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http://www.insightsonindia.com/2015/07/22/anthropology-strategy-neha-kumari-rank-26-cse-2014/

ANTHROPOLOGY Strategy: Neha Kumari Rank 26, CSE 2014

(Plus Her Marks-Sheet)
By INSIGHTS

Anthropology Strategy
Neha Kumari, Rank 26, CSE 2014
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DISCLAIMER: Dear friends, I secured 271 marks in Anthropology. This was my first attempt and,
like many of you, I was clueless about the subject before filling notification. I did not take any
classroom coaching for the optional subject and depended entirely on self-study, guidance
from a friend and feedback on answer writing (Vaids Test Series).
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I am no expert in this subject, I have just shared how I prepared Anthropology because many
wanted to know about this. Hope it will be useful.

My optional preparation was mainly done from Mid September 2014 to December 2014.
(balancing between GS test series at Insights offline classes). Hence it might NOT be the best
strategy in an ideal case.
Moreover due to paucity of time, for the initial reading I stuck to basic notes by Braintree. Then I
tried to read the specific book for particular section and finally made short notes/highlighted those
important pages in the book itself.

Please customize my strategy as per your requirements, preparedness and time availability Thank you.
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Basic Requirement
1) Please sit with the syllabus and previous years question bank. You will realise that most of the
previous year questions have been repeated number of times. Hence it is very important to cover
the syllabus along with clarity of understanding as well as making 200-400 words of notes on each
sub-topic.
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For this I tried to follow this method ( one senior aspirants strategy):
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In a separate notebook, I divided syllabus of each section into 10 to 12 parts each. Then I noted down one topic.
Under this topic, I wrote down all the questions asked in previous years. I completed this exercise for all topics.
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Then made short notes of each topic. Notes must be concise crisp. Please remember these notes are useful for
only for the person who has made it. So please dont ask others for their notes as notes are only pointer
to the information we read in books and materials.

MATERIALS
I bought Braintree (BT) and Vaid sir (VS) materials. We are not supposed to go through entire material, they are
there for ready reference.
PART 1
Physical Anthropology
Though I entirely depended on Braintree material for this section, if time is available I would suggest the following:
P Nath -( some topics are not at all useful, please avoid them) Must buy
Das few topics are really good Desirable
Vaid Sirs Notes
So for every topic in this section first go through P Nath and VS thoroughly. Now make notes and mug
them up. If a question is coming then ideally one should recall entire 100-200 words of the notes. Even if
you can recollect 60% then also we will get at least 50% marks
Fossil Evidence:
S Das
Photocopy of one booklet (40 50 pages) in Vaid Sirs It is must summary of each fossil with evolution
tree and proper easily reproducible diagrams are given. Here no need to make separate notes. For most of
the topics just enrich this booklet with information you get from other sources.
Theories
Please Visit: http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php
For this section I depended on Vaid Sirs Socio-Cultural Anthropology book and the remaining topics from
Braintree material.
Take one theory at a time, make notes from both of above sources and memorise them on same day. It will take 2
hours daily for ten days and believe me you wont require anything else.
(P.S.- While doing the theories, I was feeling like doing a PHD on each of them, but after it was over once I felt
really good and confident about them.)
PART 2
Socio Cultural Anthropology:Introduction to Socio-cultural Anthropology by Dr N K Vaid, recently revised, Palka
publications
This book is very good. No need for making separate notes.BrainTree notes are good and crucial for topics not
covered in the above book.Though I heard about Ember and Ember I could not find time for it and hence left that
book altogether. Some topics are good in Ember and Ember (For example, Segmental Lineage, Chart for Band vs
Tribes vs. ) If we have time then for this section, then Ember and Ember can be referred. I didnt find this
book important for any other section.Indian Anthropology

Books:Usually no need to refer notes for this section.

Nadeem Hasnani

For topics like ST SC OBC their backwardness and welfare, newspapers are important and 12th FYP
relevant chapters are must.
Archeology :
The book mentioned above covers this section also.
Archeology and Theories are the core of Anthropology and I personally believe that if attempted, questions of this
section fetch more marks and creates good impression.
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Here we must make notes of sites, Indian archaeologist associated with them.Tribals:Friends, being from Chota
Nagpur plateau this was my forte. I really enjoyed reading this part.
Referred mainly to Nadeem Hasnanis Tribal Anthropology.
N.K Vaids Who cares for tribal development can also be very helpful.
Last year January Yojana article completely covered tribal issues, planning related problems, Forest rights
etc.This was very useful for me.
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For basics we must know the various tribes of various regions, their special traditions, diseases prevalent in them,
their socio economic status, problems of tribes in general with latest concrete data. Any new policy affecting or for
tribes must be thoroughly prepared.
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I still feel I could have planned better for my optional which could have fetched me better marks. I had skipped the
Fossil Evidence chapters due to lack of time and revision. But Anthropology paper was kind and gave us an
opportunity to write good answers.
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Again I would like to point out that the excessive answer writing practice for optional (Vaid Test Series),
Anthropology Answer Writing Challenges (Insights), General Studies papers through insightsonindia.com ,
Secure, Daily Tests were helpful when writing answers as paper 2 was of general nature.
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Overall as an optional Anthropology has been a life saviour for me and has beautifully bailed me out. I hope it
does the same for you.
Nehas Marks Sheet:

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