{"id":10025,"date":"2022-10-31T12:56:47","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T07:26:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/upsc-mains-strategy\/"},"modified":"2023-05-03T13:51:57","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T08:21:57","slug":"upsc-mains-strategy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pwonlyias.com\/stage\/upsc-mains\/upsc-mains-strategy","title":{"rendered":"UPSC MAINS STRATEGY"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is all about to give you a major overview of the UPSC CSE Mains Exam with appropriate links for the section wise strategies as well but before understanding the details it is important to understand the process first. This is an attempt to compile all the required details about the exam for you at one single place.<\/span><\/p>\n

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With 1000 marks spanning across four papers in Mains, GS feels like one giant, insurmountable mountain. The point of this article is also to convince you that those fears are unfounded. A proper planned approach can help you strategize well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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If you have not read about Prelims and its strategy, it is advisable to please go through that first and then come here to have a holistic understanding. (Prelims Phase-1 Link)<\/span><\/p>\n

You will also find some embedded links in this as well as successive articles to ease your resources search as much as possible.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Before moving onto whole overview thing let us understand the pattern of the Mains exam-<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
S. No<\/b>.<\/span><\/td>\nPaper Name<\/b><\/td>\nMarks<\/b><\/td>\nDuration<\/b><\/td>\nType\/Nature<\/b><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1.<\/span><\/td>\nIndian Language<\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper A)<\/span><\/td>\n

300<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nQualifying (33%)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2.<\/span><\/td>\nEnglish (Paper B)<\/span><\/td>\n300<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nQualifying (33%)<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3. <\/span><\/td>\nEssay (Paper-I)<\/span><\/td>\n250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4.<\/span><\/td>\nGeneral Studies-I <\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-II)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5.<\/span><\/td>\nGeneral Studies-II <\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-III)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6.<\/span><\/td>\nGeneral Studies-III <\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-IV)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7.<\/span><\/td>\nGeneral Studies-IV <\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-V)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8.<\/span><\/td>\nOptional Subject\u2019s Paper-1<\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-VI)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9.<\/span><\/td>\nOptional Subject\u2019s Paper-2<\/span><\/p>\n

(Paper-VII)<\/span><\/td>\n

250<\/span><\/td>\n3 hours<\/span><\/td>\nMarks added in final score for merit<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nTOTAL MARKS<\/span><\/td>\n1750<\/span><\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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The above tabular representation hence now clearly suggests that, in UPSC CSE Mains Exam, students have to write 9 papers out of which two are qualifying in nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

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In English and Indian Language Exam, students have to score more than 33% marks to pass the exam. If you fail to pass this, the copies of rest papers will not be checked.<\/span><\/p>\n

The marks of rest seven papers, are however added to form the Mains Score. This score is further used to determine the cutoff for the interviews and also added to the final score.<\/span><\/p>\n

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UPSC CSE Mains exam is conducted about 4 months after the Prelims exam. This exam happens for about 2 weeks. The duration of the paper is about 3 hours and the gap between 2 papers is about 3 hours ( 2 papers are conducted on the same day, which means practice in a way to build endurance for the same too)<\/span><\/p>\n

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About Indian Language Paper <\/b><\/h2>\n

The 1st paper of every UPSC CSE Mains exam is the Compulsory Indian Language paper. Students from North-East can avail of exemption for this paper. The list of Indian Languages in which students can give this paper is mentioned in the notification itself.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Students have to secure at least 33% in this paper. The level of difficulty of the paper will be of 10th level. The paper pattern as per the notification will be:<\/span><\/p>\n

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