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AUGUST 11, 2014
Strategy for General Studies
Topic Wise Books and Study Material
Indian Modern History
12th Old NCERT by Bipin Chandra
Vaji Ram Notes
Indian Medieval and Ancient History
40 pages that came in Preliminary Special History Edition of Wizard
Word History
9th, 10th Old NCERT
Wizard World History by Ankur Sharma
Indian and World Geography
6th to 12th NCERT
Indian Society
Indian Society NCERT
IGNOU Notes on Special Topics
Culture
Around 60 Page Notes of GK Today Prelim Notes for Culture
NCERT on Indian Architecture
A few page notes from Preliminary Special Culture Edition of Wizard and Chronicl
e
Governance and Constitution
Vaji Ram Notes on Polity
Lakshmikant (for reference)
Wizard Magazine
Notes of Public Administration by Lukmaan
All India Radio
Social Justice

Hindu Newspaper
Wizard Magazine
Same Notes of IGNOU done for Indian Society
All India Radio
International Relations
Hindu Newspaper
Wizard Magazine
All India Radio
Science and Technology
Hindu Newspaper
Wizard Magazine
Economics
Vaji Ram Notes
Economic Survey
Wizard Magazine
All India Radio
Biodiversity and Environment
ALS Notes for Geography Optional (Biodiversity is a subtopic in Geography)
ICSE Books (2)
Internet (Wiki, Mrunal etc.)
Disaster Management
HalfMantr Website
Mrunal
Internal Security
Vaji Ram Notes
ALS Notes
Ethics
Synergy Notes
Chronicle Lexicon
Newspaper and Magazine

The Hindu
Wizard
Coaching and Test Series
Vaji Ram and Ravi (Classroom)
Synergy (Test Series)

Circling the bubbles in Prelims

I have seen many of my friends following either of the 2 techniques in order to
fill out the bubbles in Prelims:
1) Circling after each attempted question: Ensures accuracy in marking but waste
s a lot of time. Time is of precious value in 2nd Paper (CSAT)
2) Allotting last 10 minutes for circling: Ensures no time wastage but the last
10 minutes of the exam are filled with much anxiety and tension. Marking in such
a mental situation can lead to poor accuracy in marking of bubbles. And if you
are marking continuously and unfortunately miss a question, the whole answer she
et gets corrupt. HUGE LOSS!!

I have a nice technique that I have been following since the days of AIEEE and J
EE. It is based on Binary Algorithm.
1) Just divide the remaining time in 2 halves and mark the bubbles after the end
of 1st half.
2) In the 2 hour paper, after 1 hour mark the bubbles of the attempted questions
. Low level of anxiety (1 hour is still with you) ensures avoidance of silly mis
takes.
3) Now attempt the remaining questions and mark the bubbles after () an hour i.e.
1 hour after starting of the exam.
4) Following this pattern mark the bubbles after 1 hour 45 minutes.
5) After this third marking of bubbles, you can switch to marking of bubble side
by side with the attempt.

Limited Resources
Keep your resources limited to whatever you can revise at the end. Please do not
go for humongous books like Jain and Mathur (World History) OR Tata Mc Graw Hil
l Complete GS (1000 page books) OR Huge volumes of Economy Books.
Also do not subscribe to multiple magazines or for that matter multiple newspape
rs.
Read only those resources that you may be able to revise at the end (say last 1

month). In order to revise a year s material in last 1 month, make compressed note
s.

Mind Maps
In order to facilitate quick revision just before the exams, I made my notes in
the format of mind maps. Mind Mapping is a great learning tool which helps to st
ore information in our minds in a non-linear fashion facilitating easy retrieval
. While depending upon linkages of different topics, it enhances retention. It s
a tool worth exploring.

Attempt maximum
There is nothing more frustrating that the feeling when you come out of examinat
ion hall and realize that you knew answers to some 20 marks worth questions but
could not attempt due to paucity of time. More than writing speed, it is about a
lertness during those 3 hours. Always be on your toes. There is not a single sec
ond to be wasted on some lazy stretch or yawn. Forget going to the loo. One cann
ot afford to be complacent.

