chronicle intw;
why here?- many points i hav mentioned there will be useful for those who havent read chronicle. by the way,this is from july mth's edition of chronicle:
Q : What were the basic mantras of your success?
Ans.Faith in myself despite the odds, Focussed hardwork, Strategising and Time management played very vital role.
Q : When should one ideally begin thinking about preparing for this exam?
Ans :I believe,one should start preparing atleast a year before the first stage of exam,if the optional are different from one’s background,else focussed study of six months should be fine.
Q: What were your strategies for the lengthy syllabus of General Studies for both Prelims and Mains?
Ans: For mains,I tried to have clarity of concepts ,interlinking of topics, analysis of current events. This gave me base to write variety of questions.inclusion of multiple view points including my own helped me enrich the answers.
Q: What were your optionals? What where the basis of selecting these optionals?
Ans :SOCIOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY. Coming from medical background,i didn’t had academic knowledge about society and its problems.so,i was curious and interested to know about society in general-where sociology could help me in.Sociology further helps in essay paper,gs,interview. So effort in one subject can be used very efficently to score marks in others.Psychology is closer to psychiatry in my background and also interests me.
Q: How did you come to know that which sources of reading materials are standard? Please give list of books, magazines and papers.
Ans. Talks with successful candidates as well as persons with same optionals helped me compare various books available in the market.i was particular about my basic foundation building books,though for value addition i referred to many other books too.
Books-see below
Magzines-yojana,kurukshetra,chronicle and pratiyogita darpan.
Newspaper-The Hindu
Q: Tell us something about preparation of eassy paper.
Ans :since marks difference of 30-40 marks in essay paper can be decisive in ones receiving an interview call.Thus,in my essay writing practice i tried including current events,linkages and analysis from my optional papers and lots of self opinions and innovative solutions to problems demanded by topic.
Q : How did you manage your time in both prelims and mains examinatins?
Ans :the exam pattern for next year may replace prelims for aptitude test.hence,i will elaborate my mains strategy..my strategy was to give 20 -25 minutes for 30 marks ques,10-12 minutes for 15 marks question and finishing all 2 markers in max of 30 minutes.this left me with around ten minutes in end to fill index and check out if any ques is missed.for optionals around 30-35 minutes for the long answers.
Q:did u attend any coaching institutes?were they helpful?
Ans; i joined vajiram and ravi for pre-mains-intw and for sociology and psychology,synchronus ias-test series for general studies, ramaswamy for essay classes and sankalp for intw only.they were useful in developing basic concepts,understanding the demand of the exam and also in knowing where usually candidates make mistakes ,thus in turn helping us not to make those mistakes.
Q : Which is the most difficult part of this exam and why? What was your strategy to tackle this diffcult part?
Ans :i personally believe,the toughest part is to maintain same enthusiasm despite failure in previous attempts.one has to accept the reality as it is and work for future.this is possible through support and guidance of parents,teachers and friends who help in rebuilding faith in ourselves.
Q: Did you integrate your Prelims or Mains preparation or was it separate?
Ans :After reading any newspaper article or book,i used to pick facts for prelims,analysis and different point of views for gs mains,social relevance of topic for sociology optional and exploration of self views for essay.thus a thorough first reading analysis though consumes time initially,but helps in long run.
Q : What was your style of writing in the exam? How was it distinct from the general writing style? How did you develop this writing style?
Ans.:i tried to write simple English in short,logically connected sentences.incorporation of relevant current topics analysis,data to strength the arguments,giving multiple point of views and balancing them helped in making my answers different.diagrams also formed vital part of my answers ,esp in both optional.
Q : Civil Services Exam process is quite strenuous. It requires long hours of constant study. How did you maintain your tempo and what did you do to break the monotony of preparation?
Ans :in fact i believe in taking breaks out with friends and watching movies even during preparation time.if done judiciously,this replenishes our mental energies. I preferred to study out of interest rather than under pressure of exam,this provided me with constant internal motivation.
Q : How helpful is one’s background in his/her success?
Ans :if optional are same as one in background,then it is bound to very useful.if not,we can prefer choose questions,if possible,where our background can help us write enriched answers eg. I wrote essay on topic related to health.
Q:how did you prepare for interview?
Ans :i worked on my bio-data in detail,kept track of all the current national and international events.i tried forming conscise,logical and self opionated answers for expected questions.giving mock interviews also helped in getting constructive feedback from them.
Q: Was there any specific area they emphasised upon?
Ans :i felt that my shift of professions from medical side to administration was highly emphasised in the board’s querries. gender related questions and my extra curricular activites also dominated my interview.
