Mathematics - The story of my 2 attempts

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In this post,  I will try to give a narrative of how I went about preparing for Mathematics across my 2 attempts at this exam. I will try to give as much perspective as I can recall. 

If any questions regarding my journey still remain unanswered kindly ask them in the comments section below, and I will try to answer them the best I can.


  • The Story of my 1st Attempt (CSE 2016) :  


    • About 2 months before the prelims, after which I totally focussed on prelims, I had solved the standard textbooks once for about 80% of the syllabus (not covered fluid, ring theory of algebra, numerical methods, frenet's formula, Laplace, boundary value problems and a few other residual topics).
    • Soon after prelims I realised that I was unable to recall the even the basic stuff and so I decided to prepare 5-6 notebooks containing various important problems (both from the text books and previous years compilations) and formulas. This took me around 2 months to complete, during which I totally focussed on Mathematics and read only newspaper for GS. 
      • (I had studied some GS for mains before prelims and had given 7-8 tests of Vision Mains GS test series before prelims including those of history, polity, geography and ethics)
    • Finally when 2 months were left for Mains-2016 I decided to dedicate half of my time to GS and Maths and studied accordingly till mains. My mathematics preparation in the final 2 months consisted of giving tests and revising topics through reading my notebooks, which resulted in me having revised each topic around 3-4 times before Mains.
    • I had also enrolled for a Mathematics test series but could complete around 12-13 out of total 18 tests, not one of which was attempted as per the schedule. Also in the days during the mains I did not practise any Mathematics problems, which I felt I should have done during my Mains.
    • Finally my marks in CSE 2016 were : 293 in Maths {137 + 156}, around 390s in GS and I managed to find my name in the final list.

  • The story of my 2nd attempt (CSE 2017) : 


    • After the results of CSE 2016 were announced there were around 20 days left for the prelims of CSE 2017, so I totally focussed on prelims in that period.
      • A major blunder on my part here was to not study mathematics between Mains and Interview of CSE 2016 (wherein I had a gap of nearly 5 months) and it is something which I would suggest everyone to work on and try to avoid at all costs.
    • Right after my prelims I decided to revise the standard textbooks and the notebooks I had made. Since a lot of labour was done in my previous attempt, this time I managed to complete the first revision of all the topics in around 1.5 months. After which I gave equal attention to both GS and mathematics.
    • I benefitted immensely from a compilation of previous years solutions which appeared in the shops of ORN by around August. This helped me to go through previous years questions of 4-5 topics quickly. I also managed to go through a few important chapters of Malik and Arora (Mathematical Analysis) for calculus and real analysis, which I had not done in my previous attempt.
    • In this attempt as well, I had enrolled for a Mathematics test series and tried to give tests as per the schedule (generally I managed to give them on time or at the very least with a little deviation of 1-2 days). Ultimately I ended up attempting all the tests before my Mains with the last test being given on the day preceding the compulsory language papers. This ensured I had maintained a decent flow of problem solving which helped me subsequently.
    • My notebooks were shortened with each revision wherein I marked the more relevant questions to revise in subsequent iterations. So much so, that I managed to revise the entire set of notebooks on the day preceding the exam, which had its impact by increasing my scores in this attempt.
    • Finally my marks in CSE 2017 were : 368 in Maths {165 + 203}, around 420s in GS 

Comments

  1. Unknown4 June 2018 at 09:15

    Sir what was your correct attempt of mathematics in CSE 2016 & CSE 2017 ?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash4 June 2018 at 10:26

      CSE 2016 Attempts :
      Paper 1 - 200 to 210 (maybe even lower as I did not note down my answers), Paper 2 - 180 to 190

      CSE 2017 Attempts :
      Paper 1 - 205 to 210, Paper 2 - around 230

      Delete
  2. Unknown6 June 2018 at 05:16

    Sir may you please add something on selective readings of the standard textbooks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash10 June 2018 at 12:48

      Added sections on chapters to be read from the textbooks suggested. Check it out !

      Delete
  3. Unknown8 June 2018 at 00:33

    Sir, the compilation of Previous year paper solution is provided by which academy? Are you talking about DIPS academy booklet ?

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown11 June 2018 at 09:58

    Sir how many hours did you dedicate for optionals before and after prelims .

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash23 June 2018 at 21:34

      I did not maintain an hourly schedule, just tried to complete my set goals for the day.

      Delete
  5. Unknown23 June 2018 at 04:41

    Do you suggest people to keep revising math even just a couple of months before prelims?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash23 June 2018 at 21:33

      Yeah you should try to revise Maths as much as possible, just keep in mind your prelims preparation while doing that. And by revising I mean practising problems on pen and paper.

      Delete
  6. Unknown5 July 2018 at 11:57

    Sir I don't stay in Delhi from where can I get compilation of previous year answers booklet provided by dias academy.if y have soft copy of that could y please share.thanks

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash14 July 2018 at 12:51

      I do not have the soft copy of the booklet. Maybe it is available on flavido, though I am not too sure about that. You can also try and contact 'Atul photostat' {just a coincidence :P} in ORN

      Delete
  7. Unknown10 July 2018 at 13:22

    Sir , how did you go about prelims prep in short period of time?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash14 July 2018 at 12:53

      I mainly relied on giving as many tests as possible. Also I was prepared with my Current affairs by regular note-making from newspapers and reading monthly compilation booklet by VisionIAS.

      Delete
  8. Prince11 July 2018 at 11:32

    How many questions questions did you attempt in Paper 1 and 2 and which ones?
    What did you do this year differently than last year?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Atul prakash14 July 2018 at 12:55

      Refer to one of the comments above.
      Between the two attempts, there was no change in the sources referred. I had better grasp of things because of greater revision and was better prepared in modern algebra in my 2nd attempt. I also reduced my calculation mistakes this time significantly as compared to my first attempt where I suffered in my Paper 1.

      Delete

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