Short answer: after a RAS mock test, don't stop at the total. Put every wrong or skipped question into one of five causes: not studied, forgot, misread, failed elimination or time. Then compare subjects by net marks and check whether your guesses gained or lost marks. These three numbers tell you exactly what to revise before the next paper.
Step 1: Calculate four numbers
Write these down for every mock, on the real 200-mark scale. On RASTestSeries.com the maximum is 150 (+1 per question), so multiply by 4/3 to convert.
| Number | How to calculate it | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Net score | Correct × 1.33 − Wrong × 0.44 | Your actual result |
| Attempts | Correct + Wrong | How much of the paper you committed to |
| Accuracy | Correct ÷ Attempts × 100 | How reliable your answers are |
| Lost to negatives | Wrong × 0.44 | Marks you gave away |
Break-even accuracy. With +1.33 for a correct answer and −0.44 for a wrong one, a group of answers adds marks as long as more than 25% of them are right. That is why a pure guess between four options (25% chance) gains nothing on average, while a guess between two options (50% chance) gains about 0.44 marks per question on average.
Step 2: Sort every lost question into one cause
Open the answer review and go through every wrong answer, every fifth-option answer and every blank. Give each one a single cause:
- A. Not studied: the topic was new to you. Fix: add it to your revision list only if it is in the official syllabus and has appeared before.
- B. Studied, forgot: you recognise the fact once you see the answer. Fix: short notes and a second revision, not a new book.
- C. Misread: missed "not", "incorrect", "only 1 and 3", or a wrong pairing in match-the-list. Fix: underline the question word. Slow down only on statement questions.
- D. Failed elimination: you reached two options and picked the wrong one. Fix: check your guessing rule (Step 3).
- E. Time: blank or rushed at the end. Fix: change the order or pace of attempting, not your knowledge.
Count each cause. In most first mocks, B and C together are larger than A. That is good news, because they are the cheapest marks to recover in the last weeks.
Step 3: Check whether your guesses pay
While taking the mock, put a small mark next to every question you answered without being sure. In the review, count how many of those guesses were right.
- If more than half your guesses were right, keep guessing when you can eliminate two options.
- If 25–50% were right, guess only when you are down to two options.
- If fewer than 25% were right, your guessing loses marks. Use the fifth option more often until your accuracy improves.
Don't confuse the fifth option with leaving a question blank. In the 2023 and 2024 papers, the fifth option scored zero, while a completely blank question was penalised and counted towards the 10% disqualification limit. The exam pattern guide explains the rule.
Step 4: Compare subjects by net marks
Raw correct answers mislead. A subject where you got 15 right and 9 wrong (net 16.0) is weaker than one with 13 right and 1 wrong (net 16.9), even though the first looks better at a glance. Use the subject tab of your result and calculate net marks for each area, then compare them with the number of questions that area usually gets. History, polity and economy each bring 21–26 questions a paper, so a weakness there costs more than one in a 20-question area. Our previous-year analysis has the counts.
Worked example
A candidate scores 78 out of 150 on a mock (+1 / −1/3 scoring): 95 correct, 51 wrong and 4 fifth-option answers.
- On the 200 scale: 78 × 4/3 = 104. Check: 95 × 1.33 − 51 × 0.44 = 126.7 − 22.7 = 104.
- Accuracy: 95 ÷ 146 = 65%. Lost to negatives: 22.7 marks.
- Of the 51 wrong answers, the error log showed 14 misread, 21 failed eliminations, 12 not studied and 4 rushed at the end.
- The candidate had marked 40 answers as guesses, and only 12 of them were right (30%).
What this means: a 30% hit rate is barely above break-even, so these guesses gained almost nothing (12 × 1.33 − 28 × 0.44 ≈ +3.6). Guessing only on two-option cases might have kept most of that gain while removing much of the risk. The 14 misreads cost 14 × 1.78 ≈ 25 marks, the gap between a correct answer and a wrong one. That is more than any single subject's weakness, and it is fixed by reading habits, not by new study.
Step 5: Turn the analysis into a one-week plan
- Pick the two largest causes from Step 2 and the two weakest high-weight subjects from Step 4.
- Write the specific topics, not just the subjects. "Rajasthan sects and folk deities", not "history".
- Revise them for 5–7 days, then take the next full-length paper and compare the same four numbers.
- Keep the error log in one notebook. Before the exam, read only that log and your short notes.
Most candidates have time for only a few full-length mocks before 6 December, so each one is worth a careful 45-minute review. Start with the two free full-length mock tests. The result page gives subject-wise analysis and a full answer review, and you can download the result as a PDF for your log.