https://nehabhosleblog.wordpress.

com/2020/08/08/my-experience-with-upsc-cse-
coaching-institutes/

An initiative has been taken by the Telegram Channel – https://t.me/PTT2019 and

I am copy-pasting my responses to the questions that they had asked.

Q. Did you take any coaching?

A. Yes. I had joined:

Q. Please share your coaching experience

A. All the following were in Online Mode. Most of the Lectures were watched at a
faster speed.

Before joining these classes, I had once read the History (old), Geography and
Sociology NCERTs, Indian Polity by M Laxmikanth and India’s Struggle for
Independence by Bipan Chandra, but had not made any notes. I had also once read
the Vision VAM on World History, Economy and Society, without making any
notes. And I had also once read the entire ESO 13 and MSO 04 Blocks of IGNOU
Sociology, again without making any notes.

2018 – Vision IAS Foundation Course (Prelims + Mains) – Excellent course. The
notes I made from the Lectures were my base for all static topics. The Schedule
keeps you on your toes, with regular Assignments, Mini Prelims, Mini Mains apart
from the Prelims Test Series and Mains Test Series. Just studying for and
completing all the Tests itself is enough to cover the GS Syllabus multiple times.
Answer Writing improves in a systematic manner, with Assignments having
easiest questions, Mini Mains a level higher and Mains Test Series having UPSC
level questions. Checking was very good. I know many feel that there is no
correlation between Vision marks and actual marks, but I feel my GS marks are
going to be similar to Vision ones only. Essay Enrichment and Test Discussion and
Ethics Enrichment + Case Studies Lectures were also very helpful. I have not seen
any GS Test Discussions or PT 365 or Mains 365 Lectures so cannot comment on
them. GS Model Test Answers were also very good. Model Answers were not
provided for Essay Tests, but the VAM given was good. While all Teachers were
good, I would like to make special mention of Ashish Kumar Sir (Polity), Smriti
Shah Ma’am (Society + Essay), Prateek Gupta Sir (Economy) and Neeraj Rao Sir
(Art and Culture + Ancient and Medieval History). And needless to say, the
Monthly Magazines, PT and Mains 365 Material as well as the VAMs are top
notch. Classroom Handouts and PPTs that some Teachers shared were also good.
Never called any Teacher, but asked doubts in their Lecture Chat Box, and they
were promptly answered. From 2019, this Foundation Course also includes Current
Affairs Classes, which we did not have, so cannot comment on them. Did not read
the Printed Notes they had sent, so cannot comment on them, but I think they are
mostly similar to the standard NCERTS and Textbooks.

2018 – Lukmaan IAS Ethics Course – While Ethics was covered in Vision as well,
I felt this was one Paper where I could score high and hence joined Lukmaan too.
Ansari Sir teaches really well and both Theory and Case Studies were covered in a
good manner. I have not even read Lexicon or any other Textbooks for Ethics and
depended solely on Lecture Notes of both Vision and Lukmaan, Vision VAMs,
Lukmaan Workbooks and various Test Series Model Answers. Never called Sir, so
cannot comment on Teacher support. Someone else wrote the Tests that came with
this Course, so I cannot comment on the Test Series.

2018 – Sociology Optional – Praveen Kishore Sir Lectures + Test Series (Nice IAS
on Neostencil) – Whatever Sir teaches, he teaches well. But there are many topics
that he does not teach. He took a total of 71 Lectures for our batch, while the
Mohapatra Sir Class Notes that I had ordered from Pankaj Copiers had ~120
Lectures. While quantity is not necessarily representative of topic coverage, but
Sociology isn’t that small an Optional to be covered in 71 Lectures either. Say for
a particular topic, if PK Sir had discussed 2 Thinkers, Mohapatra Sir had discussed
3 or 4 Thinkers. I focussed on quoting as many Thinkers as possible for every
answer, so a few more Lectures by PK Sir could have covered this additional
content. Test Series had good questions and checking was good too. This
Combined Course does not have separate Test Series Discussions, that is held only
for their Test Series (which has now been rebranded as Test Series + Crash
Course). Nonetheless, most of the Test Series questions were covered in some or
the other Lectures. Never called Sir, so cannot comment on Teacher support. Sir
does not provide Model Test Answers for the Test Series. Printed Notes have too
much content (Total 11 Books), and I read only some selected topics in Paper 2,
and whatever I read was good.

