Study materials to help IAS aspirants who are going to give prelims on August 7th is flooding everywhere. But, does this deluge of resources helping you?
To some it definitely helps. There are aspirants who might have finished revising everything by now and the arrival of new resources might be a boon to them.
To some it actually creates problems. You might be already having so much of pending tasks to complete – such as solving tests, revising current events etc. Analyse if spending time on new materials is worth it or not. If you think they actually lessen your burden, then read them.
Again, reading them only once will not help you. You must revise these new materials too. See if you have time to revise them. Only then read them.
Always think about maximising marks in prelims. To increase your marks, you should be familiar with more information. For example, reading 100 pages of important current events helps you more than reading 100 pages of only art and culture. Or, revising 1000 questions & solutions from a good test test series will help you more than reading 1000 new facts from compilation on one xyz topic.
Looking at vast resources that seem so important for the exam, and considering less time at your disposal, you might become nervous too. Right now, anything that makes you nervous must be either conquered or avoided.
The list of must-read resources grows day by day. If these materials frighten you, avoid them. Instead revise whatever you have studied till now. If avoiding new sources is making you feel insecure, then quickly scan them for important information and revise this information.
At this point of time, what is most important is relaxed state of mind. You should be preparing intensively and at the same time, you should be enjoying your preparation. If you take it as burden, it will affect your peace of mind. This might affect performance in exam.
A normal person can not digest so much information in so few days. Spend time on conquering your fears. Try to be calm.
It’s natural that everything appears important now. If your friend in Delhi is studying xyz material, then certainly you want to study it too. If you haven’t studied it previously and is an important part of prelims syllabus, grab it and read it.
If you have already covered it under test series or in current events, just ignore it even if it appears very very enticing and extremely important.
The best thing you can do right now is to discuss important exam related stuff with your friends. You can learn and remember so much by discussing now. Discussions also help in reducing pressure.
Cheer up and never give up. 🙂
Note: We will be posting a lengthy motivational post on 6th August.
