UPSC Civil Service Exam: General Studies Stratezy

The preparation plan must always take into account the last 7 days time period of the mains general studies exam. Clearly, if you don’t revise the study material at least 3 times in 7 days, you can never remember it on the exam day. So, the rule is always study the material or news, which you can revise at least 5 times before the exam.  This rule must enable you to remove the waste study material which you can’t revise at least 5 times in the last 7 days. 

As the exam comes closer the capacity to remember the vast GS information becomes very challenging. And such a capacity may reach the lowest levels on the day of exam. Whatever one reads in the news papers in the months of Feb/March before the prelims and Sept/Oct before the mains, it becomes very difficult to remember on the day of the exam. The reasons for such a memory paralysis are many. It includes hype and pressure created around the exam, last 15 days mental tension, also large amount of information flux into the mind especially in the last one month of the exam etc. So, what’s the solution? The answer is “repeated and rapid revision”. One should be able to revise the entire GS mains portion in one or max two days in the last few days of the exam.

The long and often mentally testing exam process seems be intentional and good also. It is intended to filter-out the mentally unstable and non-serious candidates. If an aspirant can’t bear the mental pressure, hype, euphoria and sometimes trauma for two or three years, then how can you expect the same person to withstand the enormous pressure and challenges of real administration later. Be mentally strong. Be immune to negative thoughts of weak candidates. Shield yourself against the artificial competition and hype created around you by the commercial coaching institutes.

Coaching institutes play limited and positive role in the beginning but they are not everything. They can give good orientation towards the exam. Nobody on earth can guide or ensure a person to become a civil servant except the deep internal conviction and sincere effort. Don’t blame anybody for your failure. No one deserves real praise for your success also. Nobody helps you. You are alone most of the times sailing through ocean. Keep yourself continuously motivated and high spirits. You can try becoming more devotional and religious, watch inspiring videos, read inspiring books etc to ensure high motivation and energy.

General Tips

Exam is very simple and also easy.  But it is vast. Thinking should be very simple with clarity. Think the exam is just another class XII exam.  Assume the questions asked in the prelims and mains are of class XII level that can be answered by a class XII student and then, start thinking in a simple and clear manner on the question. Eg. Discuss the problems of environmental degradation across India ( 150 words).  Ans: first thing you have to do is to think that this is a class XII level question and NOT a Phd question. Then, start with basics like a class XII student. Here, think “what is environment? It is surrounding objects; includes land, air, water in general. What is degradation? It is degrading land, water and air. Problems due to degradation? Etc. This applies for the prelims questions also. Normally, questions are very clear and simple. Even a good school student can answer.

Always use a digital hand watch. Internet addicts should avoid browsing for more than 1 hour. There is no real use in browsing and wasting hours and hours. All material to clear the exam is already in print!

Plan everything; “What’s planned – improves”; have broad monthly plan and very detailed weekly plans. The weekly plan should be very specific with micro details– upto the pages or chapters to be studied in that particular hour; This has many benefits; It improves focus; Always you will focus on one hour period; At the end of the day, you will get good sleep because you have covered your plan and sure that you are in the right direction; Otherwise, you will be thinking what to read, when to read and also waste most of the time; Planning is a must;

 When news paper lands into your hands, read with general interest like a common man. Always the news should reach your heart and make you come with critical comments; Because, only that first impression with a news item will stay in your mind forever. In the second reading, cut it and underline etc which is explained in detail later.

Develop the habit of collecting quotes for your optional and for general topics like climate change, development, food security etc; Keep a separate book for quotes;

Observe the presentation style of editorials and also NCERT books; Learn from that; For example- editorials use the words However, Moreover, Apart from this, In the above context, despite, correspondingly etc to integrate paragraphs and lines; Practice using such interconnecting words in the answers;

Avoid shortcuts; Because, except in the first attempt, you can’t take chance again in next attempts; Take surer path; Be smart in writing answers not in choosing some shortcut coaching material;

The ultimate rule is “One source for any topic”; For eg one should have only one source for polity not two; one for history not more than two; Notes or Books, always one source for a topic; This rule should be strictly applied to the optional papers also.

Just do it but don’t over do it!(preparation)

Don’t do the things which are necessary but only do the things which are absolutely necessary. I mean, one should prioritize the ‘to do’ things first. And know something of everything.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

General Studies Mains Strategy

       Finalize your reading material as early as possible. It will be good if you do it before prelims.  That ensures more conceptual clarity for GS prelims. Also, saves time after the prelims. It is advisable to cover entire GS mains syllabus except current affairs before the GS prelims.  Finalizing well in advance is required to focus and revise the study material many times before the exam day. One should not buy or read any new material after finalizing the material well in advance. This helps you to ensure sufficient revision before the exam. Here is such finalization.

