Let me tell you about my Student Arpita. Smart girl, scored 90% in her graduation, could rattle off dates like a human calendar. Six months into her UPSC prep, she called me crying. "I've read Modern India three times," she said. "I still can't write a decent answer. What am I doing wrong?" 

Turns out, she was doing what most of us do. Reading. Highlighting. Making pretty notes. Feeling productive. But when exam time came? Blank pages and a racing heart. 

Now contrast this with Rahul (Not real name) from my coaching batch. Average student, forgot dates constantly, his notes looked like a mess. But he cleared UPSC in his second attempt with History as his optional. 

So what's the difference? What do toppers actually do that the rest of us miss?

They Stop Treating History Like a Textbook

Here's what nobody tells you in coaching classes: History is gossip from the past and all about dates. Really? Think about it. The Mughal court had more drama than your college WhatsApp group. The freedom struggle? That's basically the story of a massive, decades-long rebellion against the worst roommate ever (the British). 

When Anudeep Durishetty (AIR 1, 2017) talks about his History prep, he doesn't say "I memorized everything." He says he tried to understand why things happened. Why did Aurangzeb's policies lead to the Mughal decline? Not just what happened, but why. 

I learned this the hard way. I spent three months memorizing the causes of the Revolt of 1857. Could list all ten in my sleep. Then I got this question in a mock test: "The Revolt of 1857 was more a consequence of the cumulative impact of British policies than a sudden outbreak. Discuss." 

I blanked. Because I'd memorized points, not understood the story. 

Once I started reading History like I was watching a web series—where each episode builds on the previous one, where characters have motivations, where actions have consequences—everything clicked. The East India Company didn't just wake up one day and decide to take over India. There was the Battle of Plassey, then the Dual System, then the Permanent Settlement, each decision creating conditions for the next.

Their Notes? Honestly, Kind of Ugly

Can we talk about the Instagram-worthy notes culture? Those perfect handwriting notes with color-coded highlighters that get 10k likes? 

Yeah, toppers don't make those. 

I spent two months making beautiful notes for Ancient India. Bought expensive pens, different colored highlighters, ruler for underlining. My notes looked like art. Know how many times I revised them? Once. They were too precious to mess up with additional scribbling. 

Meanwhile, my friend Anjali (Not Real name) who cleared in her first attempt? Her notes looked like a detective's crime board. Scribbles, arrows everywhere, "CHECK THIS" written in capitals, pages with tea stains. But she'd revised them 8 times. EIGHT TIMES. 

She told me something I'll never forget: "Your notes aren't for Instagram. They're for 3 AM the night before your exam when your brain is fried and you need to recall the difference between the Cripps Mission and Cabinet Mission in 30 seconds." 

Her notes had: 

● Tons of self-made acronyms (some quite silly) 

● Dates written in maybe 3-4 places total (only the super important ones)

● Lots of "WHY?" written in margins 

● Current affairs examples added in different colored pens over time

● Flowcharts that connected events across centuries 

Ugly? Yes. Effective? Extremely. 

They're Stalkers (Of Current Affairs) 

This sounds weird, but toppers are basically stalking current affairs for History connections. It's borderline obsessive. 

When the Ram Mandir judgment came out, guess what Rohan (AIR 23, 2020) was doing? Not just reading the judgment. He went back to his notes on medieval temple architecture, the Babur period, the politics of the 1980s-90s. He created an entire answer connecting historical, cultural, and contemporary dimensions. 

That answer? He wrote it in his Mains. Easy 15+ marks. 

I started doing this after my first failed attempt. Now when I read the newspaper, I'm constantly thinking, "Where does this connect?" 

● Article on India-Vietnam relations? Time to revisit our historical ties with Southeast Asia. 

● Debate about renaming cities? Perfect chance to understand colonial legacy and identity politics. 

● SC judgment on reservation? Back to Mandal Commission, back to constituent assembly debates, back to understanding Dr. Ambedkar's vision.

Your daily news becomes your revision tool. And suddenly, History isn't some dead subject. It's alive, breathing, relevant.

They Write Like Their Life Depends On It 

Real talk: I knew Ancient India better than anyone in my test series batch. Ask me anything about the Mauryas, Guptas, Sangam period—I could talk for hours. 

My test series rank? 47th out of 50. 

Why? Because knowing and writing are completely different skills. It's like knowing swimming theory versus actually swimming. The pool doesn't care that you read all the books. 

Toppers write. A lot. Every single day. 

Not just any writing—timed writing. Because on exam day, you don't get to think "Oh, I need 10 more minutes to make this perfect." You get 15 minutes for 250 words, and that's it. The end. Pencils down. 

After my failure, I started writing 3 answers every day. Set a timer. 15 minutes. Go. 

First week? I could barely finish 150 words. My answers looked like bullet points vomited on paper. 

Second month? I could structure answers—intro, body, conclusion. But they were bland. 

Six months in? I could write answers with quotes, examples, multiple dimensions, and still finish in 14 minutes. 

The transformation isn't magic. It's practice. Unglamorous, daily practice.

They Don't Have 50 Books, They Have 5 Books Read 50 Times

There's this guy in every coaching center. Has every book ever written on History. Keeps buying more. "Oh, you haven't read this one? It's excellent!" His bookshelf looks like a library. 