To the Point Answers

There is a clich advisory that everyone issues, Write what IS asked, not what YOU
know . We hear it umpteen times yet many of us fail to follow this golden rule. I
myself have made this mistake of not following this advisory in 2012 Civils Exam
inations. Always keep this advice at back of your mind before attempting any que
stion. Writing stuff that is not asked is not only going to fetch you NO MARKS b
ut shall also waste the precious time that could be invested in other answers. I
f you know less, write less: no issues but never go for redundant stuff.

Answer Writing
Answer writing practice is a must. Make a peer group of around 2-4 people and wr
ite answers on a daily basis. Cross-check each other s answers and make suitable a
mends. Do not wait for the day when you will have enough content in order to wri
te answers. Believe me, such a day would never come.
Also, Test Series can prove helpful if you are indifferent to marks (Marks in th
e tests tend to shift the focus from the aim of Test Series) but only interested
in giving Tests and attending their discussions.

FM Radio
I would like to suggest the aspirants to subscribe to RSS Feeds of All India Rad
io and listen to News and Spotlight: a 15 minute discussion on a current issue d
aily. Preferably make notes of the same.

Online Resources

There are many good resource available online like Mrunal, Halfmantr, Yojana Mag
azine, Rajya Sabha TV, MEA, Jagran Josh, Okkal, Centre for Policy Research, PRS,
GKToday, egyankosh, pib, idsa etc.
But the problem with online resources is that they are often repetitive and tend
to waste a lot of time. Therefore, my advice would be to go to these sites with
some particular aim in mind and then close them.
For example, today let us make notes of Disaster Management. Now look for the sp
ecific need, make important notes and thereafter shut down the site.
They should not be browsed and looked for what s the new content that they have.

Newspaper Notes
Preferably make them topic wise and not date wise. Also revise these notes once
a month such that you know what topics you have already covered. It helps in red
undancy of notes and the placement of new points at appropriate places.

Magazine
If you are making newspaper notes very holistically then there is no need of a m
agazine. But in case you tend to be lazy (like me) then one magazine is essentia
l. I went for Wizard. It s a good magazine especially for Bilateral and Internatio
nal issues.

Common Myths
1) Yojana and Kurukshetra are indispensable for clearing this exam.
Kurukshetra has little importance and Yojana should be read only if time permits
. It can be left without much loss considering the new pattern of examination.
2) NCERTs need to be done from 6th to 12th for History, Geography, Polity, Econo
mics, Sociology, Science etc.
Again only NCERTs of 11th and 12th (preferably old ones) are sufficient to cover
the entire syllabus taught from 6th to 12th.
Exceptions: 6th to 9th Geography NCERTs; 9th, 10th World History NCERTs;
3) India Year Book and Manorama Year Book should be known cover to cover
They can be left altogether if the relevant topics are covered effectively from
other sources.
4) An IAS aspirant should know all historical dates, capitals of all nations . rat
her every fact under the sun.
Since the past few years, the exam has become quite analytic and mugging up of s
trange facts (chronological order of least important later Mughals) and who s who
(Heads of UN Bodies) is no longer required.
5) Minimum 3 newspapers are required to be read on daily basis.

