Components of a Good Answer | UPSC Mains Answer Writing: Practice PDF Download

Here is a cheat sheet of what goes into a good answer. It’s not necessary to have all these components in every answer. Use these pointers only as broad guidelines and not as rigid rules.

• A good introduction should be crisp, relevant and provide something valuable to the question asked. Usually, an introduction either starts with a definition of the concept, a statistic or historical background or a recent incident to provide context to the question. Avoid writing insignificant, vague, opinionated statements in the introduction.
• Answer what is asked in the question, not what you know. When you read the question, break it into distinct parts and address each part under a separate sub heading. This helps you stick to the question.
• When there is a debatable question, present both sides of the argument before taking a stand.
• Within the scope of the question asked, make your answer multi- dimensional. Short points across multiple dimensions is better than a long paragraph about one specific aspect of the question.
• Use short sentences and simple language to express your answer. Simplicity is clarity.
• Have a firm grip over data, constitutional articles, committee recommendations, and authentic reports in each topic. Use these in your answers to substantiate your arguments.
• Try and follow word limit. It’s okay if you occasionally cross it for certain questions. But avoid doing it for every question as you risk running out of time.
• Try and add illustrations wherever apt to make your answers appealing.
• Underline keywords and concepts to draw attention of examiner to the crucial parts of your answer.
• In conclusion, usually you bring together or summarise the whole answer in a sentence or two. But when the question pertains to an issue or a problem, try to conclude by writing about the solutions or committee recommendations or a way forward.
• A good answer must also be written within the time limit. If you know too much about a topic asked in a question, don’t overshoot your time limit by trying to write perfect answers. No matter the question, just write the best answer you can within the time limit and move on. Always have an eye on the clock and if you think you are falling behind the time, accelerate.
• UPSC can change how it distributes marks across questions, but it cannot change the 250 marks assigned to a paper. So whatever be the number of questions or distribution of marks across those questions, your target must be to write 80 mark worth answers in the first hour, another 80 in the second hour and 90 in the final hour. This translates to 40 marks in the initial 30 minutes. So whether you start with 10 markers or 15 markers or 20 markers, aim to finish questions worth 40 marks in the first half-hour and then repeat this process.
• Finish an answer and the paper in time. No matter what.