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I had the privilege of meeting Joe Polchinski multiple times, although I never spent extended periods of time at the KITP at UCSB.As a graduate student, I first got to know of Joe’s work. Most well-known was his recent book on String Theory [1]. The book was renowned for its clarity and thoroughness and immediately replaced the classic Green-Schwartz-Witten from 15 years earlier. But his work on D-branes[1] was amazing because of the physical intuition that it provided.Physical intuition is something that physicists strive to achieve because it lets you know the right answer just by mentally picturing the scenario and understanding all the relevant effects. Joe’s work was really typified by providing technical calculations that created physical intuition.One of the most elucidating articles I read of his as a graduate student was his 1984 article on effective field theory[2]. This wasn’t ground-breaking or novel, it was just working out Wilsonian effective field theory — a subject that was over a decade old. But it so clearly demonstrated how effectively, that it became required reading and now has over 1000 citations.I’m not going to go on about his work, although it is great fun to do so. His work on the landscape of vacua with Raphael Bousso[3]. More recently, he highlighted how we don’t understand the quantum nature of black holes nearly as well as we thought we did with his work on firewalls[4].I saw Joe speak once or twice while at Berkeley. He had this casual and engaging speaking style, always infused with humor and joy. I got to go out to dinner with him at Harvard after a seminar. What became immediately clear was his deep humanity. He was truly a humble individual struggling to understand the universe and having a great time doing it. He respected everyone and treated everyone as if they were equals.Over the years, I got to know him casually and it was a great pleasure to speak with him both about his on-going work, which he could always explain clearly to me even though I wasn’t a string theorist/formal theorist or the genuine interest he showed in my work when we spoke about it.The last time I saw him was in 2014 at the KITP. We spent an hour chatting about 3D supersymmetry and he graciously brought up one of my early papers that he said he always enjoyed reading[5]. That was truly one of the highlights of my career in physics. We also discussed my latest work on SIMP dark matter which he was genuinely interested in.His passing is such a great loss of the physics community and for everyone who had the privilege of getting to know him. His memoirs that he put out in August 2017 are a true joy to read if you wish to get to know him better[6].[1] That Lubos famously found al most all the errors in — which is only a bit of hyperbole/exaggeration.Footnotes[1] [hep-th/9510017] Dirichlet-Branes and Ramond-Ramond Charges[2] Renormalization and effective lagrangians[3] [hep-th/0004134] Quantization of Four-form Fluxes and Dynamical Neutralization of the Cosmological Constant[4] Complementarity or Firewalls?[5] [hep-th/0101233] Higher dimensional supersymmetry in 4D superspace[6] [1708.09093] Memories of a Theoretical Physicist

So continuing the thread as I have already discussed in my past 2 answers how I managed to get married to my then girlfriend(now wife-who was my MBBS batchmate also) and further complications. But one of the biggest disappointment for me was not getting degree (MD) .So,the story continues.(Its going to be a long read)I had done my MBBS from RIMS,Ranchi(2007 batch). I had secured AIR 2174 in NEET PG 2014 which was far below my expectation and preparation,but as I had no other way than to take diploma that year due to very poor counselling,huge seat blocking and most importantly to leave Ranchi due to local college caste politics. As the counselling of 2013 was unexpectedly very good,so I was expecting similar results in 2014.Out of over confidence I didnt filled DCH anywhere in 1st round and opted for M.S.(General Surgery) at Ranchi thinking that it was anyways going to change and it will prevent my travel cost. As a result a student whose rank was 2500 took DCH of MAMC.When in 2nd round there was no improvement in my allotment, I panicked.Desperately I filled DCH all over the country in 3rd round.As a result I got DCH of RML in 3rd round. In 4th round also it didn't changed.See my bad luck that MD(Paed/Med) at Silchar Medical College ,where last seat was taken filled about 30 ranks above my rank.So,I decided to join at RMLC,Delhi with heavy heart.The reason was very simple as I liked Med/Pediatrics and to prepare again at this rank was huge risk and I was not in a position to take risk at that time(as my marriage was also stuck-plz read my previous answer )Now,after joining I was depressed as I had never thought that some day I would take diploma and would not be able to get degree(degree are always considered better than diploma due to various reason).Initial days were veryt tough for me as the environment of Delhi is not so friendly.I sometimes used to think to leave residency and prepare again as little much more effort was required.I joined