Hi everyone,

I am Kanishak Kataria. I secured Rank 1 in UPSC CSE

2018 with Mathematics optional (361 marks / 500). I
have written this post to throw some light on Maths an
an optional subject and how it should be covered.
This strategy post will be split into 2 parts
• Overview of Mathematics as an optional (in this
post)
• Specific topic wise strategy on covering the
syllabus (in next post)
Disclaimer:
Please evaluate your own strengths and weaknesses
before reading my strategy.
1. If you are undecided about Mathematics:
o Optional selection is a very important process

and shouldn’t be done because some person X

has done well in it.
o If you have interest and are comfortable in a

subject, then only select it as an optional.

2. If you have already made up your mind on
Mathematics:
o Follow my strategy only if it matches your

preparation level and comfort in other GS

topics.
o Try to pick up pointers which make sense and

adapt those in your own strategy.

I will give you some insights into Mathematics which
might be helpful in your evaluation.
Pros
• High Reward / scoring
• Static -> marks tend to increase with attemps
• Reference material readily available (IMS notes)
• Break from monotonicity from GS topics
• Good performance over past few years (toppers
getting 330+)
• With good preparation, 50-55%
marks are easily achievable
Cons
• Very lengthy – can take upwards of 6 months to
finish it
• High risk – scoring can be 0/1 which means
extreme marks are observed
• Zero overlap with other GS topics
• Fear of scaling / marks moderation
• Extra effort needed for Personality Test preparation

Some mythbusters:
1. There is heavy scaling in Mathematics: It is an
uncontrollable factor. So don’t worry about it too
much. If you do well, there is not much need to
 worry. Scaling hurts low scorers more as compared
to high scorers. So aim for the higher end of the
spectrum. Past 3 years toppers have scored 356,
374 and 361 in Maths despite scaling.
2. It takes 9 months to finish syllabus: Again very
subjective. On average it will take 6-7 months.
Then as per your understanding, comfort level and
efforts, you can take less or more time. People who
do not have prior exposure to Maths are going to
take 7-8 months at least.
3. There is need for external guidance: Not at all!
Good quality notes and reference books are
available. If you are confident, it is fully
manageable through self-study.
4. The difficulty level is just like IITJEE: No, it has
theoretical and subjective elements as well. Your
JEE approach won’t work here directly. You might
have to cram some concepts and deal with abstract
topics like Rings, Fields etc.

Before selecting Maths as an optional:

• Go through the syllabus and Previous Year
Questions and see if you are able to make any
sense and would be comfortable in studying them
for 2 years atleast.
• If you are not familiar with the topics, then try to
talk to few people who have similar background
 as you and opted/didn’t opt for Maths. They will be
able to relate to your concerns in a better way.
• If you are unsure, pick up one or two easier topics
at the start such as ODE or LPP and study them for
2-3 weeks. If you are uncomfortable in them,
Maths is not the right optional for you.
• Remember that there are few topics such as
Modern Algebra, Real Analysis, Fluid and
Mechanis, Dynamics and Statics. They are a
struggle in themselves (specially for those without
prior exposure), so you have to labour through
them and not give up as and when you encounter
them.
My decision to select Mathematics:
I wasted very little time while opting Mathematics. The
decision was very easy for me:
• No optional from by graduation stream (Computer
Science)
• My aptitude and prior performance in Maths gave
me confidence.
• On a precursory look at the syllabus, I saw some
topics which I had encountered during my
graduation like Linear Algebra, ODE, Numerical
Analysis, Calculus, Linear Programming etc.
• I loved doing Maths problems and looked at it as a
source of refreshment and break away from GS
syllabus.
In my opinion, performance in Optional is THE
DIFFERENCE MAKER in overall rank. General
Studies gets averaged across the 4 papers. I always
envisioned Maths as an X-factor in my preparation.
Having seen scores of 350+ in Maths in CSE2016 when
other optionals were just touching 300, I saw it as an
golden opportunity. My intention right from beginning
was 350+ in Maths. I formulated my whole strategy
and allocated time to GS and optional based on this sole
objective. One thing was clear in my mind: If I do not
score 350 in Mathematics, I should give up on any hope
for IAS. With this thought process, even the bulky
Maths syllabus didn’t feel burdensome to me. 370+ in
CSE2017 further boosted my confidence for Mains.
Having said that, I am aware that not everyone can
afford to put so much emphasis on one subject. I opted
for a High Risk, High Reward approach which paid off,
fortunately!
I will just give an insight into how I calculated things in
my mind:
• My friend Rahul Shinde had scored Rank 95 in
CSE 2017 with around 1050 marks.
• To get into IAS in CSE 2018, I had to match his
performance at least, that is, score 1050 marks.
• I targeted 550 marks in Optional + Personality
Test. It could be (400+150) or (350+200) or
(375+175).
 • That left me with 500 marks across 4 GS papers +
1 Essay paper.
• If I was able to score an average 120-130 marks in
Essay, I would only need 370 marks in GS.
• 370 in GS implies ~90-95 marks on an average in
each of the 4 papers, which is quite manageable.
As you can see, I never went for glory in GS. To my
surprise, I exceeded my own expectations in GS +
Essay but my calculation in Maths + Optional was
almost upto the mark (361 + 179 = 540).
I request all the aspirants who are reading this post to
self-evaluate their expectation first before adopting my
strategy. Self awareness and understanding of strengths
and weaknesses is very important. It will help in
bringing some level of focus in this “uncertain”
examination!