1. Basic syllabus material according to the mains GS syllabus. 
2. Current affairs News Cuttings(underlined and revised).
3. Current Affairs Notes(Short notes, which is not present in the above cuttings)
4. India Year Book( Only the headings and the underlined lines)+Economic Survey +Budget
5. GS Mains Previous Year Questions Notebook including statistics

Basic Syllabus Study material: This is like foundation of your GS preparation. Always be thorough with this much before the exam. This is mentioned in the syllabus. It is the common sense to first prepare for the exam according to the syllabus. Even a school boy knows this stratezy.More specifically, cover all the topics other than current affairs in both papers 1 and 2. Please go through syllabus. Such base topics include modern india, polity, culture, women,children, tribals, environmental issues etc for Paper 1 and India-Word, Nuclear issues, defence issues, IMF, World bank, WIPO, UNO, Robotics, Biotech, Nanotech, Space(ISRO , NASA, etc) , Statistics etc. for paper 2. One should be able to do this anytime. Better to prepare this before the prelims because you can revise this basic mains syllabus material for prelims also. It will definitely helps for prelims GS paper. For example one can answer questions regarding polity, modern India, India and world etc which are part of the mains syllabus.

Current affairs News Cuttings(underlined and revised):About 95% of the aspirants rush for the ‘latest’ current affairs in the last month before the exam. The reason is often aspirants’ fail to give more time to the current affairs after the prelims. Because aspirants get deeply involved in preparing optional or writing practice for optional. Hence, most of the aspirants resort to the last minute short cuts. Such short cuts include top coaching written noted from Delhi, other printed material or books. But they can never be reliable. Even if by chance they are reliable on that year, aspirant will not be able to revise them sufficiently or internalize the basic concept or significance of a current affairs topic.

But if you are a serious aspirant, you must never rely on such last minute theatrics. Because, there is no such thing called next time. Always rely on surer path, even if it takes little more effort to travel. A serious aspirant would never mind to put that little more effort to ensure sure success.

     So, what is that surer path? It’s very simple. Read two newspapers one for general topics i.e The Hindu and The Business Standard along with the Frontline. Stick to these three only. Everyone will read newspapers. But how can be different. First, cut the important news/editorials but don’t write down whatever you cut. However make note of small news items like persons, awards etc. This also most of the aspirants do. But one important activity only successful aspirants do. That is they underline all the cut news material and REVISE them periodically. And in the last one month before the exam, one needs to separate the cut news articles into paper 1 and paper2. And just go on reading headlines and underlined lines repeatedly as many times as possible.

To come to the specifics; cut, underline and revise the news articles from the Hindu, Business standard and Frontline. Only these three sources are more than sufficient for mains. Even the internet news is not necessary. The problem with internet news like Press Information Bureau is that you can’t revise them in the last days. These three sources cover more than sufficient;

But only All India Radio (AIR) news from the radio/internet is very useful. But don’t listen for 3 times. Only afternoon news is more useful. The reason is AIR news is one of the hunting ground for upsc , the news is very official one, the important questions in the parliamentary sessions of the budget and monsoon sessions are widely covered in the AIR news. Hence, one should listen by downloading the AIR afternoon news. The problem is you can’t revise all the downloaded news files in the last 7 days of the exam. So, the solution is making notes of the important news in the current affairs notebook.

If you can revise and remember current affairs from these entire four sources i.e Hindu, business standard, frontline and AIR; nobody can know more current affairs than you for prelims and mains. Whatever you don’t know in the exam, nobody knows;

India Year Book: This is the bible for UPSC CSE exam. For both prelims and mains, there will always some topics from IYB. Even if UPSC doesn’t directly pick from the IYB, at least few questions will always be related to IYB. The reason is sheer vastness and details in the book. Moreover the book is official and authenticated. Also, IYB helps to give you good introductions to many questions both for GS and optional subjects. Hence, IYB is a must read. But the problem for aspirants is the size and vastness of the book.  The approach is – not to read data and tables except the few; underlining all the relevant sentences and words in the first reading. Later, only read the underlined words and lines next 4 or 5 times. One can easily finish within 4 hours if they read only underlines part. This will be huge advantage over the students who have not read or not revised the book.  

Economic Survey: This is also quite large. The safe way is to adopt same stratezy as india year book. For that one needs to buy that costly book. But don’t mind, just buy it. However, other approach of downloading and reading or making notes is not a good way. Because, if you read full economic survey in march and April, you won’t remember single word during September and October. As said earlier, give same treatment to ES as IYB. “Repeated and Rapid Revision” (RRR) only saves you. For Budget, one can download the speech of the finance minister and take printout. Other option is keep the budget speech supplement appearing in the economic news papers. Again, without RRR strategy, it will serve no purpose.  

