GS Prelims : Sources and Strategy

Here, I have tried to answer most of the queries asked by aspirants regarding GS preparation, for the Preliminary examination. If any of your concerns remain unaddressed kindly ask them in the comments section below.

The article on preparation for Mains -  GS and Essay is coming up shortly !!

• Sources 

• History -
• Ancient : R S Sharma (NCERT), Medieval : Satish Chandra (Old NCERT)
• Culture : Fine Arts (NCERT), Nitin Singhania - Indian Art and Culture 
• Freedom Struggle : Spectrum (A brief history of modern India)

• Polity - M. Laxmikanth (Indian Polity)

• Geography - NCERTs (Class 6-12) + G C Leong

• Economy - Mrunal notes/videos (on youtube or mrunal.org) + Prev. years Vision Ias prelims test papers (2 years, only economy related sectional tests) + Economic Survey-Budget

• Environment - Shankar's green book on Environment + Prev. years Vision Ias prelims test papers (2 years, only environment related sectional tests)

• Current Affairs - The Hindu + Vision IAS PT 365

• Mock tests 

• Pointers for prelims

• Nature of Prelims :

• Now that Paper 2 (CSAT) is only qualifying in nature, the Prelims has been become a lot more unpredictable and uncertain.
• I believe that out of 100 questions around 40-45 questions are generally solvable, 20-25 questions are very difficult and out of reach for most (though exceptions are there).
• So ultimately selection/rejection depends on around 30 questions which requires a lot of intelligent guesswork and elimination of options. So do not hesitate in attempting questions which you are not sure of. Everybody giving the prelims has to do some amount of guess work in the paper.

• Test Series for Prelims :

• A test series for Prelims is an absolute must. One should attempt all the tests of any one of the many available (I did the Vision IAS test series) and revise all the tests at least twice for maximum output.

• Studying Current Affairs :

• Looking at the recent trend of Prelims, I feel that atleast one year of study of current affairs is an absolute necessity. 
• I shall suggest reading newspapers over any daily compilation for current affairs. It would help not only in covering all the relevant facts/events but also help improve one's instincts when it comes to eliminating options in the paper.
• Along with the newspaper (preferably the Hindu), one should also refer to any standard monthly compilation (I referred to Vision monthly magazines) so as to keep revising stuff. This would help in improving one's retention of the material studied. 
• Ideally I believe, apart from the continuous study of current affairs, one should revise the entire year's current affairs atleast twice in the couple of months before Prelims.
• So if the Prelims is in June, one should revise the current affairs magazines of past 1 year at least 2 times in the months of April and May

• Preparing for Prelims vs mains

• The ideal strategy in my opinion would be to start the preparation for mains by reading NCERTs + standard books + newspapers (1 year before the prelims)
• As many topics are same in Prelims and mains a lot of the syllabus for prelims would also be covered while studying for mains
• Dedicated study for Prelims can be started around 3 months before the date of prelims. This is the time when one should revise all the standard books mentioned above (atleast 2 times), go through the monthly current affairs magazines of any coaching institute and give as many mock tests for prelims as possible.

• Other points to ponder :

• One should prioritise topics while preparing for Prelims - polity and environment, along with current affairs, should be accorded the highest priority going by the recent trends.
• For topics like environment and economy, solving previous years mock tests on these particular topics are of great help in revising the concepts quickly