My notes and other related stuff can be accessed at google drive.
If I find something else which could be helpful I'll post later.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Prelims: A bridge you must cross
Pre is a hurdle that you must cross in order to enter " The Great Game".
After all the turbulence that pattern of Preliminary has suffered it seems the current format is here to stay, at least till the Baswan Committee comes up with a different report and it is accepted too.
Paper I:
It can be broadly divided into
- History & culture
- Polity and Constitution
- Economy
- Geography
- Environment
- Science and Tech
- Current
HISTORY & CULTURE
1. India's struggle for Independence
2. Plassey to Partition
2. CCRT
3. Ncert History books
Go through this analysis on Mrunal.org
the recent trends suggest questions have shifted from typical date format to features like Medieval Bhakti saints, their works.
Every year there is at least one question on Buddha.
Freedom struggle is an important portion. The chances to score are higher in this section as content is fixed even if it is large.{ congress sessions, important movements, Political thoughts, not so famous freedom fighters from all the regions,Books written by them}
Dance Forms, languages,Painting styles,Architecture, Indian philosophy, UNESCO world heritage sites in India, New Archaeological Discoveries
While reading newspaper keep eyes open for events related to history. The 50,75,100,125,150 year anniversaries are cue to Personalities or Events that must be researched thoroughly.
POLITY AND CONSTITUTION
1. Indian polity by M. Lakshmikant
2. D.D.Basu
3. Subhash Kashyap
4. NCERT books
Significant topics are:
Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, DPSP, Union & State Executive and legislature, Judiciary, Union and State relationship, Financial provisions, Special Status of a few states, PESA, Schedule 5 and 6 states, Emergency Provisions, Elections etc
One must keep Eyes open for government Schemes launched or being promoted.
New Legislation, Court judgement which have a constitutional angle
ECONOMY
1. Ramesh singh
2. Dutt and Sundaram
3. Economic Survey
4. India Year Book
5. Budget document
6. Newspaper - Business Line or Mint( selectively)
GEOGRAPHY
1.NCERT
2.G.C.Leong
3.Savindra Singh
Keep an atlas with you, whatever topic you read try to correlate it with maps.
Important river systems, hills, forest zones and flora and fauna are important
ENVIRONMENT
1. Shankar IAS's Book on environment and ecology
2. website of Ministry of Environment and Forests
3. Newspaper
SCIENCE AND TECH
1. science news
2. Newspaper " the hindu"
3. Spectrum
CURRENT AFFAIR
This portion has subsumed virtually everything from all other section. With a keen eye it can be deciphered that a majority of questions that are asked in this Exam could be traced back to something which has been in news. I'll cover how to prepare current affairs in a different article.
Paper II
Even though this has been reduced to just a formality, one must not take it lightly.
Practice is the key.
NOTE: Pre is the least unpredictable stage of this exam.. though the spike of 2013 in cutoff (241) was one off event one can hope for a safe passage with score of 120. This gives you a peace till pre-result. Once you are in zone of uncertainty you are bound to waste a significant portion of time that is available between pre and mains. My suggestion is even if you have doubt consider yourself to be north of the wall that is cutoff and prepare full throttle for mains. If you pass no regret, if you don't it isn't a waste of time.
Most people suggest intelligent guess but I'll ask to refrain from it. If your net correct answers are close to even 55 percent don't go for guess. there are 30 sitters in those 100 questions you just need to find them. In the first round be sure of whatever answer you mark..
It goes without saying that utmost care should be taken while marking on OMR. one wrong circle will cost you 2.66 marks and it may cost you a full year.
Best of luck!!
GEOGRAPHY
1.NCERT
2.G.C.Leong
3.Savindra Singh
Keep an atlas with you, whatever topic you read try to correlate it with maps.
Important river systems, hills, forest zones and flora and fauna are important
ENVIRONMENT
1. Shankar IAS's Book on environment and ecology
2. website of Ministry of Environment and Forests
3. Newspaper
SCIENCE AND TECH
1. science news
2. Newspaper " the hindu"
3. Spectrum
CURRENT AFFAIR
This portion has subsumed virtually everything from all other section. With a keen eye it can be deciphered that a majority of questions that are asked in this Exam could be traced back to something which has been in news. I'll cover how to prepare current affairs in a different article.
Paper II
Even though this has been reduced to just a formality, one must not take it lightly.
Practice is the key.
NOTE: Pre is the least unpredictable stage of this exam.. though the spike of 2013 in cutoff (241) was one off event one can hope for a safe passage with score of 120. This gives you a peace till pre-result. Once you are in zone of uncertainty you are bound to waste a significant portion of time that is available between pre and mains. My suggestion is even if you have doubt consider yourself to be north of the wall that is cutoff and prepare full throttle for mains. If you pass no regret, if you don't it isn't a waste of time.
Most people suggest intelligent guess but I'll ask to refrain from it. If your net correct answers are close to even 55 percent don't go for guess. there are 30 sitters in those 100 questions you just need to find them. In the first round be sure of whatever answer you mark..
It goes without saying that utmost care should be taken while marking on OMR. one wrong circle will cost you 2.66 marks and it may cost you a full year.
Best of luck!!
Saturday, June 4, 2016
Friday, June 3, 2016
Why another Blog?
Since, I belong to the old school, the ritual of writing a blog after successfully getting out of the vicious UPSC cycle must be followed.
So here is another blog, soon to be lost in the crowd or relegated to an end of the list position on bookmark tab.
I may not write anything new or different from what has been written a zillion times over the years. Therefore I'll start with posting the links to the blogs I have read. These have not only helped me start from scratch but also reduce the wastage of effort.
With due credit to all these brilliant people who have been the guiding light.
Gaurav Agarwal ( There cannot be anything more comprehensive than this one, or I don't know if that exists)
This should be enough for now. Direct your queries. Always remember what master Oogway said
" THERE ARE NO ACCIDENTS". It's always the choices we make.
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