Wardah Khan (AIR-18 CSE-23) Sociology + Comprehensive Strategy

Wardah Khan, a member of DecodeCIVILS Mains and Interview Telegram Groups, secured AIR-18 with Sociology Optional in her 2nd attempt itself.

Background and Journey

Hello everyone, I'm Wardah Khan. I did my schooling from Prayagraj, UP. Thereafter, I completed my B.Com (Hons) from SGTB Khalsa College, University of Delhi. I worked briefly for 8 months at KPMG Global in Audit. I quit the job for fulltime preparation as I was fortunate to not have any financial obligations that might've deterred me from taking this bold step. So, preparing with or without job should solely be your decision and it shouldn't be influenced by anyone else's story.

How and When to Start Preparation?

I started my upsc journey in 2021 i.e. 1 year prior to my 1st attempt. I enrolled in online GS foundation course of Vajiram & Ravi. Early on, I completed my NCERTs, developed the habit of regular newspaper reading and made notes while attending the lectures. But, I couldn't clear my 1st prelims in 2022 by missing the GS cutoff by 1.33 marks and failing CSAT miserably as I had underestimated it. However, this failure was a God sent opportunity to close the gaps in my prep. I consolidated my Ethics notes and did value addition to the same. I not only completed my notes for optional but also read those atleast once before the next year's cycle began. To ensure a foolproof victory in Prelims in my 2nd attempt in 2023, I strengthened my static and practiced CSAT thoroughly.

Timetable

My day typically started with newspaper where I would devote one hour to reading & underlining the important stuff. I used to study 2 subjects at a time to break the monotony. One was done in the morning and another in the evening. Afternoon was reserved for attending online lectures and later CSAT practice (starting 5 months before Prelims). I studied my optional at night. I always tried to clock in atleast 8-10 hours. But hours stretched to 12-13 atleast 1.5 months before Mains

Prelims

I followed my class notes & basic books for Pre. For practicing, I always prioritised PYQs over mocks. While doing PYQs I first did subject wise MCQs and then full fledged papers in 3 iterations. Each iteration was spaced after 45-60 days so that I don't memorize the answers. While attempting PYQs, it's important to understand the approach towards Qs. I practiced few mocks like- Forum Simulators, Vision sectional tests and Vision Abhyas (I gave this exam at the centre for a proper simulation). While analyzing FLTs, I first checked my errors in the static part (if I've gotten Qs coming from standard sources wrong) and then the current. I would, then, revise the weak static areas again and add new current things to my notes.

Current affairs for Pre- I followed The Hindu and Vision monthly magazines. I made short notes out of these mags only for revision. I studied PT 365 for environment and s&t selectively (noting down stuff that wasn't there in monthlies)

For CSAT, I analyzed PYQs topicwise to categorize my strong & weak areas. For the latter, I practiced Qs from indiabix.com and brushed up concepts from YT.

I largely studied from standard books, my coaching notes and did value addition from Mains 365 and newspaper. I attempted PYQs after completing a topic (let's say I'd attempt society Qs after studying that part of GS1) to check if I could answer them from my resources. For Qs that couldn't be attempted from available resources, I made 2-3 page notes. After having completed the PYQs, I switched to test series.

As regards answer writing, I usually wrote in pointwise format. I tried giving either a definitional or contextual introduction and a futuristic conclusion to my answers.

Optional Strategy

Initial struggle- Initially, I studied the subject on my own by occasionally watching sleepyclasses videos to understand some concepts. I prepared my own notes in soft copy. P1 was a combo of Nitin Sangwan's Essential Socio, Haralambos & Horlborn (blue thick one) and Ritzer (for thinkers). P2 notes were made from Essential Socio, Vikas ranjan sir's book, and Nishat sir's material (Level Up IAS).

Major shift: Since my preparation had gone haywire and to consolidate my prep, I went for foundation mentorship by Nishat Sir at LevelupIAS in my 2nd attempt. Herein, he helped tackle both static & current topics, improve my answer writing strategy while ensuring PYQ practice with his unique style of approaching the questions.

He always used to emphasize 2 things in his classes:

• "There is a difference between notes and answer."
• "Examiner will check your answers vertically, not horizontally."

These points changed my approach and perspective.

For value addition, I referred to neha bhosle ma'am's notes and Jagrati awasthi ma'am & Jatin Jain sir's copies.

Essay Strategy

When I first began essay writing, I didn't face as much difficulty in content as I did in structuring my essays. Consequently, I joined a crash course by Jawwad Kazi sir. It helped me develop my own unique style of structuring. I practiced 6 PYQ topics and also wrote one essay test in a simulated environment. I brainstormed on the topic for roughly 15 mins and prepared a skeletal framework in the rough space (given at the end of answer sheet). After doing this within 30 mins for both, I took 1.15 hours for writing each essay.

The detailed strategy for all papers is available on my Tg channel

Besides the academic part, I believe that the right attitude can help one ace this exam. This includes- being honest to yourself about the level of prep, having a non complaining attitude and instead being solution oriented, focusing on weekly/ monthly target completion instead of daydreaming about the bigger picture.

I would also suggest everyone to cherry pick the points, that resonate with you, from toppers strategies and curating your unique strategy by combining these.