How to Prepare for Civil Services

How to Prepare for Civil Services

This document presents an idea about how to prepare for Civil services; I have tried to encapsulated all ideas for better preparation. As per the past experience of successful aspirants, this document is divided into three parts as follows:.

A)   Round First:   Basic preparation through NCERT books

Approach:-  The NCERT books should be given one basic reading before studying anything else whether the student is preparing on his/her own or planning to attend classes. Student who has not gone the through the NCERT books and has joined the classes need to Jump to the stage 2 preparing. The first reading should focus on getting familiar with the content given in the books. At this stage, there should not be a conscious effort to make notes or trying to mug up the content.

After the first reading is over, student must go through:

ü  The past 10 years question papers of civil services main Exam and

ü  Past 5 years question papers of civil services preliminary Exam.

Assessing what kind of question has come in the past in the Civil Services Exam needs to be substantiated with a general reading of the syllabus.

New papers:-There is not much benefit from reading the newspapers, if the students have not finished the first reading of the NCERT books.

Time Limit:- Students preparing full time may devote 10-13 hours of intensive study every day. Such a study would take around 1-2 months for the first reading to be over. This time span may vary depending upon the concentration and focus of the individual students.

General Studies – One can refer all NCERT books for topic wise for fast reading (one can refer some other portal or site too for this list )

ü  The Earth Our Habited (Class 6th)

ü  Our Environment (Class7th) Resource and

ü  Development (Class 8th)

ü  Contemporary India (Class 9^th and 10^th)

ü  Fundamental and of Physical Geography & India’s physical Environment (Class 11^th)

ü  Fundamentals Human Geography & India’s People and Economy (Class 12^th)

ü  History: Our Past I ,II and III (Class 6^th to 8^th )

ü  India and Contemporary world I and II (Class 9^thto 10^th )

ü  Themes  in World History (Class 11^th)

ü  Themes in India History I, II and III (Class 12^th)

ü  Polity: Social and Political Life (Class 6^thto 8^th)

ü  Democratic Politics (Class 9^thto 10^th)

ü  Indian Constitution at Work (Class 11^th)

ü  Contemporary World politics (Class 12^th)

ü  Political science I and II (Classes 11^thand 12^th)

ü  Economy: Economics (Class 9^th)

ü  Understanding Economics development (class 10^th)

ü  Indian Economic development (class 11^th)

ü  Introductory macro Economics (class 12^th)

ü  Sociology: Introducing sociology & understanding society (class 11^th)

ü  Indian society & social change and development in India (class 12^th)

ü  Psychology: introduction to psychology (class 11^th)

ü  Art and culture: An introduction to Indian Art I (class 11^th)

B)   Round Second: Through reference Books

Approach:- After the first reading of the NCERT books, assessment of the syllabus and question papers are over, the student needs to identify the topics which have been asked most commonly in the past years. These topics should then be re-read from the NCERT books (second reading), and from the reference books. A rough draft of what has been read should be compiled into notes. After this, the other topics should be read from the reference (vertical) books and the NCERT books and notes should be prepared accordingly.

Newspapers:-Reading of Newspapers should start at this point and whatever important articles frequently come in the Hindu and the Indian Express must be noted, Underlined and cut out kept in a separate folder. Also one can refer http://iasexamportal.com/civilservices/current-affairs/voice-notes for audio notes on the current issue. News at 9 PM must be followed every day on “News on Air”.

Time Limit:-This stage will take more time as compared to the previous stage. An approximation is difficult here. It will vary greatly according to the students’ perception and their comfort level of the various topics.

Note-making: Students should try to prepare descriptive notes and refer to at least two to three Reference books.  (use mins map technique)

Ø  General Studies:–One shall go through these reference books:

ü  World History- Modern European History by L Mukherji,

ü  Mastering word History by Norman Lowe;

ü  Indian Art and Culture – Vajiram,s Art and Culture;

ü  Trends in Indian Culture & Heritage by Ausuf  Spayed    

ü  Modern Indian History – Coaching notes,

ü  Modern Indian History by Grover & Mehta;

ü  Indian Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra

ü  Post-Independence India – India After Independence by Bipan Chandra;

ü  India After Gandhi by R C Guha; Makers of Modern India by R C Guha

Ø  Social Issues:– Ram Ahuja; Indian Society by S C Dube

Ø  Geography:-

ü  Coaching notes, on World and Indian Geography; 

ü  Book by D R Khullar or Majid Hussain

Ø  Polity –

ü  Our Constitution by Subhash  Kashyap;

ü  Indian Polity by M Laxmikanth; DD Basu; P M Bakshi;

Ø  Governance –

ü  From Government to Governance by Kuldeep Mathur,

ü  Governance in India by M Laxmikanth;

ü  2nd ARC Reports (total 15):

ü  (1st ) Right to Information:

ü  Master Key to Good Governance,

ü  (2nd ) Unlocking Human Capital:

