Sources + Strategy for GS Mains

GS Mains : Sources and Strategy 

The following is a gist of what I did with regards to my preparation for the GS portion of mains. This strategy may be more suitable for those with an engg/science optional due to paucity of time available to them for GS preparation. However, to my mind, the list provided here is exhaustive in the sense that, it does cater to the GS preparation requirements for mains exhaustively.

• Sources 

• Paper 1 

• Freedom Struggle : Spectrum + India's struggle for freedom {if time permits}
• Culture : Nitin Singhania + Fine Arts NCERT + R S Sharma (Old NCERT)
• Post independence : Vision IAS post independence notes + Pol. Science NCERT
• World History : Vision IAS world history notes (or Norman Lowe - both are same)
• Society : Sociology NCERT + Current affairs
• Geography : NCERTs (6-12), G C Leong, Mrunal's Resources and Industries

• Paper 2

• Polity : Laxmikanth
• Governance : ARC reports (12, 11, 9  in that order), Vision IAS material on governance (selectively as many have become outdated)
• International Relations : Same as Current Affairs
• Monthly Policy Reviews by PRSINDIA.org

• Paper 3

• Economy : Current Affairs + Mrunal's economy lectures on YouTube
• Land Reforms : Bipan Chandra's India since Independence
• Sci-Tech : Current Affairs
• Disaster Management : 3rd ARC report, Sendai framework on Disaster Management
• Environment : Shankar's Environment (Green Book)
• Security : Mains 365 by Vision IAS + Current affairs
• Documents : NITI Aayog 3-year action plan + Economic Survey + Summaries of reports of various committees released from time to time

• Paper 4  

• ARC report (No. 4 - Ethics in Governance) 
• Lexicon Ethics
• 'Justice' by Michael Sandel - an online course by Harvard university {videos are on YouTube or on edx.org} 

• Essay


• Toppers Answer booklets
• Mrunal's 30 years compilation of topics {for practise}
• http://mrunal.org/2017/10/download-upsc-mains-2017-essay-paper.html

• Pointers for Mains :

• Answer writing :  

• [ Read the questions carefully Write what is asked and not what you know ]

• Answer writing is the single most important aspect of mains as far as GS in concerned, one should try to attempt all the questions (at least 18).
• Begin with a short intro (max. 2-3 lines with atleast one fact or definition in it)
• Try to write in points as far as possible, as many points as possible
• Ideally one should aim for as many points in the answer as the maximum marks of that question.
• Try to categorise points into different dimensions - social, political, economic in case such a possibility exists
• Shift to paragraph writing only if the question demands a detailed analysis or one is unable to think of too many points for the particular question.
• End with an optimistic conclusion, if possible (a report of a committee or a fact maybe referenced here as well, but only related to what is being asked in the question ) 
• Any facts written in the answer should be referenced from common/standard documents like Census, Budget, Economic Survey, NFHS
• Try to incorporate relevant diagrams as much as possible - around 10 atleast in a paper of 20 questions, if not more
• They enhance the look and feel of your answers
• Try to minimise the empty space left in the answer booklet - one can increase font size, spacing between lines as well for this purpose.













• Writing speed and Time Management :

• Writing 20 questions in a matter of 3 hours is no mean task. With around 9 minutes to frame and write an answer for a question, the task at hand is not easy.
• For those facing difficulty with answer writing speeds, I would suggest to start answer writing from online platforms {insightsonindia/ iasbaba} on a daily basis.
• One should ideally write at least 3 questions on a daily basis in a timed environment.
• Start with a limit of say, 45 minutes for 3 questions and gradually bring it down to 25-30 minutes.
• The questions on the websites are generally of 2 kinds :
• General questions are more likely to be asked in the examinations
• For ex : questions on education, health, agriculture
• Specific questions would help one to improve your improvisation skills which are much needed in the examination.
• For ex : something based on CRISPR-Cas9 or spring basin management {it maybe the case that you may have never heard of such a thing, but nevertheless try to attempt a few of such questions to help enhance your skills in improvisation}
• Try to attempt a mix of questions, general as well as specific, in nature. 
• Evaluation of answers should be done by looking at the answers posted by people in the comments section.
• One should always skip the questions, one is not very confident about in the first instance, only to be attempted later.
• Also looking at the paper of CSE-2017, it would be more fruitful to attempt the 15 markers first, and then shift to 10 markers afterwards. 

• Paper 1 :

• A gradual shift is being observed towards society, environment related topics - so focus more on these
• History : try to be well aware of the basics of all topics, and link questions with contemporary scenarios if possible.
• Cannot do much about the increasing number of unexpected questions in this paper - focus on what you have read and try to link such questions with whatever knowledge you already have.
• Devote time to the preparation of this paper proportionally. It should be kept in mind that all the GS papers have equal weightage and therefore not too much time should be spent on preparing this paper.
• Can go light on preparation of topics like World History, Post Independence Struggle

• Paper 2 :

• Use Constitution articles, supreme court cases, reports of various committees extensively in your answers
• Certain key phrases which are often repeated in newspaper articles, if used directly in one's answers can be quite helpful, try to make a note of such phrases to be used in answers
• For example : 'CBI as a caged parrot'

• Paper 3 :

• Refer to Economic survey, budget in your answers
• The scope for diagrams, facts in this paper is immense and should be taken advantage of.
• One can also refer to MDGs, SDGs liberally in their answers of this paper.
• Try to memorise SDGs {the 17 main goals}

• Paper 4 :

• Do not take this paper lightly, just because it has a smaller syllabus and requires less of an effort when compared to other papers.
• Based on readings of standard text-books prepare self notes on various values, terms mentioned in the syllabus. 
• The notes should contain  : 
• A definition based on one's understanding of the value (not copied from the textbook !)
• Examples related to the value (3 in total - 1 from personal life, 1 from professional life and 1 from amongst great personalities)
• Focus more on case studies, ideally attempt them first
• Make liberal usage of values mentioned in the syllabus in your answers of case studies
• Solutions suggested should be ethical, legal and practicable
• Answer writing can be refined by looking at the topper answer booklets available on various websites of coaching institutes.
• Join a test series in case one is not confident in this paper.

For essay strategy, kindly refer to the strategy shared by Anudeep Durishetty (AIR 1, CSE 2017) on his blog. 

https://anudeepdurishetty.in/writing-a-good-essay-in-upsc-mains-explained/