About:

Rank in CSE-2016	1
Number of attempts (include present one)	4
Medium (English/Hindi)	Kannada
Optional Subject	Kannada literature

Prelims Strategy:

Study for 8 hours. Studying too much for long hours was never my approach. I used to study with small-small breaks in between.

Preferred books:

India’s Ancient Past
History Of Medieval India
India’s Struggle For Independence
History Of Modern India
Indian and World Geography for Civil Services
Geography of India
Oxford School Atlas
Facets of Indian Culture
The Wonder That Was India
Indian Polity 5th Edition
Indian Economy 8th Edition
Science and Technology in India
Economic Survey
Environmental Studies from Crisis to Cure 2nd Edition
India Year Book 2017
Manorama Yearbook 2017

Views about importance of Test series:

They make you practice. I had promised myself that I shall finish the syllabus of each prelims and mains test, revise it and write tests without fail.

What to focus on for Mains Prep?

I decided the following,
• My entire preparation will be based on self-study.
• I will study at home.
• I will focus on writing practice by taking tests and personal feedback

A few things which I followed in writing are as follows:
• Explain in simple terms and in your own words but make answer illustrative
For example, for the question on air mass in GS 1 diagrams should accompany the explanation.
• According to the demand of question one can use paragraphs, flowcharts, or bullet points.
• Give an account of both conceptual (theory) part and current aspects asked in a question
• Justify every statement with illustrations, facts, figures or examples from newspapers
• Revision helped in reducing time to recollect during exam and is a must
• Revise all the basic books and have a clear understanding of concepts. Instead of reading many books for a single topic read one book many times and have good understanding of that.

Tips for students:

Despite hard work, even the second attempt slipped away from me. This was because of the following mistakes committed by me

•  Compromise in preparation plans: Due to paucity of time and other challenges at work I could not execute my preparation plans to the fullest extent. Adding to that revision of topics could not be done in the manner I had planned.
•  No writing practice – I had not practiced full length test papers. This cost me heavily in the exam. Even though I had covered syllabus, worked hard, knew answers to questions, I had to come out of exam hall without answering many questions due to mismanagement of time. I had not practiced essay writing also.
  So please avoid these mistakes.

Patience and persevarence is very important. Patience is the key of my success.

Points to be noted:

Correlation among topics of various subjects helped in answer writing. For instance, for a question about Krishnadevaraya as a patron of literature (GS 1), I utilized the knowledge of culture, medieval Indian history, and my optional (kannada literature) though all three are from different sources.