Preparation strategy for Mains Essay?

hi,
what is the preparation strategy for mains essay

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Dear Aspirant

Go to the official websites of UPSC (www.upsc.gov.in)and download previous years question paper of essay and write those essays.While writing essay keep in mind
1)A good essays always begin with good introduction and good conclusions with body highlighting the subject of the question asked.
2)Go through current issues from newspaper for more updated information. After reading on any topics try to write them on your understanding.
3)There should be correlation of paragraph on moving from one paragraph to other.
4)Don't feel the same information twice to increase the size of essay.
5)Be in word limit

Essay preparation for Civil Services
Exam can be of two types:-
1. LONG-TERM PREPARATION
2. SHORT-TERM PREPARATION
I will first write about long-term
preparation. It can be done by those
aspirants who have 1 yr or 2 yr or 3
years in their hands i.e. before
Mains exam �
1. LONG-TERM PREPARATION
(The Path Less Trodden):-
� These things should be done when
you are doing your GRADUATION
these days or u have enough time
say 10 months at least to go for
Extra-Curricular reading :-
� For long-term preparation be
regular with any two national
newspapers. I would recommend THE
HINDU & THE TIMES OF INDIA. The
Hindu gives you simple & effective
writing style while TOI gives u
stylish English & increases your
vocabulary. Both are needed to write
a good Essay.
� Read 2-3 hours everyday. Specially
focus on the Editorials & other
Analytical & Critical articles. Say in
Hindu focus on Magazine, Book
Review, Literary Review, Business
Review, Open Page, 2 page OP-ED
Page etc & in The Times of India
focus on its Editorial Page. Whenever
you encounter a DIFFICULT PHRASE,
EDIOM, PART OF SPEECH etc just see
the Oxford Advanced Learners
Dictionary or Chambers Dictionary &
in a Diary note down that word, its
meaning, its usage in sentence etc.
This MUST be done within 1-2
minutes. Don�t keep it pending.
� Or else one word is lost from your
vocabulary. By doing this your
VOCABULARY will increase & you will
know HOW TO USE THAT WORD IN A
DIFFERENT CONTEXT. This is a
gradual & continuous process and it
will take 12-18 months to make your
vocabulary very strong & have
command over the language &
expressive power.
� In addition to newspapers read as
many articles from GOOD
MAGAZINES as possible. The
following magazines can be referred
to.
a.FRONTLINE ( Must )
b. THE ECONOMIC & POLITICAL
WEEKLY ( Must )
c. MAINSTREAM (Optional)
d. WORLD FOCUS (Optional)
e. THE ECONOMIST (Optional)
f. TIME or LIFE ( If you have access
to a good library)
� I am not saying that you should
try to finish all these magazines in
one month. But try to read as many
HIGH QUALITY ARTICLES as possible.
This will increase the RANGE &
VARIETY of your thinking & will make
you knowledgeable about the
happenings around the world &
different streams of thought. (For
Example: - What is �Stream of
Consciousness�? What is �Theatre of
Absurd�? What is �Objective
Correlative� in T S Eliot�s poems?
What is The Revival Movement? Etc)
� Jot down POWERFUL & EFFECTIVE
sentences that you come across in a
Diary. Any Quotations or Important
Sentences said by Intellectuals like
Amartya Sen, Manmohan Singh,
Noam Chomsky, Edward Said,
Bertrand Russell, Arundhati Roy etc
should be noted down.
� Revise your Diary in free time many
times so that you can remember
these quotations, important words,
sentences etc & use them at
relevant places in your Essay in
Mains Exam.
� Apart from these things read a lot
of NOVELS, POEMS, PLAYS, SHORT
STORIES etc
� I am giving a list of some of the
books that I read. You can pick up
some of them �
1. R K NARAYAN�S NOVELS (SWAMI &
FRIENDS,THE ENGLISH TEACHER,THE
GUIDE,THE DARK ROOM,THE
BACHELOR OF ARTS,WAITING FOR
MAHATMA,THE PAINTER OF SIGNS
etc)
2. WAITING FOR GODOT ----- by
SAMUEL BECKETT
3. T S ELIOT ----- SELECTED POEMS
4. THE GOLDEN TREASURY
5. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
( MACBETH,KING LEAR,TEMPEST �
ETC)
6. ENGLISH AUGUST ------ by
UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
7. GEORGE ORWELL ----- THE ANIMAL
FARM,1984
8. BERTRAND RUSSELL -----
SCEPTICAL ESSAYS, PHILOSOPHICAL
ESSAYS, HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY
9. THE DISCOVERY OF INDIA ---
JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
10. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS ----
ARUNDHATI ROY
11. MIDNIGHT�S CHILDREN ----
SALMAN RUSHDIE
12. PLAYS OF HAROLD PINTER or at
least know about his works.
13. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF
SOLITUDE ---- by GABRIEL GARCIA
MARQUEZ
14. NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS
like GREAT EXPECTATIONS, A TALE OF
TWO CITIES, HARD TIMES etc
15. Search TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL
TIME in Google & read some 5-10
novels of any author �WHOM YOU
LIKE� �
The basic idea is to make yourself
�well-read� & with a COMMAND over
ENGLISH � For this READ SOME
GOOD QUALITY novels or poems
mentioned above or after searching
Google (For ex. Best 100 Poems of
Twentieth Century, Best 100 Plays of
All Time etc. )
� Now I will turn to SHORT-TERM
PREPARATION which everybody
wants:-
2. SHORT-TERM PREPARATION:-
� For this you need 4-6 months in
hand. Plz read:-
1. The Hindu articles & analysis (At
least read some 500-1000 Articles
from Hindu & in one FILE keep the
best 100-150 Articles & Revise
them.)
2. The Times of India Editorials
(Sunday Edition. The SUNDAY TIMES
& �NOT� the DELHI TIMES!!! )
3. The Oxford Book of Essays edited
by John Gross( Read some good
Essays) (Selective reading)
4. The Penguin Book of Essays(Read
some good Essays) (Selective
reading)
5. The Book of Essays by Spectrum &
quotations given at the back.
Remember 200-300 good Quotations
which you can use in any Essay &
use them liberally.
6. Oxford Book of Twentieth Century
Quotations
7. Oxford or Rupa Book of Quotations
8. Competition Success Review Book
of Essays (2 Vols for Juniors & 2 Vols
for Seniors). CSR publishes GOOD
Essays in Essay Competitions. So you
can pick points from them �
9. Read sometimes The Economic
Times Editorials (Left hand side only.
The 3rd editorial on the left lower
corner helps in Essay. Also �The
Debate� (for, against & neutral) that
comes in Tuesday )
10. Make 2-3 diaries full by
QUOTATIONS, DIFFICULT WORDS &
their meaning, Who said what etc.
� Try to write in simple, effective &
in an expressive manner. Every
sentence of your essay must have a
FORCE which should shake the
examiner �If you have mastery over
FLOWERY language, then go for it. Or
else write in a simple,
straightforward & concise manner.
� I write in a flowery language with
LOTS OF QUOTATIONS & difficult
words.
Hope this detailed guideline on
Essay helps �