GS for Civils

A few tips go below how to crack GS. Surprisingly I can say proudly that I scored the highest in GS without any coaching. I never attended any institute and it is easily achievable with just commonsense and hardwork. I did refer to a few handouts of a few institutes but there are just add-ons once the basics are in place. In Delhi, you can get the handouts in some xerox shops.. Luckily I found them in Old Rajinder Nagar.

Point-wise

Multidimensional answer

Pick from newspapers,websites

Quote the source of your information if possible

Improve both the content and the speed:

With both,I could write 200 words for 150 and 300 for 250 with full relevancy. Brain should work like a computer so as not to spend much time thinking what to write. Be prepared before-hand itself how you are going to handle a few questions.

If you have interest in a particular area, develop it so as to maximise your score ex.. foreign relations, economics etc

The above will be dealt with deeply in a few days!!!!!!!!!!!

-------------------------------------

Now comes I followed for GS. All I did was to maximise the points I could put over there by referring to various sources.

Please excuse me for being a little bit tech-savvy when it comes to GS. But I found some things useful and interesting. Search engines helped me a lot. Thanks to them too!! :))

History : Spectrum, Bipin chandra, scattered books for Indian culture ( pick one)

Geography: Its my optional but I suggest NCERT for others

Polity: Basic-DD Basu, Add on for that -- Vajiram polity or Srirams polity; some current topics from newspapers like cases etc

Social Issues: No preparation but its just commonsense. Its left to u.

Oil/Trade Diplomacy: Internet ( FAQs in a few websites like WTO and other press releases and summaries) + Srirams

Economics: Its my field of interest; New-papers and internet (Minsitry of Commerc, Finanace, Newsitems/Reports of Multilateral organisations (ex: World Investment Report ...) etc) mainly supplemented by Srirams Handout for Economy

International/Foreign Relations: Mostly Ministry of external Affairs for India's Relations with other countries; Newspapers, Civil Services Times Magazine. u can have a glance at websites like World politics Review , bbc (especially the timelines which u can find in it) etc. Again my field of interest but don't ask me why I didn't opt for IFS :D

Statistics: NCERT and I glanced another small book. Sorry could not recollect the name of the author

Science and Technology: TMH by ashok Singh.. Again newspapers are handy and topics like IPTV which are in news last time are covered in some. heard that a few 2 markers are picked from Science Reporter but I missed. Whether u can be exhaustive or not, its left to you.


After quoting so many sources, I understand that it is a tough job to cover each and everything. I suggest you guys to have a quick look and decide according to your priority. Cover all the topics and once you are comfortable with the entire syllabus, develop your strong areas and try to score as much in them. Ex: If you are good at statistics, try to score 30 out of 30 in that. Just remember that each word is valuable in GS.

Booklist for Geography

Please not that there are not exclusive but at the same time some are redundant. To make your task easier pick some notes or material for missing topics and other addons.

Follow some Atlas for maps , Oxford , TTK

Paper 1

Books by Savinder Singh, Siddharth, Lal, Vattal and Vattal, Majid Hussain

Paper 11

India by Khullar
Economic Survey
and if possible Hindu's Survey of Indian Agriculture and Survey of Indian Industries

Oil Diplomacy

Here I give a few hints of what should never be forgotten while answering the question related to India's Oil diplomacy. Mind you ! Examples for each will add value to the answer and put you in 50+ bracket.

New Strategic partnerships with oil exporting countries ,, ex: Nigeria and leveraging the existing relations to further such partnerships.

Acquisition of oil assets abroad either by Public sector or Private sector or Joint. This can again be done solo or in combination with other countries/their companies.

Entering into long-term agreements with countries having oil/gas assets.

Oil/Natural gas Pipelines.

Cooperation at international level to secure the prices.

Initiatives to ensure safe passage of ships ex: Gulf of Aden.

though not directly related to diplomacy, the following can also be included relevantly

Encouring Technological co-operation with foreign companies, FDI and also allowing them to explore within India. Ex : Cairn

Maintaining oil reserves in India.

All about current affairs books

Current affairs part constitutes a major in Civil Services exam. It is also a bit tough and puts exacting demands on the aspirant. It is the very dynamic part and keeps changing continuously. Below are my honest observations of a few magazines which cater to this part. People who get offended are requested to take things in the lighter vein.

I too had come across a few magazines and knowingly or unknowingly used to buy a few of them so as to make my preparation easy. First it was the Chroni"KILL". It was so exhaustive. They term it as current affairs but I don't understand if some of the topics form part of current affairs last year. Irony.

Now I need to mention about another called "Lizard". It is just the dumpiest of all. All news paper articles will be dumped in the point forms. God ! we already have newpapers to serve that purpose.

Then it is about some BC Reddi Current Events and Analysis. The analysis part will be ok compared to other things but man you miss some current events and make the name itself a misnomer.

Have you ever heard about TIMES(not monthly magazine but current affairs special)- I could not find sufficient time to dig deep into it. Comments are most welcome.

After wasting so much time finding which one is the best, I conclude no size fits all and its upto the individual to come to a conclusion. But my honest opinion goes below.

Rely mostly on internet and a wide variety of newspapers rather than magazines atleast if you have time. Develop some interest in whatever you study and try to analyse various dimensions. Only then a comprehensive answer can be written and that too it will avoid last minute rush of buying magazines, mugging them up and ................

It is quite unfortunate that I found this only during my 3rd attempt and lost some valuable time.