Purpose of Essay paper and

Preparation Strategy
Dr Awdhesh Singh, IRS (Retd.)
Director, Awdhesh Academy,
Former Commissioner, Customs & Indirect Taxes (Central Excise/GST)
About Me
• B Tech from IIT-BHU Varanasi, M Tech from IIT-Delhi &PhD IIITM-Gwalior in 2008
• Joined IRS (C&IT) in 1991.
• Received WCO Certificate of Merit in 2011
• Received Presidential Award from Government of India in 2016
• Took VRS in October 2016 in the rank of Commissioner
• Fifth Most Followed Writer on Quora in the world with over 3 lakhs followers and
over 150 Million Answer views
• Authored FIVE bestselling books on the topic of Spiritual Intelligence Leadership,
Myths, GST and ‘31 Ways to Happiness.’
• New Books Releasing Shortly, “Essay and Answer Writing” & “Ethics, Integrity and
Aptitude”
• Follow Me @ www.unacademy.in/user/aksinghirs, www.AwdheshSingh.com
• Telegram: https://t.me/awdheshsingh
Content of the Course
• The Purpose of Descriptive Answers & Essay Paper in Mains
• Preparation Strategy for Essay and Answers writing
• Steps of Essay Writing,
• Structure of an Essay
• Writing Essays on philosophical topics
• Techniques of Brain Storming
• Tips to Improve Writing Skills
• Best Practices for Answer Writing
• Mistakes to be avoided during answer writing
• Practice of Essays
• Practice of Questions for GS-I, GS-II, GS-III and GS-IV Papers
Why Subjective Type tests in Civil Services
(Mains)
Two type of tests
• Objective
• Subjective
Objectivity
• An object is something that presumably exists independent of the
subject’s perception of it.
• Object would be there, as it is, even if no subject perceived it.
• Objectivity is associated with ideas such as reality, facts, truth and
reliability.
• A proposition is considered to have objective truth when its truth
conditions are met without bias caused by a sentient subject.
• Objectivity refers to the ability to judge without partiality or external
influence, i.e with neutrality.
Subjectivity
• You don’t see the world as it is. You see the world as you are.
• When a subject (a person) perceive an object, it is influenced by the
personal bias, prejudice and experience.
• Subjectivity refers to how people’ judgment is shaped by personal
opinions and feelings instead of outside influences.
• A rope may appear to be a snake to a person who is scared and a
snake may appear rope to a person who is careless, passionate or
ignorant of snake.
Story of Saint Tusidas
• Tulasidas was born in the year 1532 in the district of Banda in Uttar Pradesh of India.
• He was excessively attached to his beautiful wife, Ratnavali.
• Once Ratnavali went to her father’s house for a few days. Tulsidas missed her so much
that he journeyed in the dark through wind and rain, just to be with her.
• On the way he found a swollen river in the dark. But he jumped into the river and swam
across it. He mistakenly took a dead body for a boat to cross the swollen river. After
crossing it he reached at his father-law’s home. But he found all the doors closed there.
• Since his wife's room was on the upper floor, he had to climb in order to reach her room.
Taking a python to be a thick rope, he scaled it and slipped into his wife's room.
• Ratnavali was exasperated at her husband’s attachment and told him that if he cultivated
a similar love for the Lord Rama, he would easily cross over the sorrows of life.
• Tulsidas left his home to become a wandering mendicant and became a great saint.
Subjectivity explains

