68th BPSC Exam: How to Write a Good Essay in BPSC Mains, Explained

How to Write a Good Essay in BPSC Mains 2023. Recently Bihar Public Service Commission has changed the 68th BPSC CCE Mains Exam Pattern and included Essay section as a Paper for 300 Marks. Essay in BPSC Mains Can be written in Hindi and English Language. Previously Essay hasn't been asked by BPSC in any Exam, so we will have to take Clue from UPSC, UPPCS and Other related exam to understand the type of questions and Pattern that can be followed by BPSC in 68th BPSC Mains Exam 2023. 

This Article will help you understand the various aspects of Essay Writing and Types of Topics on which you should mainly focus on. 

What is Essay Writing,

Novelist Stephen King put it beautifully when he said, “I write to find out what I think.”

Writing is a window to your thought process. What you write on paper will tell the reader how you think, how you argue and the way you substantiate your viewpoint. This is why for most competitive examinations and academic entrance tests, essay is mandatory.

Despite its importance, essay paper often does not get the attention it deserves from aspirants. First timers think they will write an excellent essay in the final exam itself, whereas experienced aspirants believe that since they had already studied a ton for GS, it will alone be enough to write a good essay. This is a fatal miscalculation.

Most of the content you write in Essay will come from your GS preparation but essay distinguishes itself from GS in the sense that in GS, marks will be awarded purely for content. But in essay, examiners will pay special attention to not just the content, but also the language, coherence and the way you organize your write-up.

So you must take adequate care to arrange your ideas properly and not commit any fundamental spelling or grammatical errors.

Apart from GS, you will have to Read few Other Things Like - 

Collecting good stories/anecdotes and quotes: Anecdotes, quotes and real life stories you see in newspapers and books which can be used in essay should be noted down, sometimes you directly get Quote as an Essay or you can use these quotes from prominents personalities to improve the quality of your essay.

Referring to specific magazines: For certain topics, you can refer to specific issues of Yojana/EPW/Economic Survey etc. Example: for an essay on tribal issues or public health, you can go through specific issues of these magazines for getting the latest statistics (IMR, MMR, malnutrition levels etc) and also about the positives and criticisms of govt schemes in that sector.

What to Keep in mind while writing Essay

I. Improving language and expression

• Language in essay must be simple and clear with as little jargon as possible. If you want to use complex definitional terms such as, say, ‘Constitutionalism’ or ‘Sanskritisation’ please define it in sentence just before you use it. Examiner will also understand clearly what you want to convey. Clear writing is clear thinking. And that is what any reader looks for.
• Keep our sentences short and powerful. Long, winding sentences makes it difficult to read and understand. If you tack on one clause after another through conjunctions, what you get is a bad sentence sprawl.

II. Vocabulary: There is no need to memories complex words for writing a good essay. But an occasional use of a powerful word, or a good phrase definitely gives your write-up an edge.

III. Do not focus excessively only on one point, or one dimension (such as the historical or political aspect) Your essay needs to be expansive and multi-dimensional.

IV. During preparation, we read a lot and it’s understandable that we feel strongly about certain topics. And since essay offers freedom to write, it’s very easy to get carried away with such a topic. But make sure that you write what is asked, not what you know or feel like. Always stick to the subject of the topic.

V. Do not dedicate disproportionate amount of time for the first essay and scamper through the second. Both carry equal marks, so please invest equal time.

VI. Always conclude positively.

How to write a good Introduction to your Essay?

Writing good Introduction is very important for an essay as it sets the tone and if examiner is not convinced or get good vibe, they may not read it completely and mark you poorly as the saying goes, "First Impression is Last Impression".

One of the major mistakes that student commit in Introduction is that, they start with definition which is good for General Studies but a blunder for Essay. 

Essay introduction can be:

• a data from a report
• a current incident or story (where you introduce a character);
• a real life anecdote;
• a quote; or

What to Write in Main Body

• Importance or Benefits , Advantages & Disadvantages, Challanges, Initiatives, Solutions 
• Various Aspects: Social, Political, Economical, Administrative, International, Environmental, Historical, Scientific, Security/Defence, Legal
• Statistics, examples, expert opinions and constitutional provisions are crucial and they make your arguments authoritative.
• For example, if you are arguing that Capital punishment is an expensive form of justice, you should be able to given an example or a statistic or Law Commission’s opinion as to how the subjects of death penalty are overwhelmingly from poor communities.

