GENERAL STUDIES - STRATEGY, BOOK LIST AND OTHER RESOURCES, TIPS

SHISHIR GUPTA, UPSC CIVIL SERVICES EXAMINATION 2019, AIR 50

INTRODUCTION

My name is Shishir Gupta. I am from Jaipur, Rajasthan. I have done my schooling from
Maheshwari Public School in Jaipur. Thereafter, I did my ​B.Tech in Chemical Engineering
from IIT Bombay​ in 2013. I have worked for 2 years as a ​Process Engineer in Bilfinger
Tebodin in Abu Dhabi​. I was living a pretty settled life. Also I started financing the education of
a girl child. It was during that phase I came to a realisation that I don’t want a settled life but I
want to pursue a career where I can do well and do good for the people at the same time. So I
decided to appear for the Civil Services Examination and thus quit my job. I am thankful to my
family and friends who supported and motivated me throughout my journey and were always
there for me during the good and the bad times.

BOOKLIST AND OTHER RESOURCES

Be thorough with the ​syllabus​ first.

1. HISTORY
❏ New / Old NCERTs - 6th to 12th
❏ Modern India - Spectrum
❏ Ancient History / Art and Culture - Baliyan Notes and Lucent
❏ Vision test series papers

2. GEOGRAPHY
❏ New / Old NCERTs - 11th and 12th
❏ Rajtanil​ Ma’am Videos - Youtube
❏ Vision test series papers

3. SOCIETY and SOCIAL ISSUES

❏ NCERTs Sociology - 11th and 12th
❏ Smriti Shah​ ​Ma’am Notes (Vision IAS)
❏ OnlyIAS Hindu Editorial discussions
❏ Current Affairs

4. POLITY
❏ NCERTs - 11th and 12th
❏ M. Puri​ ​Sir classes (make short notes of the class notes itself, note down all the SC judgements
and memorize them - will be helpful in answer writing including case studies of GS-IV paper)
❏ Laxmikanth
❏ Current Affairs

5. INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS and INTERNAL SECURITY

❏ Current Affairs
6. ECONOMICS
❏ NCERTs - 11th and 12th
❏ Sriram IAS book
❏ Current Affairs

7. ENVIRONMENT
❏ Shankar IAS book
❏ Current Affairs

8. DISASTER MANAGEMENT
❏ Vision IAS value added material

9. SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

❏ Current Affairs

10. ETHICS
❏ Anubhav Sharma​ Sir’s crash course / Test series ​(New Age IAS)

11. OTHER RESOURCES

❏ Rajya Sabha TV debates
❏ Indian Express Explained (sometimes)
❏ Read about all the important personalities in news (Google it) - 1 question was asked in GS paper

12. ESSAY
❏ Try to utilize ​GS knowledge​ as much as possible

❏ Go through the ​syllabus​ a day before the final exam (will help you in thinking about different
dimensions that can be given to an essay)

❏ Follow ​speeches​ of PM / President / VP - can directly quote some lines from their speeches in
the essay

❏ Read essays written by other aspirants or previous years toppers (available in the market)

❏ Prepare ​write-up​ on a few common topics like education, women empowerment, environment,
AI, water issues, federalism etc (Will also be helpful in GS answer writing)

❏ There’s nothing bad in knowing a few ​success stories​ of government flagship schemes (can be
used as an example or say introduction in the essay)

❏ Contextualize your essay and don’t divert from the topic

❏ Remember important ​quotes​ given by famous personalities like Mahatma Gandhi, Swami
Vivekananda etc

❏ Whenever you quote any example in the essay, make sure to the extent possible that it’s
something related to our country (avoid international stories or examples as much as possible)
❏ Always read the topic in both the languages in which it’s written in the paper (2016 essay paper
part 1, students did face difficulties)

❏ Do not follow similar approaches while writing the essays in the exam. For example - at times
students follow a story writing approach for both the essays, it kind of looks both mechanical and
monotonous. Try to bring diversity in your paper

❏ UPSC has started asking ​philosophical​ essays- try to practice them if you are not comfortable in
writing on such topics

❏ You don’t know who is checking your paper. He / she might be an english teacher (thus focus on
grammar, continuity and flow) or someone from humanities background (so try to cover as many
dimensions as possible)

IMPORTANT POINTS FOR PRELIMS

❏ Static portion​, cover it thoroughly, try to get all the questions right in the exam

❏ Previous Years Questions​ are very very important

❏ Daily map practice

❏ Mark national park, Ramsar list on maps

❏ OnlyIAS​ continent wise videos

❏ Study IQ​ - Places in current news by Prashant Dhawan sir

❏ Types of soils, mountain passes, water straits etc.