2018 – Vision IAS Sociology Test Series – While this was of 2018, I actually
joined it after 2018 Mains as I was sure of narrowly missing or narrowly clearing
the Mains cutoff, thus making the 2019 attempt inevitable. Again very good
questions and checking. Special mention of Smriti Shah Ma’am’s Test Series
Discussions which were like a Quick Revision Module. Never called Ma’am, so
cannot comment on Teacher support. And the Model Test Answers were excellent.

2019 – Forum IAS MGP – 8 FLTs after Prelims. I joined this only because I had
written so many Tests for Vision, that I could almost predict my Test Marks
Good questions and good checking too. Never tried calling the Mentor, so cannot
comment on it. I have not seen any Test Discussion videos, so cannot comment on
them. The Model Test Answers were very good.
2019 – Shankar IAS Sociology Test Series – Yes, Shankar provides Online Test
Series as well as Online Sociology Optional Lectures (by Rajitha Shivashankar
Ma’am). I learnt about it only after the 2019 Prelims. Good questions, good
checking and special mention of Rajitha Ma’am’s Revision Classes + Test Series
Discussions, which like Smriti Ma’am’s, were like a Quick Revision Module. This
was the only Institute where the Mentor had himself called to discuss the Test
Paper. He had said I’ll get 300+ and maybe they tell this to every student, but
nonetheless, it was good to hear The Model Test Answers are in form of key
pointers and good for very quick revision.

2019 – Baliyan’s Essay Test Series – Joined it only because I was too lazy to write
Essays. Good topics, good checking. What I liked was that every Test was based
on a particular area like say Governance or Economy. In Vision which I wrote in
2018, each Test had topics from a variety of areas, and as a result I ended up
writing only those topics which were from areas I was comfortable with. Here I
had no option but to write on IR, Philosophy and such areas which I avoid, but
may have to choose in the actual Exam. Never tried calling the Mentor, so cannot
comment on it. Nor have I seen any Test Discussion Lectures or Model Essays so
cannot comment on them either.

2018 and 2019 Prelims – Vision (All Tests) and Insights for selected areas like
History, Environment. Good questions. The tests helped in improving guesswork
and option elimination.

Interview – Nothing Actually I was going to go to Delhi in March beginning

Q. Which of the above coaching did you find worthy for your self-improvement?
A. All of them ! Lecture Notes were my base for both GS and Sociology. And I am
someone who would not have written a single answer had I not joined a Test
Series. So all the above courses were very helpful.

Q. Any of the above coaching you wish you would not have joined at all?

A. No, because all of them contributed to my knowledge as well as marks. Just one
thing is, very honestly, had I known about Shankar IAS offering Online Sociology
Lectures before, I probably would have joined it. And then would have joined PK
Sir’s Test Series. This in no way means that his Full Course was not good, but we
all know he is more famous for Test Series.

Q. Any specific review or advice you would like to share with the aspirant
community assuming you have a fresh mind and free speech platform without any
commercial goals at hand.

A. Because this initiative is specifically for ‘Coaching Truths’, I would just like to
say that sometimes Coaching Institutes are unnecessarily criticized among the
aspirant community. They saved my time, made me write answers and helped me a
LOT !

The Lecture Notes and the Checked Test Papers of all the courses mentioned above
can be downloaded from:

My Telegram Channel – https://t.me/All_About_UPSC_CSE or

My Google Drive –
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1dNQwXCJWWMvOD9NmZ6fs_yn9LF4-
33Hk?usp=sharing
All the Best !