The UPSC Mains exam is scheduled from 20 September 2024 onwards. With a few weeks remaining in one of the country’s challenging exams, we have curated 10 useful tips from IAS officers on things to keep in mind 15 days before the exam.

1. Create an exam like environment IAS officer Akshita Gupta advises aspirants to practice answer writing in an exam-like environment. “Your focus should be on writing answers in three hours,” she adds.

2. Revision and micro notes Akshita says that for the next 15 days, the main target of the aspirants should be to revise the entire syllabus and facts using their short notes.

3. Create a fact sheet Akshita says she would collect a lot of data, subject and topic-wise to enrich her answers. “I would collect data on literacy rates, women population, and health on a sheet. This helped me a lot in writing answers around these topics,” she adds.

4. Time management “Try attempting all questions. Instead of investing a lot of time perfecting one answer, you might end up writing poor answers for rest questions. Focus on all questions such that you get better marks for all answers,” she says.

5. Inculcate creativity IAS Akshita advises aspirants to practice answers by writing it in bullet points, flowcharts, maps, and diagrams. “It helps you complete the paper on time and helps your answer stand out,” she adds.

“Till now, your focus was to complete the syllabus. Use these last 15 days to make a strategy to solve the paper where you can add facts, quotes, and diagrams in your answers,” she says.

6. Prepare a list of relevant quotes Akshita also advises aspirants to prepare a list of relevant quotes on various topics and subjects like education and General Studies papers. “You can mention such quotes in your answers to make them stand out,” she adds.

7. Less bathroom breaks To write the exam within three hours, IAS Anshuman Raj advises aspirants to intake less water during exam in order to save time on bathroom breaks.

8. Avoid evaluating answers “You can avoid evaluating your marks at this stage as it can influence your confidence and demoralise you. Avoid anything that could make you anxious,” he says.

9. Diet control Anshuman shares that he would eat oats pudding on his exam day. “These are small but important things that matter. Do not eat food items like rice, take protein rich food so that you don’t feel hungry and sleepy while writing the exam,” he says.

10. Sleep schedule Anshuman also advises aspirants to have adequate sleep in this period. “To be able to concentrate on the exam, your brain requires proper rest. If you don’t take enough rest, you may not be able to recall concepts in exams,” he adds.