Prologue
There are lot of tips scattered in various articles, but for a new person it is sometimes hard to follow what is going on here.
So this is my attempt to combine and consolidate everything onto five part series on prelims cum mains cum interview approach for General Studies for UPSC Civil Service Exam.
If you‟re following this site for many months, you will find repetition of ideas and tips in this article, so apologies in advance for any boredom caused.
War on Terrorism UPSC, consists of three battles
1. Prelims (CSAT) Multi choice questions (MCQs)
2. Mains Descriptive-essay type questions
3. interview –
This strategy is divided into five articles, click on the appropriate links:
Topics discussed Article link
1. In Act I, We shall try to understand the mindset of our Blood Enemy (UPSC) Discussed in this article itself.
2. In Act II: The weapons required to defeat him. (Booklist, art of Note making, How to
use Yojana,Kurukshetra etc) Click ME
3. In Act III: We shall see how to effectively use those weapons and wage the
war(Topicwise strategy for General Studies Prelims, Mains) Click ME
4. In Act IV: How to conquer your own brain, before conquering UPSC (cleansing the
doubts of coaching classes, working professionals, Hindi Medium etc) Click ME
5. In Act V: We shall see how to retreat from the war, if victory is not achieved.
(Career Backup plans) Click ME
6. 6th PArt (updated on March 2013): This is latest update in the strategy, with respect
to, new modification introduced in UPSC 2013. Click ME
Act I: Mindset of the Enemy
We can classify Bollywood movies into eras- tragedy ridden 50, musical 70s and so on.
To keep it simple, I would classify this into two phases
90s era Back breakingTM era
Timeline Everything upto 2009 2010, 2011, 2012…continued
Prelims Main areas
1. History 2. Geography 3. Current Affairs 1. Environment 2. Science 3. History/Polity Weapons Older NCERTs Std.Ref Books Competitive Magazines New NCERT Std.Ref Books Newspapers
Mains Main areas
History Geography Polity Diplomacy Diplomacy Yearbook Environment Sci-Tech
Weapons 1. Standard Reference books 2. Coaching class notes Mostly Newspapers, your own notes.
So how was the 90s era?
Most people did not have internet or computer. Internet was prohibitively expensive. Even cybercafés were hard to find. There was hardly any information on internet, about how to prepare for this exam.
And whether information/booklist was available was mostly jingoistic and impractical in nature. (will be discussed in Act II “List of Not recommended Books”)
Those who could afford to goto Delhi for coaching, had distinct advantage over others. Because they knew what to prepare, from where to prepare and what to skip. (Nowadays situation has drastically changed).
in those days, Prelims had two papers
a. General Studies (150 marks) b. Optional Subject (300 marks)
There existed a proportional representation system rule. Crudely speaking it means
Suppose 2 lakh students appeared in prelims and 20,000 had History optional. (10%)
And UPSC wanted only pass 10,000 students for next stage –mains exam. In that case, UPSC would need to reserve 1000 seats for candidates with history optional. (10%)
Prelims GS By and large the structure for prelims was like following
1. There would be about 20 questions on History. You had to Mugup old NCERT + any coaching notes regarding location of Harappa sites and other boring trivial things.
2. There would be 30-40 questions on Geography (including places in news): so you had to prepare old NCERTs + competitive magazines + TheHindu accordingly.
3. About 40 questions on science: NCERT + GS manual.
4. Prelims GS questions used to be current affairs heavy : Almost 40 questions on persons/places in news, books-authors, sports, awards, science-tech etc. so competitive magazines (chronicle wizard etc) and coaching class material on current affairs compilation were precious.
5. Remaining was filled up with polity, aptitude etc questions to make a paper with total 150 questions.
Prelims Optional
Let‟s consider the case of Public Administration. The topicwise breakup was pretty much identical every year. Basically you had to mugup following books religiously and you would clear the prelims (even without coaching or great command over GS).
a. M.Laxmikanth‟s book on Public Administration b. Prasad and Prasad
c. Mohit Bhattacharya
d. Sharma n Sadana (or Avasthi or Fadia)
But in those years, if you lived in a small town, there was no internet and nobody to tell you those books were important. So you had to join a coaching class in Delhi, just to figure out the damn booklist (or worst- fail in first attempt and learn from mistakes).
Overall, The nature of prelims questions was such that you‟d need to mugup lot of data on solar planets, PSLV missions, metal-alloys, location of Harappan sites, winners of lawn tennis, Shanti-Swaroop Bhatnagar awardees and other boring things like that.
Same for your optional subjects. (for Public Administration you had to mugup quotes-who said what, books and authors, timelines etc.
Because of the proportional representation rule, in the preliminary exam you were only competing with the people from your optional subject group.
And thus Senior player had distinct advantage over first timers. Because optionals were worth 300 mark, and he had rock solid command over facts because of revision.
The victory rule was straight arithmetic:
If Someone revised above cited Public Administration books for 15-20 times (I‟m not kidding) then he was riding a Tata Sumo @90 kmph.
If a newguy had barely read them 5 times, so he was riding a desi Atlas bicycle (used by postmen,). Now imagine what would happen if these two clashed?
Same was the situation in General studies paper.
And as I told earlier, there was no internet or awareness outside Delhi. So most of the “small-town, self-preparation-no coaching and self-preparation-no relative in civil service” type candidates would fail in their first attempt, because
a. they did not have idea on what to prepare, what to skip.
b. They could not memorize as much as a senior player did, because of timelimit.
So they‟d fail in first attempt, learn from their mistakes, and clear prelims in second attempt (i.e. when they too become senior players). But then they might fail in mains exam for the same reason (lack of right direction), so they‟d again rectify mistakes in third attempt and with God and goodluck willing, they‟d get selected. Ofcourse there were exceptional cases, but by and large, this was the situation and hence there exists a perception in the society that
1. You cannot clear IAS exam on first trial.
But that was the 90s. Things have changed now. Many toppers have defied above rules. Cleared the UPSC on first attempt: Shah Faisal, Karthik Iyer, Neeraj Singh, Mohd.Safi to name a few.
Anyways let us continue discussion on 90s era- moving to the Mains
Mains: 90s Era
General studies (mains) of 90s Era
Questions often rephrased and repeated, so if a coaching class sir dictated the answers for previous papers / or provided notes, then all you had to do was religiously mug it up and reproduce the same in your answer sheets.
History
a. 3 books of Spectrum: Modern History, Freedom fighters and Culture b. Bipin Chandra
In those years, UPSC would ask 2 markers on freedom fighters (total 10-12 marks) every year. So you had to mupup 150+freedom fighters from Spectrum‟s book + coaching material if any. Again, senior player had distinct advantage because he would have gone through the same data atleast 5 times. He can easily recall freedom fighters compared to a new guy.
Indian Geography
Again questions were repeated and rephrased for example
“explain monsoon mechanism in India” and “why xyz part receives less monsoon” etc.
So a coaching class sir would just need to consolidate good stuff given in Spectrum book/Majid Hussain /Dr.Khullar‟s book and provide question answers for old papers. That‟d be his “coaching class readymade material” and you did not even need a book, just mugup those class notes, and you‟d get full marks.
Polity
1. Sometimes directly lifted statements on DD Basu, other times merely rephrasing old question. 2. Again same as above, coaching notes would save the time and effort.
International affairs, Economy
1. You had to just mugup V******‟s material and whatever was dictated in the class. 2. Statistics was also pretty easy and conventional.
3. There were clichéd questions on computers every year like write a note on RAM or email. 4. Same for science-tech.
5. And whatever Misc. current affairs was left, you could rely on Wizard‟s special book on mains current affairs + Hindu.
