Just Another Gyan

Approach towards Civils Exam

Before the syllabus of UPSC becomes alien to me & the jargons of psychology & geography start to baffle, I decided to pen down my preparation strategy. Hope future aspirants find it useful. Overall I feel that many unsuccessful aspirants are more competent than the selected ones but the strategy & approach makes the difference. I had my own share of pitfalls but I tried to tweak my strategy in every successive attempt & finally secured AIR-25 in my 3^rd attempt in 2009 (Had secured AIR-277 earlier in 2008 attempt & did not clear mains (score was 930) in first attempt taken in 2006). I did not take any coaching for Prelims or Mains examination. Not that I was opposed to it but I was working with Kotak Life Insurance from 2006 to 2009 & resigned from it only after getting IRS (IT) in 2008 attempt. But I joined test series & mock interviews at various places. As I didn’t join any classroom coaching, I got Xeroxed the following material

• Vajiram’s Class Notes for General Studies (All Subjects).
• Mukul Pathak’s Notes for Psychology
• Direction’s (Neetu Singh) material & Alok Ranjan’s Material for Geography.

Someone once said “If I am given twenty hours to chop down a tree, I’ll spend first eighteen hours sharpening the axe”. Personally I feel that to a large extent this is very much true for civil services examination. Not clearing civils is not a failure of memory or intellectual competence but probably the efforts don’t get channelized in the right direction (This is purely a personal opinion).

General Studies for Prelims (The Do’s)

• Focus should be on current affairs as it is the area which gives you the highest return per minute spent.
• Try making your own notes especially for information that can be categorized (E.g. Awards, Committees, PM/President, Persons in news etc can easily be tabulated). Those who have cleared prelims in their previous attempts can avoid this & rely directly on source material (mentioned below).
• Source Material which I referred for GS prelims was News & Events Magazine, Civil Services Chronicle Magazine (Used to make personal notes from these two sources & it does not take more than 2 weeks to cover them all, provided you give 8-10 hrs daily). Also I used to go through magazines brought out by Vajiram & Ravi (but only after brushing up my personal notes; in fact once it was done there was only 10-20 % extra to be found in Vajiram magazines. Moreover the organization of information in Vajiram magazines leaves a lot to be desired).
• History for Prelims: Focus should be on modern India as it is in trend (though sometimes medieval India & ancient India are also asked). Spectrum’s publishers “A brief history of Modern India” is a good source. I referred it both for prelims as well as mains exam (& spectrum was the only source I referred for covering history for Mains examination apart from two markers).
• Geography for Prelims: I didn’t focus on it as geography was my first optional. But NCERT XI & XII textbooks are a good source. Focus should be on Geography of India. Also refer a good atlas – Oxford, TTK, Orient Black swan. I largely relied on Oxford.
• Polity for Prelims: Used to skim through Vajiram Class notes on Polity. The same source was used for Mains examination.
• Economy for Prelims: No special preparation. Just went through Vajiram Class notes. Mostly questions in prelims related to economy are current affairs oriented & covered under current affairs.
• Science for Prelims: This section troubles many. Focus should be on Biology & especially selected areas like Genetics, Blood groups, Hormones, Vitamins etc. Just go through previous year question papers (esp. the one categorized by subject) & figure out trends. Good source for it is Lucent’s General Knowledge (cheap & good book for ready reference).

General Studies for Prelims (The Don’ts)

• Don’t study from too many sources. I’ve seen a lot of aspirants getting in love with all sorts of books. They will study NCERT books from 6^th to 12^th standard, Bipin Chandra, Mishra & Puri for economics, Savindra Singh for geography (that too for GS!!!!), DD Basu & Subhash Kashyap for Polity…..n the list is endless. There is no problem in reading all this provided one is able to remember which usually not the case is. I’ve seen many aspirants taking up extensive studies (good enough to do PhD on that subject), but when prelims is one month away, they panic & get bogged down by the information that is to be remembered. I just referred NCERT of XI & XII (More specifically for Modern India in History & Geography of India only). Please study less but study effective.
• Many aspirants cover India Year Book from cover to cover. I never did it. Infact I never read it for Prelims but selectively referred it for Mains exam only. Selective for me meant I finished it in one day, skimming some possible two markers.
• Economic Survey should also be skimmed. Don’t get into minor details. Just get a feel. That too for Mains exam. I never referred Eco Survey for Prelims.

