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[Strategy] UPSC Civil Service Exam (Part 1 of 5): Exam Trends and Changes
Prologue
Act I: Mindset of the Enemy
Prelims GS
Prelims Optional
Mains: 90s Era
General studies (mains) of 90s Era
Optional papers: 90s era
Literature optionals: 90era
The Back-breakingTM era (2010 onwards)
BackbreakingTM era: Prelims
BackbreakingTM era: Mains (General Studies)
Adaptation
Prologue
There are lot of tips scattered in various articles, but for a new person it is sometimes hard to follow what is going on here.
So this is my attempt to combine and consolidate everything onto five part series on prelims cum mains cum interview approach
for General Studies for UPSC Civil Service Exam.
If youre following this site for many months, you will find repetition of ideas and tips in this article, so apologies in advance for
any boredom caused.
War on Terrorism UPSC, consists of three battles
1. Prelims (CSAT) Multi choice questions (MCQs)
2. Mains
3. interview
This strategy is divided into five articles, click on the appropriate links:
Topics discussed
Article link
1. In Act I, We shall try to understand the mindset of our Blood Enemy (UPSC)
Discussed in this
article itself.
2. In Act II: The weapons required to defeat him. (Booklist, art of Note making, How to use
Yojana,Kurukshetra etc)
Click ME
3. In Act III: We shall see how to effectively use those weapons and wage the war(Topicwise strategy for
General Studies Prelims, Mains)
Click ME
4. In Act IV: How to conquer your own brain, before conquering UPSC (cleansing the doubts of coaching
classes, working professionals, Hindi Medium etc)
Click ME
5. In Act V: We shall see how to retreat from the war, if victory is not achieved. (Career Backup plans)
Click ME
6. 6th PArt (updated on March 2013): This is latest update in the strategy, with respect to, new modification
Click ME
introduced in UPSC 2013.
Timeline
Prelims Main areas
Mains
90s era
1. History
2. Geography
3. Current Affairs
1. Environment
2. Science
3. History/Polity
Weapons
Older NCERTs
Std.Ref Books
Competitive Magazines
New NCERT
Std.Ref Books
Newspapers
Main areas
History
Geography
Polity
Diplomacy
Diplomacy
Yearbook
Environment
Sci-Tech
Weapons
Prelims GS
By and large the structure for prelims was like following
1. There would be about 20 questions on History. You had to Mugup old NCERT + any coaching notes regarding location of
Harappa sites and other boring trivial things.
2. There would be 30-40 questions on Geography (including places in news): so you had to prepare old NCERTs + competitive
magazines + TheHindu accordingly.
3. About 40 questions on science: NCERT + GS manual.
4. Prelims GS questions used to be current affairs heavy : Almost 40 questions on persons/places in news, books-authors, sports,
awards, science-tech etc. so competitive magazines (chronicle wizard etc) and coaching class material on current affairs
compilation were precious.
5. Remaining was filled up with polity, aptitude etc questions to make a paper with total 150 questions.
Prelims Optional
Lets consider the case of Public Administration. The topicwise breakup was pretty much identical every year. Basically you had to
mugup following books religiously and you would clear the prelims (even without coaching or great command over GS).
a.
b.
c.
d.
But in those years, if you lived in a small town, there was no internet and nobody to tell you those books were important. So you had
to join a coaching class in Delhi, just to figure out the damn booklist (or worst- fail in first attempt and learn from mistakes).
Overall, The nature of prelims questions was such that youd need to mugup lot of data on solar planets, PSLV missions, metalalloys, location of Harappan sites, winners of lawn tennis, Shanti-Swaroop Bhatnagar awardees and other boring things like that.
Same for your optional subjects. (for Public Administration you had to mugup quotes-who said what, books and authors,
timelines etc.
Because of the proportional representation rule, in the preliminary exam you were only competing with the people from your
optional subject group.
And thus Senior player had distinct advantage over first timers. Because optionals were worth 300 mark, and he had rock solid
command over facts because of revision.
The victory rule was straight arithmetic:
If Someone revised above cited Public Administration books for 15-20 times (Im not kidding) then he was riding a Tata Sumo
@90 kmph.
If a newguy had barely read them 5 times, so he was riding a desi Atlas bicycle (used by postmen,).
