Competence is the Source of Joy

By | December 1, 2024

Some years ago, I briefly held the charge as a Land Acquisition Officer (LAO) for an important infrastructure project. The concerned officer was on leave and I was to hold the fort until he returned. I was new to the service and hadn’t had any experience with land acquisition. My knowledge on the subject was shallow, limited to… Read More »

10 Years of Interstellar

By | November 15, 2024

Every now and then, when I find myself in front of the TV with some time to spare and don’t really know what to watch, I watch bits of Interstellar.  It’s been 10 years since the film’s release , but the grandeur, the dazzle, and the profound sense of awe that I felt when I first saw the… Read More »

UPSC Marksheet

By | April 30, 2024

Here are my marksheets for the Prelims and Mains of Civil Services Exam 2017. Along with these, I’ve attached my marksheet for CSE 2015 (I’ve skipped CSE 2016.) A cursory glance at scores from both these attempts should tell you that, with crisp and clear answers, you can drastically improve your Mains scores across the papers. You can read… Read More »

On Being Consistent

By | April 28, 2024

I recently came across an interesting quote on Twitter: “The best performers are not consistently great, but they’re great at being consistent.” (Brad Stulberg) It got me thinking and I have realised that any meaningful, life-defining endeavour comprises of the following traits: These small actions, taken in isolation, do not amount to much. But over time, what they… Read More »

Coaching for the Civil Services Exam: Is It Necessary?

By | April 13, 2024

This is a perennial question I get asked the most. And it’s understandable too. Many aspirants who begin their Civils preparation are clueless about this exam’s demands and most cannot simply afford to go to Delhi and take coaching. There are a lot of doubts and misconceptions regarding whether to take coaching for Civils Services. So let me… Read More »

Booklist for Prelims

By | April 10, 2024

Note: My book, Fundamentals of Essay and Answer Writing is available now. It’s a comprehensive guide that helps you write better Essays and Answers in the UPSC Mains Exam. You can know about the book here. In this article, we will go through my booklist for Civil Services Exam (Prelims). I’ve written this post keeping in mind an absolute… Read More »

UPSC Prelims Strategy by Abhijeet Sinha, IAS [AIR 19, CSE 2017]

By | February 28, 2024

Hello everyone, I am Abhijeet Sinha. I have secured 19th Rank in Civil Services Exam 2017 and joined the Indian Administrative Service in 2018. I gave two attempts at CSE and scored good marks in both my prelims: 163 in CSE 2016 and 152.66 in CSE 2017. My Prelims strategy was slightly different from others. I almost always attempted over 95 questions, even though I barely knew more… Read More »

How to Ace Anthropology Optional: Deep Dive into Paper II

By | February 24, 2024

Note: I’ve published a total of 3 blog posts on Anthropology. The first article primarily talks about my booklist and the basic approach I followed. The second discusses topic wise detailed plan for Paper I. This is the third and final one among the series, and it deals with topic wise detailed plan for Anthro Paper II. 1.1 – Indian… Read More »