Essay
The Essay paper carries 250 marks in the OCS Main examination and is written in three hours. It is not a General Studies answer: it tests whether you can sustain an argument, organise ideas across paragraphs and write with clarity and restraint on abstract, social, economic or governance themes. Because few candidates score high, it separates ranks.
What earns marks
- A clear thesis stated in the introduction, not a paraphrase of the topic.
- Three or four dimensions - social, economic, political, technological, ethical - with a counter-view.
- Evidence: data, committee reports, constitutional provisions, Odisha examples.
- A conclusion that resolves the argument rather than summarising it.
Worked example
Topic: 'Urban flooding in Indian cities is an engineering failure or a governance failure.' A weak answer lists causes. A strong one frames the thesis - both, but governance explains why known engineering remedies are not executed - then examines drainage master plans, encroachment of wetlands, fragmented municipal authority and funding gaps; cites an Odisha city example such as Bhubaneswar's storm-water drains; weighs the counter-argument that climate change intensifies rainfall; and concludes with institutional reform, not rhetoric.
Traps that cost marks
- Writing a GS-style bullet answer with headings and no continuous argument.
- One-sided essays that ignore the strongest counter-argument.
- Flowery introductions with no proposition.
- Poor time control: one essay consuming the whole paper when more than one is asked.