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680+ in Prelims after 30 full-length mocks — here is the exact analysis sheet I used

I started at 540 in March. Last week I crossed 680 twice in a row, and the only thing that changed was how I reviewed mocks, not how many hours I studied. The sheet had five columns: question number, source (NCERT / standard book / current affairs), reason for error (knowledge gap, misread, guess, calculation), time spent, and the one-line fix. After every mock I filled it on the same evening, then re-attempted only the questions marked "knowledge gap" after 48 hours. Three things I would tell anyone starting this: 1. Do not review the whole paper. Review the 35–40 questions you got wrong or guessed. The rest is already working. 2. Track your guess rate separately. Mine was 19% in March and 6% by August. Guesses flatter your score in the short run and destroy it in the real exam. 3. Keep one "mistake notebook" per subject, not per test. Patterns only appear across tests. Happy to share the sheet layout in the comments if people want it. It is a plain spreadsheet, nothing paid.
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u/vikram_sethi4 hr ago

The guess-rate point is the one nobody talks about. I was sitting at 22% and telling myself it was "exam temperament". How did you actually reduce it — fewer guesses or better elimination?

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u/ananya_rao3 hr ago

Both, but elimination first. I stopped guessing when two options were still alive, and started writing down why each wrong option was wrong. After about ten papers the wrong options started looking familiar.

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u/priya_nair3 hr ago

Would you share the sheet? I have been maintaining something similar but never separated "misread" from "knowledge gap", which is probably why my review takes four hours.

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u/fatima_sheikh3 hr ago

Do you re-attempt the full paper or only the wrong ones? I have been redoing entire mocks and it eats the week.

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u/ananya_rao3 hr ago

Only wrong and guessed questions, and only after 48 hours. Full re-attempts are for the last month before Prelims, when stamina matters more than content.

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u/vikram_sethi3 hr ago

The "one notebook per subject" rule is underrated. My Polity notebook has the same three confusions rewritten six times, which is embarrassing and useful.

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u/dev_patel3 hr ago

Saving this for when I finish JEE and start UPSC. The review loop applies to any objective exam honestly.

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