Crack UPSC this year! IFS officer, Ankit Kumar shares the only tips you need to write UPSC essay paper

Of all the competitive examinations in the country, UPSC is the toughest exam, which is conducted in 3 stages and covers almost every subject known. However, the ends justify the toughness as those who manage to clear them all get selected for the highly coveted Group A and Group B government services.

Out of all the important sections in the exam for a Tier-I government job, essay writing holds a decent weightage (250 marks) in the UPSC's Civil Services main examination (UPSC CSE Main), which is conducted for those who qualify for the prelims. Here, candidates need to write a variety of essays on various topics and, thus, need at least some amount of fair writing skills.

Ankit Kumar and his passion for guiding UPSC aspirants

Ankit Kumar is an Indian Forest Service (IFS) officer who often shares helpful tips, suggestions, and recommendations for UPSC exams. He is a 2019 batch AGMUT cadre officer. Kumar mostly tweets about forest conservation, climate change, and wildlife protection. And this time he has put in place a detailed strategy on ‘how to write essays’ in the examination for Civil Services.

The UPSC essay writing tips that also helped the IFS officer

Following are the tips are given by Ankit Kumar for writing a balanced essay:

• Keep closely with the subject of the essay to arrange the ideas in an orderly fashion and write concisely as credits are given for effective and exact expression.
• The basic structure of an essay comprises an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Before writing an essay, one must prepare its blueprint on a rough sheet so that the test taker can have a fair glance at the blueprint and then is able to replicate the points on the main essay.
• The introduction part/ introductory paragraph should have 10% of the total word limit. Starting with a quote or a related story or an incident related to current affairs is a good idea while breaking it into 3 or 4 paragraphs.
• The body should constitute 80% of the essay. The scope of the body is huge and involves dimensions like polity, economy, history, governance, international relations, geography, and so on.
• For paragraph building within the body of the essay, each paragraph should be within 6 to 7 lines. There must be a continuity that is maintained between the paragraphs.
• For the conclusion, the aspirants must keep it within 3 paragraphs. 
• In the first paragraph, keep initiatives taken by the NGO or civil society
• In the second, write about the initiatives taken by the government
• In the third, mention any innovative measures suggested in the context of the subject matter of the essay

Check out his post here: Ankit Kumar

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