few whatsapp group again for preparation,but I was standing in such position of life that there seemed no turning back.So,I left all those groups in about 3–4 weeks.Months passed but that feeling of being diploma among so intelligent degree students always used to haunt me.I always though ,am I not so intelligent as them.But what could be done.I gave NEET PG 2015 .I had not prepared anything as its very tough to prepare with residency.Still as a human nature I was hopeful for some sort of miracle.I still remember the day,the centre was in shahdara most probably.Anyways result came and I got 12000 rank which was of no help.Till that time I had devoted myself completely in DCH as there was no other way and expecting a rank without preparation is just absurd.Months passed,again I gave 2016 NEET PG.The centre was Rithala(Delhi).Memories of that day are also still fresh.I gave exam just after doing night duty again hoping for miracle but miracles never happen when expected.I again got 12000 rank which was of no use.Meanwhile in june 2015 I got married after all sorts of problem (read my previous answer).So,by jan 2016,me and my wife thought that I should give one more attempt, this time serious one.We collected money from our salary in Allahabad Bank.Till june 2016 we had collected about 3.5 lakh in our Allahabad bank account. Since the salary while I was doing diploma was 70 k and for my wife was also 50k so collecting such amount was not big issue.We had collected this money withcview that we could survive in Delhi even if we are only preparing without any job.Before all these thing my DCH exam happened in April 2016 which I passed.Since session was till 30th june so I had to do my duty till 30th june. As now I was determined to give one more and most probably final attempt for NEET PG ,I joined the last regular class room course of DAMS,Karol Bag(New Delhi).The fee at that time of DAMS was 1 lakh 5 thousand.Since we had already collected enough money so it was not a problem. Since in initial May and June months I had to also so the duty so,I usually used to miss the coaching classes.Anyways days passed and 30 the june came. My tenure at Dr RML Hospital ended.That was one of the most emotional days as the NEET PG exam used to happen in December in those days,Iwas left with five months only. As I had decided not to join any job ,it was do or die situation.In the past 2 years I had seen many students who were my MBBS batchmates and juniors and were considerd quite mediocre clearing NEET PG and getting very good rank.These all things used to depress me more.I talked to many seniors who got MD after diploma,all of them counselled me ,but till the time you don't achieve anything it seems impossible and that too when I was not successful previously.Its very easy to read success stories but to replicate it is very tough.As I had already appeared in multiple NEET PG exam,so what I had concluded from my experience was that for being successful the most important thing is dedication.It is the first thing which is required.After that there are two factors-time and resources. By time I mean how much time one gets for preparation. By resources I mean coaching ,books and study material.So,if you are dedicated enough and if you are getting any of the two i.e. time or resources,then your chances are very high.And if you manage all the three i.e. dedication ,time and resources then no body can stop you.Then there is a catalyst called as “strategy”.So,if you are having dedication and time/resources plus good strategy ,then also chances of being successful increases many fold.When I first prepared in 2014 ,I was having dedication and time in plenty.But as Ranchi was new place,hence there was no coaching that time ,only DIAMS was newly opened.DIAMS was also a good coaching ,but as it was first batch hence they covered only 10 subjects at Ranchi centre.Hence we were not able to do leftover 9 subjects.So,resource part was missing that time.Moreover my strategy was not good as I was still doing AIIMS/All india paper but as pattern had changed so individual guide books has to be done.This time I had dedication and resources ,but less time.Anyways I started attending DAMS classes.They were very good,but the problem for me was that since I was in the last batch hence to cover syllabus classes use to happen daily.Once it continued for 17 continuous days.So the time for self study was very less.When I first gave DAMS online test I was doing about 140–150 correct,which was of no use as at least I had to touch 200 marks to be in competition. My only target was MD Pediatrics as I had already done DCH,so at least I had to get rank within 1500 to be comfortable and 2000 to be safe.During preparation I faced few problems. As I was not studying from past 2 years for NEET PG hence I had forgotten few subjects like Anatomy,biochemi,FMT,PSM,or tho,opthal,ENT completely .However it was also true that my understanding for few subjects like Med,Radio,surgery etc had bit increased due to Pediatrics residency.Also,I was quite sure that in Pediatrics I will do maximum MCQ correct.So,as such I was getting little time from coaching but I had to manage with that only.In