General Studies for Mains Examination

• I would recommend aspirants to join atleast one test series. Joining test series in optionals is not that important but in case of General Studies it is pretty useful (again a personal opinion). The contribution of test series in improving performance is less because of improvement in knowledge & more because of better time management. Many & yes many (including myself in my first attempt) are not able to complete GS paper because they mismanage time. Joining test series will help one time his/her performance & also help one to write the answers around the word limit range.
• I took test series at Shriram’s IAS in 2008 attempt & at Expert Brains (Ajit Sinha) in 2009 attempt. Both are good. The model answers of Shriram are better as they are crisp. The downside of Shriram’s test series was that it covers usually only one subject at a time & full length mocks in the end, so one might loose touch with the subject. Ajit Sinha on the other hand, covers multiple subjects (history, polity, social issues etc) in a single mock. But I liked the model answers of Shriram’s IAS more. Take your call but would recommend you join one. It’s almost a must for those writing Mains examination for the first time.
• Focus on Two markers because usually you know or don’t know them. Write 3-4 points in two markers (offcourse if you know it). You can separate the information bits by semicolons to pack information.
• Write answers pointwise. One can provide more information by writing the answers pointwise with an introduction & conclusion of 1-2 lines. Not all answers can be attempted pointwise though (For e.g. in 2009 attempt G.S. paper I, the questions from history were based on quotations & one has to answer them paragraph wise).
• Reading Newspaper regularly has become a must with the changing trend (In 2009 attempt I could answer questions like “Whereabouts” clause of WADA, Extra Vehicular Activity, Plural Society etc just because I remembered information from Newspaper). Hindu Newspaper is your best bet followed by Times of India. I read both.
• Try to give multi-dimensional perspective.
• History for Mains Exam: Spectrum Publisher’s “A brief history of modern India”. Referred Bipin Chandra for 2-3 topics (the rise of the left wing, Indian capitalists & the national movement, long term strategy of the national movement…chapters which I couldn’t find in Spectrum). Even if you don’t read Bipin Chandra it will do. Spectrum is a good source.
• Polity for Mains Exam: Vajiram’s Class notes
• Geography for Mains Exam: It was my optional so I didn’t focus. NCERT of XI, XII should suffice. Don’t know whether Vajiram’s Class notes are good in this area or not. Please check yourself.
• National & Social Issues: Vajiram’s Class Notes
• Science & Technology: Vajiram’s Class Notes. Focus on “Emerging Technologies” like Graphene etc. Also make sure you cover areas which got Nobel Prize (E.g. Spintronics & question on Green Fluorescent Proteins in the last two years were asked as Nobel was awarded in that field). Track technology in News (E.g. Hubble Telescope was asked as 5^th mission went for it in 2009).
• Economy for Mains Exam: Vajiram’s Class Notes. Try tracking some major indices like Global competitive Index etc as sometime direct question is asked.
• Current & International Issues: Current Affairs Classroom notes of Vajiram (conducted in September every year).
• Statistics: Spectrum’s Book on Statistics. If you have Vajiram’s Yellow book on Statistics (That will also do). But practice a lot as time management is very important.

Some More Pointers for General Studies in Mains Examination:

• Don’t Bluff. If you don’t have any clue to any two markers or long question, just leave it. If you answer it, you are just satisfying yourself. The examiner will most probably give you a zero & it also spoils impression. Moreover you might not have time for later questions which you could have answered properly.
• In Paper II especially don’t bluff at all. Last year I left two 10 markers completely & saved time for Stats. I actually saved 45 minutes for stats & managed to attempt for 31 out of 35 marks. Moreover if you complete stats & still have time, you can always revisit the question you left in the first go.
• In statistics, attempt the numerical question first & the graphical questions later as it saves time (Provided you are equally comfortable with both).
• Events that have completed silver, golden, platinum jubilee are important (E.g. Television completed fifty years & was asked in 2009 attempt. In 2010 mains possible questions could be on RBI as it celebrates Platinum Jubilee etc & many more). While studying for prelims mark out such topics for studying later during mains.
• Yojana Magazine is a must. Last year I could answer the question on “Integrated Energy Policy” as it was as it is mentioned in Yojana.
• Refer Important National & International Award winners (E.g. Deep Joshi & Satya Vrat Shastri were asked in 2009 attempt).
• I covered two markers from many different sources. Will post my personally typed two markers soon.

Will be posting details on Geography & Psychology soon…….Will also post some two markers later. If I am not able to post the link of two markers & other materials then I'll email it to you. Please drop your email id in the comments section. I’ll mail the material to you. Thanks for bearing me till this point. Godspeed.