Time Management by Swarochish Somawanshi Sir IAS AIR 49

Part-1 .
It is said that the success is the best
effort within the constraints of space,
time and resources. Preparing
for  Civil Services is no exception to
this. To optimise the result, Time
Management is very crucial.
Time Management for Civil Services
preparation is a vast topic. It cant be
dealt in one write-up. Here Time
Management is of two types-
During preparation and
During 3 hours in examination hall.
The scope of this article is limited to
the first one i.e. Time management
during preparation. second one will
be dealt later on.
Let us start by acknowledging the
fact that we have to go for
Multilayered Planning Approach to
manage the time to optimize the
output as-
Subject Wise Planning (Indicative/
Broad/ Flexibility Allowed)
Monthly Planning (Detailed/ Rigid)
And
Daily Planning (Tailor Made/
Instantaneous).
Let us discuss each one by one.
I.Subject Wise Planning-
Assumptions I am making here are,
The reader is a beginner who is
going to appear in CSE 2013. So he
has atleast 8 months to prepare for
mains before he starts the engine
for PT (till feb).
He is a full timer ie he has at-least
10-12 hours to devote round the
year.
This is an integrated plan for GS
including PT and Mains.
So we have 8 months, lets divide it
as,
Optional 1- 3 months
Optional 2- 3 months
GS- 2months
Now prepare an Indicative Plan for
each to complete each one in
stipulated time. Give equal weightage
to both the papers, i.e. 1.5 months
for each. Here the balance is very
important as generally we tend to
emphasize on paper one be it
Optional 1, Optional 2 or GS.
Lets take an example to elucidate.
Example-
For GS we have 2 months= 60 days.
So a broad division to study it, can
be as following-
History- 15 days
Geography- 15 days
Polity- 15 days
Economy- 15 days
Now you have a broad idea of the
fact how less time you actually have!
We will pick the thread of this
example later also but leave it for
some time.
That was a Macro Plan now lets
discuss the Micro one.
II. Monthly Planning (Detailed/
Rigid)-
This one is the most important of all.
Here we will prepare the detailed
study plan of forthcoming four
weeks. I have found it very very
useful to complete the humongous
course without missing/ over
emphasizing any topic. This is well
applicable to Revisions as well.
Assumptions I made here are,
The reader is studying 2 subjects
out of 3 in per day i.e. any two out
of Optional-1, Optional-2 and GS.
Lets pick the thread of our example
to elucidate further.
We allotted 2 months for GS
meaning thereby History in just 15
days!!! So less! How to cover whole
of the Modern History in just 2
weeks! Afraid! Hai na??
Don’t be. I have a magic. Lets
double the number of days using my
jadoo of simple maths.
We have devoted 2 months to GS, if
you recall, leaving other 6 months
for O1 and O2. So we assumed
there that while studying GS you
would be reading GS only, which is
not the case here.
That exercise was just to make you
realize how less time has left and
how to divide the syllabus to rule!
Here, this month, we will study GS
plus one optional. So for all
practical purposes your number of
days are doubled as you have only
half of the day for GS and rest is for
Optional. To be very clear one of
your optional is also prepared
simultaneously So now you have 4
months for GS. Yipeee ! what a
magic.
Now breakup for GS may be as-
History- 30 days
Geography- 30 days
Polity- 30 days
Economy- 30 days
Now thats good na!
Move further, to actual thing,
Detailed Monthly Plan (DMP)-
Day 1- 1857 Struggle
Day 2- Socio Religious Reforms
Day 3- Socio Religious Reforms
Day 4- Socio Religious Reforms
Day 5- Socio Religious Reforms
Day 6- Moderates’ Phase till partition
of Bengal
Day 7- Moderates’ Phase till partition
of Bengal
Day 8- Moderates’ Phase till partition
of Bengal
Day 9- Advent of Gandhi till Non
Cooperation movement 1921
Day 10- RESERVE DAY
Day 11- Advent of Gandhi till Non
Cooperation movement 1921
Day 12- Advent of Gandhi till Non
Cooperation movement 1921
Day 13- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 14- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 15- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 16- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 17- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 18- Communists/ Swarajists/
Civil Disobedience Movement (1921
to 1937)
Day 19- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 20- RESERVE DAY
Day 21- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 22- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 23- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 24- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 25- Towards Freedom (1937- 47)
Day 26- Misc Topics (Kisan/ Tribal
Movement, Development Of
Education/ Press)
Day 27- Misc Topics (Kisan/ Tribal
Movement, Development Of
Education/ Press)
Day 28- Misc Topics (Kisan/ Tribal
Movement, Development Of
Education/ Press)
Day 29- Misc Topics (Kisan/ Tribal
Movement, Development Of
Education/ Press)
Day 30- RESERVE DAY.
Reserve Days are cushions to
accommodate unforeseen events. An
automatic slack is provided to ensure
the religious adherence to the rigid
plan. If you are not able to follow
your plan that’s the indication of
danger which is timely sensed. Make
corrections in your habits and try
again.
Here its also worth mentioning, if you
miss a topic to complete upto your
satisfaction level don’t spoil your
whole plan by making adjustments in
the plan itself. Just move on. Mark
the topic to identify it later. And
preserve the sheet to remind you
later about the topics you are weak
in.
Similar DMP is to be prepared for the
optional which will go hand in hand
with the GS.
Prepare them and PASTE THEM ON
YOUR WALL. “FB wall” nahi re lallu!
The wall against your study table
else your cozy bed which is mostly
used by us for study purposes. Hope
you have a study table and you
actually use it seldom. Sometimes I
am so optimistic be it Pakistan or
studies ;)
Now move on to next and last layer
of our planning.
III .Daily Planning (Tailor Made/
Instantaneous)-
Assumption here is one is able to
read 10-12 hours. 2 hours for news
paper/ magazine. Rest 10 hours for
GS and one optional. So it comes
out to be 5 hour for each.
So, that is all for planning. Here we
have understood how difficult work
our Planning Commission is doing!
Apart from planning one more
important thing is Self Feedback
Mechanism to ensure the good
implementation.
For this I used to paste a separate
chart- HOUR COUNT CHART (HCC) -
indicating number of hours I used to
study per day. If you have a room
partner its advised to paste both the
HCCs side by side for better
comparison.
This was a mirror to prove me LAZY
which my mummy used to call me
since childhood and I never
accepted the established fact till
then.
Lets sum it up,
After reading the whole Mahabharat
you should be convinced enough to
have 3 charts on your wall- two
DMPs and one HCC.
I never named them when I used
them like DMP/HCC etc. Just coined
the terms to better differentiate and
understand. Its also easy to ask
questions regarding them after
naming them. So pardon me
jargonizing the write up considering
it a necessary evil. I just hate it.
It was a great time to prepare this
way. Feeling nostalgic to remember
my room partner Mr Raj Prakash
Singh who was very fond of doing
this exercise. He was very
supportive and we studied whole of
the GS together like this only.
NB- its an humble request to all
those handful of readers who have
reached till the last line to SHARE
THIS STATUS so as to benefit the
maximum as I have invested a lot of
time to conceptualize and type this
write-up.
With best wishes,
Swarochish Somvanshi,
AIR-49 (CSE 2011)
AIR-575 (CSE 2009)