AIR 52, Jayasree Pradhan

No matter how small you may be, cast a large shadow.

Youtube channels I found incredibly useful during my preparation:

1. Bookstawa: For History and Polity
2. Amit Sengupta Sir's videos for Geography
3. Mrunal Patel Sir's videos for Economy and GS-3 topics
4. Parcham Classes for Environment (especially for factual information)
5. Clarity for UPSC by Dr. Shivin Choudhary for Science and Tech
6. Daily news analysis of Byjus and Rau's IAS for Current affairs

For motivation and UPSC guidance:
1. UnderStand UPSC by Satyam Jain Sir has been a huge source of inspiration
2. Mental Health and UPSC by Dr. Shivin
3. UPSCprep by Abhijeet Yadav Sir (especially the mistakes to be avoided during UPSC prep and lessons from his journey)
4. Once in a while Toppers Talk from various platforms like Vision IAS etc.

Note: I owe a lot to YouTube channels. I never did any formal coaching, so whatever clarity I would get from these videos, I'd take them. I would also exercise discretion with respect to the advice given. I never followed advice blindly, but I did try to incorporate basic principles if I found them to be sound and common across platforms.
With that being said, I am so thankful to these channels for being so generous with their knowledge and experience. They stand for the decentralisation of influence from Delhi and allow people from small places some hope. Continually blessed to be part of a world in which teachers and guides like them exist. 🙏🤍

A promise I made to myself after the Prelims 2023 results.
It’s your battlefield now. I wish you all the best.

This is a snapshot of my studying hours in between Prelims and Mains.
I used to record my study hours from this app called Yeolpumta (YPT in short). This app helps you record your study time, join online study groups for healthy competition (although you can also choose to study by yourself), and use only those apps that are needed for studying. I found this very useful in cutting down distractions, and it helped turn my phone from a distraction to a tool for studying instead.
You can also opt for an alternative, the Forest app, that has creative features as well.

On that note, I hope all those who are appearing for mains this year are studying with full enthusiasm. This chance may or may not come back again. Please make the MOST of it. You OWE it to yourself to work as hard as you can in these remaining 2.5 months.

P.S: For those asking for notes of the remaining subjects, I am afraid I won't be able to share those. That's because for the most part, I studied directly from the sources mentioned earlier.
However I do hope you got a gist of what I meant by PYQ based optional preparation.

Hello everyone.
I am sharing below my Law optional strategy video and some notes I made. A few things to keep in mind about my notes:
1. I made these notes before prelims, during the throughout the year strategy. Therefore, you will see that on most topics, the notes are very comprehensive with a lot of case laws and sections. In reality, it wouldn’t be possible to remember all of it. But I made it so detailed so that I could at least try to remember as much as I could till December 2022.
2. You will also see that the first few pages consist of current affairs and some quotes. I used to compile a list of case laws from Livelaw, and even the newspapers at times. I would also like to thank DeFacto IAS for their current affairs weekly updates that I used to read from time to time.
3. Most of these notes have been made from the sources that I’ve mentioned before. I’ve also taken help from the internet and the free resources available from various institutes.
4. Some of the topics are missing from these notes. That is because I must’ve thought I’d do them later (after prelims).
5. Now, in between prelims and mains, I focused a LOT on answer writing instead. My notes then are neither organized, neat, or eligible so I’m afraid I won’t be able to share them. But that is when I truly internalized these answers. As I’ve mentioned in my strategy video, I used to study for 10-12 hours in between Prelims and Mains, out of which I would dedicate 4-6 hours to Optional, most of which I’d spend on answer writing.
For those people who have law optional, I hope you find these notes helpful. Having them compiled in one place was very helpful for me. And for those who are giving Mains this year with Law Optional, all the very best to you!

‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’

- Theodore Roosevelt

Words of wisdom that I’ve held close to me not only during UPSC preparation, but also generally in life.
I wanted to share this with you, especially with those who didn’t make it through prelims this year. I’ve been through a situation where I couldn’t clear prelims in my first attempt. I know that empty feeling all too well.
As hard as it may be at the moment, know that things WILL get better, it WILL be okay, even if it doesn’t seem like it in the moment.
It’s not the end, only a new beginning, of better days that lie ahead.
🤍🕊️

I have also attached above the marathon sessions on Art and culture that I watched. I made notes out of these videos and revised them repeatedly. This, in addition with NCERTs and Lucent was enough for me for the art and culture section.

Sharing my GS static resources especially since many of you have asked me about the NCERTs that I used.
These are the exact sources that I used:
1. NCERTs for ancient and medieval history
2. NCERT for art and culture + Lucent book
3. Spectrum for modern history (you can see the copy I have is quite worn down due to constant revisions)
4. NCERTs for geography (for those of you who have asked me questions regarding the inadequacy of geography NCERTs alone, you can also refer to GC Leong and PMF ias notes. But only if you feel NCERTs are not enough)
5. Laxmikanth for Polity
6. Mrunal Sir’s notes for economy
7. Shankar ias for environment
8. Handwritten notes of 6-10 NCERTs for science and technology

10 days have passed since Prelims 2024. I hope all of you have started mains preparation in earnest now, regardless of what the results hold!
I remember after my Prelims last year, I was so anxious about the result. I was even asking my father if I should think of a back up plan. That’s when he told me unequivocally that there was absolutely no need to think of something else. He said, ‘I’ll give it to you in writing that you will clear prelims this year.’
Of course he had no way of knowing. He just believed in me that much.
But I’m glad for it. At least with my father’s unwavering belief, I decided I should start mains preparation without letting a single moment go to waste. I’m glad I didn’t waste time while preparing for Mains. I’m glad I studied well even on those days I felt anxious about the prelims results. I have no regrets about that.
I hope you won’t as well.

Hello everyone. I am sharing some of my Optional Paper 2 answers here. I’ve been told that I have scored the highest in Paper 2 (157 marks) not just this year but also in the past couple years.
A few things to note from these answers:
1. I have not really written the question down. But even then you can guess what the question was through the subheadings. Eg. if you look at the answer on private defence, the question was ‘The right of private defence is based on the cardinal principal that it is the primary duty of man to help himself, but this right is not absolute.’ (2022, 10M) As you can see that even though the question was statement based, I have addressed the major parts of the question through subheadings ‘Cardinal Principle’ and ‘Right not absolute.’ Therefore it’s very important to identify key words in the question itself, even if it is statement based, in order to convert that into subheadings and answer that in a structured manner.
2. ⁠I have written full 2 pages for 10 markers, 3 pages for 15 markers and 4 pages for 20 markers. I made sure to complete the paper in the actual exam as well, save for maybe 1 question.
3. ⁠I have tried to include as many Sections as I can. Along with it, I have tried to add quotes even in Paper 2. In some questions you will see that I used to try to include a recent judgement in my conclusion.
4. ⁠My handwriting wasn’t amazing but it was legible and structured. I think that should suffice.

I hope this helps. In case I find more, I will be uploading those as well.
For those preparing for this years mains, I would recommend you to go through the new Acts as well and try to remember those Sections. I know it’s not going to be easy, but I think it’s something that I would’ve done too if I were writing this attempt, in order for my answer to be relevant and rich in facts.
Even though law is a subjective paper and the marks can differ, I think adding a lot of Sections, case laws, current affairs and interesting quotes can definitely spice things up and add value to your answers. Tie all these elements up by being structured and I believe you should be able to score decently enough in the Law paper.

Here is my consolidated Mains strategy. Hope it helps. 🕊️