Civil Services mains examination is the most crucial stage of the IAS
examination because it carries a huge weightage in term of total tally of marks.
And in this General Studies & Essay papers play an important role for the
selection of the candidate. As the mains examination is subjective in nature, So
candidates have to develop a proper Writing Strategy to get good marks in the
examination. Here one should follow these points before writing the General
1. Write precisely and to the point.
2. Respect the economy of words
3. Show the depth of understanding of the question.
4. Different question requires different style of writing so understand the
requirement and follow that.
5. It is suggested to attempt all questions keeping in view the word limit.
6. Make rough work before answer writing.
7. Allocate your time for different sections of the General Studies Paper.
In this context let me discuss some key words which examiner uses in the
General Studies question and expect from you to answer accordingly, it is
important for you to understand the broad meaning of these words:
Comments: It is to give opinion/remark, on a person/topic etc.
Analyse: To look into different dimension of the statement and draw
various facts to support those dimension basically it is examining of different
part of the question that can be done by raising various alternatives of the
given question and providing their appropriate solution.
Examine: It is simply looking into the question closely and raise
various aspects to the statement
Explain: Just explain the statement in a more lucid term, so that any
one can understand the meaning and concept of the given statement.
Discuss: Here examiner assume that you know something in advance now
you have to tell the meaning and your point of view of the given statement with
reason and logic.
At last I would like to recommend one thing to the candidates that no matter
how much you study you should develop the habit of practice answer writing
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