Strategy To Prepare Mathematics Optional – For IAS Mains Examination.

Mathematics is one of the optional subjects offered by the UPSC in the civil services mains exam. Generally considered by many as a tough subject, mathematics ‘the queen of the sciences’ is taken by many aspirants, many of whom have come out with flying colours in the IAS exam. Maths, often vilified as the toughest subject in school, students, barring exceptions, universally dread maths. In the IAS exam, the performance of this subject has been ambiguous.Continue Reading Strategy To Prepare Mathematics Optional – For IAS Mains Examination.

As per the latest available data, in 2015, 258 candidates had taken mathematics as their optional subject out of which 31 cleared the exam giving the subject a success rate of 12% that year. The following table shows the number of candidates who had appeared with the maths optional.

Maths, as an optional subject, is opted for by between 300 and 350 candidates every year. There are benefits and drawbacks associated with this optional. In this section, we discuss some of the advantages and disadvantages of mathematics optional.

Strategy To Prepare Maths Optional – 

• Go through the maths syllabus in the beginning. Understand the syllabus and have it at the back of your mind all the time.
• Then, make a list of books from where you will prepare each topic in the syllabus. For this, you can follow the specific topic-wise strategy we have given in this article. You can also take guidance from your seniors and mentors for this.
• You should also go through the previous years’ question papers for maths optional so that you are aware of the most important and repeated topics from where questions are asked in the mains exam.
• The way to go about preparing for this optional is simple – first, read and understand the concepts and theorems. After that, devote 80% of the time in practising the sums and the remaining 20% in revising them.
• You must also practice the proofs of the theorems very well. It will help if you are able to prove and derive the theory or theorem from scratch. Sometimes, proofs of theorems are also asked in the exam particularly in Paper-II.
• Always prepare and keep a formula sheet ready. This will help you memorise certain formulae that would be needed to solve the problems.
• Always practice maths with a relaxed mind. Panic can cause confusion and you will end up faring badly in the paper.
• The practice is most important in this subject. Practice as much as you can as it will improve your speed.
• It is very important to enrol for a good mains test series for maths optional. This is because exam-like practice will help you gain confidence and also teach you how to remain calm in the exam hall. It is possible that you might start off the paper with a difficult question and you aren’t able to solve it. Panic at this stage will ruin the whole paper for you. It is precisely to handle such situations that candidates are advised to join a test series and gain enough exam experience.
• When you are solving the IAS exam papers, don’t worry about scaling and moderation. Your aim should be to score maximum. Always check your answers once after finishing them. Take out time for this as any careless mistakes can be rectified. Practising test papers can ensure that you learn time management well enough to spare time for checking the answers.

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