Entering The Maze of UPSC

Hello, Lets discuss how to prepare for this exam that I often refer to as a MAZE. Most of the first timers will start their preparation, a year before the prelims hence the following post delves into my strategy to escape this maze that is full of confusion. Consider this as my 1 year roadmap and journey ahead.

I highly suggest you to see multiple toppers' blog and videos and then finalize your own strategy for clearing this exam.

Early Warmup.

In my last semester I decided to start the prep immediately after graduation. I finalized the booklist during this period gave them an initial reading to become more familiar. This was also the time when I chose my optional i.e. PSIR. You must use these initial days to understand the exam and its demand, this includes analysis of syllabus, pyq, trends of prelims and mains.

Entering the maze.

I was totally clueless on what direction to choose, given the uncertainty about questions like "Which topic to be read first?", "Should I read two topics simultaneously in a day", "How to plan my week?, "Should I start the answer writing asap?", etc.

Note: the dates/timeline given below are based on my weak memory, there were many off days, yet the objective is to provide you with some rough roadmap.

May - June
I started serious prep from May 2022 and decided to pick the most interesting subjects first, i.e. History and Geography. It took me 60 days to complete Modern History+ World History+ Geography and make their notes. I know this is too much time given to these three subjects but keep in mind your efficiency will increase over time as you proceed consistently in this journey.

July-October
These are my most crucial months as I was about to begin the optional. In this time frame I completed 70% of Optional, environment and (Polity+ IR of GS2), the later had a good overlap with PSIR.

1-19 November
Read Economics and simultaneously made notes, definitely a tough subject but you will eventually find it doable once your basics are clear.

20 November- 10 December
Completed GS4, the theoretical part excluding Case Studies. The ethics prep I did during this period was too weak to be produced on answer sheets.

11-31 December
Society+ Governance

1 - 31 January
Reviewed the syllabus that I covered till date and finished the skipped topics, meanwhile I also joined a test series for PSIR.

Stage 1 of 3. PRELIMS

February-28 May 2023

Most people do start their prelims oriented prep from March, but I started early from February itself, given it was my first attempt and I had few topics from Prelims syllabus to be covered. These included Ancient+ Medieval History, mapping, general science and topics from other subjects.
I was very bad at revising subjects directly from books , hence made notes for all the books including Laxmikanth and Spectrum. 
From April 2023 till exam I solved near about 30 FLT+ Sectional tests to get in a flow and test my knowledge.

Stage 2 of 3. MAINS

12 June- 14 September 2023

This phase of my journey is full of regrets, some of which I have listed below -:

1. I didn't study GS3 topics like Agriculture, Security, Disaster, Science and Technology in 2022 thinking these can be completed easily after Prelims. A BIG NO to such thoughts, do not entangle yourself with huge workload when you have more important things to do.

2. I didn't do much answer writing for GS and Optional in 2022

3. Should have taken ethics more seriously in December 2022, given the subject's scoring potential.

4. Should have written at least 8-9 essays

Fortunately, if not in the most efficient way I did accomplish the above given points in this phase of 3 months. My study hours till prelims were on average 8 hours that shot drastically up to 13 hours in this period. Fear not these extra 5 hours will be added eventually, once you have targets to achieve and a hunger to succeed, as they say "Where there is a will there is a way".

Stage 3 of 3. PESONALITY TEST

8 December 2023- 18 February 2024

On 8 December 2023 UPSC declared the mains result. Though I made it in the list but at the same time had no clue on how to prepare for this final stage of Maze. The personality test is the least talked phase of UPSC. With time I developed an understanding on what those experienced board members want from a candidate, I connected with some mentors/seniors who guided me throughout the final puzzle. The interview went well, but anything is a possibility in this uncertain exam.

18 February- 16 April

This period was full of anxiety. Questions Like "Will I make it?", "Were those assuring smiles on face of Board members real or fake?", etc and even questions like "Did I write my roll number on mains marksheet correctly?" :/

Finally on 16th day of April, 2024 I found my name in the final list and all those questions and self doubt got a reply.
The joy of escaping this cycle and finally exiting the maze is easily one of the best moments of my life.

Massive respect to all those who despite failures are consistently working hard to get their desired rank, my best wishes are with you.