coaching I made many new friends ,most of them were my 2–3 years junior. It was bit embarrassing.I found many students who had done externship under me while I was doing my DCH .My wife came to Delhi in August 2016 after completion of her DMRD exam.She had decided to join as SR and earn and had already told me that I should prepare only without any job.There are both advantages and disadvantaged of being married while preparing. Advantage is that you have not to worry about fooding ,clothing etc.Disadvantage is now you have to handle two families.People from both families used to come to Delhi for medical assistance and since I was doctor so I had to accompany them to various hospitals. It used to waste time and I was already running short of it.Secondly,as you know after marriage people will start calling and every conversation they will ask when are you planning to have a baby.Initially anybody will ignore,but after certain time it will become irritating. Thirdly,all groceries shopping,maid problem,household work you have to handle only.Anyways I was trying my best.One day there was off in DAMS.I decided to study seriously that day. But suddenly my landlord called and told he want the house to be painted.This wasted my 2 more days.I just cried that day watching days getting wasted .It was in month of october.But I was somehow managing my classes.The score in my Grand Test was now improving ,and now I was getting in range of 170–175 correct answers.Still there was doubt that whether I would be able to clear NEET PG with good rank or not. My coaching classes ended on 13 th oct,2016.DAMS CBT was on 15 th october. I was not expecting very good rank. But bingo result came and I got 202 rank.This was first time I thought that I will be able to make in NEET PG.Though its true that in CBT they had asked questions from notes only but it still gave me huge boost.I didnt gave any other CBT.Meanwhile NEET PG form came.I opted for 6 th dec,2016 afternoon session.So,practically I was left with only 50 days(13 th oct-6 th dec) of self study as my coaching classes had ended on 13 th oct.I didn't filled PGI form as it was before NEET PG,and I didnt want to get distracted.But,I had temptation to give AIIMS PG exam which was on 15 th nov.Since,priorly I had performed very well in nov,13 AIIMS with 156 rank (but had not got anything as there were no peripheral AIIMS that time).But my wife counselled me.For qualifying any exam you have to read according to pattern of the questions asked.AIIMS generally asks conceptual questions while NEET PG asks factual ,one liner questions.So,to qualify in AIIMS ,I had to read its previous year papers which I had not read till then.So,my wife told me not to appear for AIIMS exam as for MD(Pedia) in AIIMS ,rank should be under 10 in UR category and I also knew that my preparation was not of that level.Moreover as is common human nature,one day of exam wastes your that day and again we tend to always check its answer till result comes.So,it would surely waste my at least 5 days of time.So,I didnt filled AIIMS form(which was right decision).Days were passing.I had joined library “Prayas” at west patel Nagar(new delhi) which was 2 minutes walking distance from my house.Then suddenly came one more obstacle.On 8th nov,2016 govt suddenly announced notebandi.Had I been an hostelier (person living in hostel)it would have hardly made any difference but since I was a family man who need money for daily household,groceries etc. It was bit difficult. Me and my wife daily used to stand in ATM lines,sometimes money getting over before our turn came and sometimes no money in ATM. Anyhow we managed the things.Meanwhile I gave PDCET exam which was on 29 th nov,2016.PDCET is an exam in which people appear after diploma to get secondary DNB.Its relatively easy exam. My wife who was working as a SR radiology in Delhi municipality hospital resigned from her post and decided to prepare for 3 weeks before exam.Days passed ,it was my exam day on 6th dec,2016.I had again chosen the centre at Rithala(Delhi).Exam went well. Since I had changed my strategy this time hence despite having less time I was able to perform well(read my answer on How do I prepare for NEET PG).After that I have JIPMER exam which was most probably on 12 th dec.Since it was after NEET PG,hence I gave it comfortably.Now,it was result time.First came the result of JIPMER .I got 1300 rank. Though not very good but still I was hopeful to get good in NEET PG.And then the most important day came,13 jan 2017 evening. At about 7 pm result was declared.I was in market.After hearing that result has come I rushed to my house.With trembling hand ,I opened my result and boom it was again AIR 2176(2022 after removing J&K and Andhra people). I literally started crying.Life has again completed full circle.Even after 5 months of only preparation and studying my rank has just improved somewhat only 100 rank.Still I felt like not getting MD ,as similar things happened in 2014 also.That whole night I didnt slept. My wife and my younger brother (who used to live with us) console me but I was feeling like broken.I was feeling like people will mock me that even after trying and investing