Shruti Sharma (2021-22 topper)  AIR 1

• Emphasis on NCERTS: Shruti Sharma started her four-year IAS preparation by reading and comprehending NCERTs.
• Concentrate on current events: Her strategy was to concentrate on current events, which she covered by reading newspapers and taking her own notes.
• Practice writing answers: She placed equal emphasis on answering questions, which is the most crucial component in passing the IAS exam.
• Use of Internet: She made liberal use of the internet to supplement her notes, but she rarely used social media.
• Not restricting herself to study hours: Instead of focusing on the quantity of her studies, she didn’t think it was important to track the hours she spent studying.
• Limited Sources: She emphasized having limited study resources, maximum revision, practice tests, and multiple revisions.

• Time: Kanishak Kataria spent about a year and a half preparing for the UPSC prelims strategy by toppers exam.
• Schedule: He adhered to a strict schedule and studied for ten to twelve hours every day.
• Standard Reference Books: Reading the best newspapers, UPSC NCERT books, and standard reference books were all part of his UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers preparation strategy.
• Coaching Aid: In addition, he went to coaching sessions at a reputable Delhi coaching facility.

AIR 1 2022 

• Routine: Ishita followed a strict UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers daily schedule, spending enough time reading and comprehending the material in each subject. Her secret to success was being consistent.
• Study Materials: She used NCERT textbooks for her core subjects and standard books for her elective subjects.
• Mock Tests: She frequently took practice exams as part of her UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers to hone her accuracy and speed.
• Current Affairs: She did well on the IAS exam because she kept a close eye on the news and took notes on current events.
• Revision: She kept the study materials to a minimum and made several revisions to them.
• regular exercise and meditation: .Last but not least, she kept a balanced lifestyle by managing her stress with regular exercise and meditation, a crucial aspect of UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.

Rank 1, 2016

• Know Your Strengths, Weaknesses, Likes, and Dislikes :Recognize your likes, dislikes, strengths, and shortcomings as part of the UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.. This will assist you in creating a plan of action that suits you.
• Strategic Consistency: Create a plan and follow it unless something isn’t working for you, a crucial aspect of UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Enjoy the Journey:Pay attention to the preparation phase and, above all, have fun with it as recommended by UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Tactical Planning: Create strategies for every aspect of your planning, including those aligned with UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Understanding UPSC: Avoid becoming sidetracked and maintain an open-minded attitude, a key principle of UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Time Management: Above all, avoid wasting time. Try making use of the five minutes you have for studying, an essential tip from UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Multiple Revisions: Go over every subject matter several times, following UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Filter Opinions: Avoid Negative Influences: Steer clear of unwarranted opinions about those in your immediate vicinity who make you feel bad, a psychological aspect emphasized in UPSC Prelims strategy by toppers.
• Commence with NCERTs: Most candidates never even begin their preparation, so get started with the NCERTs. This causes a great deal of dejection.
• Leverage Class Notes:Go over your notes from class. You already have the advantage if you are doing it.
• Prioritize Both GS and Optional Subjects: Give both GS and Optional enough attention. Give them plenty of time.
• Incorporate Meditation for Clarity and CalmnessQuiet your thoughts. Engage in meditation.
• Monitoring Mechanism:Create a system to keep an eye on you in case you stray from your objective.
• Practical Training: As much as you can, practice writing answers to questions and taking mock exams.

[UPSC 2020 AIR 4] 

• Yash sir was able to dedicate at least eight hours a day to preparation thanks to his preparation strategy.
• Sir read the newspaper carefully for three to four hours, making sure to cover every aspect of the daily news and making notes right away. This was all part of his strategy.
• He referred to a single book for each topic and kept accurate notes on each, including the historical context.
• Other than this, the primary sources he took into consideration during his preparation were journals and monthly editorials in newspapers and current affairs magazines.
• The list of key UPSC books and resources that Yash Sir used to prepare for the preliminary and main exams is provided below.
• R.S Sharma’s Old NCERT for Ancient History
• • Class XI & XII NCERT
  • History of Medival India by Satish Chandra
  • A.L Basham – The Wonder that was India (for Buddhism and Jainism)
  • Indian Polity by Laxmikanth
  • How India sees the World by Shyam Saran (for static International Relations information).

(AIR 10, UPSC CSE 2020) 

• Core Areas: He stresses the value of studying Economics, Polity, and Economics in order to prepare for the preliminary exam.
• Mocks: He used test series and mock exams on a regular basis to monitor your progress and adjust your approach.
• Time management: He had a good time management strategy. To achieve his objectives, he set aside time for weeks, months, and daily targets.
• Short list of Sources: He also put together a short list of books to help with UPSC preparation. He assessed his advantages and disadvantages.
• Weak Areas: He spent more time on subjects that were weaker, like ethics and history. He dedicates hours to committing historical dates and events to memory.