Optional papers: 90s era
I‟ve already talked about that in the Public Administration strategy article. Anyways the success formula was Re-mugup the same books you used for prelims.
Get some fodder material from Yojana Kurukshetra. (or Readymade notes of H******** S**** etc.) and use it elaborate or spice up the answers with so called „case studies‟.
Questions were static, direct from the SRBs, repeated, rephrased. coaching sir would dictate the answers, Class notes would save the day.
Similar things for History, geography, psychology etc.
Literature optionals: 90s era
In the GS and Public Administration, UPSC atleast showed the decency to rephrase the question while repeating it next year.
but for literature was so totally clichéd, even Saas Bahu serials look genuine.
If you just studied the last 10 years paper, you could set your own guess-paper for the fourth year and upsc‟s actual paper would 90% similar to your guess paper!
For Pali or Maithali litt. All you had to do was join a coaching class or get some Arts professor to dictate you the answers of last 10 years‟ papers. That‟s all, mug it up and you‟d get more that 300/600 marks (+ scaling system favored litt.optionals)
In short, first timer/no-coaching type player had almost 0% chance of getting decent marks in mains.
And among the senior players, if Senior Player A and Senior player B. Both had revised notes for 20 times. Who would be successful?
Well, questions like I said rephrased repeated every year. Mains Questions are of two types: analytical or direct.
1. For analytical questions (Critically analyse India‟s policy towards Afghanistan), you had ready-made notes dictated by coaching class sir, you just needed to recall and write the points. And Suppose Mr.A solely relied on that note while Mr.B upgraded his note further with fodder material from library book or retired professor or newspapers, then Mr.B would get more marks. Therefore quality of notes =important. 2. For direct questions (like powers of the Pres of India or explain the budget making process)….in that case
whoever could write more points (Mr.A or B) would get more marks. Therefore memorization skill=important.
The Back-breakingTM era (2010 onwards)
So far we saw that in 90s era, A small town candidate without coaching or tips from seniors/toppers/IAS relatives, could rarely succeed.
And By small town I mean every place except Delhi. (Same way for IIT entrance exam, everyplace except Kota, Rajsthan, is a small town.)
Anyways, suddenly UPSC wakes up and realizes the problems faced by first timers and small towners. So UPSC starts taking certain reformative measures in the exam process to prevent coaching classes and
senior players for gaining much advantage.
This is phenomenon is referred as BackbreakingTM move of UPSC.
The exams conducted in 2010, 2011, and 2012 are examples of that move. Now let‟s try to understand what was changed during this era?
BackbreakingTM era: Prelims
1. UPSC removed Optional subjects were from preliminary exam (2011 and onwards) it introduced a new thing called Civil Service Aptitude Test (CSAT). It had two papers GS+Aptitude. Both papers have same marks. So there goes the advantages associated with proportional representation, 300 marks of optional subject MCQ paper.
2. Even in Aptitude, from 2012 It reduced questions from conventional Maths: to prevent Engineers/IIT/MBA types from gaining advantage.
3. UPSC introduced new topics in the syllabus such as environment and biodiversity, rights issue. 4. In GS prelims, it stopped asking trivial current affairs stuff (person/places in news, awards etc.) for
Which of the following organization won the CSIR award for S&T innovation for rural Development, 2006?
a. CLRI b. NDDB c. IARI d. NDRI
Which city has been the venue of Asian Games for maximum number of times from 1951 to 2006?
a. Delhi b. Tokyo c. Bangkok d. Beijing
Match the following
1. Bhanu Bharti 2. Mike Pandey 3. Mohd.Zahur Khyyam 4. Vinda Karandikar 1. Music composer 2. Poet 3. Theatre director 4. Wildlife film maker
To solve such questions you had to constantly follow current affairs magazines (or the readymade current affairs notes of coaching class). But Nowadays such questions don‟t appear much in prelims exam.
5. UPSC changed the nature of questions from History and Science. For example here are few from 1999‟s paper Q1. Match Following 1. 1775 2. 1780 3. 1824 4. 1838 a. 1st Anglo-Burmese war b. 1st Anglo-Afghan war c. 1st Anglo-Maratha war d. 2nd Anglo-Mysore
Q2. Volcanic eruptions donot occur in
a. Baltic Sea b. Black Sea c. Caspian Sea d. Caribbean Sea
Thankfully UPSC stopped asking such questions nowadays. So you don‟t have to mugup a lot of data like in the 90s.
For Prelims, Nowadays most of the questions are 4 Statement True or False (4TF) type. So you‟re given one term/phenomenon and 2 or 3 or 4 statements. Your task is to identify the correct statements. Ofcourse it does require memorization, but they more aimed at checking your basic understanding of a topic rather than your mugup skills (like in above questions from the 90s) for example here are some questions from 2012‟s paper
a. Round table conference failed to satisfy Indian political aspirations b. Congress and muslims league had differences of opinion
c. Ramsay macdonald announced the communal award
d. None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct in this context.
Q2. Consider these factors
1. Rotation of the earth 2. Air pressure of wind 3. Density of ocean water 4. Revolution of the earth
Which of the above factors influence the ocean currents?
1. 1 & 2 only 2. 1, 2 & 3 3. 1 & 4 4. 2, 3 & 4
To get more idea on this, read following analysis of 2012‟s CSAT (preliminary) paper CLICK ME BackbreakingTM era: Mains (General Studies)
For mains exan, UPSC stopped asking conventional direct stuff from History, Geography Instead emphasis was given to public health, environment, sci-tech, yearbook and current affairs from newspapers.
To get more idea on this, read following analysis of 2012‟s General Studies (Mains) paper click ME Adaptation
And while writing all ^this, I donot mean even an ounce of disrespect to any senior player or his success. No one becomes senior player by his conscious choice, everyone wants to clear UPSC in first attempt- But things don‟t turn out that way for many, So, he is a victim of circumstances created by the (supervillain) UPSC. And life and society is very cruel to him, as you‟ll see in Act IV and V.
Initially UPSC had the upper hand in this war. When UPSC significantly changed the question style in 2010′s preliminary paper, most senior players were shocked and caught unguarded. But UPSC can‟t trick them everytime. They‟re fighting for their life and career. In 2011, 2012 they changed their preparation strategy accordingly and adapted to this uncertain environment. So question papers are not as „shocker‟ for them as UPSC expects.
Similarly coaching classes have been trying to adapt. UPSC keeps an eye on all the study material released by prominent coaching classes of delhi, to make sure no questions are asked from such material. So coaching classes too have came up with new ideas, for example
1. Nowadays „good stuff/ ultra-important topics‟ are not given in their printed study material but mostly dictated during the lecture. (Because printed material usually get pirated by Xerox centres of Delhi hahaha) 2. They intentionally released their current affairs material very late (just 15-20 days before the exam) to
prevent UPSC from changing the papers.
This is like a game of chess, you have to constantly keep moving your pawns and adapt to the moves made by the enemy, same way UPSC too keeps coming up with new ideas and new back breakingTM moves every year.
In the end, competition is tough and exam is not friendly to anyside, anymore, whether you‟re a coaching/no-coaching/first timer/senior player…you too should adapt and study hard else you‟ll get massacred like an innocent bystander in the action movies.
Act II: Weapons of Mass Destruction You need five set of weapons
1. Standard Reference books (SRB)
2. Newspaper (The Hindu/Indianexpress only) 3. Magazines
4. Internet
5. Your own notes (assembled using the parts of above four weapons)
These weapons provide fire two types of ammunition
1. Facts: features of Government scheme, powers of President, reasons for the spread of disease, some physics concept responsible for mechanism of xyz instrument.