so much time and money I was unsuccessful.Next day when I got into my senses ,I thought practically and derived that I would get MD at Dibrugarh/Silchar(last two medical colleges )as was evident from last few year allotment list.I somehow consoled myself waiting for PDCET result.After 3 days PDCET result came,and can you believe I got AIR 4(UR) in PDCET exam while my wife got AIR 94(UR)in her radiology branch. But my wife had decided beforehand that she will not take admission and will go with me wherever I opt for seat.So,I was relieved that if not MD ,then I will get sec DNB in Hindu Rao Hospital(best hospital for sec DNB in north India).I joined further as SR in Delhi municipialty hospital,still not confident of getting MD.Meanwhile govt declared that its going to relax its PG norms and seats will be increasing drastically.I was still not very hopeful,as these types of announcement I was used to hear every year.But many people were very hopeful. It was showing MD(Pediatrics) at Dibrugarh seat for me in Mock round.I was happy but still it was mock so was just keeping fingers crossed.Then in between govt announced that seats will be added in 2 nd round.I had still no hopes for increase in seats.The result of 1st round came on 24 th march,2017(most probably) and I couldn't believe my eyes I was alloted M.D. Pediatrics at Tanda Medical college(Himachal Pradesh).After watching the result on laptop I was just numb for few seconds.The whole endeavour of past three years was at last successful.Sometimes some dreams become obsession and seem like impossible,but the happiness you will get on achieving such dream cant be explained in words.I called my wife and everyone.Life has again given me chance and I was able to get back the same old glory.What happened after it was a very smooth run.I took admission at Tanda Medical College.Meanwhile govt added huge amount of seats in PG by changing norms(Thanks to Modi govt and Late Arun Jaitley ).Can you believe Pediatrics went upto 4000 in UR category in 2nd round which priorly used to end by 2000 rank,and I was alloted SCB medical college which is arguably one of the best pediatrics hospital of north India(considering patient load,free hand and exposure).The result of 2nd round came on 26th April 2017(It was also my birthday).Seems like destiny has given me birthday gift.We shifted to Cuttack on 8th May,2017 and one of my most sought after dreams of getting MD was fulfilled at last.This was my story in which in 155 days(30th june-6th Dec) I was able to prepare again from scratch and was able to get good rank in NEET PG.Thank you guys for reading.

Just being done with the Prelims feels like a big relief. You feel that a lot of burden has been lifted off your shoulders. And the joy of performing well and knowing that you get to go the next stage ( Mains) is beautiful. You plan to chill for a few days, but there is still that anxiety somewhere regarding mains.I had felt the very same anxiety. Especially for aspirants giving UPSC the first time, the feeling is more horrifying. For the past 2–3 months, your sole focus had been to clear prelims. But now that it is over, you have to face the Mains. Worry not, it can be managed.For anyone who is expecting more than 95 in the recent Prelims, I would suggest, get ready to gear up and plunge into the battle again.I managed to score a decent 122 in GS2 and 145 in GS3. You can also get a good score. PLANNING and EXECUTION are very important.NOTE : No GS coaching was taken, so everything was covered from varied sources.WHAT TO DO AFTER PRELIMSFirst of all - enjoy for 2-3 days. A lot of work has been put in. A few days of relaxation and planning ahead is very important as the next 4 months of ur life will be very crucial.If you feel that there is even a slightest chance that u will make it through prelims, start preparing within 4-5 days.For all those aspirants who find themselves as the Borderline case with a margin of +-4 days, start your preparation. Dont wait till results. Wasting 1.5 months of the 4 months that you have for Mains is not advisable, rather it will pretty much be the end of your chances at a good rank.The most important thing to do here is planningI had made a very clear plan on how i was preparing with each day marked for something specific - What was your timetable while preparing for UPSC? ( This has the images of the document I had prepared as a planning for my Mains )MAINS : HOW TO GO ABOUT ITFor mains one needs to realise that it is NOT NCERTs which make you capable of writing answers. This is where all the time spent into reading the newspaper and making its notes comes to use. Vision IAS Mains 365 booklets are the most comprehensive source for Mains writing material for GS2 and GS3.For answers, understand that all the big paragraphs of answers cannot be learnt. Rather, one only needs to remember the keywords to the answer. This is what one will revise near the Mains as the material to be revised starts to pile up. So underline only the key words. Taking short notes on the sides of the VisionIAS booklet (among other sources) would also help in quicker revision.Always remember that you need to read enough to answer a 200 word