BPSC 66th Main exam 2021: Toppers’ share answer writing tips to improve score

The Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC) will conduct the 66th CCE mains exam from July 29. The exams are subjective type and candidates need to attempt all questions within a time limit of three hours. Therefore, efficiency and quality of answers are a prerequisite for qualifying these papers.

Although the candidates have a different chosen optional subject, the GS papers are common for all. Therefore, it is essential that aspirants produce peculiar and remarkable answers in the exam hall to fetch extra marks. To help the BPSC aspirants, indianexpress.com spoke to previous years’ toppers to share their answer writing strategies.

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BPSC 64th Rank 3 Anurag Anand said he laid importance on writing a crisp introduction and conclusion with to the point answers for fetching more marks. “Select your questions carefully. Read the paper a few times to figure out which questions you’ll attempt. Do this at the beginning of the exam. Try to answer strictly according to demands of the question, at least in the first few pages,” he said.

“In statistics questions, select the question carefully and don’t change the question midway if you can’t solve a sub part. Double-check your calculations,” he further suggested.

Since BPSC allows the use of calculators, candidates should not forget to carry them for the exam as it will be handy in solving lengthy statistics numerical calculations.

Whereas, Rakesh Anand, BPSC Rank 54 focused on attempting all eight questions in the paper. “Each question in mains consist of 38 marks. Hence, attempting all 8 questions is very important. If you miss any of these, then your selection chances reduce by 38 marks.” he says.

Against popular rumours of filling all 36 pages of the answer sheet, Rakesh emphasises producing quality answers. He suggests that on average each question should be attempted in 3-4 pages. In open-ended questions, he suggests writing paragraph form answers while in direct questions follow the point-wise pattern to make your answer hard-hitting.

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Since only three hours are allotted to attempt the papers, aspirants should effectively manage their time in the exam hall. He suggested a minute-wise division of time given to each question and accordingly attempting the answers.

For statistics questions in paper 1, Rakesh advised that aspirants should attempt these questions in the beginning as solving them at the end would elevate the chances of making mistakes in a hurry.

Both the toppers stressed the importance of maps and flowcharts in Geography and international relations questions to explain your viewpoint to the examiner.