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IAS 2019

ESSAY
TEST SERIES
By: MANOJ K. JHA

TEST: 2
www.iasscore.in
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ESSAY Test - 2

ESSAY TEST SERIES 2019 Roll No.___________________________

Time Allowed: 1½ hrs. Max. Marks: 125

Instructions to Candidate Remarks

• Attempt one essay

• The test carries 125 marks.

• Write the essay in about 1000-1200 words.

• Any page left blank in the answer-book must

be crossed out clearly.

(Examiner will pay special attention to the

candidate's grasp of his/her material, its
relevance to the subject chosen, and to his/
her ability to think constructively and to
present his/her ideas concisely, logically and
effectively).

Name ___________________________________

Mobile No._______________________________

Date ____________________________________

Signature ________________________________

1. Invigilator Signature ___________________

2. Invigilator Signature ___________________

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1. Death is not the greatest loss in life; the greatest loss is what dies inside us
while we live.
2. We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are.

Remarks

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Hints: Essay Test - 2

1. Death is not the greatest loss in life; the greatest loss is what dies
inside us while we live.
• Your body dies but your soul and spirit never dies. – Muhammad Ali
• Optimism doesn’t wait on facts. It deals with prospects. Pessimism is a waste of time.
– Norman Cousins
• You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind
next to honor. – Aristotle
• “If we lose something important in ourselves, try to remember it, and fight for it back”
– Anonymous
Approach
• The above stated theme depicts the importance of listening to inner voice and pursuing your
dreams to enrich our life over the passive existence and dying without making any mark. Establish
the context of the theme by supporting your stance with valid arguments.
• Introduce the concept of death of a body and inner voice and then explain the value of dreams
and how we face challenges while achieving it because road to success in never easy but it is
always rewarding.
• Main Body should explain why people give up under various situations be it professional life,
love life, social life or just life in general. What are the causes behind it whether external (Social
Pressure) or internal (Like lack of courage). How can an individual overcome those challenges?
• Conclude with the view that one must never give up. No matter how hard it is, no matter how
much it takes out of you one should never give up on their dreams. Nothing is easy in life and if
it easy it is not worth it.
Introduction
• Theme of the essay explains that the greatest loss in not the death of the mortal body but what
dies inside us while we live. It’s like living into nothingness, living in doubt, a life without hope
and thinking this life is so bad. Death of a person is a very painful loss but its a natural thing.
Main Body
• Whenever we start listening to our heart and start working on our dreams, we face challenges
every day. We go through ups and downs to reach towards our goals. Life never offers great
things on a platter. We have to earn it.
• People always have to fight through obstacles to reach their targets and often the struggle is
tough and sometimes people that are not strong enough they give up easily.
• Road to happiness and success is never easy but it is always rewarding. Sometimes when people
don’t see results soon, they give up. What they don’t realize is that results may take time but it is
always satisfying.
Hints: Essay Test - 2 [1]

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• People give up under various situations be it professional life, love life, social life or just life in
general. It is easy to give up but extremely difficult to hold on and continue fighting. Life tests
you every now and then, it puts you through situations that test your patience, your strength,
your determination, your will and everything else. People who go through these situations
sometimes break under the pressure and give up.
• Concept of “Fit In” kills the inner voice
1. We tell our children and younger generation to “Be yourself!” which is a hard thing to do
because from a very young age society also moulds us to “fit in.” It might be into a certain
grade or sport team level. Then in the work force it could be not speaking up in front of a
certain colleague or boss. Because it’s best to “toe the line.”
2. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make
you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” Many people lose that battle.
3. Many a time’s parents say that “The world isn’t a place for immature minds.” Evidently
talking about what you love to do instead of talking about jobs and higher education is a sign
of immaturity.
4. We could go on and on about instances which circle around us. Most of us might have
encountered such statements at least once in lifetime.
• But change is always possible. It just takes courage. As Aristotle once said, “You will never do
anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honour.”
The thing is, you need to take steps towards that dream. Have the courage to take a chance.
Even though you will fail numerous times before you get there. Because as scared as you might
be of the unknown, regret is always scarier.
• Example - Muhammad Ali’s Physical and inner Strength
– We are impressed not only by how strong Ali was as a boxer, but also by the inner strength
that he showed when he fought against racism. Ali’s inner strength seems to come from his
faith in his religion.
– Ali joined the Black Muslims in 1964 and changed his name from Cassius Clay to Muhammad
Ali. He described his view of life and death as follows:
– “The body gets old. You don’t have teeth. Your hair is leaving you. Your body gets tired. But
your soul and your spirit never die. So your body is just housing your soul and spirit. The
most important thing of your life is what’s going to happen when you die.
– He believed that the world after death existed and that every human being has a soul. It is
because of this faith that he could rise up over again and again without yielding to racial
discrimination.
• Never lose your sense of awe and wonder - This is one of the things we should never let go. It’s
one of the very first things that make humans an advanced species. It’s an evolutionary advantage.
Always marvel at the grandeur and awesomeness of life and the universe. Try to understand
how the world works because it’s insatiable curiosity that brings about the next big discovery.
• Be the right kind of mature - Maturity doesn’t mean letting go of things children do. It means
learning to forgive people, living in harmony and enjoying life to the fullest; ironically things
that children do better than ‘mature’ adults. The only definition of maturity is - knowing the
consequence of your actions. Also, be open to new experiences and ideas.
[ 2 ] Hints: Essay Test - 2

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Conclusion
• One must never give up. No matter how hard it is, no matter how much it takes out of you one
should never give up on their dreams. Nothing is easy in life and if it easy it is not worth it. What
make your life better are the things that you achieve after overcoming struggles and obstacles.
Every obstacle you come across gives you experience that makes you stronger. One has to persevere
and only then will they taste the sweet pleasure of success.
• Death is not scary but feeling that something you admired is dying inside is more than scary and
painful. If what dies in you is noble, pray to awaken it again. If what dies in you is not good for
you, then praise God. Either way you grow, and learn about the spiritual realm that is all around
us, and in us.