question effectively. So don’t delve into depths on all topics.This is not the time to be reading something new. Value addition has to be done obviously. But do not start the preparation of a new subject now. This should be done before the Prelims examination.Though smaller topics like Disaster Management and Internal security can still be completed, it is always advisable to finish them before your Prelims.I will deal with each paper and how I had gone about tackling them.NOTE : In a lot of subjects, I had followed Vision IAS printed booklets on those specific topics. This was done due to paucity of time and because I felt that Coaching notes in those specific topics would be much more helpful than some bookESSAYI would suggest that you watch Siddhart Jain AIR-16 video on how to write essays. That will give you a pretty good technique to think of dimensions and organise it in a good way.For Eg, I had “SPEECLIH” - Societal, Political, Economic, Environmental, Cultural, Legal, International and Historical aspects while writing essay.I would also suggest you to read Gaurav Aggarwal sir’s essays given on his blog “the supermanreturns” to understand how he used to write essays and try to emulate his technique into yours in case you find them useful.Out of the 1.5 hrs that you will spend on each essay have15-20 mins Planning - Planning is very essential. How to organise your essay decides your marks.Rest - Writing the EssayI had searched a lot for getting good content to write essays. Shubhra Ranjan Mam’s Essay Book was the best one which was the most relevant as far as UPSC was concerned. I had made a rough structure for around 20 essays which were to be used in case essay came on those specific topics.Also have a good quote to begin and end the essay as it really does make a difference in marks.Take 1-2 essay test series and get them professionally evaluated if u dont have a good mentor.Do not, i repeat do not get them cross check with ur peers who have the same experience as u as 2 noobs do not make an expert ( This is especially for the guys preparing for the first time )Lot of people have asked me - when practicing essay how much time should i take - 1.5 hrs or should i just my creativity flow and not focus on time. I would suggest that write 2-3 essays without time constraints, but after that write within time limit because u will not have the luxury of time in the Mains exam. Practice in limited time is very crucial to be able to score well in an essay paper.If I had to prepare again, Essay writing is one area I would have focussed on more.ETHICSEthics requires a very different approach. It needs to made as simple as possible as it is a very simple paper.Firstly you should go and read DK Balaji sir’s article on Insights. It will provide you with a deeper understanding of what kind of answers and personality UPSC wants from candidates.I have heard many people say that preparation in Ethics paper is not required. This is not at all correct.I would suggest that First Print the Ethics syllabus and then cover it from a source (preferably coaching printouts ) which has the least amount of material. 50-100 pages total. Your aim here is to understand each and every term given in the course and understand its technical intricacies of all the terms.You can use Google or Mrunal notes by Kavan Limbasiya (AIR 198, CSE 2014) to better understand concepts. Create ur own notes after reading the sources you may want to refer to.Do not read the Lexicon the very first time if you don’t have any idea of the subject. It is not a good book to understand concepts, but is a very good book to supplement notes. This would make your theory answers pretty good.Make examples for all the Values in civil services like Integrity, Accountability, Transparency etc, preferably from your personal experiences. In case you are unable to find a personal experience, then create a good short incident or use a currently occurring event. Balaji sir’s article explains it beautifully.Make a table of most imp Values and fill in as many as you can. I had made a big table with many different values.For the part on Great Administrators, leaders etc have unconventional names ready who may have really inspired you. Unconventional names in answers would show depth in a person rather than just making up an answer for the sake of it. Eg- Dag Hammarskjold was an inspirational for me.Create quotes for all the important topics, so that you can put them in your answers. Collect them over time. (PSIR students can very easily get them from their own coursework)In Ethics once you are done understanding and making notes, the most important stage comes. It is writing answers. I cannot overstate the importance of writing answers in Ethics. It requires some practice to be able to seamlessly use the technical terms in the answers such that they come out very well. You will not get this ability by simply reading others answers. Write answers such that they are able to reflect your personality with the required terminology. Don’t mug up coaching notes. Make your own definitions and try to keep your answer original.I had written around a 100 answers which were collected from IASBaba TLP program