u/Time_Dot3696

Hello,

This is my third attempt and first Mains. A few thoughts before I walk into that exam hall:

Do I feel prepared?
No. There is still more to revise, more data to cram, current affairs that are conveniently waiting to be “covered”, and paper completion that continues to remain a personal character flaw.

Am I scared?
Yes. And no. I oscillate between nothingness and extreme anxiousness. Quite honestly, this was the emotional state I had least anticipated.

Did I manage to stick to the strategy I started with?
Mostly.

• Integrate answer writing with mocks — done.
• Build 10–15 page short notes and fact sheets for every paper — done.
• Finish every paper in three hours — absolutely not. My last simulator still had one 15/20-marker from GS2, GS3 and GS4 staring back at me.
• Play to my strengths — done. Essay has been extensively brainstormed, ~15 essays written, and Ethics has enough examples to start its own anthology.
• Get comfortable with V7 — done. Is it objectively the greatest pen ever made? No. Did I use it because it is “topper’s choice”? Unfortunately, yes. tHiS preparation does strange things to otherwise rational adults.

Were the last two months hectic? Yes and no. There were days of insane productivity and days when getting through the bare minimum felt like an achievement. Which, of course, shakes one's confidence every now and then when everyone around you seems to have been studying 19 hours a day - without apparently needing food, sleep or oxygen. (yes i tracked mains candidates via ypt)

I am still revising my short notes. I still feel underprepared. I am still nervous.

But then, I remember: I felt exactly this way before Prelims too.

Perhaps preparation is never going to feel complete. At some point, you simply stop trying to become perfectly ready and show up with whatever you have managed to build.

So—if it is meant to be, it is meant to be.

The next post shall hopefully be after I see my name in that Mains-qualified PDF — accompanied, naturally, by a highly unnecessary segment on the saree shopping shenganians.

All the best to everyone walking into those exam halls.
We have revised enough, panicked enough, overthought enough and, frankly, come too far to do anything now except show up and write (haha)

Maybe see you on the other side.

Hello,

This is my third attempt and first Mains. A few thoughts before I walk into that exam hall:

Do I feel prepared?
No. There is still more to revise, more data to cram, current affairs that are conveniently waiting to be “covered”, and paper completion that continues to remain a personal character flaw.

Am I scared?
Yes. And no. I oscillate between nothingness and extreme anxiousness. Quite honestly, this was the emotional state I had least anticipated.

Did I manage to stick to the strategy I started with?
Mostly.

• Integrate answer writing with mocks — done.
• Build 10–15 page short notes and fact sheets for every paper — done.
• Finish every paper in three hours — absolutely not. My last simulator still had one 15/20-marker from GS2, GS3 and GS4 staring back at me.
• Play to my strengths — done. Essay has been extensively brainstormed, ~15 essays written, and Ethics has enough examples to start its own anthology.
• Get comfortable with V7 — done. Is it objectively the greatest pen ever made? No. Did I use it because it is “topper’s choice”? Unfortunately, yes. tHiS preparation does strange things to otherwise rational adults.

Were the last two months hectic? Yes and no. There were days of insane productivity and days when getting through the bare minimum felt like an achievement. Which, of course, shakes one's confidence every now and then when everyone around you seems to have been studying 19 hours a day - without apparently needing food, sleep or oxygen. (yes i tracked mains candidates via ypt)

I am still revising my short notes. I still feel underprepared. I am still nervous.

But then, I remember: I felt exactly this way before Prelims too.

Perhaps preparation is never going to feel complete. At some point, you simply stop trying to become perfectly ready and show up with whatever you have managed to build.

So—if it is meant to be, it is meant to be.

The next post shall hopefully be after I see my name in that Mains-qualified PDF — accompanied, naturally, by a highly unnecessary segment on the saree shopping shenganians.

All the best to everyone walking into those exam halls.
We have revised enough, panicked enough, overthought enough and, frankly, come too far to do anything now except show up and write (haha)

Maybe see you on the other side.