One of the major challenges that plagues most aspirants is the art of answer writing, a skill crucial to their success.
Rani Nandedkar, a content creator who appeared for the exam, shared some valuable tips on answer writing on X (formerly Twitter).
Focus on bringing originality into your answers, she suggests. Rani’s own struggles with answer writing made her realise that the focus should be on adding data and reports, rather than “copy-pasting” what’s written in books.
To help review her answers, she joined a Mains answer writing peer group to share and learn. She shared that they would write two answers daily and review each other's work.
Rani also looked at the answers of toppers to help in better comprehension. “Anything without practice seems tough,” she says.
Dedicate at least six hours every day to the optional subject, with the remaining time for general studies. She would start her day with the optional from 8 AM to 12 PM and continue from 1 to 3 PM.
Rani would focus on answer writing for half an hour daily. Sundays were dedicated to essay writing, where she would write at least 10-11 pages daily.
Keep a small notebook and jot down facts, reports, and data from newspapers on a daily basis, she says.
Spend some time understanding the key words in the question, Rani advises. She recommends drawing maps and making flowcharts to enhance your answers.