Awdhesh Singh - Mastering Essay & Answer Writing for UPSC Civil Services IAS IPS & State PSC Main Exam nodrm

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Preface

Many of us dream to become a civil servant and join the prestigious services like IAS, IPS, IFS, IRS and PCS to serve the country with honour. Every year, millions of students write the IAS (Civil Services Examination) and PCS

examinations to realize their dreams of joining the most coveted services in India. These services offer the best government career in India as these officers occupy almost all the top positions of Central and State Governments in India.

Selection in the Civil Services Examinations is, however, not easy. Millions of students appear in these competitions every year, but only a few succeed.

The examination is conducted in three stagesPrelims, Mains and Interview (Personality Test). While Prelims is only a qualifying examination, the selection and allocation of service in these examinations are done on the basis of the marks obtained by the aspirants in the Mains and Interview.

The most important feature of the IAS/PCS examination is that all the Mains papers (including essay paper) aredescriptive and require great writing skills.

You must not only have an in-depth knowledge of the subjects, but you must also have the ability to write great answers and essay to succeed in the competition. It is important to understand that each mark matters in the civil services examination as you may miss your selection, choice of service or the cadre just by a single mark. Moreover, the difference of marks between the topper and the last candidate selected in the competition is quite small.

In order to get top marks, it is important for you to know not only how to improve your writing skills, but also to understand certain secrets of writing that can make the best impression on the mind of the examiner.

I was selected in the Indian Revenue Service (Customs & Indirect Taxes) in my first attempt in the year 1990. I worked in the revenue department for more than 25 years before I took Voluntary Retirement in the year 2016 to follow my passion for writing and teaching. I have already published five books and written over five thousand answers on Quora, where my answers get millions of views per month and I stand among the five most followed writers in the world. I have been teaching the course of Essay and Answer Writing on Unacademy for more than a year and have been receiving top ratings from my students.

The book in your hand is not a typical book of essay and answer writing.

I have presentedthe insights gained over the years as a writer, teacher and a civil servant in this book. My attempt is to help you discover the writer in you by providing you the practical steps to develop your writing skills. It is possible to write an excellent answer or an essay only if you have the right knowledge and a great writing skill.

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This book, therefore, first explains the examiners purpose of having descriptive papers of General Studies and essay. We then proceed to learn the steps to develop writing skills in simple steps. Thereafter, the book explains the structure of the essay Introduction, Body and Conclusion, for different types of essays. You then learn how to maintain flow in your essay so as to hold the attention of the examiner. Many students find it difficult to write an essay on the philosophical topics. Hence, a separate chapter is devoted to this purpose. I have also provided valuable tips to improve your writing skills and help you incorporate the best practices in answer writing to get the top marks. Finally, we discuss the common mistakes which the candidates make during the examination along with their resolution to help you write error free answers and essays.

I take this opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the team of DishaPublication, for publishing my book. Their valuable help and guidance is highly appreciated. I would also like to convey my special gratitude to my team member Shreya Chaturvedi for providing her valuable assistance in writing this book.

I am confident that the civil services aspirants will find this book extremely useful for the preparation of not only their essay paper, but for all papers for the IAS/PCS examinations. Please make the best use of this book and provide me suggestions on aksinghirs@gmail.com Awdhesh Singh

Contents

SECTION-I : The Basics of Essay Writing 1. Introduction

2. Purpose of an Essay 1215

3. Developing the Writing Skill 1621

4. Steps of Essay Writing 2225

5. Brainstorming 2630

6. Introduction: The Face of an Essay 3136

7. Body: The Soul of an Essay 3741

8. Conclusion: Leave a Lasting Impression 4244

9. Flow in an Essay 4549

10. Writing an Essay on a Philosophical Topic 5055

11. Answer Writing for Mains Examination 5662

12. Best Practices for Answer Writing 6368

13. Tips to Improve Writing Skills 6973

14. Common Mistakes and Resolution 7477

SECTION-II : Essay Practice

Part A: Sample Essays with Mind-map

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1. Sample Essay-1 : A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge

2. Sample Essay-2 : A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both

3. Sample Essay-3 : Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life 4. Sample Essay-4 : Be the change you want to see in others 5. Sample Essay-5 : Innovation is the key determinant of economic growth and social welfare

6. Sample Essay-6 : Discipline means success, anarchy means ruin 7. Sample Essay-7 : Words are sharper than the two-edged sword 8. SampleEssay-8: Wisdomfindstruth

9. Sample Essay-9 : Universal Basic Income: an Idea whose Time has Come 10. Sample Essay-10 : Near jobless growth in India: An anomaly or an outcome of economic reforms

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Part B: Making your Own Mind-map

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1. Need brings greed; if greed increases, it spoils breed 2. The past is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values 3. Quick but steady wins the race

4. Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be 5. Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society 6. Courage to accept and dedication to improve are the two keys to success 7. Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy 8. Farming has lost the ability to be a source of subsistence for majority of farmers in India

9. Globalisation vs Nationalism

10. The highest result of education is tolerance 11. If development is not engendered, it is endangered 12. Citizens Right to Privacy and the Governments Right to surveillance 13. Is it right to curb dissent in the name of nationalism 14. Has the RTI Act outlived its utility 15. Should India have a Uniform Civil Code