GS mains previous year question papers: Most of the aspirants, even the repeaters would laugh at preparing solutions for last 10 year GS mains PYQs. But in my experience, it serves very useful. The strategy is preparing solutions for last 10 year PYQs solution with modification of the questions and pattern to suit the latest pattern. The history questions need not be prepared in all the years. Only one history question per year is sufficient. Keep all the other geography, women, children, tribes, science and tech, theoretical India and World, statistics etc as it is from the PYQs. But replace the previous year’s current affairs with the current year’s questions. The benefits are many. It will make you familiar with syllabus. Guessing the current affairs for mains and preparing answers for them helps. Statistics and other few questions will be directly from PYQs. Most importantly, it will train the brain to the flow and requirements of the GS question paper. However, one should always prepare short answers not full and actual answers. For example, three 150 words questions in one long page. This helps you to revise this book in the last 7 days of the exam. And repeated training of the brain and will power just one or two days of the exam by browsing through these questions will helps you a lot to crack the exam.

Few words about the importance of the GS mains paper during the mains exam.  Most of the times in almost all the last few years, aspirants are getting ‘shock treatment’ from the UPSC on the first day of the exam itself. And intensity of such shocks has increased more in the last three years, since 2009. The pattern has become very unpredictable and erratic. It is like puncturing the balloon of aspirants’ confidence. If you are not satisfied with your GS paper, it will definitely affect your performance in other optional papers.

                                    Especially, the first time mains aspirants are getting real shock and it will take fuel out of their tank for rest of the exam.  But if you follow the above strategy and maintain calmness at the time of the exam, you will feel that, nobody could have scored more than you in GS. That confidence will give a big boost to do all other exams very well. There will not be any mental pressure to do well in the optional papers.
                            

All you need to do “just enjoy writing good answers in the exam hall”. The whole exam is test of mental strength rather than knowledge. If you maintain high confidence, half the battle is won. More specifically, a calm and confident mind can really fetch at least 50-70 more marks than a disturbed and pressure-cooker mind with both having same knowledge. Always remember to play your natural game and just enjoy the whole challenge. 

General Studies Prelims Strategy

Ideally, prelims GS prep should follow the mains GS prep. Preparing for mains GS before the prelims has many benefits.  GS mains syllabus gives a strong foundation for the GS prelims making the questions more clear. Also, it would save the time after the prelims.

To begin with, don’t take NCERT books casually. Even a person with geography as optional should read the geography NCERT books religiously. NCERT books apart from giving strong basics and conceptual clarity, also help in understanding the ‘style’ and ‘approach’ of answer writing for the mains. At the end, one should be able to revise or browse through all the NCERT books in one or two hours. Often, candidates ignore NCERTs during the last few days of the exam. But with a sufficient revision one should be able to revise within few hours during the last 7 days of the prelims or mains exam.

GS prelims/mains with a new syllabus and erratic pattern of the questions has put all the coaching institutes in a utterly confused and despair state. But that doesn’t mean a candidate has to be on the receiving end. What is required is a change the status quo. Change the grand old strategies or material for the GS. For eg, there is less emphasis on history part in mains and also the questions asked in the prelims are normally not present in the text books. Should you prepare for history or leave it? Here, your line of thought should be, "there needs to be less or no focus on history. Or I will stick on the one book ie NCERT class XI Modern History book and not read any other book or material for GS history".

Hardly any factual questions like awards/persons are in prelims. Hence, be innovative and very practical and take effective and rational decisions.

To start with take GS prelims topic wise solved previous year question bank preferably ALS’s Wizard Strategist.  Then, go through the all the topics like geography, polity, science etc which will give an idea about the UPSC’s mindset while framing the GS prelims question paper.

Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World should be the top most priority for the non-geography students. Also, geography students should be very clear about the concepts. The material is NCERT class 8, 9, 10 and 11(only physical geography of India along with Orient Longman or oxford atlas. Just be ready with world geography also for the prelims. This much is more than sufficient for prelims and mains GS. Coaching institutes class notes or printed material is often has more information than required and also may not be inclusive of all the concepts involved. Sometimes coaching material may make a non-geography student into a geography student. But both time and energy are precious. Hence, these 4 NCERT books are sufficient for GS and rest will be current affairs related to geography like climate change.

History of India and Indian National Movement   has become less important after going through the question papers of last three year question papers. Hence, this part needs less or no focus. Class XI NCERT is more than sufficient. Forget Bipin Chandra’s books for a change. Even if you read other extra materials it may not be useful for the mains also. Stick to your decision.