Now imagine what would happen if these two clashed?
Same was the situation in General studies paper.
And as I told earlier, there was no internet or awareness outside Delhi. So most of the small-town, self-preparation-no coaching and
no relative in civil service type candidates would fail in their first attempt, because
a. they did not have idea on what to prepare, what to skip.
b. They could not memorize as much as a senior player did, because of timelimit.
So theyd fail in first attempt, learn from their mistakes, and clear prelims in second attempt (i.e. when they too become senior
players). But then they might fail in mains exam for the same reason (lack of right direction), so theyd again rectify mistakes in third
attempt and with God and goodluck willing, theyd get selected. Ofcourse there were exceptional cases, but by and large, this was the
situation and hence there exists a perception in the society that
1. You cannot clear IAS exam on first trial.
2. You cannot clear IAS exam without going to Delhi for Coaching.
But that was the 90s. Things have changed now. Many toppers have defied above rules. Cleared the UPSC on first attempt: Shah
Faisal, Karthik Iyer, Neeraj Singh, Mohd.Safi to name a few.
Anyways let us continue discussion on 90s era- moving to the Mains
2.
3.
4.
5.
d. NDRI
Which city has been the venue of Asian Games for maximum number of times from 1951 to 2006?
a.
b.
c.
d.
Delhi
Tokyo
Bangkok
Beijing
Bhanu Bharti
Mike Pandey
Mohd.Zahur Khyyam
Vinda Karandikar
1.
2.
3.
4.
Music composer
Poet
Theatre director
Wildlife film maker
To solve such questions you had to constantly follow current affairs magazines (or the readymade current affairs notes of coaching
class). But Nowadays such questions dont appear much in prelims exam.
5. UPSC changed the nature of questions from History and Science. For example here are few from 1999s paper
Q1. Match Following
1.
2.
3.
4.
1775
1780
1824
1838
a.
b.
c.
d.
Baltic Sea
Black Sea
Caspian Sea
Caribbean Sea
Thankfully UPSC stopped asking such questions nowadays. So you dont have to mugup a lot of data like in the 90s.
For Prelims, Nowadays most of the questions are 4 Statement True or False (4TF) type. So youre given one term/phenomenon and 2
or 3 or 4 statements. Your task is to identify the correct statements. Ofcourse it does require memorization, but they more aimed at
checking your basic understanding of a topic rather than your mugup skills (like in above questions from the 90s) for example here are
some questions from 2012s paper
Q1. Mahatma Gandhi undertook fast unto death in 1932, mainly because :
a.
b.
c.
d.
1 & 2 only
1, 2 & 3
1&4
2, 3 & 4
To get more idea on this, read following analysis of 2012s CSAT (preliminary) paper CLICK ME
Adaptation
And while writing all ^this, I donot mean even an ounce of disrespect to any senior player or his success. No one becomes senior
player by his conscious choice, everyone wants to clear UPSC in first attempt- But things dont turn out that way for many, So, he is a
victim of circumstances created by the (supervillain) UPSC. And life and society is very cruel to him, as youll see in Act IV and V.
Initially UPSC had the upper hand in this war. When UPSC significantly changed the question style in 2010s preliminary paper, most
senior players were shocked and caught unguarded. But UPSC cant trick them everytime. Theyre fighting for their life and career. In
2011, 2012 they changed their preparation strategy accordingly and adapted to this uncertain environment. So question papers are not
as shocker for them as UPSC expects.
Similarly coaching classes have been trying to adapt. UPSC keeps an eye on all the study material released by prominent coaching
classes of delhi, to make sure no questions are asked from such material. So coaching classes too have came up with new ideas, for
example
1. Nowadays good stuff/ ultra-important topics are not given in their printed study material but mostly dictated during the lecture.
(Because printed material usually get pirated by Xerox centres of Delhi hahaha)
2. They intentionally released their current affairs material very late (just 15-20 days before the exam) to prevent UPSC from
changing the papers.
This is like a game of chess, you have to constantly keep moving your pawns and adapt to the moves made by the enemy, same
way UPSC too keeps coming up with new ideas and new back breakingTM moves every year.
In the end, competition is tough and exam is not friendly to anyside, anymore, whether youre a coaching/no-coaching/first
timer/senior playeryou too should adapt and study hard else youll get massacred like an innocent bystander in the action
movies.
