It is very important to understand the question first. Depending on what the question is, whether one is asked to "discuss", "elucidate", "explain", "critically appreciate" or "give reasons for or against", the answer should be written accordingly because it is only through the examinee's style of answering questions that one can assess his or her originality of thought and analytical abilities.

The question should be read properly, in fact the question paper should be read thoroughly in the first five or ten minutes of the exam and then one should decide on the questions which are to be answered first. Time should also be given to frame the answer.

A good way to write effective and precise answers is to pracise writing out answers. Our answers should present the facts and concepts in an interesting way and should never read like a passage from a book. It is best to use simple language and avoid flowy and decorative language which takes our attention away from the original facts and our opinions about a given topic.

Making a practice of writing out answers is especially useful in managing the time limit set for the exam and to write the best possible answer in the allotted time. It not only improves one's style of expression, but also one gets used to the time and word limits.

Two marker questions are equally important to score well in General Studies in the Civil Services Main Exam. Just because these questions are of two marks and they are supposed to be written in 20 words only, students generally think and take it for granted that they can do well in the two marker questions without any strategy.
Prepare your own strategy to answer the two marker questions. Following are some tips on how to prepare for the two marker questions.
• Go through previous years question papers and try to write on the topics asked, so that you develop the way to present a topic’s crux in 20 words.

• Make a list of the two marker questions and keep trying to write on them.

• While reading newspapers you would come across some new personalities, places and terms. Try to write short notes on each of them.

• Exchange your answers with your friends’. This will help you comparing your answers with others and finding out the loopholes in your answer and improve them according to the need.

• First time you may end up writing in 100 words, but with practice you will be able to fix it in 20 words only (word limit set by the UPSC).

• Once you practiced well you will be able to write on any topic in 20 words.
Preparations for Mains examination should be done intensively. One should always target for Mains even while preparing for Preliminary examination. This is because there is much in common ground for study and there is little time for preparation for the Main examination after the results of the Prelims examination are announced. It always helps if the choice of the optionals for the Prelims examination is one of the subjects chosen for the Mains.

After taking the decision on the optionals, one should sort out the Main question papers according to the syllabus topics of the Mains examination. If one analyses these questions, after sometime the questions are repeated in one form or the other.This will give you time to prepare a standard answer to the question papers of the previous years. This will also make your task easy at the Mains examination.

Questions asked are of the Honour's level examination. Sometimes the questions are ‘conceptual’ in nature, aimed at testing the comprehension levels of the basic concepts. So, if you don’t have a basic grounding in the basic concepts, it would be advisable to start from simple books.

The right choice of reading material is important and crucial. You should not read all types of books as told by others. Get a list of standard textbooks from the successful candidates, or other sources and also select proper notes for studying.

While studying for the optional subjects, keep in mind that there is no scope for selective studies in CSE. The whole syllabus must be completely and thoroughly covered.

Equal stress and weightage should be given to both the optionals. Remember, in the ultimate analysis both subjects carry exactly the same amount of maximum marks.

For subjects like Mathematics and Statistics and Geography maps etc, practice is very important. One should also practice other subjects and should not treat the same examination, as an “experience gathering” exercise to get a chance for writing Mains is a great thing, which one may not get again. Hence, you should go through the unsolved papers of the previous papers and solve them to stimulate the atmosphere of the examination.

Stick to the time frame. Speed is the very essenceof this examination. Hence, time management assumes crucial importance. Revision of subjects is very important because “anything you could not revise prior to the examination is as good as not having prepared at all”. The reason is that you have been preparing for months or years together. It is a human tendency to forget something after some time. Hence, revision is a must.

Writing skills matter a lot in the Civil Services Exam. Most of the candidates appearing for the Mains examination have a lot of knowledge, but lack writing skills. They are not able to present all the information/knowledge in a coherent and logical manner, as expected by the examiner. It is not only what you write, that is important, but also how you write.
For developing the writing skills, one should keep writing model answers while preparing for the Mains examination. This would help the candidate to “get into the groove” of writing under time pressure in the Mains examination. The attitude should never be “I will directly write in the examination”.

Develop and follow your own style of writing. Try not to be repetitive and maintain a flow in the style of your writing. Never try to imitate others in the style of writing.

Sequential and systematic style of answering comes after a lot of practice and analysis of standard answers. Try to stimulate the actual examination hours to judge your performance and to plug any loopholes.

Instructions given at the beginning of the question papers should be read carefully.

Strictly adhere to the word limit as prescribed at the end of the question to the extent possible. Try not to exceed the word limit, as far as possible. Sticking to the word limit that will save time. Besides, the number of marks you achieve are not going to increase even if you exceed the word limit.

Write legibly as it will simplify the evaluator’s task and he can read the answers easily. Highlight/underline the important points, which you feel, are important.

If the write up is in essay form, write in paragraphs. A new point should start with a new paragraph.
If the question needs answer in point form, give it a bullet format. Keep sufficient space between two lines.

Try to maintain uniformity in your write-ups throughout the paper.

Some students write well in the initial papers. Under time pressure, the script goes from bad to worse in the later stages of the answer sheets and gets bad treatment. This may irritate the evaluator.

Don’t count words after every answer. If you have practiced well,you can count “how many words do you write in a line and how many lines in a single page and the total words per question”.

Give space and divide it by a dividing line between two questions.

One should target at least 1200 marks in the Mains, although the cut off varies from year to year.

So explore yourself, practice hard and revise periodically; success will never evade you for too long.