The UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2021 is just two months away. In my opinion, this period is the most valuable time in cracking the highly competitive Prelims exam. Before I explain how to use these two months effectively, please keep in mind that the syllabus of Prelims is quite vast, and there will always be a few topics left to cover. Hence, do not be worried that you haven’t finished the topics. Make yourself mentally strong and continue polishing what you have learnt. Now, how to prepare for the next 60 days? – Start by making sure that your basics are strong.

• Make a quick revision of the NCERTs so that any questions based on basics are answered in the exam. UPSC asks many questions from the NCERTs to test your understanding of the topic. Hence, you are requested to finish the NCERTs first and then move onto others. Click here to take our NCERT based tests to check your knowledge on various subjects.
• Do not try to read any new textbook at this point. This would cause unwanted confusion and considerable time loss, and hence, taking up new textbooks are not advisable as the exam is quite near. Instead, continue revising the already covered reference textbooks to strengthen further what you have already learnt.
• While revising the subjects, make sure that you give importance to those subjects that have more prominence in the Prelims. This is to ensure that your chances of scoring marks in Prelims increase. Click here to go through the previous years’ question papers to analyse what subjects are usually given more weightage. Traditionally, Polity, Economy, Environment etc. are some of the subjects that have great importance, but this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t concentrate on the other subjects. You can give a little more extra weightage to the important subjects.
• Focus on topics from which questions have been asked many times. For example, UPSC usually asks questions from Jainism & Buddhism (Art and Culture), National Parks (Environment), Maps based questions (Geography) etc. UPSC has asked questions from these areas multiple times; these are hot topics that must be given due diligence.

• Continue attempting mock tests to polish your strong areas and to have a basic understanding of your weak areas. You should take a mock test that is similar to the UPSC Prelims in terms of style, nature of questions and difficulty. This ensures that you get enough to practise before the actual exam. While attempting them, make sure to learn from your mistakes and note down the needed points for quick revision. You may also use these tests to improve your knowledge in those areas where you are strong, and at the same time, you get decent exposure to those areas where you are not so comfortable. Combining these makes sure that you cross the cut-off of Prelims comfortably.
• Now, there might still be areas that you could not cover even after you gave your best. Like I have mentioned in the beginning, the sheer size of the Prelims syllabus makes it near impossible to finish it. Hence do not fret thinking that there are unfinished topics. Instead, focus on getting marks from those areas that you have already covered.

Prelims is an examination that tests your knowledge in just 2 hours. Hence, your mental alertness and ability to keep yourself calm is of paramount importance. The questions asked are designed to test your basic understanding of the topic. Hence, as long as you are in a state of mind to think, the answers can be found. I also request every aspirant to take enough rest, have nutritious meals and perform basic exercises to keep oneself fit and healthy for the exam. All the best!