Basics of GS preparation

The following are some points that may be useful for GS preparation in general. A more detailed unit wise strategy will be uploaded in another post.

• As we all know, these days UPSC has made the GS paper very very challenging. It has become dynamic and more opinion based. Students need to do an extensive coverage of current affairs and they can’t neglect the conventional aspect.

• It is important to know the difference between a generalist and a specialist. A generalist is a person who knows “less and less of more and more”, while a specialist is a person who knows “more and more of less and less”. The Civils Exam in the GS paper is testing the Generalist approach.

• One point that I would like to emphasize upon is how to use YOUR coaching class in your preparation. Please understand this very carefully that given the current trend of GS paper, everything cannot be served on a platter. The student will have to make a lot of effort from his side apart from attending the classes and memorizing the class notes. The coaching will certainly help you in many ways:
  • Gives you an approach to the subject. When you see the kind of questions being asked in Test Series and you try and pin-point from where they were asked, you understand what all to read in newspapers and magazines from exam point of view. You understand how to study GS.
  • It strengthens your fundamentals. The conventional part of GS is more or less static and you can pick that up at a faster pace with coaching classes.
  • It highlights issues of current importance. This way it does cover a lot of portion of current affairs too. But the students will still have to cover a lot on their own.
  • You will certainly be able to move at a faster pace with the coaching class.
  • Finally you can easily clarify your doubts with the faculty members in the class.

• Some points from my personal experience in GS:
  • Study your class notes and Yellow Books multiple times. The current affairs material that would now be given for the Main Exam is especially very good and should be studied carefully.
  • NCERT books for classes XI and XII (History, Geography, Polity, Economics, Sociology and World Politics). Try to attempt questions given at back.
  • You can refer to DD Basu, Economic Survey, India Year Book (especially important for Mains exam these days), Economy issue of PD, Atlas and Manorama Year Book.
  • Newspaper reading is crucial given the current trend. You must try and make your own hand-written notes. While reading newspapers observe the following- abbreviations; new terms; organisations; quotes and examples, which can be used elsewhere; etc. It is very effective for retention and you are able to revise very quickly. Read the editorials carefully and try and understand the main points. After reading, write a summary of the editorial in your notebook. This would help you build your own opinion.
  • You can read selective articles from Frontline and Yojana. If you want to, then you may also look at some competitive magazine.
  • Internet can prove very useful especially for Science and Tech.
  • You may join a Test Series to practice writing and organizing answers. Also in test series, you learn to control your nervousness when faced with questions that you do not know.
  • For India and the World- Understand the core issues between India and various nations. The external relations can be structured into political, economic, defence, cultural, S&T, etc. so prepare in these dimensions.

• Answer writing in the Exam
  • You must form original opinions on matters of current interest around you. Try and organize your answer in such a way that it appeals to the examiner.
  • You can use an intelligent mixture of paras and points in your answers.
  • You can make intelligent guesses to answers of questions you don’t know but do this in the end.
  • When direct questions come from conventional areas, you MUST attempt them very well since such questions would be attempted well by many other candidates. You cannot afford to lose unnecessary marks in this area. For instance, even though less questions may be asked from History recently, that doesn’t mean you can now ignore History. In fact that means, you now need to be all the more careful because if any direct question comes, you should be able to answer it correctly.
  • For current affairs, apart from current events in national and international sphere, focus on Govt. Policy decisions. Try and understand the rationale behind the decisions. You must know both the positives and negatives of each action of government.
  • For Paper-II, international affairs questions, it is useful if you first give some historical aspect of the relations between the nations and then talk about the current aspect. You can cover this area well from the Yellow Book.
  • Please remember that analysis of issues rather than mere memorization of facts is becoming more and more important and that is what the examiner is looking for. Even if the question is factual, it is always a good idea to give some analysis along with it.

• Effort from your side
  • Earlier, I talked about the need to make a lot of effort from your side. By that I mean, you must not only have a mastery over the class notes, but you must always be open to new information from other sources. You cannot rely only on material given in the class.
  • You must also try and visit the websites of ministries, spend a little time on the Internet surfing for information of interest, read some news magazines and try and read at least the editorials from one other newspaper apart from The Hindu.
  • Newspaper Reading- This is very important.

In the end I just want to say, that for GS especially, do not judge your coaching class by the fact as to how many questions in the exam finally came from your class discussions. Instead, you must judge the class based on whether it taught you how to approach and handle the GS subject. Even though, the class will steer you in the right direction, the hard-work has to be yours.