Apurva Pandey, Rank 39 UPSC CSE 2017: HIGHEST MARKS

IN ESSAY (175)-ESSAY STRATEGY (IASbaba’s ILP Student)

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May 17,
2018

ESSAY STRATEGY-APURVA PANDEY RANK 39

Hello everyone,

Ever since UPSC declared marks for CSE Mains 2017, I have been flooded with requests
to write a strategy on the essay. But honestly, I never really had a mechanical strategy for
the essay. During my mock tests, essay was that one paper where the examiner
appeared satisfied and so I sort of shifted my focus to GS and optional.

That said, I do have a few pointers that I think worked for me and I will be more than
happy to share it with you all. I will also try to answer some FAQs regarding essay
preparation.

FAQs
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1) Where do I get the content for my essay?

I never studied separately for the essay. I used whatever I had studied for GS and
optional. But then again, I was lucky to have PSIR for my optional and from there, I often
picked up concepts, thinkers, ideologies etc. to make my point. However, one must be
careful to not use one’s knowledge of their optional to such an extent that the essay
stops being general. If reading your essay is becoming extra work for the examiner, then
that might not be good news for your marks.

2) Do I need to use very flowery language?

Every essay strategy I read during my preparation suggested using simple English and
rightly so. Sometimes, in our quest to put our vocabulary to use, we end up inserting
complicated words forcefully in our sentences. Not only does it make the sentence
difficult to understand, but also gives it an awkward sound when read.

But that does not mean that we stop getting creative with language. Using metaphors,
similes, idioms etc breaks the monotony and makes our essay look attractive. Here
again, usage must not appear forced. This comes with a careful reading of good texts
and of course, practice.

3) Should I write in simple paragraphs or subheadings?

I don’t think it really matters. I wrote with subheadings in one of my mock tests and got
good feedback. But in the final exam, I wrote in simple paragraphs which worked out
perfectly fine for me.

4)How do I choose my topic?

For me, comfort triumphs every other factor. I have always had a certain discomfort,
more of a mental barrier for topics related to science, technology, economy etc. But with
topics that have a socio-political background, I feel very much at ease, even when the
topic is relatively unprepared and may require a certain brainstorming.

I personally feel that if we are comfortable with the topic, our expression has a more
natural flow. I wrote the essay on women this time around, knowing full well how
popular the topic was and how well prepared people must be. But I was not only
comfortable but also very passionate about that topic, and everything I wrote came
straight from the heart. I have a strong feeling that it is this very essay that helped me
secure such high marks in essay. But more on that, later.

5)Do I really need to practice essay?

OF COURSE!

No matter how confident you are in your writing skills, practicing a few essays
beforehand is never a bad idea. If you can get some feedback on it then even better.
Even if you have good content and are good at expressing yourself, you might be making
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other mistakes like writing very long paragraphs, diverting from the topic, not putting in
sufficient examples and so on. Therefore, please practice a few essays and get those
reviewed.

Now a few pointers on the specific things I did that may

have helped me score good marks:
1) Start solid: Somebody once told me that an examiner will probably read hundreds of
essays on the same topic, and is likely to get bored after some time. As such, our
beginning must be interesting so as to capture his/her imagination at the very outset. In
a strategy article that she wrote, Mittali Sethi mam mentioned how she began her essay
with a poem she had written herself. I did the same in my NAM essay. Wrote a couplet
on the idea of standing for truth, and then began my essay by explaining NAM as India’s
way of standing for truth.

Similarly, for my essay on “Fulfilment of new woman in India is a myth”, I started off with
a story where I talked about Meena, the new age Indian woman, who is well educated,
financially independent, working at a big corporate firm and married to the man of her
choice. And then I began to expose the myth by explaining how Meena still takes care of
household chores and the kids even when her work hours are same as her husband’s,
how sexism still exists for her at workplace where she is asked to take care of the
hospitality of important clients while her male peers get to engage with them business-
wise, how she quit a previous higher paying job to escape sexual harrassment at
workplace, how her family keeps telling her to quit so as to take better care of her
children and so on. I hope you got the idea.

2) Having strong opinions: I am sure you can guess by now how opinionated my essay
on women must have been. And I really think having strong opinions and being
passionate about the topic helps. But your opinion must be supported by examples or
facts. For instance, in my essay on women, I wrote that while a woman defence minister
in Nirmala Sitharaman may reinstate the myth of the new Indian woman, we must not
forget that women Parliamentarians in India have never crossed the 12% mark.

So while keeping balanced views might be the popular advice, I personally think that my
strong opinions on certain things helped me score well. Of course, I was worried about
this before the results because I really thought that this could work both ways. I played
the gamble and was rewarded generously.

3) Positivity: Even when you are writing passionately and pointing out everything you
think is wrong, you must end on a positive note. Again coming to the women essay, my
last few paragraphs were about how things have drastically changed over the years, and
while there might not be a fulfilled new Indian woman as of now, she is slowly but surely
emerging.

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4) Flow: If there is flow in our essay, it will keep the examiner engaged throughout.
Abruptly jumping from one dimension of the essay to another must be avoided. For good
flow in your essay, you can plan beforehand by devoting the initial half hour to deciding
the structure and content of your essay. Also, practice helps.

5) Some important but oft-repeated points:

Try to cover as many dimensions as possible. Mittali Sethi mam and

Chandramohan Garg sir mention the SPECLIH technique( Social, Political,
Economic, Cultural, Linguistic/Local, International, Humanistic dimensions) in their
strategies. You can use it for more diverse content.
Avoid writing very long paragraphs.
Use examples, facts, data, current developments, anecdotes, anything and
everything to substantiate your point. I did not use a lot of statistics because I could
never learn it up, but examples I used liberally.
Read the topic carefully and do not divert from it. For instance, the topic “Has NAM
lost its relevance in a multipolar world?” does not require us to explain the entire
history of NAM although you may talk about it a little in your introduction. If in your
essay you are writing all that you know about NAM without delving on its relevance
in a multipolar world, then you might not get good marks. Similarly, if you talk
about the relevance of NAM but completely ignore the multipolar world-part of the
topic, you are very much on your way to committing a blunder.

So read the topic very carefully, underline the keywords and ensure that you do
not divert.

I always knew essay was a scoring subject, but never knew that it would so crucially
influence my selection and rank. And so once again, I will ask you all to definitely practice
a few essays before the final exam, no matter how good you are with it. Trust me, it will
be highly rewarding. I will also suggest you go through Chandramohan Garg sir’s strategy
which many have found helpful.

Best wishes,

Apurva Pandey

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