Is Mathematics coaching necessary?

Classroom coaching is neither necessary nor sufficient,
be it GS or any optional. You need sincerity, self-belief,
hardwork and if possible, a group of 1/2 friends to
discuss doubts. Earlier also people have cleared with
Maths optional by relying on self study.
Coaching only acts as a facilitator in your studies. You
can’t rely on them fully. I had joined IMS coaching in
order to be sincere and finish my syllabus on time. They
have good quality notes and a good ecosystem for
Mathematics optional students. I hoped to get in touch
with few students with whom I could discuss problems
and match answers. After I realised that only following
classroom lectures would take nearly 9 months to finish
the syllabus, I doubled up and started studying multiple
topics simultaneously on my own. My target was to
finish 80% of syllabus in 4 months.
If you can put in 4-5 hours daily without any break,
then you can also finish Maths in less amount of time.
The key lies in not giving up. Those who want to join
coaching, be aware that you have to self-study at home
for as much amount of time as spent in the coaching.
Otherwise, you will end up wasting time and going
nowhere with both optional and GS.

Sources to study:
I relied fully on IMS (Venkanna Sir) notes and test
series. They are quite comprehensive and can be studied
stand-alone also. In few topics you can refer to standard
books, if you need. Personally, I didn’t refer to many
books though. You can get these notes from ORN
market or take from the coaching as well by enrolling.
Notes provide the benefit of theory and problems at one
place. Additionally there is no wastage of time scanning
multiple books.
If you do not have access to those notes, please refer to
a booklist given by Prakash Rajpurohit Sir.
Prakash Rajpurohit sir’s booklist
My strategy of covering the syllabus will be specific to
IMS notes. You can modify it from standard book point
of view.

My preparation timeline:
• Started Maths preparation on 20th June 2017 with
ODE
• Finished all the topics (except Fluid Dynamics and
Mechanics) once by 31st October 2017
• January 2018 till February 2018: 1st round of fast
track revision + covered the Fluid and Mechanics
topics.
• Post prelims till 21st July 2018: 2nd round of
revision from IMS notes + self made short notes for
Test series and quick revision during Mains
• IMS Test series (2018 and 2017) for during Prelims
and Mains.

Covering IMS Notes:

Don’t do the mistake of treating Maths as any other
subject and only “reading” the notes. You have to use
Pen and Paper and solve the problems to understand it.
In olden days, people would cover only 75-80% of the
topics and strategically leave out few portions and
hedge their overall risk. With UPSC reducing the
number of optionals to only 1 and also mixing topics in
subparts in different questions, you can’t afford to leave
out any topic.
I followed the strategy which my friend Akshay Godara
had shared with me.
• In 1st iteration of the topics, solve ALL the
problems till the last step, even if they are simple
and follow repetitive models.
o Chances of silly mistakes in last steps is high.

