And miles to go before I sleep....

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  : Laxmikant...

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) Curren...

Below is the link to the revision notes I prepared for my mathematics optional. This should give one a decent idea of what I tried to include in them based on my understanding on what is important. I have tried to keep them error-free as much as possible. In any case, apologies in advance for any inadvertent errors which may have crept in them. Wish you all the best ! Link for the notes : https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=10PIodhIta9X9li61d_ggqYmecXdgtySG P.S. : The notes of numerical methods are far from satisfactory and one should refrain from relying completely on them. Also attached below is one of my answer scripts of a mock test I had given last year. This should be sufficient to enable one to understand the answer writing aspect of this optional. Be mindful of the fact that there are a few errors in the correction. Link for the answer copy : https://drive.google.com/open?id=1m_whrnny-175ALk6yYYKBn35WixFdWzl

Paper 2 (updated with chapter details) Points to ponder :  The syllabus of Paper 2 of Mathematics is slightly tricky when compared to Paper 1, especially due to presence of topics like Algebra and Fluid Dynamics. A general trend in recent times has been the mixing of questions of different topics in all the optional questions. This means that one has to have some degree of acquaintance with all the topics of the paper. For those not very conversant with fluid dynamics, it would pay more to focus more on Algebra and Real Analysis so as to avoid having to select two optional questions from Section II of this paper. I adopted this strategy, having more or less pre-decided to prefer selecting two questions from section 1, giving more emphasis on modern algebra and real analysis. This did not work for me in CSE-2016 though, as questions out of CSE syllabus were asked then - this is also a reason why a basic coverage of all the topics is essential. I had tried...

Paper 1  (updated with chapter details) Points to ponder :  The syllabus of Paper 1 of Mathematics is easier to tackle as compared to Paper 2.  Topics like Linear Algebra, Vector Analysis, ODE are easier to handle while others like Statics and Dynamics, Analytic Geometry require a greater degree of practise and effort. So, one can plan accordingly while preparing the topics. The main issue in this paper is that of accuracy, as a lot of questions of Paper 1 require calculations which are prone to errors.  There have been instances in the exam where I had to skip the optional questions of my favoured topics like statics-dynamics, calculus and opt for questions on analytic geometry (which I always felt I was not good at), hence a decent practise of all the topics is desirable in this paper. One should try to select familiar questions in the exam as far as possible. This reduces the chances of having to switch questions midway (I paid a price for sw...

·    What to expect from this optional Mathematics as an optional of CSE has been doing well off-late, if we look at the higher end of the spectrum of marks obtained by candidates.  But at the same time I feel most of the candidates opting for this optional are not aware of the effort required for obtaining such high marks. If we set aside a few exceptional candidates, one would find that the top scorers of Mathematics (including myself) generally require multiple attempts at this exam before managing such high scores.  This is not merely a coincidence in my opinion, and is probably a result of the numerous challenges this optional poses for a newcomer. A few challenges which one may encounter during the course of studying this optional are : Vast syllabus which may require 6-8 months of dedicated preparation Some topics like Algebra, Fluid are difficult to master satisfactorily Huge time investment in Mathematics which can end up affecting one's ...