2. Fodder: if UPSC examiner was a buffalo, how would you please him? Ofcourse by throwing some grass fodder at him. Fodder is required mostly @Mains, Essay and interview. Pros and cons of a Government scheme / policy, reasons –suggestions-analysis of xyz socio-economic-environmental problem= these are some examples of fodder.
Postal study material and readymade coaching notes = Desi country made weapons (katta and Tamanchaa), most of the time they misfire or don‟t fire when you pull the trigger.
So you should not over-rely on such Desi-weapons.
Now let‟s see how to effectively utilize these weapons. In reverse order Weapon#5: Your Own notes Q. Why notes making = important?
Well the same reason why practicing math sums is important for CAT exam= To succeed.
1. Syllabus of UPSC exam is extremely large. Even if you‟re done with the core/static theory portion, the new current affairs keep piling every day.
2. Today, if you understand a topic from xyz book, magazine, newspaper or website but cannot recall it in the exam hall after five months, then whole exercise is useless.
3. If you‟re not processing and consolidating information in compact notes form, then on the night before exam you‟ll have so many heaps of books, newspapers and magazines that could fill up a small loading rickshaw! You‟ll be under extreme stress and frustration on what to read and what to skip?
Types of Notes #1: Notes on Margin
Basically you highlight important lines in a book and then write some important summery/keywords/phrases on the margins of every book page.
Works well for NCERTs, GS Manuals, M.Laxmikanth, Bipin Chandra and so on.
doesn‟t work well, if you‟re supposed to prepare a topic after consolidating information from multiple sources. (Indo-US relations for example)
Doesn‟t work well, if it is a secondary reference book. (i.e. some xyz book from library, wasn‟t written for IAS exam but got some good facts/fodder in one or two chapters). In that case, ideal way was to write a separate handwritten summery note.
#2: Handwritten Notes Made from Newspapers, standard reference books, magazines, websites.
How to make notes out of newspapers, is already explained in a separate article CLICK ME
1. When you make notes, please be conscious that you‟re not doing it with a „90s‟ mindset: i.e. too much dates, names and numbers.
2. If you can remember something as such then no need to incorporate such data in your note. For example “India got independence on 15th
August 1947”=don‟t write.
3. You don‟t have to copy the sentences verbatim. Because that is identical to making a photocopy! Just write keywords and phrases, avoid writing full sentences. Write full sentence, only if it some extremely
important quote / fodder statement.
4. Notes need not be grammatically correct or pure chaste politically correct diplomatic language. You can mix up Hindi with English, proverbs, slangs, profanity, filmy dialogues even to the point of obscenity …. whatever makes it easy to revise and recall the information. Keep in mind you‟re not making notes to impress someone, you‟re making notes for quick revision.
#3: Computer Notes and Mindmaps
If you‟re reading papercopy of a book, newspaper or magazine, it is easy to make handwritten notes simultaneously. But if you‟re reading something on internet or PDF file, it may not be convenient.
Example softwares:
To organize notes/data To create mindmaps
1. Evernote
2. Microsoft Onenote 2007/2010/2013
3. Traditional Microsoft Word, Powerpoint, Excel.
1. Freemind
2. Mindjet Mindmanager
There is no one size fits for all. In certain topics, Mindmapping would be useful,
but in some topics a simple Excel datasheet would work just fine (for example list of persons in news or Science tech 2 markers.)
I had created an Auto-notemaker computer script, basically it helps you copy phrases from pdf files and websites. CLICK ME (works perfect on WinXP, not so well on Win7)
In the mains exam, question papers are quite lengthy. Handwriting speed matters. Therefore donot maintain only computer notes. Also make handwritten notes as and where required. That‟d indirectly help you improve writing speed.
#4: Readymade Notes A) Notes of Toppers
You can find notes of previous years‟ toppers (Om Kasera, Neeraj Singh, Kshitij Tyagi) in the download section of www.Mrunal.org/download
Such notes give you inspiration and indirect hints on “the Art of notes making.“ You will find some good facts and fodder in such notes.
However, Notes of toppers should not be your first line of defense or primary weapons because,
1. if he could memorize xyz thing without notes, he wouldn‟t have incorporated such data in his notes. 2. In many places he‟d have written sentences, that would make limited sense to you (but they‟d help him
3. He may have skipped some topics or chapters because he did not find them exam-worthy.
B) Readymade Coaching class notes and Material It can be of two types
1. Static = dealing with theoretical part of GS or optionals (History, Geography, literature etc.) 2. Current affairs
As we saw in Act I, the Static notes of coaching classes, lost their significance under UPSC‟s BackbreakingTMMove.
Regarding the current affairs notes= nowadays the „famous‟ classes intentionally delay the release of current affairs books/notes- to prevent UPSC spies from changing the question paper.
So, in the coming years, you‟ll find such material flooding in streets, just 15-20 days before the exam. Consider this situation
1. Suppose Ajay Devgan exercised for 2 hours per day for 90 days continuously and transformed into a “muscle man” for his movie Singham.
2. Therefore if you exercise 12 hours a day for 15 days, you‟ll get the same muscular body. Is it possible?
Why not? 90×2=180 and 12×15 is also 180!
Even If you take steroids, this is not possible. Same goes with the short cuts and quick fix solutions.
It doesn‟t require an Einstein to release “readymade” current affair notes. Just hire a retired player of UPSC, ask him to follow Hindu for year, copy paste data, produce a booklet and charge anything between Rs.3000 to Rs.10000 depending on your coaching class‟s name and reputation in the masses.
If a sincere player is doing his own notes since many months, he may quickly scan through such notes to fillup any missing data to upgrade his own personal notes.
But then again, sincere players would usually find their own notes more adequate and well organized than such garbage that floods the street 15 days before the exam.
But if a candidate had not been preparing current affairs on his own, then he‟d end up spending last 15 days just reading, digesting and processing the data, There will be no time left to revise any other topics.
Therefore,
1. Maintain your current affairs notes, Don‟t look for shortcuts.
2. If you get some good coaching note, use it to upgrade your own notes.
3. If you donot have coaching notes- don‟t feel guilty or inferior. There are plenty of toppers who made it without using such material.
Now let‟s move to inspect the next weapon.
Weapon #4: Internet
Internet is required for “Follow up Action” on particular topic of current affairs.
For example there is some climate change summit going on. Newspaper only mentions the highlight but not enough content to write 120 words answer then you‟d need to use google.
Similarly, to find out the timeline/background of a topic, you‟ll need to google. You‟ll need to visit official sites of various ministry
You‟ll need to keep an eye on pib.nic.in
You‟ll need to download IGNOU pdfs from egyankosh.ac.in as per your requirements. You‟ll need it to access TheHindu.
But as usual, you should digest, process and make note out of it. Otherwise merely saving 10 articles per day in your harddisk = won‟t help you.
Over-reliance on internet= Bad
You use internet for accessing Hindu/other newspapers and gather current affairs = well and good.
But don‟t just keep random surfing internet for your preparation (especially prelims). Because likelihood of getting question from some random internet article of Wikipedia or newspaper in UPSC = very less. Why? Because UPSC has to keep in mind the candidates from small towns and villages, who may not have 24/7 internet access. So many questions come from „static‟ theory part- NCERTs, other Standard reference books, to give them level playing field- particularly @the preliminary level.
