This is the last night. We all are reminded of that meme of Ravan not being able to sleep. What we didn't get to see is even Lord Ram would have had hard time sleeping that night. Point being, Big nights like tommorow tend to make it hard for anyone to sleep, for good or bad reasons.
Now coming to the point, tonight is when your prelims tests really begins. And being able to take a proper sleep is the first job done right, next is reaching at center with a positive and confident mindset. You would find lots of aspirants, rushing to the centre in panicked mode, without sleeping at all at night. It is your job to pass a smile to them and mentally comfort them that all will be well. This was suggested by my then roommate. When you assure others, you assure yourself even more without realising about it. One of the best confidence hack I have ever seen.
When you go to the centre tomorrow, think about good things, think of events when you showed your character. Remember when was the last time you were nervous and how you handled it. Remember about the people who have motivated you, who have stood by you in happy and tough times both. (To aid some positivity, have some chocolates for good harmones to be released).
When you enter in classroom, make sure to keep a handkerchief, because summers are sweaty and you need to save OMR sheet. Make sure to enter a bit early, don't delay it unnecessarily, I can assure you whatever you will be studying will prove to be useless the moment you see paper. Hence make sure to enter with comfortable time margin. Drink water, go to washroom if you need. Sit and close your eyes to concentrate and have a feel of surrounding. Mentally meditates if you want. Then with a smile start your D-day.
Now when you get the OMR sheet, Fill it carefully, making some mistakes here and there would lead to unnecessary time wastage and would also affect mentally. So be very careful about filling details in OMR. (I used to put a dot with pencil on bubbles and confirm that my DOB and role number is correct. And then fill it with black pen).
When you get the paper, before opening it, take a deep breath, close your eyes and open. Try to scan through the paper in one or two minutes. The moment you see an easy question, stop there, mark the answer on question paper (not in OMR), and keep scanning to get the next easy question. Idea is to mark 4-5 easy questions in the whole paper in the first 7-8 minutes. And also see all the paper and get the first impression in this process.
Now you have got the first impression, and the main phase of the exam begins. You might feel you haven't seen more than 40-50 questions before, its okay. UPSC is like that. You might feel paper is tough, its okay, it's a competitive exam, it's easy or tough for everyone.
Try not to fill bubbles in the first iteration (mark in the paper and leave it). In the second iteration, you can fill answers of last iterations to OMR, similarly, fill the answers of second iterations to OMR in third iterations. Basically what I am trying to ensure is that you give your self scope to correct answers because sometimes your subconscious memory appears a bit later and you might need to change the answer.
Now the most crucial suggestions -
1) assume there will be paucity of time so don't leave anything for the last ten minutes. Fill anything and everything by one hour and fifty minutes.
2) Don't play too safe and do less than eighty questions. Remember people didn't know the right answers of about 15-20 questions till the answer keys came one year later. So if you just attempt less questions, you might see yourself out of the list because questions are vague.
3) Confidence. Clarity. Calmness. Presence of mind. Trusting the gut. Remember those words.
4) Its not the end. Aur bhi cheeje hain duniya me UPSC ke alawa. Don't be too desperate. Just like girls, UPSC doesn't like too desperate people.
All the very best for tomorrow. Go with the attitude of a lion, treat the exam hall as your Jungle.
Roar. Hunt. Win. Rule.
Regards
Arvind Shah, IAS 2021
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