Concluding an Essay

Conclusion needs to be on a futuristic, optimistic note. You need to summarize the complete essay in 3-4 sentences, after which you can write your vision for future.

Essay Writing Tips and Strategy

• Developing the skill to write a good essay needs preparation, which precedes the examination phase.
• Writing holds the key to an effective essay: it forms the core for conveying ideas from your mind to paper.
• Language skill is not developed overnight. It demands effort and perseverance. Your command over a language is determined by your desire to master it.
• The general essay paper plays a crucial role in compensating for the lack of high scores in GS and optional papers.
• Many of us commit the mistake of gathering facts and information on the probable topics at the eleventh hour of preparation, thinking that we can produce a good piece of work in the examination hall.
• What we have to understand is that arranging gathered ideas using an appropriate language is going to be a tedious job, especially when you have the pressure of time limit
• So start working on improving your writing skills right from the beginning of your preparation. Enhance your skills by developing an interest in learning more vocabulary, acquiring a wider information base, and having a passion for reading.
• The whole essay should be organically linked from one paragraph to another So that the examiner could feel the continuity and orderly flow and arrangement of your ideas. the unification among the paragraphs can be done through transitional words and phrases.

Guidelines to be followed for BPSC Essay Paper

The best answer to how to write the essay for BPSC can be very well formulated from the guidelines mentioned below. Let’s have a look at them:

• The essay is not merely a test of your factual knowledge. It is a test of your creativity, inventive spirit, and capacity for the generation of new ideas.
• The choice of words and the proper statement is important.
• For that make a list of the alternative words for the words you use often.
• Note down powerful sentences, paragraphs, and quotations whenever you find them.
• Keep close to the subject matter. Whatever you write it must be totally relevant to the subject matter.
• The introductory note should be around 5 to 7 percent of the length of the essay, the body around 86 to 90 percent, and the concluding remark again around 5 to 7 percent.
• To obtain good marks remember the abc of essay which stands for a - for accuracy; b - for brevity and c - for creativity.
• Don't take extreme views. Your essay should reflect your balance of judgment, holistic approach, and an analytical bend of mind
• Select the topic wisely -A topic about which you are too passionate or feel strongly about. In this case, you may tend to get excited and fail to write a balanced essay. This can work against you.
• After selecting the topic judiciously, you should not start writing straight away. It is advisable to think for some time and collect your thoughts. Write in pencil the points you want to write as doing so you can write your points in the correct sequence.
• Once you have the rough points in hand, you can start writing the essay. While writing, you must adhere to a good structure.