This concludes Act I (Part 1 of 5). Here are the links to the Remaining articles of UPSC strategy:
[Study-plan] SBI PO General Awareness (GA), Computer, Marketing, Economy Topicwise preparation strategy, free
studymaterial
329 comments to [Strategy] UPSC Civil Service Exam (Part 1 of 5): Exam Trends and Changes
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Satyajit
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Hi Mrunal,
When is SBI PO result will be out??
mujtaba
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Sir actually i belong to computer science field, and i am fresher here in Civil Services preparation, so Mr Murnal Please guide me which
subjects i choose ..i am confused.
Anshuman Rai
Reply to this comment
They intentionally released their current affairs material very late (just 15-20 days before the exam) to prevent UPSC from changing the
papers.
HA HA HA , thats why no current affairs this time :D , Lord Curzon UPSC jai ho
madhu
Reply to this comment
sir i am getting a score of 195 and i belong to ST. what are my chances to get through?
Pratik
Reply to this comment
well being a st.195 is a good score to paas thorough..now u can start ur mains prepn asap
Brendon
Reply to this comment
Hi Mrunal/All,
Firstly, i would like to thank Mrunal for doing such a great job by making things easier for the aspirants and i am one among them who is
planning to take civils 2014.
Secondly, I have just gone through the notification related to civils 2013 and would like to know what would be the standard level syllabi for
the regional languages and what would be the approach if i select one?
Your help in clarifying my doubt would be much appreciated.
Thanks and regards,
santosh kumar
Reply to this comment
dear admin, I have learnt too many things through your website that helped me in prelims this year. although I am a hindi medium aspirant
but it doesnt prevent me to glean necessary informatin.I want to know about ignou materials in hindi. please guide me. thanks.
shivkumar
Reply to this comment
Hi Mrunal,
I am a fresher for civil service examination, n decided to prepare for MAINs exams at home without coaching. Iam really finding it difficult to
clcassify the General Studies into paper 1,2,3,& 4, and which book to read for which paper. can you please classify the syllabus n which
books to read.
shivkumar
Reply to this comment
Hi Mrunal,
I am a fresher for civil service examination, n decided to prepare for MAINs exams at home without coaching. Iam really finding it difficult to
clcassify the General Studies into paper 1,2,3,& 4, and which book to read for which paper. can you please classify the syllabus n which
books to read. plese yar
mangesh
Reply to this comment
mrunal sir does upsc provide photocopy of prelim omr sheet ?
Last time i attempted 72 in p1
upsc ans key gave 48 correct n 24 wrong
but my score was 76.66 instead 80
my total was 189.16 where cutoff was 190.
So i just want to see where mistake occured.
joginder singh
Reply to this comment
i tried lot of times but notes from ignou are not downloading please guide me
hitesh
Reply to this comment
I dont know about admission fees of IAS in spipa at ahmedabad.
so can you give me detai of all this?
Mrunal
Reply to this comment
~2000 rupees as deposit.
RAHUL
Reply to this comment
dear mrunal..plz upload study material/link for MAINS.for GS papers
Srilekha
Reply to this comment
Iam from Andhrapradesh,small village.Recently in April2013 i completed my B.Tech(E.E.E)with distinction percentage.From my childhood
onwards I.A.S is my only aim sir.I myself gathered much information about civil services examination but i felt still somuch is there to
grab.accidentally when iam surfing internet isaw your blog.It was so impressive.i gone through many websites for civils but nothing made me
feel so confident as like your blog.Thanks alottt sir.No one is there surrounding me in college r home who r very aware of this examination to
guide me.Your website i felt like small light ray in dark unknown place.
raghavendra
Reply to this comment
hi lekha
mee ullo english paper dorkadu kani net dorktnda ?? knchm surprising , anu how all the best, nen kuda aiming for 2014 , oka info
entnte optionals lo eee kuda undi kada
Srilekha
Reply to this comment
Internet is available Raghu.Newspaper users lekapoinaInternet users lekunda undaru kadaFor nothing and jst to talk with frnds
even a schoolingppl prefer to browse internet.So where demend is existed,,,supply will b present.Got i frnd.All the best/
Srilekha
Reply to this comment
Please respond Mrunal ji..