and from Insights 70 day Ethics initiative. Write and compare with model answers. Broadly you should be able to get a hang of writing answers at the end of these many questions.Also there are many questions on thoughts of various great leaders like Swami Vivekananda, MK Gandhi among others. In such question just give a basic reading to the model answers on them to get a general idea. There is really no need and no time to get into the nitty-gritties of thoughts.For Case Studies, I had solved Subba Rao Book on Ethics. It has a lot of case studies given in it and it helps you form a general idea on solving them. Kavan Limbasiya (AIR 198, CSE 2014) also has explained how to approach case studies to solve them effectively.In the end i would recommend solving test series in time so that you get in a habit of completing the paper as that is the most important and crucial point to be kept in mind. I used to solve all the questions in order in the Ethics paper except in an extraordinary situation when I had absolutely no idea in a question.Subject wise planMains 365 by VisionIAS and solving the TLP questions by IASBaba were the most crucial aspects of mains preparation.GS1Edit : For this portion, writing answers is very important. What I had done here was downloaded the last years VisionIAS test series which goes on topic wise and written answers to all questions. This helps in 2 waysIt helps you build content and cover any areas you may have missed.It helps you organise knowledge. For e.g. say if there is a question regarding Communist movement in India, you definitely know enough to write an answer but it is scattered in your mind as it was in Spectrum. So the thinking part is utilised now, and in case it comes in the paper you can very easily write the answer without much thinking. Remember, in the paper “more you think the less you write”Topic wise -A&M History - Art and culture questions come - same as pre strategyModern History : Same as pre strategyPost Independence History : VisionIAS printed bookletsIndia After Independence - should be avoided - it only wastes ur time and is a very biased book in my opinion.World history : One needs to realise that in all of tests in UPSC - only 1-2 World history questions will be asked. For this, one needs to put a proportionate amount of work.Read the History optional World History syllabus - note down all the eventsRead the past years questions in World history, History Optional - this is to understand the type of questions that UPSC is expecting us to answerWIKI these topics and make notes accordingly.Supplement this with VisionIAS World history printed notes - around 50-60 pages - not thicker than that, (Not the hand written ones) Keep revising.Society : VisionIAS Printed booklet, Mains 365 and Newspaper reading cover this portion rather well.Geography : Same as pre strategyResources topic in Geography : Topic comes once in 4-5 years And by the end of your preparation you would also be able to make a pretty accurate guess regarding common resources. There is a lot of study material to read. I had skimmed through the material given on Mrunal website regarding this topic.GS2Polity : For this I had got Shubra Mam’s 2 pretty thin booklets on GS2. They were very useful as topics in it are covered in Question Answer Format. A lot of questions I came from here directly or indirectly. Other than this Mains365 is very important.Social Indicators : Poverty and Hunger : Mrunal videos cover these topics very well. Supplement these with all the schemes that have been prepared as well as Yojna magazineInternational Relations ( My optional was PSIR, so I had a lot of help)This is a topic whose one single source for preparation is difficult to find. One learns a lot by reading the newspapers.But the best way to go about this is to get the Mains 365 on IR and read it religiously. I really dont think there is a better source that this to be able to answer UPSC level questions.(For students who have started preparing, referring to Mains365 of the nearest mains will be very helpful to you. As it will make you understand the newspaper much better.)Also the 2 books of Shubra mam which I had got for GS2 had IR portion which was very good, but overlapped significantly with Mains365.Dont go after books like Globalisation of World Politics, or Does the Elephant Dance. One word : Waste of time. Such depth is not required in GS papers. They form a part of Optional Booklist.GS3Having scored 145 in GS3, I will try to tell you everything that I had laid stress on to try and maximise my score here.Again instead of reading something new, download the last year vision booklet and answer its questions. Follow TLP of IAS Baba and write answers. Content building is important through question answer writing format.While writing answers time yourself and word yourself. Focus on introductions and conclusions.Economy : Same as pre. Focus on answer writing and test series.Agriculture :Will be covered by Mrunal videos and Geog videos by Mrunal.It should be supplemented with the Agriculture chapter in ShankarIASEnvironmentNow the focus will be less on the various summits but more on the subjective partDo focus on Envt Impact