Previous Year Essay topics for UPSC

Administration	Politics, bureaucracy and business – fatal triangle. (1994) Politics without ethics is a disaster. (1995) The VIP cult is a bane of Indian democracy. (1996) Need for transparency in public administration. (1996) The country’s need for a better disaster management system. (2000) How should a civil servant conduct himself? (2003)
Polity/International Relations	Whither Indian democracy? (1995) What we have not learnt during fifty years of independence. (1997) Why should we be proud of being Indians? (2000) What have we gained from our democratic set-up? (2001) How far has democracy in India delivered the goods? (2003) National identity and patriotism. (2008) In the context of Gandhiji’s views on the matter, explore, on an evolutionary scale, the terms ‘Swadhinata’, ‘Swaraj’ and ‘Dharmarajya’. Critically comment on their contemporary relevance to Indian democracy. (2012) Is the colonial mentality hindering India’s success? (2013) Dreams which should not let India sleep. (2015) Management of Indian border disputes – a complex task. (2018)
Economy	Resource management in the Indian context. (1999) GDP (Gross Domestic Product) along with GDH (Gross Domestic Happiness) would be the right indices for judging the wellbeing of a country. (2013) Was it the policy paralysis or the paralysis of implementation which slowed the growth of our country? (2014) Crisis faced in India – moral or economic. (2015) Near jobless growth in India: An anomaly or an outcome of economic reforms. (2016) Digital economy: A leveller or a source of economic inequality. (2016) Innovation is the key determinant of economic growth and social welfare. (2016) Impact of the new economic measures on fiscal ties between the union and states in India. (2017) Multinational corporations – saviours or saboteurs. (1994) Globalization would finish small-scale industries in India. (2006) BPO boom in India. (2007) Special economic zone: boon or bane? (2008) Are our traditional handicrafts doomed to a slow death? (2009) Is the criticism that the Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) model for development is more of a bane than a boon in the Indian context, justified? (2012) Tourism: Can this be the next big thing for India? (2014)
Federalism, Decentralisation	The language problem in India: its past, present and prospects. (1998) Water resources should be under the control of the central government. (2004) Evaluation of panchayati raj system in India from the point of view of eradication of power to people. (2007) Is autonomy the best answer to combat balkanization? (2007) Creation of smaller states and the consequent administrative, economic and developmental implication. (2011) Cooperative federalism: Myth or reality. (2016) Water disputes between States in federal India. (2016)
Indian Society	The Indian society at the crossroads. (1994) New cults and godmen: a threat to traditional religion. (1996) The composite culture of India. (1998) Youth culture today. (1999) Modernism and our traditional socio-ethical values. (2000) Indian culture today: a myth or a reality? (2000) As civilization advances culture declines. (2003) From traditional Indian philanthropy to the gates-buffet model-a natural progression or a paradigm shift? (2010)
Media & Society	Misinterpretation and misuse of freedom in India. (1998) Mass media and cultural invasion. (1999) Responsibility of media in a democracy. (2002) How has satellite television brought about cultural change in Indian mindsets? (2007) Role of media in good governance. (2008) Does Indian cinema shape our popular culture or merely reflect it? (2011) Is sting operation an invasion on privacy? (2014)
Education	Restructuring of Indian education system. (1995) Literacy is growing very fast, but there is no corresponding growth in education. (1996) Irrelevance of the classroom. (2001) Privatization of higher education in India. (2002) Modern technological education and human values. (2002) What is real education? (2005) “Education for all” campaign in India: myth or reality. (2006) Independent thinking should be encouraged right from the childhood. (2007) Is an egalitarian society possible by educating the masses? (2008) Credit – based higher education system – status, opportunities and challenges. (2011) Is the growing level of competition good for the youth? (2014) Are the standardized tests good measure of academic ability or progress? (2014) Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make a man more clever devil. (2015) Destiny of a nation is shaped in its classrooms. (2017)
Women & Gender	The new emerging women power: the ground realities. (1995) Greater political power alone will not improve women’s plight. (1997) Woman is god’s best creation. (1998) Women empowerment: challenges and prospects. (1999) Empowerment alone cannot help our women. (2001) Whither women’s emancipation? (2004) If women ruled the world. (2005) The hand that rocks the cradle. (2005) Women’s reservation bill would usher in empowerment for women in India. (2006) Managing work and home – is the Indian working woman getting a fair deal? (2012) If development is not engendered, it is endangered. (2016) Fulfillment of ‘new woman’ in India is a myth. (2017)
Quote-based abstract topics	Youth is a blunder, manhood a struggle, old age a regret. (1994) Useless life is an early death. (1994) Disinterested intellectual curiosity is the lifeblood of civilisation. (1995) When money speaks, the truth is silent. (1995) Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds. (1995) Truth is lived, not taught. (1996) True religion cannot be misused. (1997) Search for truth can only be a spiritual problem. (2002) The paths of glory lead but to the grave. (2002) If youth knew, if age could. (2002) There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so. (2003) Be the change you want to see in others. (2013) With greater power comes greater responsibility. (2014) Words are sharper than the two-edged sword. (2014) Lending hands to someone is better than giving a dole. (2015) “The past’ is a permanent dimension of human consciousness and values. (2018) Reality does not conform to the ideal, but confirms it. (2018) Attitude makes habit, habit makes character and character makes a man. (2007) Discipline means success, anarchy means ruin. (2008) Character of an institution is reflected in its leader. (2015) Need brings greed, if greed increases it spoils breed. (2016) Joy is the simplest form of gratitude. (2017) A good life is one inspired by love and guided by knowledge. (2018) A people that values its privileges above its principles loses both. (2018) Customary morality cannot be a guide to modern life. (2018)
Science n Tech	The modern doctor and his patients. (1997) Value-based science and education. (1999) The march of science and the erosion of human values. (2001) Spirituality and scientific temper. (2003) The lure of space. (2004) Science and Mysticism: Are they compatible? (2012) Science and technology is the panacea for the growth and security of the nation. (2013) Technology cannot replace manpower. (2015) Alternative technologies for a climate change resilient India. (2018)

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