Iam planning to attempt Civils in 2014.But still iam confusing sir.As iam a B.Tech student from totally science background,iam very least
confident about general knowledge,current affairs etc.I completed studying NCERT and started going through Pratiyogitha
darpan,yojana,kurukshetra after reading your suggestions,planning strategy etc.even i read CSR books.As iam from village we cant get any
English paper where Telugu is only the Regional language,even for this problem your blog helped me.Please give me a clarity of preparation
sir..please.How acquire good knowledge of General awareness?still iam lagging?where to start?where to end?still iam confusinghope you
understand and give me a valuable suggestion.
Suresh
Reply to this comment
dont worry..hindu paper online lo koda dorukuthundi.neku online lo chadavadam kastam anipisthe degarlo vunna city ki velli 15
days past news papers techukoni chaduvuvillage lo vundadam asalu pblm e kaduuse internet effectively.all the best
Raja
Reply to this comment
You can get access of news in Hindu paper from upscportal.com
All you need to do is just register in the website and visit daily for that days important news.Though you wont get all the news most of
the important things from that days paper will be given
Srilekha
Reply to this comment
Thank you raja.
SACHIN KUMAR
Reply to this comment
RESPECTED MRUNAL SIR
SIR,I AM A FRESHER IAS ASPIRANT AND I READ ALL YOUR IMPORTANT TIPS FOR THE PREPARATION OF IAS EXAM.I WANT TO
KNOW WHICH BOOK IS MORE HELPFUL FOR PREPARATION OF CSAT(PRE. EXAM)AND WHAT IS ITS COST.
SIR PLEASE REPLY
samarjeet yadav
Reply to this comment
hello sir,
i liked the way u publish study-plans and strategies for various exams.
sir in the similar way can u also do the same for JEE exam..
it would be a great help of yours
thanking u,
samarjeet
Mrunal
Reply to this comment
no idea on JEE. try pagalguy.com forum, plenty of IITans hangout there.
Govind
Reply to this comment
hello sir..!!!
First of all,thank you so much for providing such good guidance.
Sir i have completed my graduation in ENGINEERING but i want to take GUJARATI LITERATURE as my optional.its possible(as per new
pattern of upsc)?
please guide me.
thanx
Srilekha
Reply to this comment
Hi Raghu,
Happy to read telugu comment.
I know that EEE is thr in optionals..and pattern changepriority for g.k rasied..Thanq for your infrmtn.GOODluck.
tarak
Reply to this comment
I HAVE STAMMERING PROLEM , AM I ELIGIBLE TO APPLY FOR THE POST OF IAS, IRS. AND I KNOW IN IPS AM NOT ELIGIBLE
mayank shekhar
Reply to this comment
mr. mrunal i am a 2nd year mechanical engineering student and i want to do preparation for civil service exam.give me suggestion for
preparation for this exam.
amit
Reply to this comment
sir i will be appearing for upsc in 2014 and i wish to opt for economics as one of optional in mains ,sir can u please help me by providing
reference material and strategy for the same.
parmarvishal
Reply to this comment
I AM PARMAR VISHAL B
HIIIIII MRUNAL
I AM FRESHER CIVIL SERVISE EXAMINATION ME A DETAIL OF PREPERATION DOING OF [----UPSC----] EXAM WILL BE CLEAR AND
GPSC EXAMINATION AND BANK PO AND CLERICAL EXAMINATION PREPARATION ??????????????????????
ME CALL 9662044706
VIVEK
Reply to this comment
I am 35 year old from General category (Physically Challenged 48%).Is it possible for me to appear for IAS exam.Also I need your
guidance for subject selection.My background is B.Sc. Maths (1999) and MCA (2004).
I am looking for History or Geography .So in which subject I can make good score.
VIKASH KUMAR
Reply to this comment
hi sir,
i am in b.sc part-1 and i am preparing for upsc but i get confused whenever i prepare myself for study seriously. how to initiate this
preparation and what is the first thing to do it. i am mentally prepared but whenever i go for start then i think that what should be the base po
int or initial point and what stratergy should be? so please reply me
NEERAJ PANDEY
Reply to this comment
hello sir,
i m a B.TECH student form jabalpur [mp].being hindi medium student in school time..its a hard time to me select language for IAS
preparations and in jabalpur there is no one for guidence.what to do i cant understnd right now?
khushi
Reply to this comment
simly superb
khushi
Reply to this comment
simply superb
khushi
Reply to this comment
sir i want to start preparation for upsc and i need a guide like u can u tell me hw to start with the preparation from wt point and wt shall i refer
etc
Priya
Reply to this comment
Hi Mrunal,
I have a doubt regarding OBC category.
