ClearIAS not only provides UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice (AWP) but also the right mentoring to boost your written exam marks.
Aspirants preparing for UPSC Civil Services Exam can participate in the ClearIAS Answer Writing Practice (AWP) program for FREE.
The program is intended to polish the Main Exam answer writing skills of aspirants, by providing an open platform to practice the most probable questions for UPSC Mains.
ClearIAS AWP under the direct mentorship of Mr. Alex Andrews George
ClearIAS Answer Writing Practice (AWP) program would be under the direct mentorship of the founder of ClearIAS and the author of the best-selling book ‘Important Judgments that Transformed India‘ – Mr Alex Andrews George.
Many of the ClearIAS Team members will also join our founder, to provide reviews of the answers.
Peer review of the answers will also be strongly encouraged.
Readers of ClearIAS can use the upvoting facility provided in the answer writing section to vote for the best answers.
Re-launch of ClearIAS UPSC Mains Answer Writing Practice (AWP)
This is not the first time ClearIAS conducts AWP.
In fact, this is a re-launch of the well-reputed ClearIAS Mains Answer Writing online workshops, conducted in previous years under the same name of AWP. You can check our archives to read our previous year questions and answers written by candidates.
To know what we offer for UPSC Mains as part of ClearIAS Prelims cum Mains Integrated approach, check ClearIAS Mains programs.
AWP is not Mains Test Series
Aspirants may note that Answer Writing Practice is not Mains Test Series.
Under Answer Writing Practice (AWP), what we intend is to provide 1-2 questions regularly (if possible on a daily basis) so that aspirants can write and submit answers. Writing one answer may take only around 7 minutes.
However, Mains Test Series contains a series of exams, where each exam will consist of about 20 questions. One Mains exam is of 3-hour duration.
Until this moment, ClearIAS does not run a paid Mains Test Series, even though we provide Mains Mock Questions. We are getting a lot of requests from the aspirant community to start a Mains Test Series online. This request is still under consideration. We shall let you know if we open up our Test-Prep platform for a paid online program for Mains as well.
Importance of Answer Writing Practice for UPSC Mains (Written Exam)
What speaks about you in the UPSC mains exam is your answer sheet. The examiner does not know you; he has access to only your answer booklet and nothing else. He evaluates each candidate based on what is presented in the answer sheet.
So, it is extremely important to frame your answers in the most impressive way, within the prescribed time limit.
8 Ways by which AWP can help you
AWP can help you in the following 8 ways.
- Help to make your answers stand out: Knowledge about framing high-quality answers in mains exam is necessary to make your answer sheets stand out.
- Improve Answer Writing Skills: Regular practice can improve your answer-writing skills.
- Get Rid of Mental Blocks: It will help you get rid of your mental blocks.
- Enhance the Speed of Writing: Practice improves the speed of thoughts.
- Time Managment: You will get used to writing under the prescribed time-limit and sticking to the word-limit.
- Most Probable Questions: AWP is not just about practice, it is also about learning. Questions similar to ClearIAS model questions may be directly or indirectly asked in actual UPSC Mains. If you have participated in ClearIAS AWP before, that would surely give you an edge.
- Peer-Learning: You will get a serious community of aspirants across India who participate in AWP. You will get different insights and wisdom from their answers and feedback. This will help your learning.
- Expert Guidance: Expert mentors at ClearIAS will guide you on how to frame well-structured answers.
ClearIAS AWP: Marks vs Grades
UPSC CSE is a low-scoring exam with tough evaluation standards. The highest marks secured by toppers in GS is around 45%. In that background, the below will be our marking scheme for ClearIAS AWP.
- 0-19% – Not satisfactory.
- 20%-29% – Below average answer.
- 30%-39% – Average answer.
- 40%-49% – Above Average Answer.
- 50%-59% – Excellent Answer.
- 60% and above – Exceptional Answer.
How can you participate (write answers) in AWP?
Check this link of ClearIAS Mains Mock Tests where we post questions in AWP.
You can pick a question of your choice and start answering in the comment section given for each question.
How should you answer questions in AWP?
Ideally, you should start writing the answer without referring to any sources.
Remember that in the actual exam hall you will not get a chance to refer to any external sources. AWP is intended as a real practice before actual Mains.
How much time should you take to answer a question?
Start answering with a mission to finish the answer within 10-11 minutes if it is a 15 mark question and within 7 minutes if it is a 10 mark question.
What should you do if you don’t know the answer to a question?
Here is how you should proceed. Refer to 2-3 sources (not a single one). Think for a while to consolidate the points.
Start answering in your own words – sticking to the time limit.
Even if you refer sources, don’t copy past lines. Close your sources. Start fresh. Make your own answer.
Review Others and Get Reviewed
We are happy to see many participants actively reviewing others’ answers. Keep it up. The mission of ClearIAS is to create future leaders. This exercise is a small practice towards that goal.
While you review, you learn to think from different dimensions. Also, those who review others answers will get more attention from the ClearIAS Team. We will give preference to those who guide others – during our review process. So be an active peer-reviewer 🙂
Give upvotes to answers you like (and award marks!)
Even though ClearIAS Team will try our best to go through all submitted answers, due to time constraints, we may not be able to manually review all submitted answers.
We will selectively pick answers from the submitted ones, but we will give preference to answers with more upvotes. So make sure you write well to get maximum upvotes from your peers.
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On labour law ordinance
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On labour law ordinance
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@Harsha: Post the answer under the thread for AWP 1.
Who will check answer. Where I post my answer
Locust outbreak
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, a swarm of locusts spread across an area of one square kilometer can eat as much food as 35,000 people in one day. Their appetite is voracious and one locust can consume food equal to its own weight – about two grams – on a daily basis, it can cause a significant amount of damage in a short period of time.
Also, excessive warm waters in the western Indian Ocean have had an important role to play in the fearsome locust swarms in states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh.
At the turn of the year, the Indian Ocean witnessed very warm temperatures due to the Indian Ocean Dipole, a phenomenon where warm waters are concentrated in the western part of the ocean and cool waters in its south-eastern part. Global warming made the warm waters abnormally warmer and triggered heavy storms and rain in Africa and the Arabian peninsula, providing fertile ground for locusts to breed. They moved through Iraq and Iran, and finally to South Asia, through multiple breeding cycles, feeding on pastures made fertile by the excessive rainfall caused by western disturbances.
Conclusion: As greenhouse gas emissions trap excess heat in the oceans, even normal ocean cycles get more pronounced or disrupted, resulting in all kinds of unintended consequences, like an ever-increasing domino effect. We need to plan effectively for climate change mitigation and adaptation.
It’s very reliable for me as a poor student. I think it will help in my journey towards my goal.