Essay strategy Puneet Gulati, AIR 319 with 140 in Essay (2009)

Essay is often seen as a poor cousin of the other more important papers in the Mains
Examination. While GS and each of the optionals are worth 600 marks each, Essay contributes a
small 200 marks to the total. But just like the interview, these 200 marks often prove to be the
Waterloo for many candidates. In CSE 2009, UPSC has been particularly strict in giving out these
200 marks. Not many candidates managed to score over a 100 marks and there have been a
shockingly high number of double and even single digit scores in the Essay this time. While
none of us can justify the extremely low scores given out by UPSC, I do think that there does
exist a strategy for tackling the Essay paper, which, if adopted and implemented thoughtfully,
can reap a decent 50-70% mark in the Essay. Such marks will ensure that a candidate does not
fail to make it to the list just because of poor showing in the Essay.
The strategy that I propose for the essay is based on my own experience as well as what I learnt
from my English teacher during my school days. In CSE 2009, I scored 140/200 in the Essay. I
wrote on Good Fences Make Good Neighbours.
1. Preparation for the Essay Regular reading is the only stable and time-tested way to
prepare for the Essay. There is no short-cut to improving ones
language. One must read and learn to apply what one has read. Those attempting the paper in
English, should read the Editorials of papers like the
Hindu, the ToI, Indian Express, Hindustan Times etc. One should also try remembering some
quotations that one comes across while reading books etc. Maintain a notebook/word
document for keeping track of such quotations. Let me recommend here Inspite of the Gods
by Edward Luce as a valuable read on India before you go for your Mains. Practice Writing
Essays for those who are not very sure of their abilities to tackle Essay paper well. Write at least
4-5 essays before sitting for the Mains in Oct-Nov this year.
2. Attempting the Essay Paper
a. Choosing the Essay This is the most critical but curiously most under-rated part of the
paper. Choosing the right topic to write on is half the battle won. Spend at least 5-10 minutes
carefully studying the topics. Many candidates pick up a topic and start writing and then realize
they dont have enough to talk about. They end up wasting time as they try choosing another
topic later. This year there were 5 topics:
i. Are our traditional handicrafts doomed to a slow death?
ii. Are we a soft state?

iii. The focus of health care is increasingly getting skewed towards the haves of our society
iv. Good fences make good neighbours
v. Globalism vs Nationalism
The candidate must study each topic and decide which of these topics gives him the maximum
number of ideas. Mind-mapping or jotting points may help. Take up each topic and ask yourself,
What can I say about this? For some topics youll not be able to proceed beyond two lines. I
felt this when I looked at Handicrafts and Healthcare questions. Both these essays are
asking us questions Do you agree with the statement? (explicitly in the case of handicrafts
and implicitly in the case of healthcare. In fact, all other questions are doing this, except
Globalism vs Nationalism). Candidates must answer the question no matter which of these
two topics they choose. Writing a general answer without taking a stand when the question is
asking you for a stand will not fetch you high marks because then you would not be
answering the question. Hence, please, please, please answer the question. In my case, I
realized I would not be able to handle either of these topics even if I agreed with the
statements because of very limited knowledge about the arguments for or against the topic.
Having rejected these two topics, I examined the other three. I thought about the question on
Soft State. It was an inviting topic but I realized that I would not be able to provide any
interesting insights into the issue. Moreover, I was worried I may inadvertently overlook some
important arguments. Hence, I decided to examine the other two questions Good fences and
Globalism vs Nationalism. Topic 5 offered a discussion based essay where there was nothing
obvious to agree or disagree about except maybe that there is necessarily a clash of ideologies
(this could be questioned), while topic 4 required me to take a stand. I spent some time
thinking about the arguments I could offer in both essays and realized that Good Fences
offered me greater creative license. To me, this was important as I was free to offer a much
wider perspective on it. In addition, I could recall the poem Mending Wall (by Robert Frost.I
had studied it in class X) from which the line Good Fences Make Good Neighbours was
taken. Moreover, I felt that this essay would be attempted by fewer candidates because of
the nature of the question. (Please note that this criteria helps only those who are fairly sure of
their ability to handle the topic. If you are not sure of your language or knowledge about the
topic, please choose topics entirely on the basis of what may be easier to handle)
b. Planning Having settled on a topic of your choice, spend the next 4550 minutes planning your essay. Planning has some very important steps:

i. Identify Key Words Read the topic you have chosen and identify the most important words
in the topic. In my case, it was Good fences and good neighbours. Both these terms need
some defining in the essay. So think of how you would address what are fences and what are
good neighbours. Similarly, for someone writing on healthcare needs to define healthcare and
the so called haves of the society in India. Someone doing handicrafts should be able to
identify what our traditional handicrafts are and what is happening to them. A candidate
talking about soft state must know what softness means in various dimensions of a State.
Those writing on Globalism vs Nationalism must understand both the terms very well and be
able to express them.
ii. Scope of the essay Often one needs to limit ones analysis due to time and space
constraints. Identifying the scope of ones essay means identifying the issues that the writer will
focus on For instance, the topic Good Fences make Good Neighbours can be interpreted in
many ways. Neighbours can be countries, your immediate next-door neighbors, your colleagues
in office or
could simply be animals living in symbiotic relationship in the wild. Limiting ones scope means
that one is going to focus on certain aspects of the issue although one recognizes that there is a
much broader interpretation of the topic. For instance, Are we a soft state? is talking about
India as a soft state. This softness is visible in the external and internal security threats,
our response to threats, our very accommodative political system, our very flexible rules,
maybe a flexible social system and some other dimensions. Having recognized all this, you may
want to limit yourself to discussion of only security issues. The writer must be able to recognize
the breadth of the topic but draw his/her own borders for discussion. However, given that we
have 3 hours to write the Essay Paper, a reasonably wide scope for the Essay may actually give
greater avenues to explore the topic. So choose a scope that is reasonable not too narrowly
focused, nor so wide that you need to spend a lifetime covering it.
iii. Planning your introduction Spend time doing this. Recall any quotations that might be
relevant. For me, lines from the Mending Wall provided me a good platform to launch my
introduction. Your introduction must be clear and should immediately reflect that you have
understood the topic. You should define / talk about the key words of the topic and what they
mean to you. You should spell out the scope of your essay. And finally you should present
your Thesis Statement.
iv. Thesis Statement Thesis statement is your succinct one line answer to the Essay question.
It may be simply I agree with the statement or a more refined and sophisticated complex
sentence. For instance, for the handicrafts question, the Thesis statement (if you agree with the

statement) could be Despite efforts being made by the government and various NGOs, our
traditional handicrafts continue to face challenges, which if not overcome, will verily lead to
their slow death. In fact, the process may be faster than it appears at the moment. This has
clarified your stance right away to the examiner that you believe that a slow death for
handicrafts is likely. (A candidate could actually take a view that the slow death is inevitable but
something can be done about it to prevent it. Alternatively, its also possible to
argue that traditional handicrafts are anachronistic and neednt be kept alive on artificial life
support systems. Depends on the candidates perspective but he must justify.) Similarly, for the
topic on Soft State, a thesis statement would be like, Detractors may continue to accuse
India of softness. However,
a closer look at the multitude of challenges and constraints under which our country operates
may reveal that what is actually interpreted as softness, is nothing but our age-old philosophy
of pragmatism and accommodation. Another example for a thesis statement may be for
Globalism vs Nationalism While globalism and nationalism appear to be extremes of an
ideological spectrum, I believe there may not necessarily be incompatibility between them. The
two may coexist comfortably and in fact, mutually reinforce each other. This view certainly calls
for a closer examination of the natures of these two ideologies and this is what this essay seeks
to achieve. A solid thesis statement wins 5-10 more points right away and makes the reader /
examiner keen to read the rest of your essay. Thesis statement is an indispensable part of the
Introduction to any good Essay. It is like setting the stage for the onslaught.
v. Planning the body of your essay The candidate must think of different dimensions of the
essay here. Typically, this is the part where you need to think about the arguments in favour or
against your stand. For instance, if your stand is that India is not a soft state you must have an
idea about what might be the arguments against your stand which suggest that India is a soft
state. Jot down both sets of arguments. You need to know both sides because you want to
reflect that you understand both sets of arguments and are making a balanced assessment.
Now take each argument, especially those that support your stand, and think of some
examples, anecdotes etc. to support your points. (This is called substantiation) You can also
take an example which might appear to be supporting the contrary view and interpret it in a
way that appears to be supporting your opinion. For instance, in the soft state, a contrary
view could be that India didnt act against Pakistan after Parliament attacks or 26/11 unlike the
USA which did after 9/11. But you could craft this into something that supports your view
that India probably acted to the best of its abilities under the constraints. Similarly, for the topic
Globalism versus Nationalism, you need to think of different dimensions of these two terms.
Globalism could mean economic integration, cultural homogeneity, dominance of western
thought, international approach to problems facing humanity etc etc. Nationalism would
suggest pride in ones culture, nation, people, lifestyle, protectionism etc. Think of suitable

