UPSC 2023 GS-IV · 10 marks · 150 words

'Emotional Intelligence is the ability to make your emotions work for you instead of against you.' Do you agree with this view? Discuss.

What “Discuss” demands

present several distinct facets of the issue and connect them into an argument, giving the competing views real weight rather than one line each.

The characteristic failure: a list of points with no argument running through them.

What a top answer must contain

These are the checkable specifics from the marking standard for this question — the actual case, committee, datum or thinker, not an instruction to “give examples”.

  • Goleman's five: self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, social skill — map each to 'working for you'
  • Administrative illustrations: crowd-control officer reading anger before force; empathetic grievance handling converting hostility
  • The 'against you' half: unregulated emotion → decision capture (anger in punishment, fear in risk-aversion)
  • Agree with a caveat: EI instrumentalised without ethics becomes manipulation — EI needs a moral compass (Aristotle's right emotion, right amount, right time)

The band thresholds and the pre-scored sample answers behind this standard stay private — they are the calibration your copy is placed against.

Now write it, and find out what you actually scored

Attempt this question — typed or photographed — and it is marked against the standard above in under a minute: six parameter scores, a blunt verdict, and the points you missed. 50 free credits on signup, no card.

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