1 newspaper is more than sufficient for Mains. For interview, 2 newspapers can b
e done for just 2 months before the interview.
| Leave a comment
JUNE 28, 2014
Strategy for Physics preparation
Standing on the shoulders of Giants like Kashish Mittal (Civil Services AIR 58)
, Amrit Singh Saini (IES AIR 1) and a few others, I started the preparation of P
hysics optional.
I got a score of 266/500 in Physics ( 145/250 + 121/250). Here I would like to m
ention a few pitfalls and strategies regarding Physics that I realized during th
e preparation of this optional.
Taking Physics as an optional
My sincere request to every serious aspirant out there is to choose one s optional
carefully. Please do not blindly follow the rat race. Just because your friend
is taking/ or has cleared with Public Administration or Geography or for that m
atter Physics, does not make that subject suitable for you. Every optional needs
some interest and basic aptitude.
Give a cursory reading to a few optionals before deciding yours. I ,myself, gave
a try to Political Science (10 days reading) , Sociology (did a Sociology cours
e at IITD ) and Electrical Engineering (my Graduation subject) before settling f
or Physics and Geography in 2012 attempt and finally for Physics in 2013 attempt
. Take Physics only if you like this subject and can solve its problems for hour
s without feeling bored.
Coaching
I took coaching for Physics at DIAS, Jia Sarai, Delhi under the able guidance of
Professor Vajpayee. He is a wonderful and passionate teacher. Only he can cover
the whole Physics Syllabus within 4 months. Besides Physics, he taught us the
art of answer writing, covering the syllabus holistically and other finer points r
elated to this peculiar exam. I also joined his Test Series. It proved helpful i
n improving my Physics answer-writing.
Books and Notes referred
Mechanics
D.S. Mathur
J.C. Upadhyay
DIAS notes
Optics
Ajoy Ghatak
B.S. Aggarwal
DIAS Notes
Thermodynamics
Garg Bansal Ghosh
DIAS Notes
Electromagnetism
David J. Griffiths ( the best text book I have ever read )
DIAS Notes
Quantum Mechanics

H.C. Verma
DIAS Notes
Atomic and Molecular
DIAS Notes
Rajkumar
Banwell
Nuclear Physics
DIAS Notes
Brilliant Tutorial Notes
Arthur Beiser
Solid State Physics
Puri and Babbar
Practice
One thing which is a must for scoring well in Physics optional is practice. I so
lved:
Last 20 years IAS papers (DIAS Tutorial Sheets)
Last 10 years IFS papers
Behind the Chapter questions of all the books that I have mentioned above.
Notes
There is a major difference in IIT
JEE and UPSC Exams. In the former, we do not
need to memorize much, once we have understood the basics. But in the latter cas
e, there should be no illusion regarding the fact that even in Physics, there is
a lot of mugging up. You should have all the derivations on your finger tips. S
ome derivation in Paper 2 are more than 4 pages long. All the steps (substitutio
ns, normalizations, calculus) in such derivations should be remembered by heart.
In many cases, there is no alternative to rote memorization.
Therefore, my serious advice to all the Physics guys preparing for Civil Service
s or IFS is to know your notes by heart. You should be able to derive the quantu
m states of a simple harmonic oscillator even in semi conscious state after waki
ng up. I am not kidding.
Its preferable to make you own notes. But in case you have not, you can refer to
few of the notes available including those of Abhijeet Aggarwal, Supreet Singh
Gulati or even my notes.
Revision
There is no use of covering a book if you cannot revise it in the last month bef
ore the exam. Believe me, there is a lot to cover in the last month. So the pref
erable thing to do is to make your notes in such a manner that in the end you ne
ed not cover anything else. So I will like to give three advises that might appe
ar flimsy but trust me, they will prove extremely useful in the long run:
Always use a spiral binded notebook to make notes so that there is a
dding in more pages afterwards.
After each lecture leave 3-4 pages blank. In these pages, we can add
tuff from books including some theory or explanatory diagram or even
ons. (I almost copied the whole of Griffiths)
Start a fresh lecture from Right Hand Side page. You will understand
nce once you start adding more pages in between.
Attempt

