ESSAY - DO’s and DONT’s Hello Everyone, Received many messages regarding Essay in my DMs, so answering some common queries here. I have previously scored 130+ in Essay, and these are a few things I would like you to keep in mind while preparing - ✅ Prepare thematically. No matter how the quote is framed, it usually connects to a broader theme. Build theme-wise content, rather than preparing isolated quotes. Example - Theme on Responding to adversity and Never giving up, Inner-Peace,Contentment and Happiness, Evolution and Journey of Transformation etc etc. ✅ Content may remain the same; perspective and presentation must change. You will inevitably use Buddha, Dr. Kalam, Gandhi, Mandela, Japan, 1991 Economic Reforms etc etc. Where and why you use them makes the difference. ✅ Don’t over-engineer uniqueness. The examiner shouldn’t have to decode your argument. Clarity > > forced novelty. Make your ideas easy to follow. The examiner is less likely to re-read your argument, so make things easy for him. ✅ Don’t impose quotes or poems. Just because you have memorised them DOES NOT mean they belong everywhere. Integration should be organic and free-flowing, not mechanical and imposed, merely for “shock value”. (I will explain this separately - it comes from personal mistake) ✅ GS-linked themes can be prioritised. If a GS-based theme appears and you have command over it, you can consider prioritising it. Familiarity gives you greater content security and dimensional depth. ✅ Your introduction matters disproportionately. If the introduction clearly conveys that you have understood the core idea of the quote, half the job is done. Sets the tone for the Examiner. ✅ Bring contemporary relevance. Use recent issues and emerging trends to establish contemporary linkage like Increasing Road-rage, Attention Economy etc etc. Don’t just mention them; connect them to your central argument Use daily anecdotes that we notice across platforms be it a Woman attending Father’s funeral via video call or American lady crying when her Indian Neighbours were leaving. ✅ Don’t turn the Essay into Ethics paper. Avoid dumping Ethics examples into every paragraph just to demonstrate “value addition”. Build the argument first; use examples to support it. An Essay isn’t a collection of examples. Lastly - Keep the central idea intact (Stick to the topic as they say), explore it from multiple dimensions and hold it together by a coherent argument. Will try to write another piece on Essay before Mains. Hope it helps, Thankyou 🙂 @darkhorsecse
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