Essay Tips: Score 110+ - Signpost, Align, Reason & More

[Chitra]

I've scored 110, 119 and 126 in the 3 Mains I gave - two of these years my Essay scores tanked. Here's how you ensure you never have an Essay disaster, no matter the evaluation pattern. 1. Sign-Posting is one of the most important yet most misunderstood parts of Essay writing. You need to invoke the keywords of the Essay Topic across the whole essay, frequently and correctly. Doing this alone can make a lot of difference in your Essay score. 2. Demand-Alignment - understanding the topic and writing only what's been asked is crucial. Any digression can lead to a penalty. Hence, remaining aligned with the Essay Topic is extremely important. Brainstorming enough before starting the Essay and doing tactical signposting will help you here. 3. Dialectical Reasoning and Subargumentation - if you're just writing examples over examples over a topic, you may not get good marks in Essay. You need to add dialectical reasoning and subargumentation. Dialectical reasoning involves analysing the thesis of the Essay, as well as its anti-thesis and parallel arguments and arriving at a final synthesis argument. Subargumentation involves breaking down the Essay topic into parts that you analyse in detail and substantiate with examples. 4. Precision - the introduction, arguments, examples as well as conclusion in your Essay need to be crisp. Introduction should be over in the first two pages. Conclusion should be over in the last two pages. All points and arguments in your essay should be ideally less than 60 words in length. Precision ensures that the interest of the examiner is intact. 5. Simple but good language - you don't need flowery language in the Essay Paper. However, if your language is too informal or too basic, or has too many grammatical errors, you're going to lose marks. Ensure that you maintain a good, official-formal standard of language in this paper. Each sentence in your essay should be succinct. 6. Multidimensionality - exploring various arguments and dimensions of the topic is very important. However, they should strongly align with the topic. Additionally, if you're using a frequently-used example, say 'Ashoka' or 'Mahatma Gandhi', in your Essay, then the way you use it matters a lot. Use them in a different way from the usual. Your essays should be a breath of fresh air for the reader, not another boring, hard-to-read write-up. You also must not overcomplicate the Essay by using examples the Examiner would just not understand. If you mention something which is less heard of, provide just adequate context so that, even if the examiner is unaware of that topic, he's able to grasp the meaning of your sentences. Otherwise, over-experimentation can be penalising. 7. Neat Presentation - presentation matters a lot. Don't over-write. Don't criss-cross. Don't over-underline. Keep it neat. Keep it examiner friendly. 8. Selecting Topics Carefully and Tactically - first principle of Essay Topic Selection is comfort. Always pick the topic you're very comfortable in writing an Essay on. However, if you have two topics you are conflicted between, choose the one on which fewer people will write the Essay. 9. Organic Flow - your Essay should move smoothly. Each paragraph's last line should foreshadow the next paragraph's argument. If it's too random or haphazard, you lose marks. 10. Contemporary Examples and Quotes - these two matter a lot but I see very few people do it well. Use adequate contemporary examples and quotes in your Essay which fit well with the topic. You can use examples from new headlines for the same but add a dimension which shows you are an aware individual. Focus on all these aspects and you'll be good to go. - Bhartesh Mishra (MusicMetalStory)

[Shobha]

Mods - verify the scores or delete/add warning.

[Sonal]

I got 111 in first mains and then got 69 in second mains... and my friend wrote his first essay in exam hall and left other half incomplete then also got 95 more than me. If in objective exam like Prelims, they are doing blunders in creating questions and in making of answer key. No wonder they don't show how they check the copies of mains. If they dare to do that, I will not be surprised that the aspirants will burn down the f*cking dholpur house. Sorry I didn't help in what you asked. At last UPSC is church you can't criticise it. What I think is - never write any introduction and conclusion which is negative or like it doesn't match tone of topic - not even slightly. Second, always follow Thesis (majority), antithesis, and then synthesis structure. Always substantiate your argument with example and always support your anecdotes/example with your argument. You should write neat and clean; it should be easily readable. For further query, feel free to dm me

[Firoz]

Bro used chatgpt and wrote about essay