ü  Entitlements and Governance (a case study),

ü  (3rd ) Crisis Management,

ü  (4th ) Ethics in Governance,

ü  (5th ) Public Order,

ü  (6th) Local Governance,

ü  (7th) Capacity Building for Conflict Resolution,

ü   (9th) Social Capital (A Shared Destiny),

ü  (10th) Refurbishing of Personnel Administration,

ü  (11th) Promoting e-Governance 

ü  (12th) Citizen Centric Administration,

ü  (13th) Organisational Structure of Govt of India, 

ü  (14th) Strengthening financial Management systems,

ü  (15th) State and district administration

Ø  International Relations –

ü  Word Focus can be cover through the following the websites

a.   www.idsa.in, 

b.  http://thediplomat.com,

c.   http://www.cfr.org, 

d.    www.satp.org,

Ø  Indian Economy –

ü  Sanjiv Verma’s Book on Indian Economy;

ü  Vajiram s Yellow Book

ü  Economic Survey of India,  

ü  Websites of RBI, SEBI,

ü  Min of Finance Commission;

ü  Indian Year Book,

ü  Pratiyogita Darpan Special issues on Indian Economy

Ø  Science & Technology –

ü  Coaching notes,

ü  Science Section of the Hindu and Times of India;

ü  Websites of Min of Environment and Forestry,

ü  Min of Science and Technology,

ü  Department of space etc.

Ø  Security Issues- 

ü  www.idsa.in,

ü  The Indian Express;

ü  Min of Home Affairs;

ü  Coaching notes,

ü  2nd ARC (8thReport) Combating Terrorism

Ø  Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude –

ü  Coaching notes,

ü  on Ethics by Access Publishing,

ü  2nd ARC (4th Report) Ethics in Governance

Ø  Comprehensive Study Material: -

ü  Current Affairs: - News Papers

ü  http://www.pib.nic.in

ü  http://www.insightsonindia.com for regular current & update

ü  GS Manual: Mcgraw Hill / Pearson /Access / Unique / Spectrum

C)    Parallel Preparation: Writing Skills

Now let's come to writing answers in Mains exam. As per new pattern total four papers of GS, you have a huge range of answers to write, varying from 100 to 200-word answers. Each type of question demands separate treatment and one should need to practice it on day to day basis for

Ø  10 marks:-

These kinds of question require writing about 100-200 words. Now you don't have much space to manoeuvre around. Please do not write an introduction to these answers as this takes a lot of words. Start your actual answer with the first word.

Ø  20 marks/25 marks:- These questions appear in your optional papers as well.

The word limit is about 250 to 400 words. For these questions, write an introduction that is small and sweet. Try to mould the question itself in an answer format giving the examiner an idea that you know what you are talking about. For e.g., If there is a question about the President being a ceremonial position and nothing else, You can start by stating that, Indian constitution has provided for a President as the head of the state, But the real position of importance is that of the PM who is the head of the govt. But while saying this, you should also continue and say that calling the institution of President merely a ceremonial one would be wrong because the constitution has provided some discretionary powers to the president. Now your 1st Para ends.

Your introduction should be about 25-35 words.

In the next Para, start with why the president is a nominal head. Quote art 74, 42nd amendment act, 44th AA and so on. Then in the next Para write why he is not just a ceremonial head. Do not waste words. Every sentence should have relevance to the answer.
Then conclude the answer in about 20-30 words. But do not write a conclusion that is similar to your introduction.

Now, most of the students face this problem. When they first start writing answers, they can't start the introduction. So please practice introduction writing for as many questions as you can. that will make it easier for the exam to start.

Secondly, your handwriting should be legible if not beautiful. Practice on it if you have a bad one. I had a v bad one. I worked on it.

Thirdly, you should practice answer writing regularly, if possible try to get them evaluated by a good teacher or a good student. Now, when you practice answer writing, write them in the time limit that the exam will offer you. A well written 20 marker in 2 hours won't serve any purpose whatsoever.

Last, try to write grammatical and sensible sentences. Do not go for the myth that flowery language or exotic vocabulary helps score better. Write simple and meaningful sentences.

One more thing. Before starting to answer a question, understand the demand of the question. Do not presuppose the demand of the question. Often we start writing w/o understanding the question correctly. By reading write word & write the answer as pointed:-

Ø  Elucidate: It refers to making the statement plain. In fact, you have to explain it in such a way that it becomes intelligible.

Ø  Explain Same as above.

Ø  Comment: It implies that you give a written remark, giving an opinion or elucidating an event, a person, a situation etc.

Ø  Examine: It refers to inspecting something closely and bringing out facts i.e. you bring to light various aspects of the given statements.

Ø  Critically examine: It means inspecting closely and forming or expressing judgment. The latter is of greater relevance here. It may also include comparisons and contrasts.

Ø  Discuss: It refers to writing about something i.e. you are supposed to write about the various aspects of the given statement.

Ø  Analyse: It refers to taking various facts or parts of a given statement into consideration and bringing to light its nature or structure, you take each part one by one and examine.

Ø  Amplify: It refers to elaborating the statements. You add detail and make it fuller.

Ø  Illustrate: It refers to explaining or making clear by giving examples.

Then after understanding the question rightly, you should make a framework of your answer somewhere as to what all you want to write. This will help as in the process of writing you tend to forget points easily.