• Why one person loves an abstract painting while another person

hates it,
• Why one person loves a politician while other hates it,
• Why one person loves a country while other hates it.
• Why one person likes reading while other hates it.
Examples of Objective and Subjective reality
• Objective reality like height, weight or the person does not change.
• The laws of mathematics, science are objective and independent to
the subject.
• When we are aware, we can see colours, natures etc. more vividly
and appreciate them. However, when we are not conscious, we don’t
even notice them.
• Our emotions like anger, hatred love etc. are also subjective which
can may exist at one point of time, but vanishes when our mood
changes.
Importance of Objectivity in Civil Services
• Reduction or elimination of biases, prejudices, or subjective
evaluations of something
• Relying on facts, evidences, documents, data and information
available on records.
• Objective decisions can be easily justified.
• Objective decisions are similar and inculcate trust in citizens for the
government organizations.
Importance of Subjectivity for Civil Servants
• The job of the civil servant is complex and deals with people
• They are the public servant as well as administrator
• They must possess the qualities of love, compassion, kindness,
empathy, courage, impartiality, justice etc.
• They must be ethical and moral in their life
• They must be able to connect with different segment of society like
common people, politicians, media etc.
• There are no one-size-fit-all solution in real world
• They must not apply the rules mechanically, but use them in the right
way to achieve the purpose.
Balancing objectivity and subjectivity
• Objectivity is rational and it says ‘I believe it when I see it.’
• Subjectivity is emotional and says: ‘I see it because I believe it.’
• A good officer must balance his heart and mind to perform his
functions effectivity and efficiently.
Subjective Type Tests
• Subjective type tests in General Studies and Essay paper test the
ability to express the thoughts and ideas coherently and clearly.
• “The art of writing is the art of discovering what you
believe’. (Gustave Flaubert, a highly influential French novelist)
• Good quality of questions and experienced examiner can know the
candidates at the deepest level through their writings.
Signature of person
• A signature is used to identify a person.
• Signature of each person is unique and
can’t be replicated.
• Signature is called हस्ताक्षर in Hindi which
means a word written by hand.
• We all learn writing letters and words from
the same book where these words are
printed in identical manner like shown in
the picture.
• However, each person writes it uniquely by
hands as each person is unique.
Purpose of descriptive answers
• Subjective answers express your personality as much as your knowledge.
• Like some experts can predict personality from handwriting, an expert
examiner can predict the personality through essays or descriptive
answers.
• Even when an ordinary person reads an essay/article, he may know a lot
about the thoughts and beliefs of the author.
• Hence, an essay or subjective tests not only what you know, but also who
you are.
• Time is so less during UPSC CES examination that you can’t plan or
manipulate your thoughts and you are forced to write what comes to your
mind.
• It helps an examiner to know your knowledge, thoughts and belief at much
deeper level.
Essay Paper in Civil Services
Essay Paper in Civil Services Mains
• The essay paper is one of the most important papers for the selection
of UPSC Civil Services Examination.
• It has two sections with 4 essays each. You have to write one essay
from each Section.
• The total marks for the paper is 250 and the time allowed is 3 hours.
• Word limit for each essay is 1000-1200 words.
• Usually in Section A, the topics are on Economy, Ecology &
Environment, Internal Security and general philosophy.
• In Section B, the topics were related to ethics and philosophy.
Essay Paper 2019
SECTION A
1. Wisdom finds truth
2. Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be
3. Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society
4. Courage to accept and dedication to improve are two keys to success
SECTION B
5. South Asian societies are woven not around the state, but around their plural cultures
and plural identities
6. Neglect of primary health care and education in India are reasons for its backwardness
7. Biased media is a real threat to Indian democracy
8. Rise of Artificial Intelligence: the threat of jobless future or better job opportunities
through reskilling and upskilling
CSE-2018
Section-A
1. Alternative technologies for a climate change resilient India
2. A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge
3. Poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere
4. Management of Indian border disputes – a complex task

• Section– B
1. Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life
2. ‘The past’ is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values
3. A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both
4. Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it
What is the purpose of writing essays or
articles
• Express your true thoughts and feelings
• Getting more views, likes/upvotes
• Impress the examiner with your writing skill and knowledge.
• Impress an expert or a critic
• Impress the examiner for the suitability of a job
What is tested in essay paper?
1: Knowledge
• Acquire true knowledge of the subject for taking right decisions
• Knowledge must be acquired from a reliable source
• Know something about everything
• “Beware of false knowledge; it is more dangerous than ignorance”.
(George Bernard Shaw)
Caution
• Choose a topic of essay about which you have the right knowledge.
• Don’t write anything from guesswork.
• Don’t incorporate data, quotations or statements unless sure about
them.
• If have shortage of the material, elaborate what you know t
2: Integrity

• A civil servant must have integrity and honesty.