It was mentioned in Civil services notificatin as The closing date fixed for the receipt of the application will be treated as the date for
determining the OBC status
(including that of creamy layer) of the candidate.
Does this mean that the Non-Creamy layer certificate should have been obtained before the last date?
Please clarify.
vijay gond
Reply to this comment
hello sir i am vijay be long to fazilnagar i want a go police line in but my mind four round here and some time ya i have no time and arn the
many i am complete inter science and grudution not under stans as comm ar ba sir please req,what are do ar please infarmetion other
collage
(
pritam
Reply to this comment
Sir i want ignou notes (Hard copy) .where it will available?
sarang
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Notify me of new post by email
Dharmesh Patel
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Dear Mrunal sir,
I am keep reading your updates, and all I want to say is your portal is just outstanding. The information you provided is very very helpful. I
am looking forward to appear in 2012 UPSC, your portal has clear all doughts including backplans..ha ha ha.
much appriciate your initiative.
Regards
Dharmesh
Dharmesh Patel
Reply to this comment
Dear Mrunal sir,
I am keep reading your updates, and all I want to say is your portal is just outstanding. The information you provided is very very helpful. I
am looking forward to appear in 2014 UPSC, your portal has clear all doughts including backplans..ha ha ha.
much appriciate your initiative.
Regards
Dharmesh
RAJIV
Reply to this comment
Kindly guide me how to prepare for ies exam (mechanical engineering)
Atul Parshuramkar
Reply to this comment
reply to this comment.I am 19 years oldin 1st year for graduationhow i start my preparation from now for upsc.what should i read
from now
sana
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sir
I didnt get what is prelims optional..
sana
Reply to this comment
sir
I didnt get what is prelims optional
please explain
Nanditha Bandaru
Reply to this comment
Please respond sir,
I am planning to attend ias prelims and mains in 2014. I am so confused where to start I am reading ncert books as i have less knowledge in
current affairs does the upsc portal important news is enough of studying current affairs and also does tata macgrill series is enough for
preparation of prelims..plz provide suggested books for mains sir thanku
Vijendra Kumar
Reply to this comment
Murnal i plz update JHARKHAND PSC syllabus i checked their website there was no specific syllabus JPSc Panel has changed their
syllabus and pattern according to UPSC but website contain old syllabus which has been changed so i am in doubt what is real pattern and
syllabus because i have choose two my MAINs subject Electrical because i am a;ready preparing for IES another Maths so i am getting
Problem due to JPSC pattern which is not exactly mention in JPSC website
hitesh
Reply to this comment
hello sir i want to start preparation for ias exam.i have a job.i m confused about which books to prepare.any how i want to clear this exam.i m
confused from which site i should read from internet.i want cover whole syllabus.pls give suggest about that first i should start preparation for
prelim or mains because the gap between pre and mains are very minute.u can not prepare mains in just 3 month.especially the syllabus
has changed now.i have 3 trial left.pls pls suggest me the book,magazine,internet site for both pre and mains.
hitesh
Reply to this comment
i have heard that prelims 2014 exam will be in august.right or wrong
Sankar
Reply to this comment
Yes. 2014 Civil Services Preliminary Exam on 24-08-2014 as per the UPSC tentative schedule. And Main exam on 12-12-2014.
SENTHIL M
SENTHIL M
Reply to this comment
UPSC has uploaded timetable for the year 2014 , kindly go through it guys
Nik
Reply to this comment
I agree with you Shame on you Carlos. This is absolute nonesense. No body knows what circumstances has the other person gone
through and making fun of a fellow aspirants shows the worst attitude.
If you cant help others then it is better not to make fun either.
My suggestion Carlos, dont be much proud of your intelligence (I hope you have some), because if you have read Ramayana, nobody can
forget what happened with Ravana.
All the best for your future endeavours.
Amit Chaudhary
Reply to this comment
Agree with Nik!
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