I was unsure of how to go about Essay. I was reasonably confident that I will be alright here, as long as I could figure out the structure that UPSC examiners prefer. I have never been averse to creative writing but writing with a pen, thinking fast, and writing fast – all this I had last done in 2014.

For essay practice, I began by writing mocks from past years’ topics (in late June 2018 after prelims, first couple of them took me 2+ hours each to finish!). I circulated them to my close friends and sister as well as reviewed it myself. I realised they were not up to the mark and I would need more practice and proper feedback. I took the 5 essays + 3 x 4 GS tests mains test series from Insights and followed it diligently.

Thankfully, a week after prelims Rank 1 (2017) came up with an excellent write up on how to go about essay. I also read the two sample essays he had shared to get a good idea on how to deliver coherent structure and content. Eventually I settled on a generic structure towards essay rather than being unique about it:

• For any essay, I would first spend 15 minutes in coming up with the qoute, structure, broad points I will touch upon for and against, and a suitable conclusion. I would invariably start writing in the 16th minute even if I had something missing.
• I usually opened up with a quote if I could remember one for the given topic (see my notes under Essay quotes; I also remembered most quotes as I had tried to memorise them). I also experimented with anecdote opening while writing mocks, but didn’t have to resort to them in the Essay 2018 paper.
• Follow it up by connecting the quote to the topic at hand. I would also sometimes provide a broad definition/frame of reference for the keywords in the topic, so that the examiner knows how I have chosen to interpret the topic. An overview of the essay structure would follow (for some reason, examiners of mocks insist on it, while it probably doesn’t matter in the actual exam. I didn’t give an overview in the mains essay paper).
• Depending on the topic, broad structures that can be followed:
  • Context, issues, way forward (my go-to)
  • Socio, political, economic, religious, international
  • Past, present, future; and so on
• Within these broad structures, I would try to include as many dimensions as possible by quoting relevant points or examples.
• Give an optimistic/balanced conclusion, while giving a reference with the opening qoute.
• Along with the above:
  • keep it simple and straightforward
  • sprinkle some nice vocab along the way if you can put in some nice words and provided they fit in the sentence structure
  • do not write one sided essays
  • re-read the topic every 10 minutes while writing to ensure you do not go off-topic

For example in the actual essay paper, I chose to write on “Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life”. I am outlining below in brief what I remember writing, not mentioning examples as I cannot recall them now. I was not 100% happy with what I wrote, but I thought it should be sufficient for this exam.

Thankfully for me, writing philosophical essays hadn’t been much of a challenge during mocks and I actually enjoyed writing this one. My optional also helped because a wide reading of political thinkers and ideas helped me substantiate my arguments better (PS-IR, I Love You).

1. Opened with a Rousseau quote: Man is born free and everywhere he is in chains. Followed it up with how it relates with the topic – how man is a product of society he is raised in, and how society and its customs have guided life of men since birth of civilisation
2. Described what I understood by customary morality and modern life, and how the intertwining of the two is upsetting our current social and political order.
3. Started the main body by arguing why customary morality cannot guide modern life – religion and superstition, status and treatment of women, caste system, et al.
4. Then countered it by stating how our customs and culture form core of our identity. In modern life which focuses more on individualism, how customary morality can guide – religion satisfies spiritual needs, vedas and most holy books do actually give equal and reverential status to women, customs of tribals such as Bishnois and protection of environment, et al.
5. Concluded by emphasising that I do not agree that customary morality cannot be a guide, but it indeed can play some role in modern life. Critical examination of customs is important, and we should discard what doesn’t pass the test of rationality. Alluded to the opening quote again in closing lines.

I wrote five essay mocks, linking the highest and lowest scoring ones:

• Essay 1 – 142 marks
• Essay 4 – 106 marks

I didn’t let the swinging nature of marks here bother me much as I was experimenting with the different type/structure of essays I can write. I largely went with the structure mentioned in the beginning of this post. I did have trouble finishing the first few essays on time, including the first mock. However, I worked on my speed by allocating time to be spent per page (12 pages x 6 mins/page for comfort) and finished the rest, and eventually the actual Essay paper comfortably.

Essay quotes notes (link)

I scored 142 in the mains Essay paper.