AIR-260 CSE-22

• Ancient History: Themes in Indian History: Part 1 (Class 12 NCERT), Ancient India (Class 11 NCERT)
• Medieval India: Themes in Indian History: Part 2 (Class 12 NCERT), Tamil Nadu Class 11 History book
• Modern India: Spectrum-A Brief History of Modern India.
• Art and Culture: Textbook in Fine Arts (Class 11 NCERT), Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania
• World History: Class 12 NCERT, Vajiram yellow book
• Polity:  Indian Polity by M Laxmikant
• Indian Economy: Printed notes from Sriram’s IAS
• Geography: Class 11 and 12 NCERTs, Physical and Human Geography by GC Leong
• Environment: Shankar IAS Academy book
• International Relations: Vision monthly Current Affairs magazine
• Science and Technology: Vision monthly Current Affairs magazine
• Current Affairs: The Hindu Newspaper, Vision monthly Current Affairs, Test Series content
• Mains 365 of Vision IAS

Prelims Strategy: 

• 8+8+8 strategy: followed the 8+8+8 strategy, where in hedivided the day into 3 parts: 8 hours for sleep (I had fixed this time duration, 8 hours to study (not continuously), and remaining 8 hours to relax 
• Holisitc Reading of Newspaper:  study the newspaper holistically and would focus on relevant topics only.  Thought of linking a particular news item to different areas of subjects. For instance, if there was a news item on Ken-Betwa river interlinking project,
• Extra Information: Google extra information related to the project. 
  • All in all, newspaper reading shouldn’t take more than an hour.
• Smart notes: Making notes smartly is the need of the hour.  use speech to text version of MS Word, 2020 to make notes, dictating it to the laptop, thereby saving a lot of time.
• Crisp Notes: Similarly, exams needed crisp notes out of the Vision Current Affairs magazine so that revision was easy during the exam time, study the downloaded e-magazine and would have copy-pasted the points relevant for prelims. 
• Finally, a month’s current affairs from Vision wouldn’t have exceeded 5-10 pages. 
• For a year, it wouldn’t exceed 120 pages, which means easy and effective revision around the exam time.
• Vision IAS test series for preliminary exam. Need around 15 FLTs and about 10 sectional tests (only for History, Polity, and Economy). 
• The new static points found out from the test series were written down in the static books  referred to so that I always revised them easily, all in one place.
•  Similarly, used to copy-paste the extra current affairs content in a separate MS Word document to print it out later.
• Revision is the key, More revisions, more marks. I learned this the hard way.
• CSAT should not be ignored at all.

(AIR-12, UPSC CSE 2021)

• Ancient India – New NCERTs 
• Medieval India – Old NCERTs 
• Modern India – NCERTs and Spectrum 
• Arts and Culture – Fine arts book Class XI NCERT and Nitin Singhania. 
• Geography
  • Study the new NCERTs and the old NCERTs because the new ones do not cover every topic. Pay special attention to physical geography and India’s physical Environment. 
  • Next, he suggests using PMF material for geomorphology, climatology, oceanography and Environment.
  • The chapters on Landform Development can be covered from G.C.Leong. 
• Environment: For Environment, he followed the PMF Environment note.
• Science and Technology: He suggests going through any of the current affairs compilations for Science and Technology. 
• Polity: For Polity, he recommends following Laxmikanth and studying that book religiously.
• Economy: For economy, he recommends going through Sriram IAS Notes to grasp basic concepts. 
  • In addition, he suggests following an excellent current affairs compilation to keep yourself updated with the latest economic developments.

Test Series Strategy for Prelims 

• To clear the Prelims exam, he recommends a rigorous testing regimen. 
• He suggests solving at least 60 tests for Prelims and then reading the solutions well. 
• While 60 tests is the minimum suggested by Mr. Shekhar, the ideal number is 100.
• If you can solve 100 tests, you are looking at at least 10000 questions in MCQ format. 
• This knowledge, combined with NCERT, will give you enough information to clear the Prelims exam. 

CSAT 

• For CSAT, test series are the best way to prepare. 
• First, attempt a few tests and then figure out which areas or topics are challenging for you. For example, questions with clocks, seating arrangements, and blood relation questions are a few difficult topics. 
• To make your preparation easier, he suggests going to SSC-CGL questions on YouTube and solving them. 
• First, look at the question, pause the video, attempt to solve it yourself, and then play the video and look at the solution. 
• Repeat this for every question until you improve.