HOW TO PREPARE FOR QUALIFYING PAPERS IN MAINS?

Do you how-to-prepare-for-qualifying-papers-in-mains? Expert tips and strategies for success await you. Get Ready today. The UPSC Civil Services Mains Exam consists of nine papers, including two Language Papers. These Language Papers are qualifying papers, which means that the score obtained in them is not calculated towards the final rank. In order to pass these papers, you need to score a minimum of 25% or 75+ marks out of the total 300 marks. Do you how-to-prepare-for-qualifying-papers-in-mains? Expert tips and strategies for success await you. Get Ready today. If you do not clear these Language Papers, your marks in the General Studies (GS), optional, and essay papers will not be disclosed by the UPSC.

General Tips:

• Select a language that you have a strong command over, such as your mother tongue or a language you have spoken and learned since childhood.
• For revising the grammar portion, it is recommended to refer to school textbooks up to Class X.
• Read newspapers in the chosen language to improve your essay-writing and precis-writing skills.
• Practice translation between your chosen language and English, referring to newspapers for practice.
• Solve 2-3 previous year question papers to strengthen your command over your chosen language.
• Ensure neat and legible handwriting while answering the questions.
• Follow a time management strategy that suits you for attempting both papers.

Paper A:

• Essay Writing: 45 minutes
• Reading Comprehension: 30 minutes
• Precis Writing: 30 minutes
• Translation: 40 minutes (20 minutes for each)
• Grammar-Based Questions: 30 minutes
• Revision: 5 minutes

Paper B:

• Essay Writing: 60 minutes
• Reading Comprehension: 30 minutes
• Precis Writing: 40 minutes
• Grammar-Based Questions: 40 minutes
• Revision: 10 minutes

Compulsory Indian language paper:

The compulsory Indian language paper, Paper A, can be passed by scoring at least 25% of the total marks (75 out of 300). However, Paper A is not compulsory for candidates from the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.

Below is a list of the languages you can choose from for the UPSC language paper:

LANGUAGE	SCRIPT
Assamese	Assamese
Bengali	Bengali
Gujarati	Gujarati
Hindi	Devanagari
Kannada	Kannada
Kashmiri	Persian
Konkani	Devanagari
Malayalam	Malayalam
Manipuri	Bengali
Marathi	Devanagari
Nepali	Devanagari
Odia	Odia
Punjabi	Gurmukhi
Sanskrit	Devanagari
Sindhi	Devanagari or Arabic
Tamil	Tamil
Telugu	Telugu
Urdu	Persian
Bodo	Devanagari
Dogri	Devanagari
Maithili	Devanagari
Santhali	Devanagari or Olchiki*

Note: For the Santhali language, the question paper will be in Devanagari script, but candidates can choose to answer in either Devanagari script or Olchiki.

Type of Questions:

• Essay Writing: 100 marks
• Reading Comprehension: 60 marks
• Precis Writing: 60 marks
• Translation:
  • Translating English to the compulsory language: 20 marks
  • Translating the Compulsory Indian language to English: 20 marks
• Grammar: 40 marks

Tips:

• CBSE school level books (Std. X) are sufficient for preparing for this paper.
• Read a newspaper in the chosen language for at least 15 minutes every day.
• Practice writing essays and precis.
• Practice previous year question papers.
• Practice translating between English and the regional language.
• Maintain legible and neat handwriting.
• If your grammar skills are good, start with the grammar-based questions first.
• Comprehension passages are usually simpler, so focus on understanding and answering the questions based on them.
• For the essay question, use simple but effective language and avoid spelling mistakes and grammatical errors.

English paper:

The compulsory English Language Paper, Paper-B, in the UPSC Mains Exam requires a minimum of 25% marks (75+ out of 300) to pass.

This paper assesses a candidate’s ability to read and understand serious descriptive prose, as well as their ability to express ideas correctly and clearly.

Type of Questions:

• Essay Writing: 100 marks
• Reading Comprehension: 75 marks
• Precis Writing: 75 marks
• Grammar-Based Questions: 50 marks

Tips:

• Practice is key for preparing for essay-type questions. Ensure your essay is grammatically correct, coherent, and well-structured.
• For Reading Comprehension, read the passage carefully, mark relevant points, and avoid copying sentences from the passage.
• In Precis Writing, focus on summarizing the given passage within the word limit.
• Refer to standard books for grammar-based questions.