His rank? Usually nowhere. 

Know why? Because UPSC doesn't reward you for reading everything. It rewards you for mastering something. 

Tina Dabi (AIR 1, 2015) said in an interview that she read her core books multiple times. Not different books, the SAME books, probably 5-6 times each. 

I thought she was joking. She wasn't.

Then, I remember a line from a movie: Chandni Chowk to China– Mujhe un dus hazar move se khatra nahi hai, joh tumne ek baar practice kiya hai ... mujhe us ek move se khatra hai, joh tumne dus hazar baar practice kiya hai 

First time you read NCERT Class 11 Medieval India: "Okay, Mughals, got it." Third time: "Wait, there's so much about jagirdari system I missed." Fifth time: "Oh! This connects with the revenue systems in Ancient India!" 

Each reading reveals new layers. Because your brain has evolved, you're seeing connections you couldn't see before. 

My final book list? NCERT Class 6-12 + Upinder Singh+ Satish Chandra for Ancient and Medieval. Plassey to Partition + Spectrum for Modern India. Some standard reference books for specific topics. That's it. But I read them until they were falling apart, pages dog-eared, margins filled with notes.

They Actually Understand That Historians Fight Like Toddlers

Okay, this is going to sound weird, but once you realize that historians argue about everything, History becomes way more interesting. 

Was 1857 a Sepoy Mutiny or the First War of Independence? Depends on which historian you ask. The British called it a mutiny. Nationalist historians called it a war of independence. Marxist historians see it as a feudal uprising. Subaltern historians argue we're all missing the point about common people's role. 

And guess what? UPSC LOVES this stuff. 

Because when you write "According to R.C. Majumdar, the 1857 revolt lacked a unified vision, while V.D. Savarkar saw it as a coordinated independence struggle," you're showing that you don't just know facts—you can think critically. 

I started adding historiographical perspectives to my answers in my second attempt. My marks jumped from 55-60 range to 65-70 range. Same facts, deeper analysis. 

You don't need to read original books by every historian. Your standard textbooks mention these perspectives. Just note them down. Use them smartly. 

They Revise Like They're Meeting an Old Friend

There's studying, and then there's revising. They're not the same thing. 

Studying is when you're meeting the topic for the first time. Taking notes, understanding, processing. 

Revising is like meeting an old friend. "Hey Mughal Empire, long time! Let me see what I remember about you." And then you test yourself.

Most people revise by re-reading. That's passive. Your brain goes, "Oh yeah, I've seen this before," and gets lazy. 

Toppers revise actively. Close the book. Take a blank page. Write everything you remember about the topic. Then check what you missed. 

It's painful. Your ego takes a hit when you realize you remembered maybe 60% of what you studied. But that's the point. You've just identified exactly what needs more work. 

I used to revise Ancient India in one Sunday every month. Close all books. Take a blank notebook. Write down the entire timeline, major dynasties, their contributions, important events. It took 6-7 hours initially. By my 5th revision, I could do it in 3 hours with way more detail.

They're Human (And They're Okay With That) 

Here's what coaching institutes won't tell you: every topper has bad days. Days when they can't remember their own name, let alone the dates of the Regulating Act. 

My lowest point came four months before my Prelims. I gave a mock test on Modern India—my strongest area. Scored 38/100. I sat in my room and questioned everything. Maybe I'm not smart enough. Maybe this isn't for me. Maybe I should just quit. 

I took two days off. Completely off. Watched movies, ate junk food, didn't touch a book. Felt guilty, but did it anyway. 

Came back on the third day. Felt... okay. Not great, but okay. Started again. 

Later, I read an interview where a topper said they took one day off every week. Completely. No guilt. And during revision phase, they took one evening off every day to just decompress. 

This isn't a weakness. It's sustainable preparation. 

Your brain isn't a machine. It needs rest. It needs Netflix sometimes. It needs that phone call with your friend who makes you laugh. It needs to remember that life exists beyond History optional. 

The topper mindset isn't about studying 16 hours a day. It's about studying 7-8 focused hours, six days a week, for months, without burning out. 

What Actually Matters: Just Start 

Look, I can give you 50 more strategies. I can tell you about spaced repetition and Feynman technique and active recall. But here's the real secret: toppers started. And they kept going. 

They didn't wait for the perfect notes system. They didn't wait until they understood everything. They didn't wait for motivation. They just... started.

Messy start. Confused start. "I have no idea what I'm doing" start. 

And then they kept showing up. When it was hard. When it was boring. When they wanted to quit. They showed up the next day and put in their hours. 

That's it. That's the difference. 

So if you're reading this instead of studying, stop. Close this tab. Open your NCERT. Read one chapter. Write one answer. Make one page of notes. 

Not perfect notes. Not a complete answer. Just something. Because something is infinitely better than nothing. 

The toppers you're admiring? They started exactly where you are. Scared, confused, overwhelmed. They just refused to stay there. 

Remember: कर्मण्येवाधिकारस्ते मा फलेषु कदाचन। मा कर्मफलहेतुर्भूर्मा ते सङ्गोऽस्त्वकर्मण॥ Your turn now. 

Go.