Strategy for IAS prelims
Dear Students,
Preliminary examination is intended to eliminate non serious candidates and provide an opportunity for the serious students to compete in the main examinations. Most of the aspirants think that preliminary examination is a tough nut to crack which is not true. they feel that it is the GS paper which makes their attempts miserable. It is a wrong perception. The truth is that GS is easy to score when it is prepared smartly.
UPSC wants candidates laden with facts regarding current and past events related to India and the world. It is amply evident from the past ten years question papers. Questions regarding history, polity, geography are no more important from the viewpoint of their historical perspective but with the present.
Comparison of Prelims of past 4 years
|
|
2012 |
2011 |
2010 |
2009 |
| 1 |
Environment & Energy |
18 |
12 |
14 |
8 |
| 2 |
Geography |
10 |
13 |
20 |
21 |
| 3 |
Economy |
11 |
11 |
22 |
18 |
| 4 |
Polity |
14 |
12 |
8 |
12 |
| 5 |
History |
20 |
11 |
18 |
17 |
| 6 |
Science & technology(International+National) |
11 |
11 |
13 |
9 |
| 7 |
General science |
8 |
10 |
12 |
8 |
| 8 |
Current national +international events |
2 |
7 |
9 |
9 |
| 9 |
Current affairs+GK |
5 |
8 |
11 |
15 |
| 10 |
Awards,Honors & prizes |
0 |
0 |
0 |
5 |
| 11 |
Persons in news |
1 |
1 |
2 |
10 |
| 12 |
current sports news |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
| 13 |
Reasoning +maths |
0 |
4 |
21 |
15 |
| |
TOTOAL QUESTIONS |
100 |
100 |
150 |
150 |
| Conventional : 29 |
| Current and Applied : 71 |
UPSC stopped memory based 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 for example here are some questions from 2012’s paper
Q1. Mahatma Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932, mainly because :
- Round table conference failed to satisfy Indian political aspirations
- Congress and muslims league had differences of opinion
- Ramsay macdonald announced the communal award
- None of the statements (a), (b) and (c) given above is correct in this context.
Q2. Consider these factors
- Rotation of the earth
- Air pressure of wind
- Density of ocean water
- Revolution of the earth
Which of the above factors influence the ocean currents?
- 1 & 2 only
- 1, 2 & 3
- 1 & 4
- 2, 3 & 4
So the exam preparation is not about studying alone. This is not about you mastering one or two subjects as well. This exam is more about handling multiple things simultaneously-that too in the right quantity! The most important facet of the art of preparation is the in-depth understanding of a topic. To have fine in-depth understanding, your basic knowledge about subjects and topics should be very good. In nut shell the citadel of your understanding and critical thinking about any topic would rest upon the foundation of basic concepts and fundamentals. The beginners must invest their time in energy on the basic concepts and fundamentals. As a beginner, when you are not clear about what to read, and yet you are dying to do something, the golden rule is to start with NCERT school books. It may seem a bit odd, when you, as a graduate or post graduate are asked to read class 6
th or 7th book. But the fact is, these books contain so much of information and that too in a very systematic manner. If you start reading from the foundation, you can systematically build your castle without any difficulty. The NCERT books of class 6 to 10
th in general science, History and geography are a must read books. Please also note that the editions are very important.
Newspapers and Magazines
Another very important aspect for a beginner is how to read a newspaper. Most people think that as a beginner one has to read the entire newspaper. This is not required. Read the newspaper; but for a maximum of 1 hour. Read whatever you think that is important. As your knowledge increases, the topics you read also changes. But in this one hour you will have to jot down the important points in a note book. Read the first page, then move to the central page and read one article which appeals you the most. If you spend more time for newspaper, you will be wasting your precious time, which could have been used for studying your optional subject or GS.
Regular reading of the magazines and journals are also essential for the civil service aspirants. Since in magazines, the topics are covered very extensively and elaborately, it is advisable to make short notes of the topics and the stories so that you can save your precious time before exams.
At the end of every month revise important national and international events by making very short notes (one liner). Two months before prelims collect last 14 issues of competitive magazines and note down all important events in single lines and read them repeatedly. For places you must look at the atlas to store them in your long term memory. This will cost you only two weeks but earn you assured 40 marks.
Study Material And Books
Study material Issued at SNM in many ways suffices the need for Civil Services pre exam yet it has to be supplemented with Class notes and discussions. It is essential for every candidate to thoroughly read the entire study material and suggested reads first and write tests for the same. The study material should be used to build concept and apply them in the way the exam demands. Students should use flash card techniques to memorize the facts and should perpetually relate the bookish knowledge to the current events.
Time Management
· The most important aspect of Exam preparation is time management here are a few tips that will help
· Make a time table and stick to it no matter what
· Donot try to quantify your study in terms of hours.
· Distribute various time slots for various aspects of study e.g Newspaper Magazine, Class notes, NCERTS, Study material etc.
· Identify your strengths areas and make them stronger
· Identify your weak areas and improve them
· Don’t waste time in reading unreliable conventional obsolete material
· Keep one day of the week for revision
· Make mental notes of how much syllabus has been covered
· Attempt regular tests of all the topics that you have prepared as they will give you an idea of where you stand
· Make your daily weekly & monthly targets and always try to achieve them
· Use internet as a medium for acquiring latest trends and updates about various happenings
· Keep your teacher posted about where you stand in terms of coverage of syllabus
IF YOU ARE ABLE TO FIND FREE TIME IN THE DAY IT MEANS PREPRATION IS NOT ON THE RIGHT TRACK
All the best................
