The Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination is more of factual in nature, while on the other hand, the main examination requires deep analysis and comprehensive evaluation of questions, as answers written by a candidate in the examination represents the overall personality of a candidate.
In the recent years, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has made comprehensive changes in the pattern of the mains. In light of these changes, a robust strategy is required to score high in mains.
Every year, a large number of candidates fail to clear mains due to poor preparation or lack of right strategy. As there are 20-25 questions in each of four papers of GS, a student has to answer within a time limit, and therefore, answer writing practice is important along with coverage of the syllabus of each subject of CSE Mains.
For candidates, who are going to appear in Mains 2018, the focus should be entirely on revision, solving previous years’ question papers and answer writing practice at this moment.
Students, who are planning to appear in CSE Mains 2019, will get ample amount of time to reconcile and recollect information relevant to the UPSC, to utilize the existing skills and acquire relevant knowledge, in-depth understanding of each subject along with clarity of thoughts and expressions.
Strategy to crack CSE Mains
* Stay updated with current issues (read the news in last one year with a focus on current major issues). One can buy Hindu news compilation which is released every third month
* Practice answer writing with coherency of ideas which are connected with dynamic issues
* Prepare well for your optional subject. Go through the previous years’ question papers and cross-check the issues which are still in the news
* Essay writing practice (write one essay weekly). Essay topics are generally related to poverty, unemployment, crony capitalism, health and such other issues
* Identify your mistakes in previous year’s attempt and rectify them in the next
* Try to cover your mains optional subject while preparing for GS
Lastly, if you are targeting UPSC 2017, revision is the key to success in mains examination.
Paper wise GS Mains books and sources for civil services preparation
GS Paper-1
Indian heritage and culture, history and geography of the world and society
Sources:
India’s Struggle for Independence by Bipin Chandra
Facets of Indian Culture – Spectrum
Modern Indian History by BL Grover
India since Independence by Bipin Chandra
Certificate Physical and Human Geography by GC Leong
Class 11 and 12 NCERT books
GS Paper-2
Major topics
The federal structure of union and state, separation of power between center and state
Comparison between Indian constitutions with other various constitutions of other countries
Non-Government Organisation (NGO) and Self Help Group (SHG) basic functions. Question mostly asked from current affairs
Note: In GS paper 2, questions are from current affairs, majorly covering issues which were in the news in past year
Sources
Laxmikant for basics
Any standard magazine for dynamic issues
For government policies, read India yearbook, Yojana of last one year and Kurukshetra. Also, focus on the Comptroller Auditor General (CAG) report on government schemes.
GS paper-3
Major topics
Agricultural issues related to minimum support price, subsidies, irrigation facilities
Macroeconomic issues that are in the news which included issues like infrastructure like ports, railway, and waterways
Issues relating to RBI monetary policy, RBI’s role in the economy, 25 years of LPG subsidy, civil aviation policy
Read Budget and Economic survey (Twin Balance sheet problem and bad bank loan) to cover the above topics
Other sources
For science and tech, read The Hindu (science portion)
For the environment, read climate part of Economic Survey and India year book on the environment
For disaster management, read Tata Mcgraw Hill
For internal security, read Tata Mcgraw Hill along with any standard magazine
GS Paper-4
Major topics
Case studies: Go through the previous year questions and analyze the mindset of question framers and see what kind of topics are generally asked for case studies part. Try to solve as much case studies as possible
Ethics: Questions are mostly asked from corporate governance, civil service, ethical issues, private and public affairs of the civil servants
Sources for Ethics: lexicon for ethics, second ARC recommendation
Once you are done with basic of polity, geography, history, and economy with the help of NCERT books and above recommendations, try to spend most of your time analyzing the previous years’ question papers and start solving them. It will help you assess yourself and then improvise on the areas lacking.
Before a month of the examination, try to remain calm and do not fret about any topics you have not covered. For better memorization of facts, you must go through UNESCO websites, Ramsar sites, national parks and government websites and keep enrolling yourself in mock test papers which are helpful for gaining a sense of the exam.
You get 200+ Tests
40 NCERT based Tests with revision tests and full mock covering Class VI-XII(all subjects)
20 Standard Reference Books based Tests(Ex- laxmikant,Ramesh Singh ,Spectrum,Shankar environment)
22 Current Affairs tests based on Vision IAS current affairs magazine,(since they are considered exhaustive)
24 Bimonthly current affairs tests covering The Hindu,Indian Express etc) of 2018-19 and 24 test of 2017-18(As UPSC asks current affairs question even beyond 2years)
5 Tests on economic Survey and India Year Book
10 full Mock Tests
100 Previous year based tests
The test series is so designed to strengthen your basics and provide regular practice and revision. Both NCERT based tests and Standard Reference Books based Tests will be over by December. While not leaving behind current affairs as often done by aspirants.The comprehensive coverage of the syllabus will help you in your mains preparation too. Once everything is complete we will start Full Mock (of the whole syllabus) from December.
In this examination, planning matters a lot so that you do not panic at the last moment.