option of a
important s
some questi
its importa

Again this is not JEE where one get 100% marks for correct attempt. Even for a c

orrect answer, UPSC awards 50% to 70% of the total marks allotted to a question,
the variation is all about answer-writing.
I attempted both the papers fully. But my correct attempt in Physics was ~230/25
0 in Paper 1 and ~240/250 in Paper 2. I got 145 and 121 respectively.
So my advice is to attempt full paper ALWAYS. Even if you have some idea, answer
it rationally and try to keep the attempt maximum. If your attempt is less, you
are automatically out of the race.
Answer Writing
As I mentioned above, even for a correct answer, marks vary from 50% to 70%. The
difference is Physics in the answer. A few additions that can make an answer be
tter include:
Related Diagram
A real life example of the concept in nature
An actual application of the concept in today s world
Related Definitions and meta-data (discoverer, experiment that led to discovery
etc.)
Last Day Revision
As per the latest pattern, the number of holidays for Physics Exam have been red
uced from ~10 to 0. Therefore, it makes a lot of sense to make small summary she
ets (~5-6 pages) for each unit to revise in half an hour just before the exam da
y.
Mechanics Concise Notes

Best of Luck.
| 13 Comments
JUNE 22, 2014
My Notes
Forestry
Forestry Notes
Physics
Note that some topics in the attached documents appear to be crossed out. This i
s due to the limitation of Black and White Scanning of Marker-Highlighted Text.
Mechanics Notes
Optics Notes
Thermodynamics Notes
Electromagnetism Notes
Quantum Mechanics Notes
Atomic And Molecular
Nuclear Notes
Solid State Physics
| 12 Comments
Preliminary Exam 2013 Markssheet
preMarks
June 18, 2014 | Image | Leave a comment
JUNE 18, 2014
Markssheet of Civil Services

Roll No. : 449963

Name : RISHAV GUPTA
Subject Maximum Marks Marks Obtained
ESSAY 250
78
GENERAL STUDIES PAPER I 250
71
GENERAL STUDIES PAPER II
250
52
GENERAL STUDIES PAPER III
250
88
GENERAL STUDIES PAPER IV
250
89
PHYSICS PAPER I 250
145
PHYSICS PAPER II
250
121
Written Total 1750
644
PERSONALITY TEST
275
217
Final Total
2025
861
Remarks : Recommended.
| 14 Comments
JUNE 10, 2014
My Strategy for G.K. Preparation for I.F.S. Examination
Since I prepared for Civil Services simultaneously, I did not devote much time s
pecifically for G.K. preparation. But there are a few points that I would like t
o mention:
Ancient and Medieval History: One difference between Civil Services and IFS Gene
ral Studies is that the latter also covers Ancient and Medieval History in the w
ritten examination. Most of the candidates usually leave out these topics due to
their sheer vastness. And 20 odd marks can make all the difference in the final
list. Fortunately, there is a shortcut. Magazines like Chronicle/ Wizard etc. c
ome out with Prelims Special Issues annually. The History Special Issue covers t
hese 2 topics in 20-30 pages. Just do these pages thoroughly and most of the que
stions could be answered.
Forestry optional helps in GK exam as 30-40 marks Questions are related to Fores
try.
Personalities: Undue stress should not be given to Personalities. Some institute
s come out with some 10 pages long list of people who died/promoted/awarded/jail
ed etc. in the current year. Do not waste time on such lists. Out of say 10 pers
onalities, 5 are so famous that almost everyone knows about them while 2-3 will
not be covered anywhere how-so-ever long the list may be. Now for the remaining
2 or 3 entries, its better to stay away from such one-line facts. Same thing app
lies to Places.
Attempt maximum: There is nothing more frustrating that the feeling when you com
e out of examination hall and realize that you knew answers to some 20 marks wor
th questions but could not attempt due to paucity of time. More than writing spe
ed, its about alertness during those 3 hours. Always be on your toes. There is n
ot a single second to be wasted on some lazy stretch or yawn. Forget going to th
e loo. One cannot afford to be complacent.
To the Point Answer: There is a cliche advisory that every one issues, Write what
IS asked, not what YOU know . We hear it umpteen times yet many of us fail to fo
llow this golden rule. I myself have made this mistake of not following this adv
isory in 2012 Civil s Examinations. Always keep this advice at back of your mind
before attempting any question. Writing stuff that is not asked is not only goi
ng to fetch you NO MARKS but shall also waste the precious time that could be in
vested in other answers. If you know less, write less: no issues but never go fo
r redundant stuff.
Answer Writing: Answer writing practice is a must. Make a peer group of around
2-4 people and write answers on a daily basis. Cross-check each other s answers an
d make suitable amends. Do not wait for the day when you will have enough conten
t in order to write answers. Believe me, such a day would never come.
| Tagged GK, IFS
| 5 Comments
MAY 28, 2014

