The highest score in the essay paper of CSE 2021 was in the range of 150 while the lowest score was in the range of 60-70. This makes for a huge difference of nearly 90 marks in one paper. !! Even if you score an average marks of 110 +, it still creates a huge gap of nearly 40 marks. ! A huge difference of 40 marks that too in a single paper. ! This clearly demonstrates the significance of the Essay paper in your overall performance, in your rank in the final merit list. It can make or mar your chances of being an IAS officer and achieving your dream.
However, even after knowing the importance of Essay Paper, not many aspirants adopt a systematic approach to Essay Preparation. This is because there is a general tendency to assume that even without much preparation, a good essay can be written in the exam. After all, we have so much knowledge from our GS paper preparation that a great essay can be managed. This leads to the following problems faced commonly by aspirants
The above issues can be easily tackled by giving a small amount of your total study time on a consistent basis. Remember, the return on investment is going to be huge !
In our observation, we have seen that some aspirants do take essay paper seriously and prepare for it. But the most common problem observed is that the preparation is based on certain themes in which UPSC has asked questions in the previous years. There are two problems in this approach - first, UPSC has been asking very diverse, multifaceted topics especially in the recent years, with Part A focusing excessively on philosophical topics. Approach strictly based on themes do not empower you sufficiently to be able to handle such wide diversity in topics. Second, such an approach also gives your essay a tilt towards being more GS like.
Thus, in order to excel in essay, we should not just prepare theme wise based on the previous year’s themes, we should also adopt reverse engineering approach. In this, you should empower yourself with rich content, anecdotes, quotes, case studies, examples, Multi dimensional arguments which can be used across multiple themes. Such a smart approach is the need of the hour given the amount of information you are required to remember.
We will give you a small example to make you understand it better.Consider the following anecdote picked from the book “Turning points” written by our former president Late Shri APJ Abdul Kalam
“On the day my father was elected as Panchayat President, a man came to our home. I was still a schoolboy and was reading my lessons aloud when I heard a knock at the door. My father had gone for evening Namaz. The man said that he had brought something to my father and asked if he could leave it for him. I agreed. He left the item on the cot and I continued with my studies. When my father returned, he saw a Silver plate with gifts on the cot. I told him that someone had come by and left them for him. He opened the gifts and found expensive clothes, few silver cups, sweets and fruits. My father was furious at me. Later, my father explained and advised me never to receive any gift without his permission. He said that when almighty appoints a person to a position, he takes care of his provision. If a person takes anything beyond that, it is an illegal gain. A gift is always accompanied by some purpose and therefore it is a dangerous thing”
Of course not all of the above themes are going to come in the exam at once. Even if any one theme is asked in the exam, you have a great anecdote to either introduce your essay or to even support your arguments.This is what we endeavour to do in our Essay Booster Module.It is targeted at empowering you to excel in your essays irrespective of themes. It helps you to come out with relevant and powerful arguments for each topic asked in the essay. EBM is meticulously designed to enrich your content, empower you to write an organic, innovative essay within the time limit and exactly on the topic asked.