Initially you‟ll feel enthusiastic about doing google-research, but after 15-20 days, you‟ll lose the tempo and start feeling nervous thinking “I can never complete the syllabus”
Ofcourse you can search internet for further explanation of a topic. But UPSC exam is not made up of one particular topic alone. It is a mixture of everything. So don‟t overdo anything. for example digging Sci-Tech, folk dances etc. day and night.
Weapons #3: Magazines A) Yojana and Kurukshetra They are released by the Government.
Yojana deals with socio-economic issues, poverty, water sanitation, women empowerment etc. Kurukshetra deals mainly with rural Development.
Both are important for UPSC, because they provide fodder material.
Every article in those two magazines, follows more or less the same structure that is
1. Initially it‟ll describe an issue or problem, give you some data. 2. It‟ll list the Government scheme / project and their salient features
3. Thant it‟ll give you data and charts on State wise money allotment and achievements. 4. Sometimes it‟ll give reasons why targets are not achieved.
5. Ultimately, some over-glorified success story of xyz NGO or Self Help group.
For us, point number 1,2 and 4 are important.
If Yojana magazine issue has 75 pages, you can summarize the fodder material in less than 5 page note, just containing keywords and phrases. So do it, highly recommended, will help you particularly for descriptive question (mains and essay).
It is said that Kurukshetra is important for candidates with Public Administration optional only. My opinion is Kurukshetra is important for everyone irrespective of optional subject – given the current trend of UPSC asking yearbook, socio-economic Development type questions.
How to subscribe to Yojana and Kurukshetra? Although you can download the free PDF files from their official website, here is the link
http://yojana.gov.in/CMS/Default.aspx but I would suggest subscribe for paper-copy.
Reason: Each magazine cost Rs.100 subscription per year = not very expensive. + Reading on computer screen for long time= not good for eyes.
Goto post office, buy following things
2. One envelop worth Rs.5 (it already has postal stamp.)
On Each IPO, write “Director, Publication Division, Ministry of Info. & Broadcasting, New Delhi” Now prepare two paper chits/letters: One for Yojana and One for Kurukshetra.
1. Your Name and Address:
2. Subscription: Yojana/Kurukshetra for 1 year
3. Language of magazine: English/Hindi/Gujarati/ whatever language. 4. IPO number:
Now staple each letter with each IPO. Slip it into that Envelop.
On the Envelop, write following address and mail it. Business Manager,
Publication Division, East Block, Level-VII, RK Puram, New Delhi-110066
B) CST, PD, Chronicle, Wizard CST = Civil Service Times
PD= Pratiyogita Darpan
These magazines provide you information on current affairs, truckload of coaching class advertisements on every second page and useless clichéd topper interviews.
In the 90s era, magazines were important because preliminary exam used to be current affairs heavy (sports, awards, places and persons in news etc). Nowadays not so much.
Besides, the level of current affairs questions in the mains examination, requires that you follow the newspapers rather these magazines. However magazines still have some utilities because
1. Helps you fill up the gap in your notes. e.g. if some topic was not covered in newspaper, or in case you missed noticing some important development.
2. Saves you the trouble of following sports related News everyday.
But keep in mind the magazine publishers cover the news-item is still from the 90s mindset. They throw just way too much names,dates and numbers at you. So it‟d be better if you just noted down keywords in separate diary (especially for science-tech part) e.g. We are not interested in knowing the exact height and weigh of satellite, we only need to know its function or use.
Each magazine has following structure
1. National affairs 2. International affairs 3. Science-tech 4. Economy
5. Persons and Places in news
6. Some “filler” articles for the sake of filling pages, because they couldnot find more coaching class ad sponsers..
7. Usually doctored and ghost written topper interviews
For you section 1 to 4 are important. Rest depending on your time and mood. Don‟t pay much attention on what topper is saying (or recommending) in the magazine interviews, because mostly they‟re doctored and ghostwritten interviews. Read following blogs by IAS officers and you‟ll understand what I‟m saying:
1. Supreet Singh Gulati (IAS, AIR-2/CSE-2007, Punjab Cadre): click ME 2. Gokul GR (IAS, AIR-19/CSE-2010, Kerala Cadre): Click ME
Marketing Propaganda From January to May= Diwali time for competitive magazines. They come up with issues with attractive covers for example
1. “Complete geography in 15 days” 2. “Entire coverage of Biodiversity” 3. 1000 questions on current affairs!
The new player would ditch his books and start mugging up data given in such magazines. Nothing really comes in the exam and he suffers. So don‟t make that mistake. Your Primary weapons = Standard Reference
Books+newspapers+your own notes.
All these readymade things are secondary. These are only the supplements, not the substitutes.
Which competitive magazine to use? Use any one of following.
Civil Service Times (CST):
Recommended, if you sole aim is UPSC exam alone.
Wizard, Chronicle= well I feel they lost the shine. Their target audience is only UPSC aspirants and in that genre, Civil Service Times is doing better job- coverage of International relations and Science-tech is good.
It doesn‟t mean, Wizard and Chronicle are bad. Use whatever tools you can find / afford.
Pratiyogita Darpan
Recommended, if you‟re simultaneously preparing for UPSC as well as Bank PO, SSC, State PSC type of jobs.
Because PD also provides you with material and question papers of those exams. Pratiyogita Darpan can be read online for free, using their official website. Click ME
If money is the problem, then no need to buy, visit local Government library.
Timeframe for current affairs? Question: From which month to which month, should I cover current affairs?
If you‟re appearing in the year 2013, you should prepare current affairs from minimum Jan 2012. (it doesn‟t mean UPSC won‟t ask you some topic that happened in 2011 or from 2007, because UPSC is the baddest thug you‟ll find in this part of South East Asia.)
Anyways, the ideal and plausible “current affairs” time frame = start from one year i.e. Jan 2012. Finish upto that part, then worry about 2011.
If you‟ve started preparation from Nov 2012, then I hope from November onwards you‟d religiously follow newspapers and maintain notes (if you don‟t want to dig up your grave) but what about the stuff that already happened? i.e. what to do for the current affairs from Jan 2012 to Nov 2012?
Go through the competitive magazine issues of those month Ya but Where to find the old magazines?
A. local library
B. For Pratiyogita Darpan – their official website. Same advice for Yojana, Kurukshetra.
Okay now assuming that you have covered up to January 2012. But about few years back? For Jan 2011 to Dec 2011 = www.competitionmaster.com
For 2001 to Dec 2010 = http://www.hindu.com/revents/events.htm
of that Hindu diary of events.
Reason: there have been some landmark events for example Bt-Brinjal, Iraq and Afghanistan war, 9/11, 26/11, sub-prime crisis, Indo US nuclear deal, Tsunami, Right to education Act, women reservation bill, Law Commission, Justice Sacchar Committee, controversy regarding office of profit..…. And so on.
Many such topics would continue haunting you indirectly and implicitly in the mains, essay and interview. So better have some idea about them.
Do I need to follow more than one Competitive Magazine? Any One magazine is sufficient. More than one magazine = overlapping and overkill.
Ofcourse there would be some xyz science-tech term which was given in PD but not in CST, then What to do? Well in war, there is always some casualty. If you start worrying so much, you cannot prepare. One competitive magazine (combined with one newspaper) should do the trick.
If after you‟re done with core syllabus, notes making and everything…you may visit local library to upgrade your notes. But “now” is not the right time. All those things are “secondary.”
Frontline, EPW, The Economist, Outlook etc
They provide fodder material for essay, interview. These are all “secondary reference”. Frontline can also be downloaded for free (goto Mrunal.org/download)
Who should refer secondary reference?