❏ Global bodies and initiatives list especially the ones involving India (questions are asked almost
every year)

❏ RBI​ circulars (for the last 2 years UPSC is asking questions)

❏ Go through the government websites to read all the acts like solid waste management act, labour
codes, get the tribes list, recent GI tags etc

❏ Data to be able to attempt trend based questions

❏ Important Committees (can be quoted in GS answer writing)

❏ Recent Amendment acts (provisions can be memorized by making mnemonics) - helpful in both
prelims and mains
❏ Focus on constitutional and statutory bodies (especially the ones in news)

❏ National and International organisations in news like WHO

❏ Remember Fundamental Rights, Fundamental Duties, DPSPs by heart

❏ At least do read the chapters on bhakti movements (I noted important points on each of the bhakti
saints), Buddhism and Jainism chapters or simply go through the test papers of different
coachings. All types of questions will be covered there

❏ See all the images given in History NCERT, ​(Direct questions aata hai)

❏ Book list of authors like Brahmagupta, Panini etc

❏ Read all the boxes given in the NCERTs

❏ Vajiram app​ for prelims current affairs practice

NOTE​ - Don't waste your time in making notes for prelims. Remember that you don't have to
top the prelims you just have to clear it

IMPORTANT POINTS FOR MAINS

❏ Try to make a ​1 page write-up​ on important topics given in the syllabus. Example- UPSC almost
every year asks questions on SHGs, Panchayati Raj etc, so have something always prepared on
such topics

❏ 3D approach
➢ Make a ​data​ TABLE on almost all possible topics like education, health related
parameters etc from government documents i.e. ECONOMIC SURVEY, NITI AAYOG
REPORTS
➢ Note down ​definitions​ of various terms mentioned in the syllabus
➢ micro-diagrams​ (but don't go after making big flow charts or diagrams etc, REMEMBER
it's not a drawing paper)

❏ Maps-​ can be used not only in geography but also in other papers like social issues (human
trafficking), internal security, history, disaster management (landslide zones of BIS) etc

❏ Mnemonics​ to memorize key points of govt policies and acts

❏ Whenever solutions are asked related to anything in the question, start your answer by
mentioning a few problems first and then provide the solutions. (Solutions aise hi hawa mein nahi
dene hai)

❏ While answering case studies in ​ethics​ paper, your approach should be:
➢ Mention the objective that you want to achieve from that case study at the very beginning
 ➢ Always mention ethical dilemmas (whether or not asked in the question)
➢ Provide different options / solutions
➢ At times you’ll see that the examiner has already given a few solutions with the problem
statement itself and asks you to evaluate those options. Along with it he / she might ask
you to mention other possible solutions as well. In that case try to mention at least 2
solutions
➢ Then choose one solution or a combination of solutions in conclusion

❏ Time Management​ - Always keep a watch right in front of you and try to complete the 10 marker
within 7 minutes and 15 marker within 9 minutes (Remember if you are unable to write answer to
any question within the given time period don’t waste your time thinking too much about it, just
move on to the next question)

❏ Be ​aggressive​, right from the beginning. At times, students take too much of time while
answering the initial few questions and thus they are unable to complete the paper

❏ Complete​ the paper (increase your writing speed, this comes by regular practice)

❏ Always write ​introduction​, ​linking paragraph​ (linking the introduction and the body) and
conclusion​ in your answer

❏ Always try to end the answer on a ​positive​ note and if possible link it to some recent government
initiative

❏ Test series ​-​ join any, it’s for your own practice

OTHER IMPORTANT POINTS

❏ Keep your ​resources concise​ and try to revise them over and over again. Do not run after
everything in the market.

❏ Trick to clearing any competitive exam is to know the fact that you cannot cover the entire
syllabus, so don’t even think about it. Just make sure that whatever you do, you are thorough with
it

❏ Remember that you have to make your own notes, make your own strategy, follow your own time
table. You can clear this exam by smart work but not by using any shortcut.

❏ Stay away from people who create negative atmosphere around you

❏ Both success and failure are equally important. Enjoy your success as you have earned it but do
learn from your failures and try not to repeat the same mistakes again.
❏ Continue doing your hard work with utmost dedication. Don’t get bogged down by your failures.
People often talk about motivation and inspiration but do remember that one cannot be motivated
all the time so it’s always better to be disciplined

❏ Be confident and always be positive. If you don’t trust yourself the world never will.