Q : Whom would you credit your success ?
Ans :i am thankful to mr.ravindran,mohopatra sir,mukul pathak sir and abhay thakur sir to help me during this long journey.the support of my parents and sis was very encouraging for me.
Q : What is your advice to the candidates ?
Ans:This exam demands lots of hardwork and dedication. With proper strategy,time and anxiety management,the effort we put into this can give us better output.whever there is doubt ,it is useful to consult standard books or teachers ,then believing the hearsay.I extend my help to all,post your querries at my website: http://www.garima-mittal-ias.webs.com/ and i will try to answer that in website itself.
SUGGESTED BOOK LIST
Mains :
G.S.-NCERT-esp modern history,geography,spectrum(current affairs+modern history+statistics+personalities of india),pd-economics,indian polity-lakshmikant,indian struggle for indian independence-bipin chandra.
Optional I-sociology-sociology(themes and perspectives)-haralombus,vidhya and bhushan-sociology,IGNOU-M ‘n’ M series-part I and II,introduction to social anthropology-Majundar And Tandon.
Optional II-psychology-south asian edition-CICCARELLI-for examples and diagrams.
Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Name: Dr.Garima Mittal _________________
Date of Birth :31 july 1984______________________________
Father’s Name & Occupation : Dr.Chander Kant,medical doctor__________________________________
Mother’s Name & Occupation : Mrs. Shashi Mittal, Mathematics Teacher__________________________
Brother’s/Sister’s Name & Occupation : _Miss.Geetika_Mittal,mechanical engineer______________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Education:
School Board/University Subjects Division Marks%
10th-85.8%
10+2-84.2%
Graduation 67% MBBS
Post Graduation-NIL
Hobbies :Poetry writing ,chess
Attempt: PT Optional Mains Optionals UPSC Roll No.
I. _pt not qualified_____ _________________ _________________
II. _marks:GS I-136,GS II-149,ESSAY-117,SOCIO I-166,SOCIO II-166,PSYCHO I-160,PSYCHO II-182,WRITTEN TOTAL-1076/2000
INTW-209,FINAL TOTAL-1285/2300
RANK- 8TH.
Q : What were the basic mantras of your success?
Ans.Faith in myself despite the odds, Focussed hardwork, Strategising and Time management played very vital role.
Q : When should one ideally begin thinking about preparing for this exam?
Ans :I believe,one should start preparing atleast a year before the first stage of exam,if the optional are different from one’s background,else focussed study of six months should be fine.
Q: What were your strategies for the lengthy syllabus of General Studies for both Prelims and Mains?
Ans: For mains,I tried to have clarity of concepts ,interlinking of topics, analysis of current events. This gave me base to write variety of questions.inclusion of multiple view points including my own helped me enrich the answers.
Q: What were your optionals? What where the basis of selecting these optionals?
Ans :SOCIOLOGY and PSYCHOLOGY. Coming from medical background,i didn’t had academic knowledge about society and its problems.so,i was curious and interested to know about society in general-where sociology could help me in.Sociology further helps in essay paper,gs,interview. So effort in one subject can be used very efficently to score marks in others.Psychology is closer to psychiatry in my background and also interests me.
Q: How did you come to know that which sources of reading materials are standard? Please give list of books, magazines and papers.
Ans. Talks with successful candidates as well as persons with same optionals helped me compare various books available in the market.i was particular about my basic foundation building books,though for value addition i referred to many other books too.
Books-see below
Magzines-yojana,kurukshetra,chronicle and pratiyogita darpan.
Newspaper-The Hindu
Q: Tell us something about preparation of eassy paper.
Ans :since marks difference of 30-40 marks in essay paper can be decisive in ones receiving an interview call.Thus,in my essay writing practice i tried including current events,linkages and analysis from my optional papers and lots of self opinions and innovative solutions to problems demanded by topic.
Q : How did you manage your time in both prelims and mains examinatins?
Ans :the exam pattern for next year may replace prelims for aptitude test.hence,i will elaborate my mains strategy..my strategy was to give 20 -25 minutes for 30 marks ques,10-12 minutes for 15 marks question and finishing all 2 markers in max of 30 minutes.this left me with around ten minutes in end to fill index and check out if any ques is missed.for optionals around 30-35 minutes for the long answers.
Q:did u attend any coaching institutes?were they helpful?
Ans; i joined vajiram and ravi for pre-mains-intw and for sociology and psychology,synchronus ias-test series for general studies, ramaswamy for essay classes and sankalp for intw only.they were useful in developing basic concepts,understanding the demand of the exam and also in knowing where usually candidates make mistakes ,thus in turn helping us not to make those mistakes.