1. Player with decent command over core GS, Yearbook, Polity, current affairs and he‟s already done with the syllabus and notes on opt. subject (if optional subjects are kept in UPSC exam)
2. Someone who has appeared in mains and right now waiting for the interview call. He should visit local library, go through as many issues as he can- to build up his knowledge for interviews.
In short, these “secondary” things are made for Level 3 player. Who is this level 3 player? click ME for the answer But If you‟re yet to become master of level2, then there is no point in indulge in these things at the
moment. First finish your core syllabus, revise it multiple times and get good grip over the conventional General Studies.
Often the “Ideal strategy” is not the plausible strategy. Use your head, know your strengths, limits, time available to you and proceed accordingly.
Besides in UPSC lot of questions come from standard reference books and newspapers so they should be your primary weapons.
So far we discussed weapon #5- notes, Weapon #4- internet, Weapon #3- magazines. Now time to examine
Weapon #2: The Newspapers 1. Why newspapers are important,
2. How to read them effectively without wasting 3-4 hours a day? 3. How to make notes out of newspapers?
…all that already explained in a previous article: click ME
How to read The Hindu online, using Google Reader, already explained= Click ME
What is NCERTs?
In India we have three school boards
1. CBSE 2. ICSE
3. State Education boards
NCERT= the textbooks used by CBSE students.
They‟re are available in both Hindi and English
They can be downloaded for free, download links are given at the bottom of this article. But if you can afford, then go ahead and buy them from market.
NCERTs are important because many questions in the preliminary exam, are directly or indirectly asked from them – History, geography, science, economics. ICSE text-books are also good for preparation (particularly for Geography segment), but they‟re expensive and not readily available in market. So just go for NCERTs.
If you‟re appearing for State PSC exams, then use NCERTs and also Use State Education Board textbooks (History, Geography, Social Science) to get the GS/GK specific to that xyz State.
What is this “Older” NCERTs?
1. They are old black-and-white editions, contain truckload of facts, names, dates and numbers on history, science and geography – were important during 90s era…question on this alloy and that chemical, world geography, ancient history etc. But now The nature of questions has changed.
Newer/Younger NCERTs
The colourful new editions, they‟re not bloated with names, dates, numbers and other boring stuff. They are designed with main objective of explaining the underlying concept/principle of topic without
boring the hell out of a reader.
So, they are quite good for preparing under the BackbreakingTM regime of UPSC.
some topics were better covered in the older NCERTs for example World geography and History- particularly the Colonization and economic angles to it.
For that reason- some coaching sirs and senior players advice “older NCERT”.
Personally i feel, one is not going to suffer from any competitive disadvantage, if he has not read the older NCERT books. because the question style has changed. + whatever „facts‟ were present in older NCERTs and absent in New NCERT= they‟re usually covered in GS Manual.
Besides, UPSC too understands that older NCERTs are rarely available outside Delhi and some guy from small town or village cannot easily access them. (recall BackbreakingTM principle)
So if you can get your hands on older NCERT, read them, else there is no need to lose your sleep or burn your blood over this issue.
In either case, if you‟re going to read NCERT just one or two times very lightly for namesake formality, then it won‟t help you. Revise often, and take NCERTs seriously.
List of *NOT* recommended booklist
Taking inspiration from Mrinalini Sarabhai (again), I give you a list of *Not recommended books*,
1. Physical Geography by Goh Che Leong
90s are over. Nature of question changed. NCERT+GS Manual =sufficient for physical geography.
2. Anatomy & Physiology for Nurses
Courses, Evelyn Pearce NCERT+GS Manual = more than sufficient to cover human body/biology.For First Aid, there is better PDF on IGNOU. (click ME)
3. Know your body: Reader‟s Digest
4. General Principles of World Geography: Charles Farro
Lolz. Hardly any question on World geography, in last three years. NCERT+GS Manual will do the trick.
5. Monsoon Asia: Charles Farro No need for Ph.DMonsoon question is so clichéd, 90s and repeated, unlikely to reappear even in mains under the BackbreakingTM era.
6. A Brief History of Nearly Everything: Bill Bryson
Good read for time pass, if you‟ve free time.Problem is- there is no free time.
7. Fundamentals of Statistics by SC Gupta
This is used for M.Sc courses.NCERT + Spectrum‟s Book on Statistics =good enogh.
Besides Spectrum also contains solved Stat sums from GS papers from 1979 upto 2011.
8. Mishra Puri
These are meant for Economics (Optional subject) paper
II.NCERT+NOS+Ramesh Singh (TMH)= less boring, less pages, more exam oriented.
9. Dutt Sundaram
10. Uma Kapila
11. DD Basu
Laxmikanth is better organized and exam oriented. 12. MV Paylee
13. Subhash Kashyap
Yes you‟d find some fact/fodder from all ^such books, but time is a luxury you cannot afford, at best these all could come under “Secondary”, you may refer to them if and when you‟ve the time, but “now” is not the right time- first get a decent grip over core GS, yearbook and current affairs.
In case you wonder, if these books are not useful, then why would someone recommend them over internet? Ans.
1. They may have had their (limited) utility in 90s era. So the old sites recommended them and they‟re still on top of google search engine.
General Studies (GS) Manual
When it comes to Science, Geography or History: your first choice of Weapon= NCERTs. But at times some important concepts and principles are not covered fully in NCERTs. GS Manual bridges that gap + provides you truckload of mock questions to practice at home.
You can download the blank answersheets by clicking me, and use it to practice those mock questions. Yes you must practice mock question, because they train you against negative marking. (just like a Circus
lion is trained by whipping). Negative marking is a huge factor for success and failure @CSAT prelims. General Studies Manuals also contain lot of useless stuff for example chemical equations of
respiration/ATP cycles and truckload of breeds and species of cows and buffalos and names of States where they‟re found. Therefore, Not everything given in GS manual, is important from exam point of view (+it won‟t go in memory anyways). You‟ll see tips on how to effectively utilize GS Manual, in Act III. There are many publications involved in General Studies Manual. Tatamacgrawhill, Unique,
Spectrum,Pearson to name a few.
If you already have one, then no need to purchase new GS Manual. But If you are yet to purchase a GS Manual, then I would suggest go for Tata Machgrawhill General Studies Manual, particularly for its good coverage of Geography and Science segment and truckload of Mock Questions.
You can also buy a second hand/used GS Manual, there is no harm in it. Other standard reference books will be discussed in appropriate sections of next Act III. So, These are your weapons, but what about weapons of your enemy?
Weapons of UPSC It got 3 weapons
1. BackbreakingTM : already discussed.
2. R.T.I stonewalling (i.e. not divulging information via R.T.I or doing It only after the whole exam is over=1 year late) Hopefully CIC will resolve it.
3. Negative Marking (in prelims/CSAT)
Negative marking Plays huge factor in preliminary stage.
The answer choices are designed in such way that applying common sense or smart guessing or smart elimination= many a times you end up ticking wrong answer.
You‟ve to train your mind not to fall in that trap.
That‟s why practice all questions from GS Manual using blank answersheets and then check answers =your mind will be trained like a circus lion – not to touch „doubtful‟ questions.
Every year nature and difficulty of questions are different so donot force yourself into ticking more answers merely to cross an imaginary cutoff based on previous RTIs.
For example you‟ve ticked 60 questions accurately and there are 10 questions where you feel “50:50″ between two answer choices. But someone or something has brainwashed you into believing that one must tick 70 questions to clear prelims. So your mind starts playing tricks, makes you think that your „smart guesses‟ are correct and you get seduced into ticking those 10 questions. This usually leads into #Epicfail. Don‟t push your luck in prelims.