• He must be driven by idealism to serve the nation rather than joining
the civil service to enjoy power, perks and privileges legally as well as
illegally.
• Following essays were asked in 2018 & 2019 for testing integrity
• Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life
• A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both
• Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it
• Values are not what humanity is, but what humanity ought to be
• Best for an individual is not necessarily best for the society
3. Attributes of a Civil Servant
• Integrity,
• Impartiality,
• Political Neutrality,
• Objectivity,
• Dedication to public service,
• Empathy,
• Tolerance
• Courage
• Compassion towards the weaker sections.
4: Loyalty towards the Constitution
A civil servant must to loyal to the constitution.
The Preamble of the Constitution states,
WE, THE PEOPLE OF INDIA, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a
SOVEREIGN SOCIALIST SECULAR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC and to secure to all its
citizens
• JUSTICE, social, economic and political;
• LIBERTY of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;
• EQUALITY of status and of opportunity; and to promote among them all
• FRATERNITY assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of
the Nation;
A civil servant must have loyalty towards the values enshrined in Indian Constitution
5: Clarity of Thought
• Clear thinking leads to clear writing.
• A confused person’s writings is confusing.
• A confused person can’t take right decisions quickly
• Give diverse point of views, but clear & unambiguous conclusion
• Provide clear solution to the problem with justifiable reasons.
6: Writing Skill
• A civil servant acts on file through the written orders.
• His orders must be clear, unambiguous and contain no spelling/
grammatical mistakes
• His orders can be challenged in higher judicial forums.
• An essay should follow an order in a logical manner that
communicates clear thoughts
7. Presentation
• Handwriting
• Quotations
• Anecdotes
• Data
• Figures
• Diagrams
Preparation Strategy
Importance of Preparation
• "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four
sharpening the axe." (Abraham Lincoln)
• A gymnast prepare for years of a few seconds of performance
• You need years of preparation to perform well in competitive
examination.
• Writing is an skill that can be developed only gradually over long time.
1: Learning from multiple sources
• A good writer is always a good reader.
• ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’. (Buddha)
• Learn from multiple sources.
• Develop the habit of reading something of everything and everything
of something.
• Develop depth and width of knowledge of different subjects.
Sources of learning
• Text book
• Internet
• Blogs
• Newspapers
• Social and Electronic Media debates
• Friends
• Experts
• Successful civil servants
2. Width and Depth of Knowledge
• It is difficult to predict the questions in the CSE.
• No prescribed book to cover the syllabus.
• All topics are not equally important
• Questions from some topics repeated regularly
• Questions from some topic are rarely asked.
• Know something of everything and everything of something
• Acquire width and depth of knowledge
3. Analysing
• Different point of views possible on the same issue.
• Multiple views are possible on the issues like demonetisation, GST or
Triple Talak,.
• Develop the ability to analyse different opinions and come to a
conclusion of your own.
• All government policies have positive and negative sides
• Prefer to take a view that is optimistic, in favour of the government
policies and serve the larger public interest.
Two Salesmen
• Two salesmen were sent to an African country by a shoe
manufacturing company to scout new markets where they could sell
their company shoes. The salesmen spent a couple of weeks there,
then came back to report their findings to their manager.
• The first salesman said, 'There is no market in that country. I did not
see anyone wearing shoes there.'
• The second salesman said, 'There is a huge market for shoes in that
country. I did not see anyone wearing shoes there.'
4. Thinking in English
• English is not the mother tongue for Indians.
• We think and speak in our native language.
• When we have to write in English, we first think in our mother tongue
and then translate.
• This slows down the writing speed and the writing is prone to error.
• Develop the habit of thinking in English.
5. Discussing
• Speaking and writing are interconnected.
• If your speaking is not clear, writing would be confusing.
• Discuss important issues with your friends or with your teacher in
English or the language of your essay.
• You get instant feedback about the content and presentation while
discussing.
• You also learn different points of views while discussing an issue
passionately.
• Fluent speaking also helps in interview.
6. Practice
• No amount of reading/learning can help you become a great writer.
• Capture the whole thoughts and express them in logical and orderly
manner.
• Develop the habit of writing regularly to develop proficiency in writing.
• Write at least one essay or one thought every day.
• Read different answers from books, newspapers or Quora and then write
them in your own words including your own perspective.
• Practice actual questions of the UPSC and finish them within time and
word limit.
• “There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and
bleed”. (Ernest Miller Hemingway)
7. Review and feedback
• It is difficult to notice your own flaws in writings immediately.
• Review your answers after couple of days to find out the
shortcomings.
• Collaborate with your friend to check each other’s answer and point
of strength and weaknesses.
• Write on blogs, Quora etc. and get the feedback of your writing.
• Join an online coaching that provides feedback of your essays.
• Accept criticism and keep improving the quality of our writing.