understanding of the subject area and the consistent polishing of the expression (the way, you present your ideas).
What is the role of interview in the examinations conducted by UPPSC? How to prepare for it?
Total 100 marks have been assigned for this interview section. Since the final merit list is prepared on the basis of the sum of marks obtained in the Mains and interview, hence interview plays an important role in the final selection of a candidate. During the interview, the overall personality of a candidate is tested. Therefore, it is advisable to start preparing for it from the very beginning of your preparation journey, because personality development is a continuous process and you need to work on it everyday.
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