Cutoffs are not decided by the eminent sirs of Delhi, cutoffs are not decided by internet forums, cutoffs are decided by UPSC. So once prelims or mains are over, don‟t raise your blood-pressure by what they‟re predicting. Besides, your fate was already sealed the moment you submitted answersheet to the hall supervisor. Burning blood over cutoffs is not going to change your result.
Q. Should I join some (Expensive) mock test series of coaching class?
this issue. Following toppers cleared UPSC Civil Service exam without joining such mock tests. (list is not exhaustive.)
All India Rank (2011)
Harshika Singh 8
Om Kasera 17
Appendix: Download Links
These Zip files contain PDF files. All of them important for concept/fact based Multi choice questions on Science, History, Geography, Polity, Culture.
NCERTs (English)
Science Class 7 Download
Our Pasts Part 2 – Class 7 Download
Social and Political Life Part 2 – Class 7 Download
Our Environment Class 7 Download
Science Class 8 Download
Our Pasts Part 3 – Class 8 Download
Resource and Development Class 8 Download
Social and Political Life – Class 8 Download
Science Class 9 Download
Contemporary India Social Science for Class 9 Download
Economics for Class 9 Download
Science Class X Download
India and the Contemporary World 2 Class X Social Science Download
Democratic Politics Part 2 for Class X Social Science Download
Contemporary India Part 2 for Class X Social Science Download
Understanding Economic Development Class X Social Science Download
Fundamentals of Physical Geography Class 11 Download
India Physical Environment Geography Class 11 Download
Indian Economic Development Economics Class 11 Download
Themes in World History Class 11 Download
India People and Economy Class 12 Download
Introductory Microeconomics Class 12 Download
Macroeconomics Class 12 Download
Fundamentals of Human Geography Class 12 Download
Themes in India History 1 Class 12 Download
Themes in India History 2 Class 12 Download
Themes in India History 3 Class 12 Download
If it doesn‟t work visit (or you want Hindi version): http://www.ncert.nic.in/ncerts/textbook/textbook.htm You‟ll also find sociology and other ^subjects in this official NCERT link.
NOS/NIOS: Economy, Polity etc.
NIOS study Material
Economy, Environment n Biodiversity, Polity etc.
Many zip files on various subjects. Download as per your requirements. click ME
Blank Answersheets For practicing mock questions @home click ME
If it doesn‟t work visit (or for Hindi version) : http://www.nios.ac.in/online-course-material.aspx Act III: Waging the War
Loading Doze and Maintenance Doze You fall sick and doctor gives you medicine.
The initial doze is high : 2 tablets a day. (this is loading doze)
Take tablets, they kill some bactaria and get eliminated through urine. = symptoms are decreased. But if you stop taking drug, then ultimately bacteria population will rise again.
So doctor doesn‟t completely stop the medicine but reduces the doze, e.g. just 1 tablet a day. (this is maintenance doze)
Ya but how is ^this relevant for UPSC exam?
If you‟re already finished with the loading doze phase (e.g. core syllabus) then all you need is maintenance doze (revision). It leads to many positive effects
1. Now your „vision‟ expands. You can clearly see connections between topics and how they‟re important for exam or not.
2. Now you can allot more time for upgrading your notes with current affairs.
3. Now you can digup Government sites and internet for follow up action on various topics. 4. Now you can practice mock MCQs (prelims) or answer writing (mains)
Besides, finishing the core syllabus is also important for another reason:= career backup plan.
In case you fail in the IAS exam and If you‟re not a CA, Doctor or IITian, what will you do? Well, the backup plans would usually involve Bank PO, State PSC, SSC type jobs or doing PG/MBA.
Such exams are conducted throughout the year. Whatever you prepare general studies, will directly or indirectly help you in those exams.
But Here is the problem: most of them require some specific side preparation as well for example Bank, SSC, CAT would require Aptitude. Similarly for State PSC, you‟d have to learn the history and geography of Punjab, Maharashtra etc.
So, If your core syllabus of UPSC is not complete, then you will always be under stress on how to manage time between preparation of these exam and it will be like choosing between devil and the deep sea.
Therefore, sooner you finish loading doze, better it‟ll be for you. First of all complete the core/basic syllabus of following topics
Topic Why?
1. Economy
2. International relations newspaper columns.
3. Polity
4. Statistics
You will have to spend less time before the mains on this topic. So that many days or weeks could be utilized for preparing other topics of general studies/opt subjects (if opt.subjects are kept)
Statistics
UPDATE (March-08-2013): statistics no longer relevent as UPSC removed it from 2013. Economy
The core syllabus of economy consists of the following things
Theoretical economy
Basic Concepts and terminologies, GDP,GNP,PPP,IIP, inflation etc.
Indian economy (static portion)
LPG reforms.
Budget making process.
RBI monetary policy: Repo, Reverse Repo, CRR, SLR etc.
Source: Static portion of the economy
1. NCERT Class 10, 11, 12 (links @bottom of this article)
2. NOS Study material for Economy (links @bottom of this article) 3. Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (Tata Macgrawill Publication)
You have to move to the next level = current affairs related to Indian and world economy.
1. DTC, GST,WTO, IMF, World bank etc.
2. Various for committees formed by government and their recommendations: Kelkar, shunglu, Parekh etc.
3. Economic Survey and Budget 2013.
4. Eurozone crisis, American recession, dollar-rupee exchange etc.
Source: Current affairs on economy
1. Newspaper (The Hindu / Indianexpress / Economic Times) 2. Anyone competitive magazine.
4. Mrunal.org/economy
What is Economic Survey? And why is it important?
It is a report published on the official website of Finance Ministry (before General budget is announced). This report contains information on the present situation of Indian economy, various schemes of
Government and future approach required for the next year.
It has lot of boring and unimportant data tables but also contains good fodder material and exam-worthy information.
If you‟re subscribed to any competitive Magazine, you would usually find the highlights of economic survey in the subsequent issues of the magazine. Yet I would recommend you to go through the original economic survey report because magazines or newspapers only tend to cover the dramatic items. Whatever important details you find, make a note out of it.
Economy : Prelims/ MCQs
1. You are given a term and 4 explanations for that term. You have to identify the correct definition 2. You are given a problem (inflation or low IIP or currency depreciation) and 2-4 possible solutions, you
have identify the correct solution to fix the problem. (This can also be framed as assertion –reasoning type question)
3. You are given name of a committee and 2-4 recommendations. You to tick the correct recommendations. 4. Match the following: you are given name of some organizations on one side and functions performed by
organizations on the other side. You have to match them
5. Your given name of an organization SEBI/NABARD/CCI/RBI etc and four statements associated with them you have to find correct statements.
6. You are given name of some government scheme or policy or act related to economy and four statements associated with them. You have to find the correct statements
7. The trivial GK based questions e.g. names of businessmen/company, repo rate in particular month, establishment of particular organization etc. BUT they‟re are generally not appearing under “back breakingTM move”
In short, whenever you are preparing anything related to economy, think on those lines and try to frame the questions by yourself. Also solve the mock questions given in your GS Manual.
Economy : Mains In the 90s era, you could expect direct questions example
1. Difference between the functions of IMF and World Bank =10 marks 2. Explain the functions performed by RBI = 12 marks
3. Explain the budget making process=20 marks.
Such direct questions are very unlikely to appear in future mains. At most they may ask such things on two markers or five marker question.
The 12, 15, 20 marker economy-questions seems to be reserved for “critically examine/ Analysis” this and that type of questions.
