680+ in Prelims after 30 full-length mocks — here is the exact analysis sheet I used
I started at 540 in March. Last week I crossed 680 twice in a row, and the only thing that changed was how I reviewed mocks, not how many hours I studied. The sheet had five columns: question number, source (NCERT / standard book / current affairs), reason for error (knowledge gap, misread, guess, calculation), time spent, and the one-line fix. After every mock I filled it on the same evening, then re-attempted only the questions marked "knowledge gap" after 48 hours. Three things I would tell anyone starting this: 1. Do not review the whole paper. Review the 35–40 questions you got wrong or guessed. The rest is already working. 2. Track your guess rate separately. Mine was 19% in March and 6% by August. Guesses flatter your score in the short run and destroy it in the real exam. 3. Keep one "mistake notebook" per subject, not per test. Patterns only appear across tests. Happy to share the sheet layout in the comments if people want it. It is a plain spreadsheet, nothing paid.