Economic and Social Development which includes Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc. is the new syllabus for the prelims. Again, the relevant NCERT would be right first step. It is better to prepare notes on these few topics for the mains point of view. India Year Book and Economic Survey would cover most of the topics.

General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization is the new syllabus for the prelims. One needs to prepare one or two pages notes for each of these topics from the various books and the internet. Also update those pages with the current affairs. Magazines like Down to Earth and CSIR Science magazine can be used to update the current affairs on the environmental and science topics.  There are few important chapters in the NCERT class XII Biology and chemistry at the end. Also, Class IX, X, XI and XII ICSE Environment books should be referred for preparing good topic-wise notes. Just ensure that you get enough time for revision.

For General Science, go through all the previous year questions to begin with. Then, study the class notes of Vaji ram and related NCERT of class X and Class XII Biology and Chemistry last units. One can easily prepare general science by just going through previous year questions of CS(prelims) and also last few years question papers of other UPSC exam s like CDS, NDA etc Use internet to get the basics of the latest science. To get a strong foundation, never forget to cover GS mains science and tech syllabus intensively along with Nobel Prize winning science before prelims exam.

Also, to be safer side in the prelims, Please study the Vajiram class written notes of 2011 mains (International relations, economy, current affairs, science and tech) along with the class written notes of 2012 GS prelims. Do sufficient revision. This is just to ensure some extra edge as you need to be little extensive for GS prelims.

More importantly, for the current affairs one needs to have more extensive approach for GS prelims. Some academically strong students suffer from “more and more” syndrome. They end up studying current affairs alone in the last 30 days from three or four sources. Beware of such blunders. For current affairs, apart from the 4 sources as mentioned earlier, go through the UPSC GS question papers of the exams like CDS I & II, NDA, CPF etc during April. Go through each question and cover all the information related to each question by using internet.

Here, the printed current affairs books from the leading coaching institutes are NOT effective. One should be very careful in the last month before the exam. One will be tempted to read these current affairs books. The confusion is whether to read printed current affairs books from Vaji ram or ALS or others. Most serious mistake is to spend almost all the day in reading these current affairs books in the last 30 days before the exam. These books can be skipped without any doubt. But to be safer side stick to only one. But never even think of reading two sources. What is more advisable is to prepare the new GS prelims topic wise notes more intensively with a current affairs perspective. Because, when the GS prelims questions are framed the examiner will definitely have GS prelims syllabus copy in the hand. Hence, your GS preparation must revolve around the GS prelims syllabus.

After all, one has a luxury of leaving 30 to 40 questions in the exam hall. All one needs to make sure that around 60 questions are absolutely correct with less than 10 numbers of other wrong questions. Here, keeping the total number of wrong questions less than 10 is the biggest challenge. One needs to practice during some mock tests in the last 30 days of the exam. In the exam hall, one is always tempted terribly to mark ‘looking to be easy’ yet tricky questions. One has to be utterly careful on such questions. Hence, one has to have clear strategy in those crucial two hours. Any negligence or overconfidence can make you to riot for the next two years.

The solution is regular mock tests almost every day between 9.30 am – 11.30 am and 2.30 pm – 4.30 pm in the last 30 days before the exam. Don’t worry about the quality of the questions. Just ensure question TYPE is similar to the UPSC questions. One can collect around 15 to 25 question papers for each GS and CSAT before the prelims. Then, solve them almost every day during the last 30 days of the exam. Tune your body, mind and soul to those two crucial two hours. After each mock tests analyze your performance. If you are weak in some topics strengthen yourself. If you are marking more than 10 wrong answers, gradually improve and ensure you are able to reduce the number of wrong answers to less than 10 and 15 at maximum. Anything more than 15 wrong answers is always a big risk.  You will clear prelims even if you mark 70 total questions out of 100 with 60 correct and 10 wrong answers in GS paper but you will fail if you mark 90 questions with 60 correct and 30 wrong questions. Hence, reduce the number of wrong questions however you can.

Hence, you need to know 'basics of basics' of nearly 5,000 topics including your optional papers to clear the exam. Your focus should be 'how to revise and remember these 5,000 topics in the last one month before the exam". Without revising, all your effort has no worth. Your approach and state of mind during the last one month of the exam is pivotal to crack the exam. "The successful candidates are as good or bad as you". Wish you all the best of luck!


P.S: The views are entirely personal and not directed against any person or organization. The article is largely academic purpose, intended to give an orientation of the civil service exam. This is aimed at helping students present in the remote areas and other exclusive areas of India. Arid theory apart, I have tried best to give practical tips and strategy to tackle the exam. I have no benefits from the article, whatsoever.