examples. Also think of how you would reconcile the two ideologies if your stance is that there
is no necessary dichotomy between the two. Mindmapping is a useful tool for this phase.
Basically, this involves writing a point and drawing arrows around it with some examples or subpoints. This depends on the candidate. Some people like to do this while brain-storming for
ideas.
vi. Conclusion Think of a powerful conclusion to your essay. Something that ties up the loose
strings and completes your analysis. You could end with a reiterating statement that reflects
your stance or a quotation. You could also end with some recommendationslike in the
healthcare essay or the handicrafts essay.some suggestions to prevent your analysis from
being realized i.e. making healthcare actually available to all or preventing the death of
handicrafts. For instance, for the good fences essay, I concluded my analysis by saying that
Much as I would like to share in Frostian romanticism of having a borderless, fenceless world
where everyone lives happily, I cannot disagree with his neighbours grasp of worldly realities.
Then I quoted the last 3 lines of Mending Wall He wont go behind his fathers saying. He likes
having thought of it so well. He says again Good Fences Make Good Neighbours. This was a
subtle way of ending my essay.
c. Writing your Essay Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Once planning has been
done, the final task is just to put down in good grammatically correct English (or the chosen
language) all your thoughts. Focus on the grammar here. That must be as accurate as possible.
Refrain from using tough words if you are not confident about their meaning. Simple, clear
sentences are much better than complicated, flowery language which is hard to understand.
The purpose of the Essay is not to show-off your language, but to show your thought process
and your refined ideas. Focus on linking your paragraphs. Use connectors like Moreover, In
Addition, Furthermore, However, Nevertheless, While to traverse from one paragraph / point
/argument to the next. For giving examples, use different terms like for example, for instance,
consider this, notably etc.
d. Revising your essay Once you have written your essay, spend at least 15 minutes revising it
for grammatical and spelling mistakes and for making sure your sentences bring out exactly
what you mean. Would you like to read an essay or an article in which there are mistakes or
which you feel has not been revised by the editor? Similarly, the examiner also wouldnt think
very highly of you if there are glaring mistakes. Revision helps us eliminate these errors. I saw
many candidates scrambling to finish their essays even at the last minute. This is bad practice.
Finish your essay 15 minutes before time. You would have written enough. 1000-1500 words
for the essay are enough to convey any idea you want. Anything more than this would be too
much for the examiner to read and follow. Moreover, you yourself would tire out and will lose
focus if your essay is too long. So keep it just the right length. This is broadly a healthy strategy

to attempt the Essay paper. I cannot guarantee that this will help candidates score 140+ in the
Essay, but I am very sure that a candidate who learns to follow this strategy will write
meaningful essays and will not score below 50% in the Essay. This would mean that Essay will
not be the reason for the candidates rejection. Some of you may actually get into the CSE list
because of the Essay and one of your other high performance papers.