Time-Crunched Before UPSC Prelims? Then Apply This Strategy – The Secret of Achieving More With Less! (80/20 Principle)

As the count-down to prelims has begun, are you time-crunched? Do you have a lot of books and PDFs left untouched? Are you wondering how to prioritize your time?

Don’t worry. Don’t panic!

Spend a few minutes, and read this article completely.

We have a strategy, which has helped hundreds of candidates clear prelims in the last 3-4 years.

Do you know the Pareto Principle or 80/20 rule?

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is a management theory which states that 80 per cent of the output from a given situation is determined by 20 per cent of the input. This principle has wide applications in management, economics, industry, and day-to-day life.

For example, consider the case of a software company ‘ABC’. If ABC fixes just 20% of their bugs, that will solve 80% of their software problems.

How is the Pareto Principle significant to UPSC preparation?

1. In Time Management.
2. In prioritizing what you should do, and what you should not.

If you just study the most important 20% topics/questions, that would help you score 80% marks! This means, lesser effort, lesser time, and lesser cost – but more output, higher marks, and greater success!

On the contrary, if you are studying the less-important 80% questions, topics, or books, that would result in only 20% marks! This means more effort, more time, and more cost – but only lesser output, fewer marks, and poor results!

So just focus on the most-important-20-per cent, and you would score high!

How can you clear faster by studying ‘the most-important-20-per cent’?

Candidates clear UPSC, when they get the ‘top 20-per cent thing’ right. The highest cut-off percentage reported in UPSC Civil Services Prelims so far is 58 per cent (116/200 in 2016). Even if the cut-off score increases to 60% or even 70% (which is highly improbable to happen) the 80/20 principle can still save you 🙂

Applying the 80/20 principle: If you haven’t finished current affairs topics yet, do this!

ClearIAS Prelims Test Series has 7 Current Affairs Mock Tests. It will take just 2 hours to finish a mock exam ie 100 questions. So in 14 hours, you can finish the most important 700 questions or topics.

If you have still time left, the next priority should be ClearIAS Current Affairs Capsules (Monthly MCQs PDFs). Each PDF has only 40-50 questions. It will take only 8-10 hours to finish all the 500 questions.

Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Tests (7 tests)

• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (801PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (802PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (803PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (804PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (805PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (806PT)
• Current Affairs – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (807PT)

Applying the 80/20 principle: If you haven’t finished NCERT Texts yet, do this!

You may not get time to go through all the NCERT books at the last minute. But you should definitely cover the NCERT-based subject-specific mock exams. If you are weak in History, take and revise the NCERT-History Mock Exams. This would help you cover almost all the important questions in an efficient and fast manner.

NCERT-based  Subject Specific Exams – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Tests (8 tests)

• NCERT History Mock Exam (301PT)
• NCERT History Mock Exam (302PT)
• NCERT Geography Mock Exam (303PT)
• NCERT Geography Mock Exam (304PT)
• NCERT Polity Mock Exam (305PT)
• NCERT Economics Mock Exam (306PT)
• NCERT Science Mock Exam (307PT)
• NCERT Science Mock Exam (308PT)

Applying the 80/20 principle: If you haven’t finished Recommended IAS Preparation Text-Books yet, do this!

Yet to cover the recommended IAS books – Laxmikanth, Ramesh Singh, Go Ching Leong, or Bipan Chandra?

Don’t worry. It may not be a good idea to start reading un-opened IAS books in the last minute. Instead, follow our mock-exam approach.

Subject Specific Exams – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Tests (7 Tests)

• Indian History – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (501PT)
• Culture – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (502PT)
• Geography – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (503PT)
• Polity – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (504PT)
• Economics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (505PT)
• Environment – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (506PT)
• Science and Technology – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (507PT)

Applying the 80/20 principle: If you are weak in CSAT, do this!

Do you know what is the best way to score high in CSAT Paper?

Solving previous year UPSC CSAT Question Papers in a timed environment.

There is no other better strategy!

And, for most aspirants, that’s enough too!

But there is one thing to be beware off. The solutions should be based on the official UPSC key. Most books that provide CSAT answers provide wrong solutions.

It is here ClearIAS Mock Tests are different. Our UPSC Question Paper Re-Take Exams (2011-2019) is based on the official UPSC key.

GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – Prelims Re-take Test based on the official UPSC Key (8 tests)

• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2011 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (201PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2012 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (202PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2013 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (203PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2014 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (204PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2015 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (205PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2016 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (206PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2017 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (207PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2018 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (208PT)
• GS Paper 2 (CSAT) – 2019 Prelims Official Question Paper Re-Take (209PT)

CSAT (GS Paper 2) – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Tests (5 Tests)

• CSAT – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (601PT)
• CSAT – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (602PT)
• CSAT – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (603PT)
• CSAT – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (604PT)
• CSAT – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (605PT)

Applying the 80/20 principle: If you are weak in Proper Exam Practise, do this!

While discussing the 100-day action plan for Prelims, we have discussed the 3-2-1-0 E Method to Score High in IAS Prelims! Test this method by taking previous year UPSC questions in a timed environment.

GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims Re-take Test based on the official UPSC Key (9 tests)

• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2011 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (101PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2012 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (102PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2013 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (103PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2014 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (104PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2015 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (105PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2016 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (106PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2017 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (107PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2018 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (108PT)
• GS Paper 1 – UPSC CSE Prelims 2019 Official Question Paper Re-take Test (109PT)

Applying the 80/20 principle: Last but not least, take ClearIAS Full-Topic Comprehensive Mock Exams!

To get a complete overview of the UPSC Prelims Question paper, take our full-topic comprehensive mock exams. Yes, we have a lot of them, ensuring that you would write mains this year 🙂

GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Tests (18 Comprehensive Tests)

• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (701PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (702PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (703PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (704PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (705PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (706PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (707PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (708PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (709PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (710PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (711PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (712PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (713PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (714PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (715PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (716PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (717PT)
• GS All Topics – UPSC Prelims All India Mock Test (718PT)

It’s never late to enroll in ClearIAS Prelims Test Series, as that is the most efficient method to cover the priority areas at the last minute!

We have a lot of high-quality mock exams in ClearIAS Prelims Test Series. We cover about 5000 most-important questions or topics through our exams. It will take less than 2 hours to finish a mock exam (100 questions). In 20 hours, you can finish 1000 questions. And in 100 hours you can finish all 5000 questions. This means the time required to cover all questions is less than a week!

Of course, revision is equally important. ClearIAS Mock Exams can be easily revised, as our explanation part (we call it Learning Zone), is short and precise. Yes, we prioritize and give candidates only what is essentially required!

Official UPSC Prelims Question Paper has only 100 questions, and if you correctly answer 70 questions your chances of clearing Prelims is very very high!

Don’t you think that if you practise about 4000-5000 questions, you would be able to correctly answer 70 questions? Rings a bell?

And, do you know that ClearIAS is known for its accurate selection of probable questions before UPSC Prelims.

• 100+ Marks worth UPSC CSE Prelims 2019 Questions from ClearIAS Test Series 2019 and Study-Materials.
• 100+ Marks worth Prelims 2018 Questions from ClearIAS Prelims Test Series and Study Materials
• 100+ Marks worth Prelims 2017 Questions from ClearIAS Tests and Notes
• 100+Marks in UPSC Prelims 2016 From ClearIAS Prelims Test Series

If not enrolled before, join ClearIAS Prelims Test Series. We are sure that you will skyrocket your prelims marks in the next few days!