22-YO

UPSC CSE Topper Shares How to ‘Divide & Conquer’ the Vast Syllabus

Among the youngest to crack UPSC CSE in 2019, IAS officer Simi Karan was 22 years old when she aced the exam in her first attempt. Tap to learn all about her preparation strategy to get an All India Rank (AIR) of 31.

Among the youngest to crack UPSC CSE in 2019, IAS officer Simi Karan was 22 years old when she aced the exam in her first attempt. Swipe right to know her preparation strategy to get an All India Rank (AIR) of 31.

White Dotted Arrow
Books

1: Make good use of available resources and technology:

Laptop Half
YouTube

Morning

Simi used Mrunal.org, a website where each topic is mentioned clearly and further divided into sub-topics. For example, in history, there are sub-topics like ancient, mediaeval, modern and world history.

2. Mapping resources

Man Reading
Alarm Clock

Morning

Map the resources and content to cover in the entire syllabus.

“For climatology from Geography, I have the official syllabus before me and also have the previous year’s question paper handy to have a fair understanding of what is likely to be asked.”

-Simi Karan

3: Use Google effectively

Green Bulb
Phone

A simple Google search can usually throw up several resources and one can get confused about which one to pick. Simi has an easy solution to this.

“Whenever you are searching for a topic specifically from the exam point of view, add the topic and UPSC in the search bar. Make your notes from the top three resources that would show up.”

— Simi Karan

4: Divide the syllabus:

Woman Reading

Dividing the syllabus as per the time you have until the prelims. If you started preparation nine months before, it would be advisable to spend six months preparing and three months revising.

5. Revision:

Woman Reading 02

While revising make a mental note of all frequently asked questions and topics. Some examples are Articles of the Constitution and and landmark judgements.

6: Simi’s list of books and resources:

Click here to access Simi’s blog, where she lists out all the resources she used while preparing for the CSE.

Find more stories with tips for UPSC CSE prep here.