#16: UPSC Mains Ethics Strategy

Mindset, Sources, Plan, and Strategy for GS IV Ethics

Mindset

Know the purpose of Ethics exam: It is to test YOU.

- Your ethics.
- Your morals.
- Your belief system.
- You as a CASE study

Writing idealist answers that you memorized won’t take you far. Imbibe originality!

Sources

- Start with Michael Sandel lectures. (YouTube)
- Syllabus
- Pick any standard source recommended for UPSC syllabus
- Tentative:
• autobiographies of politicians, reformers, sportsmen & businessmen.
• Civil Services Conduct Rules (read through once)

Plan

- Give one day to every topic [ 8 days, 1 (Attitude) to 8 (Probity)]
- Read your sources for that day!
- Make 1-2 page notes, develop diagrams and flow charts linking diff terms of syllabus
- Define the keywords in your language

Strategy

- for case studies:
• solve PYQs
• read newspaper from this point of view
• Create bank of case studies from newspaper
• realism > idealism
• In mocks, no more than 100 mins on these
- rest covered above

Next

indulge in valuable discussions with your parents, teachers, and respectable elders. Discuss random case studies to learn their perspectives. These discussions will enrich your answers, help you revise concepts and see alternate perspectives. (Don’t waste time on chai tapris at places like ORN doing this).

Lastly

Neutrality won’t take you far. In ethics, a realist scores while an idealist scares. Your scores reflect your ethics not the other way around. Be a realist!

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