Q : Which is the most difficult part of this exam and why? What was your strategy to tackle this diffcult part?
Ans :i personally believe,the toughest part is to maintain same enthusiasm despite failure in previous attempts.one has to accept the reality as it is and work for future.this is possible through support and guidance of parents,teachers and friends who help in rebuilding faith in ourselves.
Q: Did you integrate your Prelims or Mains preparation or was it separate?
Ans :After reading any newspaper article or book,i used to pick facts for prelims,analysis and different point of views for gs mains,social relevance of topic for sociology optional and exploration of self views for essay.thus a thorough first reading analysis though consumes time initially,but helps in long run.
Q : What was your style of writing in the exam? How was it distinct from the general writing style? How did you develop this writing style?
Ans.:i tried to write simple English in short,logically connected sentences.incorporation of relevant current topics analysis,data to strength the arguments,giving multiple point of views and balancing them helped in making my answers different.diagrams also formed vital part of my answers ,esp in both optional.
Q : Civil Services Exam process is quite strenuous. It requires long hours of constant study. How did you maintain your tempo and what did you do to break the monotony of preparation?
Ans :in fact i believe in taking breaks out with friends and watching movies even during preparation time.if done judiciously,this replenishes our mental energies. I preferred to study out of interest rather than under pressure of exam,this provided me with constant internal motivation.
Q : How helpful is one’s background in his/her success?
Ans :if optional are same as one in background,then it is bound to very useful.if not,we can prefer choose questions,if possible,where our background can help us write enriched answers eg. I wrote essay on topic related to health.
Q:how did you prepare for interview?
Ans :i worked on my bio-data in detail,kept track of all the current national and international events.i tried forming conscise,logical and self opionated answers for expected questions.giving mock interviews also helped in getting constructive feedback from them.
Q: Was there any specific area they emphasised upon?
Ans :i felt that my shift of professions from medical side to administration was highly emphasised in the board’s querries. gender related questions and my extra curricular activites also dominated my interview.
Q : Whom would you credit your success ?
Ans :i am thankful to mr.ravindran,mohopatra sir,mukul pathak sir and abhay thakur sir to help me during this long journey.the support of my parents and sis was very encouraging for me.
Q : What is your advice to the candidates ?
Ans:This exam demands lots of hardwork and dedication. With proper strategy,time and anxiety management,the effort we put into this can give us better output.whever there is doubt ,it is useful to consult standard books or teachers ,then believing the hearsay.I extend my help to all,post your querries at my website: http://www.garima-mittal-ias.webs.com/ and i will try to answer that in website itself.
SUGGESTED BOOK LIST
Mains :
G.S.-NCERT-esp modern history,geography,spectrum(current affairs+modern history+statistics+personalities of india),pd-economics,indian polity-lakshmikant,indian struggle for indian independence-bipin chandra.
Optional I-sociology-sociology(themes and perspectives)-haralombus,vidhya and bhushan-sociology,IGNOU-M ‘n’ M series-part I and II,introduction to social anthropology-Majundar And Tandon.
Optional II-psychology-south asian edition-CICCARELLI-for examples and diagrams.
Publications Pvt. Ltd.
Name: Dr.Garima Mittal _________________
Date of Birth :31 july 1984______________________________
Father’s Name & Occupation : Dr.Chander Kant,medical doctor__________________________________
Mother’s Name & Occupation : Mrs. Shashi Mittal, Mathematics Teacher__________________________
Brother’s/Sister’s Name & Occupation : _Miss.Geetika_Mittal,mechanical engineer______________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
________________________________________
Education:
School Board/University Subjects Division Marks%
10th-85.8%
10+2-84.2%
Graduation 67% MBBS
Post Graduation-NIL
Hobbies :Poetry writing ,chess
Attempt: PT Optional Mains Optionals UPSC Roll No.
I. _pt not qualified_____ _________________ _________________
II. _marks:GS I-136,GS II-149,ESSAY-117,SOCIO I-166,SOCIO II-166,PSYCHO I-160,PSYCHO II-182,WRITTEN TOTAL-1076/2000
INTW-209,FINAL TOTAL-1285/2300
RANK- 8TH.
very inspirational.
ReplyDeleteThere is a book on Sociology for certain topics in Paper 1 - "Sociology: A guide to literature and problems." I have been recommended this book for 2-3 topics but I find the language in it very tough. Did you follow this books for your preparation?
ReplyDeletehi,
ReplyDeleteThanx for sharing Information....!!!
A very interesting Blog for Students.
http://www.atoztyari.com/ias/
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