What should be the Best Plan for UPSC Prelims Last Minute Revision?

Just two weeks to go,

You are on the flying bow,

Need to lift up the last night,

To grow up with your day bright.

Hello Dear Aspirants!! It’s just 14 days to go. And your nervousness is at the peak point. And it is very usual that, in these golden hours you have enough things to do in a few minutes. And as a pandemic is going around the world, each and every sector facing depressive conditions, and in these entire things, it is very difficult to stimulate confidence. Some aspirants utilized this time very efficiently while some aspirants disturbed through this ongoing situations. What should be the Best Plan for Last Minute Revision?, This is the Question every student has in their minds right now, its because, at this point of time there will be lots of confusion, stress and fear which leads some to leave the attempt. But that’s not the option, believe in yourself and utilize these last few days. But, have faith in your preparation, have faith in yourself, and give your best efforts.

Just Two Weeks to go and study Management is the key factor and even more important when you have a shortage of time. We know that Syllabus is huge and one cannot revise the entire syllabus just before the competition. Most importantly you must go through important topics from the exam-oriented approach in both Paper I (General Studies) & Paper-II (Aptitude Test).

Here, we are going to discuss the last minute’s tips, how to make these two weeks productive?

Tips for the last 14 days

1) There is no ONE best way for the last days

To be honest, there are no rules for the last days. All strategies -no. of hours to study – planning the day – and what not – are for a point till this day. Proceeding forward from here, you need to just have three things

(a) Sleep well between 6-8 hours a day.

(b) Eat light food so that you do not sleep too much.

(c) Study for the rest of the time

Do nothing else. No work-life balance – no Netflix – nothing. Everything is a distraction. In these last days, the only thing you need to do is – study.

How many hours?

As many as you can.

2) Be productive(Time is more than money)

In these last days, as the stress takes you, it is likely that you will try to do everything at the same time. And in trying to do everything, we often end up doing nothing.

A)Plan what you want to do.

B)Make a checklist.

Don’t do random things. Unless you are checking off things on your to-do list, you are likely to be more tasks and less time at the end of every week.

And in Civils preparation, its easy to see hours, days, weeks, and month go by without making progress.

Some people change the months of the calendar on the wall. Some people annually change the calendar. The choice is yours.

Make a list and start working on your list, because

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.

And if you fail to plan anything, anything starts planning you.

3)  Make the most of the Golden Hour

If there is one rule you need to stick to, start studying within 30 minutes of waking up. Before the world/negativity/liabilities/fear catches up with you.

If you are the procrastinator kind, make sure you begin your day with solving questions so that by the time, half the day is gone, you have done something. Something tangible, like scribbled a few pages – solved and marked a few questions – everything with written proof.

4) Focus on what is in front of you:

Just focus on what you are reading now. More on what to read in next 15 days.

5) Focus on your breathing.

Take a couple of deep breaths every half n hour and just focus your mind on your inhaling and exhaling. This will align you with the present moment once again.

6) Develop an attitude of surrender in next 15 days:

It is easy to get stuck in a loop of old memories. You may want to move away from them but there is a feeling there that brings them back over and over. So you need to decrease the power that feeling has over you. And you don’t do it by fighting it. You do it by surrendering to it. Observe the feeling in your mind and body without labelling or judging it. Just being aware of negative feelings will dissolve them.

7) Tomorrow will take care of itself, so take care of today, otherwise, tomorrow will take ill-care of you today — thus losing today.

8) Avoid “Tera-to-ho-jayega”  type of friends.

“I am sure you will make it.”

While the above is good to hear from a friend outside the preparation, from parents or your mentors, it is not a good thing to hear from your peers. Having peers and co-aspirants repeatedly tell you “you-will-make-it” does not boost confidence, it brings in complacency instead.

Complacency is the single biggest threat to one’s preparation.

Avoid UPSC friends/flatmates who say you-will-make-it all the time.

Don’t think of becoming an IAS. Think of cracking the prelims with 15-20 marks above the cut-off. The think of Mains and writing good answers.

Then giving a good interview.

9) Understand the term “hard-working”

Hard work isn’t only the things you enjoy. Almost anyone can do things they enjoy. Self Discipline and hard work is the thing that you do when you don’t enjoy what you have to do.

In short, you have two choices in life.

(a) Ending up doing what you like OR

(b) Doing now what you like.

If you want to end up doing what you like, you must do what you should do now. Vice versa, if you do now what you like doing ( such as Netflix, or judging people on the Internet, or fighting random stranger to prove a point), you will end up doing what you must do – even if you don’t like it.

The truth is –

revision is hard work and hard work is revision.

Battles are won by courage, but competitive exams are cracked by revision.

Only revision. And problem-solving. Nothing else.

10) Study at odd hours, don’t have a regular life.

Right now, study like a crazy maniac. Lie on the floor and study – if your back hurts. Sit on the chair and study, if you feel sleepy. Walk and study. To ratify things.

Keep two bottles of water so that you don’t need to get up even if one is empty. But study. At a stretch – unless you have a medical condition.

Study at odd hours. Wake up at 2 AM. Study till 8 AM and then sleep. Gaze at the stars on the skyline sometimes. Perhaps make a wish.

The Sun is not the only star in our skyline. Make a mental note or a promise to yourself, that when you get through, you will write about these starry nights. For now, the stars are your second-best friends.

11) Do Not Read any New Topic

Trust your preparation and believe that whatever you have studied till date is the best you could have done. Do not pick up a fresh topic to be studied just before the exam, there are slightest chances that you will remember any topic you study at the last moment.

12) Solve Mock Test Papers

Solving mock tests will help in confidence. With 100 questions to be answered in one hour, it becomes important to manage time and at the same time ensure that the OMR sheet is shaded with the right answer. In order to boost confidence and learn time management, the best thing to do is solve as many papers as possible.

13) Stay Positive and Believe in Your Preparation

Most of the students fail to clear the preliminary examination despite having put in a lot of hard work in preparation. This mostly happens because of the lack of faith in oneself and negative self-talk.  Right before the examination, it is essential to tell yourself that you have prepared enough and you, cannot go back in time and study more. Self-doubt and pessimism will not help you in the exam. It is good to prepare for the worst, but it is equally important to expect the best!

14) Revise! Revise! And Revise!

UPSC Prelims requires you to remember a lot of facts and figures. The only way to remember all the important points is to revise multiple times. It is extremely important to understand that cramming will not work. You need to understand the topic and go through multiple revisions to remember the topics. So, a last few days before the examination must exclusively be reserved for preparation.