Examiner might see your last step and final

answer first. If that is wrong your marks might
reduce drastically, even though you did 95% of
the problem correctly.
• After solving, write down answers at the side in the
notes themselves. You can use them to cross check
with others.
• 1st revision: Again go through entire notes, do 1
question atleast from each model/pattern and mark
the important ones. Your older answer will act as
an error check (just like checksum).
• 2nd revision: Only do the problems marked in 1st
revision. This is the time to make short handy notes
for quick revision for test series and examination
perspective.
• I have shared my revision notes here. Unless there
is paucity of time, do not read from my notes
 directly. If you make your own notes, they will
serve you much better.
kanishak maths revision notes

Attempting test series + Mains:

• Revise from the short notes which you made after
2nd revision .
• Don’t put too much time in revising again and
again from short notes before attempting a test. If
you have done one iteration, start giving the tests.
• You will feel as if you don’t remember the
formulas. But as you give more tests this problem
will go away automatically.
o Initially, I used to revise before attempting a

test. But I realised that a lot of time was

consumed revision and not actual problem
solving and analysis of the test. You should
avoid this habit. Revision without practice is
waste.
• Don’t wait for evaluation from the coaching. Get
the initial tests evaluated. After getting a fair idea
of how to write and evaluate, refer the solutions
directly and see your mistakes. You should apply
your own mind in finding your mistakes and room
for improvement.
• All tests should be given with full sincerity as if
you are writing Mains. If you do not do this, test
series is a waste of time and money.
 • Try to finish full paper. Don’t leave any question
blank.
• You can either give tests every weekend or give
tests in a single batch by allotting 1 whole week for
mathematics. I tried the former but failed, so opted
for the latter. Few of my friends have succeeded
with the former approach as well.
• Full Analysis of the test is very important. After
completion try to solve other problems and see why
you didn’t opt for that problem. Try to fill the gaps
in your study.
• Compulsory questions: try to get them done with in
60-75 minutes. If you have left some of them
initially, time should be less than 60 minuets .
• In short don’t waste time by getting stuck on some
problems. In Maths you would feel there is more
time, but it flys by very quickly.
• Test series is just a simulation for Mains. So your
actual strategy would not deviate too much from
what you do in test series. While writing Mains,
just treat the question paper as any other test series
paper and you will not feel any extra pressure.
Before Mains, revise your weak topics from the short
notes and look into some specific test series problems
which you weren’t able to do. I actually benefited from
this exercise. I had marked one question on generator
lines in Paper 1 which came in the Mains exam the next
day!
How to write Maths answers?
 • No need to be verbose, there is lack of space in
some questions. You have to adjust as per the space
given. Steps can be combined to save space.
• Few steps you can do on the rough pages and then
make it fair in the actual problem. But be wary of
mistake while copying values from rough page to
actual page. Also, if you do not have time, no point
doing in rough.
• Make sure you do write the most important steps,
formulas and theorems.
• Many results can be directly quoted. Here
remembering all the formulas correctly is key.
• Use calculator extensively in topics like Numerical
Analysis. Solve the question on calci and then copy
values on the answer sheet.
• If you do not know any question, write as many
steps as you can remember. It will help you fetch
partial marks at least.
My performance in test series vs Mains:
I couldn’t do well in the test series as I wasn’t able to
finish all the papers. But I was confident that come
Mains, I will rectify my problems. I just tried to learn
from the mistakes and make sure I do not repeat them
later. In fact, I used to become happy when I committed
mistakes while practicing at home as it gave me an
opportunity to rectify it in the exam.
In Mains, I was able to attempt all 500 marks. Paper 1
was easier which I could finish 30 minutes in advance.
But paper 2 was little challenging. My final score was
Paper 1: 170 / 250
Paper 2: 191 / 250
Total: 361 / 500
I might have committed few silly mistakes in Paper 1.
Also, there might have been little more scaling as the
paper was easy. Paper 2 marks shows that it has huge
reward. If you are able to master it, it can be a
difference maker.
After giving you an overview into Maths optional, I will
share the recommended way of finishing syllabus and
topic wise tips in the next post.
Best of luc