Oh My God
the movie
Movies like Oh My God come up once in a while. I have tried to jot down some of t
he beautiful lessons that one can learn from this beautiful movie.

Jahan dharm hai na, wahan satya ke liye jagah nahi hai
aur jahan satya hai, truth
hai, wahan dharm ki zaroorat hi nahi hai
Truth does not reside in a place where there is a blind faith. Where there is Tr
uth, there is no need of faith.

Maine sirf insaan banaya

aur insaan ne yeh jaat, paat, dharm, mazhab ka dhanda sh
uru kiya
God didn t differentiate between while He created them. Its the humans themselves
that have built these artificial walls.
One may also remember the beautiful scene of Krantiveer at this point

Mazhab insaanon ke liye banta hai

mazhab ke liye insaan nahi bante
Religion is made for humans and not vice versa.
Jis tarah museum mein Mom ka putla dikhla kar paise liye jaate hai waise hi mandi
r mein patthar ki moorti dikhla kar paise le lete hain
The movie condemns the frauds going on in the name of temple-culture and fear-fo
rced donations by comparing the idols of the temple to Wax Statues in Museums.
aaj woh apne bhakton ke haath se doodh aur makkhan khayenge
The movie exposes the Superstition prevalent in the name of faith in this world.
Please kha lijiye na, main apke liye low cholesterol cheese layi hoon na
Simultaneously, it uncovers one of the important characteristics of Superstition
i.e. Blind Following , as seen by attempts of feeding milk to God all across th
e nation.
Mere remembering and chanting some couplets does not make a man enlightened. Wha
t makes him spiritual is the reasoned knowledge of such lines.It also makes me r
emember a famous song, Ram Ram karta sab jag fire, Ram na paya jaye
All religious-teachers are not frauds as personified by Arun Bali.
mandir mein aane wala ek ek insaan woh patthar pe doodh dalne ke bajaye kisi gari
b ke pet mein dale na to sabse jyada punya milega
Vivekananda s concrete and scientific Philosophy of Practical Vedanta is expounded i
n a unique way. According to Vivekananda, every human being is divine, and therefo
re masses should be our Gods. Service of man is the service of God. Rather than
serving the Narayan in the temple, we should instead serve hungry-Narayan, lame-Na
rayan, and have-not-Narayan. Its a sin to teach Vedanta to the poor, first feed
him.

The movie also stresses on the messages of goodwill and philosophical thought th
at is can be inculcated through texts like Bhagwat Gita, Koran and Bible. Whats

is required is their rational interpretation.

Waise bhi kaafi saalon se market main naya Bhagwan nahi aaya hai
Here the viewer is reminded of the media created Goddess Santoshi Mata.
In short, a beautiful and didactic movie.
| Tagged movies, oh-my-god
Rishav Gupta

| 1 Comment

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Strategy for General Studies
Strategy for Physics preparation
My Notes
Preliminary Exam 2013 Markssheet
Markssheet of Civil Services
My Strategy for G.K. Preparation for I.F.S. Examination
Oh My God
the movie
Caste based Reservation: a perspective
Dumbbell Exercise for beginners at home
Markssheet of I.F.S.
My strategy for Forestry preparation for I.F.S. Examination
All Posts
August 2014 (1)
June 2014 (5)
May 2014 (2)
April 2014 (1)
March 2014 (2)
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