Assessment (EIA). Rest gets covered by Mains365.Sc&Tech : The Prelims strategy and Mains365 are enough to cover this portion easily.Disaster Management :Roman Saini sir videos on DMgt (Ones taught by Roman Saini sir himself) will help you understand most of the theory.Go on the NDMA website and make notes on all the topics given - especially understand IRS ( Incident Response system as this is one unconventional point that u can have in your answers )Skim through NDM policy and NDM plan - make short notes on these - these are more to observe and understand how the NDMP actually envisages the Mgt. Dont spend more than 2-3 hours on each documentThen supplement the notes with VisionIAS Disaster Mgt printed notes and Mains365 on Dmgt.Tip : Have separate notes for each of the disasters and their corresponding maps which should definitely be drawn in case a question comes on it. For Eg : If a question is asked on Earthquakes, I used to ensure that I made a map of India and marked the Zone IV and Zone V. This ensures that you answer is more interactive and attractive.Have a standard conclusion for all answers on Disasters. Some common points can also be added in suggestions like IRS System, Capacity building of local communities, Effective information dissemination, etc.Internal Security : VisionIAS Printed booklets and Mains365 are good.Language papersEnglish : was easy, no preparation was requiredHindi :Since most of us stop studying Hindi from class 10, some difficulty is definitely faced.One needs to be careful as a number of candidates are unable to make through just because they are unable to clear this qualifying paper.If u fail in language papers, your other copies will not be evaluated and u won’t come to know the marks of other papers and that attempt will do down the drain.Preparation requires at max 4-5 days. Open 3-4 years questions and see the pattern you will notice that Hindi Grammar is easy and doable - so learn up some muhavres in the last days ( My mom used to make me learn Muhavres while I ate my food so that I could save time in the last few days )Next unseen passages are easy Essay can also be tackled easily - practice 4-5 essays so that u come back into the writing practice of Hindi and dont make spelling mistakes The difficult part is English to Hindi and vice versa.I would suggest that take the important terms from Mains Syllabus and convert them into HindiNext - look at last 3-4 year papers and interconvert specific terms like Sovereign or socialist or secular. Now u will have a decent list of words which u can use especially in ur Language essays as well.ANSWER WRITING TIPSAnswer writing is the most important and crucial factor which can make or break your result. The amount of knowledge that you have matters, but what matters more is how well you can Convert that knowledge into good answers. People who are giving 5–6 th attempt have much more knowledge than what I could have, but are unable to properly do answer writing.Writing good answers does not come in a day. Its a long drawn out process, but one that is definitely rewarding in the exams. I was also very bad at answer writing in the beginning. It took a lot of work to improve my answers.How do I improve my writing skills for the UPSC? - You can see this for How i had went about answer writing.Around 70% of your time will go into optional. Do not sacrifice you optional for the sake of General Studies, because good marks in optional are crucial for a good rank. Interview is the most fickle and subjective part of UPSC. Do not depend on it to help you get a rank.I had extensively used IASbaba TLP program and Vision IAS Test series to solve questions. TLP was done to get more relevant content and practice writing answers, and Vision was done to ensure effective time Management. You will find many questions which are new. Consider them as notes and keep revising.Finally some points that you should keep in Mind.Do not ignore Essay practice. It is very important.Create boundaries for your course, so that you can get 3–4 revisions atleast.Stick to the syllabus like it is your mother. Go topic by topic and cover each and everything given in the syllabus.Do not ignore Test series. Giving One test is better than 2–3 days of revisions as in the end time management is everything. Balance out learning raw material and writing answersComplete all the questions in the exam. Write something relevant in the tests even if you dont know much about it. 1–2 marks fetched like this take you a long way. And every question that you knew and left because of paucity of time takes your rank down atleast 50.Though I realise that ideally we should read from various different books to build a holistic knowledge. But paucity of time and vastness of the course often pushed me towards Coaching notes which were very to the point.For all those aspirants who are expecting to give Mains this year, Kudos. Chill for some time because you have a busy schedule waiting for you in a few days.For those, who missed this time. Its okay. Next time will be the golden time. Do not lose hope. Get yourself together and work again with patience !Study hard, Stay motivated and Prepare well !All the Best !