You have to keep gathering fodder material from newspaper columns. For example
“Critically examine the issues involved in implementation of goods and services tax or Direct Tax code.” These topics will again gain momentum before and after the budget-2013.
Keep an eye on the newspaper columns, TV reports during that time and maintain notes.
So if you prepare the notes when the issue is still hot= best.
Sometimes issues are very complicated and require you to do research on Internet. If you can‟t do It immediately, then note down the title of topic in your “To-Do” list/diary.
Otherwise after two three weeks you‟ll forget it and get busy with some new important topic.
Then same question would appear in Mains/ Prelims and you will curse yourself “damn I should have done that topic, when I had the time”.
You may also visit www.egyankosh.ac.in and download the relevant PDF files from Economics section for selective study and fodder material.
International relations
Prelims: not part of syllabus. (ofcourse one or two random questions can come on world geography, Summits, Current Affairs)
But for mains, international relations/ diplomacy =extremely important. In Mains examination, The General Studies Paper II rests on four pillars
1. International relations 2. Economy
3. science tech 4. statistics
If any one pillar is weak, your building will collapse.
How to approach International Relations =Already explained in a separate article. Click ME
You also keep an eye on websites ministry of external affairs and ministry of overseas affairs.
Notes making = extremely important for international relations because usually you will not find direct answers in any single chapter or article. You‟ve to keep following news for months.
For example
1. In Xyz Month, suppose there is big protest / PIL regarding POSCO. Newspapers will cover it and you get say 3 fodder points. Note it down
2. After a few months, either S.Korea President comes to India or Mohan makes a trip there (Mohan usually makes foreign trips when there a new scandal at home, because then he is saved from answering the media or lets the “high command” cover up the problem hehehe.)
3. Anyways back to the topic…so when leaders make trip to each other‟s nation, they release a joint press statement. You‟ll usually find 5 fodder points in it. Note down.
4. After some months, China and S.Korea start fighting over some sea/land/island. Again newspaper columns start covering it and you get 3 more points.
Total you‟ve 3+5+3=11 points.
When they ask you about India-S.Korea relations, you can use those points to write a decent answer.
Polity
The question is how to effectively use Laxmikanth? For that, don‟t study the book in linear fashion (chapter 1,2,3,4…) Instead I suggest you move in following direction
1. First you read the chapter on President, Vice President and immediately move to the chapter on governor. Then read on Emergency provisions. 2. Read chapter on PM and cabinet, then move to CM and state council of
Ministers.
3. Chpater on “Parliamentary system” and then directly to parliament, but after budget topic is done pause this chapter and move to on CAG. Then come back and resume the chapter on parliament.
4. Once parliament is finished, move to State legislative assembly. 5. Same way Supreme Court and then High court, tribunals. 6. Attorney Gen =>Advocate General
7. UPSC =>State PSC
8. Finance Commission =>Planning Commission=>Nat.Development council
9. Now Centre State and Interstate relations.
10. Election Commission=> chapter on election, Anti-defection
11. All the National Commissions on Women, SC, ST,OBC, CVC, Lokpal and so on.
Once ^this is done. Move to
1. Citizenship, Fundamental rights, DPSP, duties. 2. Amendment of Constitution=> preamble 3. Jammu Kashmir => Scheduled and Tribal Areas. 4. UT, Panchayati Raj, municipalities
After ^this is done. Read whatever chapters are remaining.
Note: the short explanations given in appendix of every chapter= should be read.
Q. Should I make notes out of Laxmikanth?
M.Laxmikanth has the skill of writing book in a „note-format‟.
So whether it is his book on polity or on Public Administration, there is no need to maintain a special note out of his books.
Just highlight/underline important lines. Note down keywords on the margin. And keep revising it as many times as you can.
When you‟ve done enough revision, solve mock questions given at the end of his book (around 300). Then solve another 400 Mock Qs given in the GS manual. So total 700 questions practiced. Then UPSC MCQs on polity will not give you much trouble.
Anyways ^this is only the static polity.
What about the current affairs on Polity?
Women‟s reservation bill = explicitly polity topic.
But at times polity related current affairs and possible questions are subtly hidden in the current affairs. So be vigilant. For example, Nuke power plant issue would superficially appear as „environment/yearbook‟
but can be well asked from Centre-State relations point of view.
Supreme court‟s order on Ganga/Yamuna clearing would appear as “environment” topic but can be asked under Centre-State‟s responsibilities in water Management also.
Same goes for 2G scam, mining scams and so on. (Judicial Activism, Seperation of power, CAG Activism and so on)
Sources for current affairs
1. Newspaper 2. Prsindia.org 3. Mrunal.org/polity
–So far we have seen how to approach International affairs, Economy and Polity. You should finish their core syllabus first, in order to fully digest the newspaper items.
Now moving to the other topics of syllabus.
History (GS/CSAT)
For prelims (CSAT General Studies Paper I), History is subdivided into three segments
Ancient Harappa, Vedic Age, Buddha, Mahavir, Gupta,Maurya Kingdoms etc.
Medieval Delhi Sultanate, Vijaynagar, Mughals etc.
Modern British Raj. 1857 Mutiny onwards. Freedom struggle.
In the 90s, questions used to be based on
1. Timelines: wars, kings,
2. Locations: of Harappa Sites where xyz type of pottery was found, or Asoka‟s pillars 3. Match the following
4. Maps: they‟d give you a blank map, you had to locate xyz state or kingdom.
In last three years, questions are mostly based on religion, culture, art and „features/cause/reason‟ type.
Although UPSC hasnot asked „map based‟ question lately but if you‟ve time, it doesn‟t hurt preparing the maps (because UPSC is the baddest thug in this part of South East Asia.) you‟ll find the Ancient/Medieval maps in NCERTs and in GS Manual.
Essential Booklist for History (GS/CSAT) 1. NCERT class 7 to 10 Social Science
3. NOS Studymaterial on Indian Culture and Heritage.
^all of these free, download links @bottom of this article
4. Selective Study of History portion in Tata Macgrawill General Studies Manual (to fill up vacuum of whatever details are missing in the NCERTs). But again skip very tiny details such as “Middle Palaeolithic tools were found at Nevasa, Maharashtra by HD Sankalia”. Because it won‟t go in long term memory. Your time and energy can be better utilized in other topics.
Once this is done, solve all the Mock MCQs given in the General Studies Manual.
In The NCERT Class 9 and 10, you‟ll also find information on World History (WW1, WW2, French Revolution, Russian Revolution etc) While they‟re not specifically mentioned in the syllabus, you should read it because indirectly important for Essay and interview.
History (Mains/GS)
In the 90s, the General Studies paper used to have following structure, in History section
1. 3-5 descriptive question (60 marks) 2. Freedom fighter 2 markers (10 marks) 3. Culture related 2 markers (10 marks)
Ofcourse there would be fluctuation each year, but this was the usual makeup.
Success formula in 90s era= basically mugup Spectrum‟s three books + Bipin Chandra.
That doesn‟t hold true anymore, as we saw in GS Mains-2012 Analysis (click ME if you didn‟t) Nowadays weightage given to History in GS mains paper = declined and emphasis has been shifted to
Culture.
So how to proceed in this new era?
1. India‟s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra
2. Selective Study of IGNOU BA/MA History (only related to freedom Struggle) Click ME 3. Selective Study of IGNOU Tourism Course (for culture) CLICK ME
4. NOS material on Indian culture CLICK ME 5. Spectrum Book on Indian Culture
Optional reference
Because of the backbreakingTM move of UPSC, following books have lost their former glory. So I‟m putting them under Secondary. If you‟ve time, read else don‟t bother. There are many other areas where you can utilize your energy.
