Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from August, 2020

Current Affairs

  Current affairs are arguably the most important aspect of the UPSC Civil Services examinations as they are integral to each and every stage of the examination. Thus, in order to be successful in the exam, a candidate must be aware of the current events of national and international importance.  A common question in the minds of aspirants is regarding the duration of current affairs one must follow. For prelims, one must follow the current affairs of the preceding year. For example, if one's attempt is in June 2021, follow current affairs from June 2020 to May 2021. One must do the same for the mains examination as well. For the interview stage, focus on current affairs of the preceding 3-4 months.  The next question is regarding the newspaper, daily, monthly and yearly current affairs compilations to be followed. I would read The Hindu daily, followed by InsightsIAS and Vajiram daily current affairs. Then, I would make my notes on Evernote. In choosing what current affa...

On coaching, test series and mock interviews...

 One of the multiple queries I have received from civil services' aspirants is regarding the coaching I attended, the test series and mock interviews I took. So, here goes a list of the different institutes I attended either for coaching, test series or mock interviews. While I attended GS coaching for about 4 months, I didn't take any coaching for my optional as it was also my graduation subject.   Prelims and Mains 1.  Vajiram and Ravi - GS (Prelims and Mains) coaching Since I come from a humanities background (Arts in 11th and 12th and History in graduation), I did not find it particularly useful. My basics were quite clear and coaching did not add much value to my existing knowledge base. Therefore, I would recommend it to those whose basics in history, polity, economy and other such subjects are weak.    2. Vajiram and Ravi - Prelims Test Series These mock test series were available as part of the GS coaching itself. It involved about 25 tests - 21 tes...

Essay

   The essay paper in the Mains examination involves writing two essays of 125 marks each, while the word limit is between 1000-1200 words. Essays, in UPSC CSE, can be divided into two types - factual and philosophical. While most find the former easier to write, candidates often find themselves in a quarry when attempting the latter type. I'll delve into my strategies for both in this blog post.  Given a choice between the two, I would always attempt factual essays as the content was easily available through GS and optional prep as well as newspapers. I would simply structure the essay by first providing a paragraph long introduction, followed by the body - which usually included an analysis of the issue at hand from a historical, economic, political, social, legal (etc.) perspective and would end with a solution (if possible) and a suitable conclusion.  Philosophical essays, though a little difficult to write, provide the candidate an opportunity to truly display t...

Optional Prep

  The optional subject in the Mains examination makes up 500 marks out of a total of 1750 marks and thus, plays a major role in determining one's success in the exam. In this context, choosing the right optional, focusing on the relevant book-list and answer writing practice is extremely crucial. Before I delve into my strategy for History optional, I'd like to discuss some key points to be kept in mind while choosing one's optional.   Firstly, do not go by the recent trends in a particular optional and thus, don't choose an optional because many toppers have opted for it or because it is scoring. What may be scoring for some, may not necessarily be scoring for you. Secondly, go through the syllabi of different optionals and see if any ignites a genuine interest in the subject . Thirdly, go through the basic books online and check if the subject seems easy to grasp . By easy to grasp, I mean one's ability to understand the subject, study it for long hours and be ab...

Book-list (GS)

 For the past few days, I've been bombarded with requests for my complete book-list. Quite understandable, as aspirants are confused by the multiplicity of sources available in the market as well as the numerous recommendations by their coaching institutes. Since the syllabus is already pretty vast, there is a need to limit sources and then make notes accordingly, so as to not waste time on books that have a low cost benefit ratio. Without further ado, here's the book-list that I followed. Prelims Paper-1 Current events of national and international importance - The Hindu, InsightsIAS Daily Current Affairs, Vision current affairs compilations, Vajiram current affairs compilations History of India and Indian National Movement - R.S. Sharma's Ancient India, Satish Chandra's Medieval India, Bipan Chandra's Modern India (basically, old NCERTs) and Spectrum's A Brief History of Modern India Indian and World Geography-Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and ...

Time-tables

 Time-tables have always been an extremely important part of my life. As far as I can remember (third or fourth grade), I've been excited about making schedules for myself. Earlier, it was a ritual involving my mother, wherein she would make a grid and write in neat, block letters. In my high school years, I took on the mantle of making my own time-tables. So, it was but natural that I make a time-table for my UPSC Civil Services preparation.  I had imagined one weekly time-table would suffice. Well, I was in for a shock! I realized I'd have to make not just a weekly one but also a monthly one and update it regularly.    So, I set about the task of doing so. My basic one, which I used for about most of my preparation was as follows- 7.00 am - Wake up 7.00 to 8.00 am - Exercise, get ready, breakfast 8.00 am to 1.00 pm - Study (Usually GS subjects) 1.00 - 3.30 pm -  Lunch and nap 3.30 - 5.30 pm - Study (Optional) 5.30 - 6.00 pm - Break 6.00 - 8.30 pm -...