2. We don't see things as they are; we see them as we are.

• "Reason is always and everywhere the slave of the passions" – David Hume
We see and understand things not as they are but as we are. In order to more fully understand
and question this statement, it must be broken down to its core. ‘We see,’ is referring to the way
in which a human perceive the world. If looked at from a visual perspective, one person will see
a guitar in the exact same way as millions of others do. However, ‘see’ in this case is referring
to the thought process that occurs in our minds after we use our five senses (touch, smell, hear,
tastes and see) to perceive the object or idea and is very closely linked to ‘understand’ which is
to think about and comprehend something. The word ‘things’ is referring to anything in the
world, whether it is a tangible object, a thought, a concept, a theory, an emotion, etc. The phrase,
‘not as they are but as we are,’ is implying that we see the world differently from everyone else
as our past experiences mould the way in which we ‘see and understand things.’ Furthermore,
the statement also suggests that everything has one absolute, true form which exists and can only
be seen through a person who holds no bias. Therefore, the way in which we view the world
tells us more about ourselves, then the world itself.
We wouldn’t have much knowledge of the outside world without our perception. For example,
in many parts of Eastern Europe, a head-nod means NO and a shake means YES; anyone from
south Asia would be totally confused if trying to establish contact through head-gestures. The
central issue here is that, a same thing is perceived differently by different observers due to
various aspects in their lives. These perceptions are often strongly influenced by our experiences
and memories, religion, personality, culture and even gender. Plato defined knowledge as “Justified
True Belief”. Mostly the knowledge primarily is based on cultural backgrounds and past knowledge.
For example dogs will always scare a man if he has been bitten by dog in the childhood while
some people on the other hand have dogs as pets and loves them as their own children.
One of the main issues of knowledge in this context would be to explore the question that states
that do emotions affect the way we see and understand things? For example, sacrifice of self is
highly appreciated in some cultures but in others self reliance is honoured the most. This reveals
that culture plays a significant role in what we see and how we perceive it. Similarly, when it
comes to business, an Indian seeks to build trust in order to do business. For Americans, this is
frustrating because this takes time. And for them, it’s the other way around. Trust happens later,
as a consequence of business, or what is called a track record.
Religion also plays a part in the perception of people. For example Muslims and Jews are not
allowed to eat pork and they have religious justifications to prove their belief, but for the rest of
the world, it is quite normal to eat pork and in many countries, they serve it both at their national
and holy events. Therefore a same event in time and space cannot be perceived by same point
of view by particular group of people. These three examples reveal clearly that perception is so
strongly influenced by emotions, culture and religion that people see the reality as they are not
as the reality is.
Hints: Essay Test - 2 [3]

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Sometimes one comes across knowledge that seems authentic and is also well-accepted, but that
is not true. I will quote the 4th century BC concept that the earth is flat. Lack of equipment and
modern technology lead ancient scientists to claim this hypothesis. The scientists justified this
hypothesis by saying that if earth was not flat; rather sphere then the things on the curved
surface of the earth would slide and fall down. Moreover they also justified that the earth
appears to be flat even viewed from a high altitude. Since their conclusion (justifications) made
sense to the people of that era, so they considered this knowledge valuable. But with the passage
of time, scientists realized that earth is spherical instead of flat. “They justified this belief by
showing the fact that if earth was flat then, all the bodies in the sky should be visible at the same
time for all parts of the surface”. Also when a ship disappears in the horizon justifies that the
earth is sphere. These justifications were not enough for old believers of flat earth. Advancement
in science and technology made humans land on moon. When astronauts showed pictures of
earth taken from the surface of moon, people started believing the new knowledge. Pictures
served as proof for the belief. Even in the presence of these strong reasoning some old religious
scientists deny the fact and are still proving their old knowledge. They believe that in such cases
pictures can serve as propaganda. Knowledge based on photographs could be biased or subjective.
Thus this example shows that the knowledge that people value the most is the one with their
own concrete justifications based on the circumstances or the previous knowledge.
More there are justifications, more reliable the belief is, but sometimes even justifications and
proofs fail to convince people. So this whole discussion can be concluded by saying that knowledge
that is most valuable traits depends on how it is acquired, from person to person. If for someone
any knowledge that satisfies his belief, emotions, and actions is valued to him. Then it is not true
knowledge, instead it should help to universalize these and should be able to remove biases.
There is seldom such a thing as an absolute truth, as it is nearly impossible to remove bias from
one’s mind. Everything we see and hear causes us to come to a conclusion about what we have
seen or heard based upon our own experiences up to that point.

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[ 4 ] Hints: Essay Test - 2

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