1. Spectrum Book on Brief History of Modern India 2. Spectrum Book on Freedom Fighters
However, for State PSC exams, who‟re still in the 90s mood, these books would come handy. In that case, mug them up :)
Geography Geography
classified into three parts
1. Physical geography 2. World geography 3. Indian Geography
the first two topics come in prelims syllabus. but they are not included in the main syllabus.
for Mains syllabus of General Studies, you‟ve to prepare Indian Geography only.
How to Approach Geography for CSAT-Prelims? First of all complete
1. NCERT class 7 to 10 social science
2. NCERT class 11, 12: Geography (except that practical book on mapping and survey methods) 3. NOS Studymaterial on Geography (if the time and eyes permit you!)
Free download links for above PDF files, have been given in previous Act II. Click ME
When this is done, move to general studies manual to fill up the missing gaps if any.
Now let‟s check how to effectively utilise Tata McGraw-Hill General studies manual for Geography portion. 1. branches of geography= important
2. origin of Earth= important
3. ignore the geological history of Earth
4. ignore the facts about earth (weight, volumne and stuff like that)
5. understand the concepts related to longitudes, latitudes, meridians, inclination of Earth‟s axis and its effect, standard time, cycles of the moon, atmosphere, Aurora -magnetism, insulation and heat budget, templated,
6. mecanism of winds, monsoon 7. ignore table of Beufort Scale 8. ignore types of clouds
9. understand the difference between dew, frost, fog, smog, mist and haze.
10. types of climate, water table = important, also from environment and biodiversity Angle
11. Understand the mechanism of cold and warm currents = because they are also related with climate change 12. From lakes, only important and famous ones : Caspian Sea, Lake Superior, Superior, Victoria, Baikal, Aral
Sea, Wulur, Vostock 13. Same for rivers
14. Marine resources= important for environment topic also
15. Classification of rocks: prepare a small note on features and example of each type 16. Theories of Plate tectonics, continental drift etc - just get overview
17. Volcanos, Earthquakes important but no need to get in minute stuff. Just supplement NCERT 18. Weathering, Erosion, landforms = important from environment topic angle.
19. ignore table on major water falls, except famous ones : Angel, Victoria, Niagara, 20. Soil is important but from agriculture point of view only.
21. ignore the table containing classification of soil 22. ignore US Taxonomy classification
World geography
1. Go through entire human geography but ignore trivial details like Lapps= people of Eurasian trunda. (But famous tribes are important e.g.Bushman=Kalahari Desert.)
2. Migration, resource classification, farming system, types of cultivation, agricultural typology= extremely important
3. Chief agro products (tea, wheat etc) : the land/climate conditions required = important. 4. Forest products= important from environment and biodiversity angle.
5. Mineral producers= only the major ones (coal, iron ore, gold, nuclear, oil etc). Otherwies Mercury producers = Spain and Italy= ignore.
6. industrial products= just get an overview
7. important boundary lines= as the name suggests, it is important
8. important cities= not that important for UPSC , but may help you in GK based questions in SSC/Bank. 9. old name and new name for various countries and cities= indirectly important for the interviews.
Indian geography
In last two years, very few questions are coming from world geography. but at the same time, it is not a good idea to completely ignore world geography especially when you have time. because a something really straightforward asked Tropical Savannah climate, then you should not miss the opportunity.
In the 90s, they would give you some map based questions. ( location of rivers, mountains, nations etc). but they have not asked map-based questions in last two years.
but it does not hurt much preparing the Atlas because it indirectly helps you understand the international-relations and diplomacy topics in better manner.
More emphasis should be given on the Indian geography because it is common for both prelims and mains. While Indian geography is important for prelims, the nature of question has changed.
earlier it used to be mapped based or location-based Indian geography but nowadays it is mostly related with agriculture, environment angles.
1. first start with NCERTs and them move to TMH GS Manual.
2. keep an Atlas Ready while reading everyline, otherwise things will not go long-term memory.
3. for the lakes, rivers, waterfalls, irrigation projects, wildlife parks and sanctuaries etc. only prepare the famous ones and those related with odd animals such as Wild Ass. and prepare the trivial ones only if they are from your home state (for profile based interview questions and for State PSC)
4. India‟s industrial towns/tourist places: famous ones + those from your home state and surrounding neighbour states. No need to go in trivial. These things are for indirectly understanding the issues of socio-economic Development and for profile based interview questions. Otherwise direct MCQs are very unlikely.
5. seasons, soil types, wildlife= important.
6. ignore places connected by national highways. 90s era is over. 7. sex ratio, literacy rate :top 3, bottom 3, and your home state. 8. Tribal groups = important from culture angle.
9. India maps on political, physical, wildlife and biosphere, seaports, soil-vegetation, = important for indirect MCQs.
Once this is done. (Physical, World and Indian Geography.) Again restart process and then solve MCQs from GS Manual.
Geography for GS-Mains
The way things have started taking shape, the conventional and clichéd questions are unlikely to appear anymore (for example monsoon mechanism.)
But still prepare Indian Geography from Economic, sustainable Development, Disaster and Environment angles.
1. NCERTs, NOS, GS Manual.
2. India Yearbook (Wastelands, Drough Management etc) and follow up on respective Government websites. 3. 2nd ARC report on Disaster Management. http://arc.gov.in/
4. Traditional books on Indian Geography are not likely to help directly like they used to in 90s (for example Spectrum/ Majid Hussain/ Khullar) But still you may go through any one of them, if you‟ve the time. That concluded talk on Geography. Moving to next topic of syllabus.
Environment and biodiversity
When we talk of history or polity, there are already decent standard books available because those topics have been in syllabus since the beginning of UPSC exams.
But this Biodiversity is newly introduced syllabus topic since CSAT 2011. Most of the ready-made books (and magazine‟s „special issues‟) on this topic provide you too much data, above what is necessary. For example in case of biodiversity, they‟d give you a huge list of endangered species and their Latin
names and how many animals are left.
The establishment year of every wildlife park and their surface area with accuracy upto two decimal points like 48.25 kms!
Environment biodiversity is not about becoming master of trivial GK, UPSC MCQs are not same like Kaun Bangegaa Crorepati.
Like every other topic in UPSC (except History and Statistics), we can classify EnB under two heads
Static Current Based
basic theoretical and static stuff such as biomes, bios, in-situ, ex-situ modes of wildlife conservation, keystone species, umbrella species, project tiger, elephant, biosphere reserves and things like that.
Issues involving various protocols or world
conventions. IPCC reports, Kyoto etc.Supreme court orders on xyz issue: Clearing of Yamuna, Ban on Mining, Tiger tourism etc.
Booklist/Preparation sources for Environment and Biodiversity
Static (theory) Current based
1. NCERT Social science (7-10): because Geography, Forest etc given in it. 2. NCERT Geography
Class 11, 12 3. NOS Study material
on Biodiversity. Free download link @bottom 4. India Yearbook, chapter on Environment
5. Website of Ministry of Environment and Forest
6. Yojana, Kurukshetra magazine issues involving those particular themes 7. The Hindu: Energy and Environment
segmenthttp://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/energy-and-environment/ 8. Climate Change section of
IndianExpress:http://www.indianexpress.com/section/climate-change/912/ 9. Economic Times section on
Environmenthttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/planetsos/2647163.cms 10. http://mrunal.org/enb
11. Magazine (just to make sure we did not miss anything!)
12. Google: incase follow up action is necessary for a particular topic.
