How to Approach

G.S. Geography

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What is it?
Geography is one of the major disciplines that help fulfill peoples quest for knowledge about their
surroundings.Many a times, it is geographical phenomena, which influences the social, cultural, political, economic
and technological landscape. Whether it is the social practice of migration & transhumance; cultural aspects related
to art and crafts or food and clothing; political dimensions like geopolitics and geostrategy; economic dimensions
related to the primary, secondary or tertiary sectors or technological aspects related to innovationsin the field of
mining, climate control, and transportation etc. These are all primarily related to Geographical dimensions. We can
unarguably say that Geography gives usfundamental knowledge of spatial dimensions related to whatever is
happening around us.

Why in Examination?
Thus it is hardly any surprise that UPSC has included Geography in the General Studies section of both Prelims and
Mains. A good understanding of Geography not only helps civil servants better understand the underlying reasons of
the manyhappenings in the world,but also evolve better plans and ensure efficient execution geared towards a more
inclusive and sustainable development.

The Examination Perspective

Discussing the Geography section from an examination perspective and looking at the syllabus of Prelims and Mains
in detail, as well as past few years papers (preferably since 2007), one gets a fair bit of idea on what and how to
prepare for the exam. The new NCERTs of Class IX to XII along with G.C. Leong and a good school atlasforms the
fundamental reference sources.

Given below is the list of books and other reference sources:

Class IX NCERT: Contemporary India Part-I
Class X NCERT: Contemporary India Part-II
Class XI NCERT:Fundamentals of Physical Geography
Class XI NCERT:Indian Physical Environment
Class XII NCERT:Fundamentals of Human Geography
Class XII NCERT:India, People and Economy
Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Cheng Leong, Oxford University Press
School Atlas by any good publisher like Oxford University press, Orient Longman, DK etc.
Keeping track of related articles in The Hindu, Yojana etc.

If one can get hold of the old Land and People series (published in the nineties), class VI, VII,VIII, and IX
NCERT books, then these could be referred for the World geography section (anyways we will be taking care of
these sections in the classroom and the content provided).

There are some secondary reference sources along with content on some current issues, which could also be
covered for a comprehensive preparation. We shall discuss this later.

Keeping the Focus Right

One important thing that needs to be constantly kept in mind is that one must go through the syllabus along with
the questions asked in Prelims as well as Mains, before and after completing each section. This will help in ensuring
that based on your understanding; you pick up the most relevant aspects from the examination perspective. This will
also help in building confidence that you would be able to answer the questions UPSC has asked from those sections.
If you could answer the present set of questions, there is no reason why you will not be able to answer the
questions that would be asked in the future. Just one more important thing - you also need to practice answer
writing and hone your presentation skills. This is where we will help you to overcome the initial inertia, and put you
in a disciplined routine of regularly answering in the classroom program.
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Class 5
Tentative list of topics to be covered: India: Physical formation, physiography, drainage, structure and relief and
basics of soils etc.

BR: Chap. 2. Structure and Physiography, 3. Drainage System NCERT class 11- India Physical.

Class 6
Tentative list of topics to be covered: Composition and Structure of atmosphere, weather and its associated aspects.
BR: G.C. Leong chap 13 - weather, ;
NCERT : 8. Composition and Structure of Atmosphere - class 11 Fundamentals of Physical geog.

Class 7
Tentative list of topics to be covered: insolation, earths heat balance, different atmospheric circulations - global
winds, cyclones,
BR: NCERT- class 11 Fundamentals of Physical geog. 9. Solar Radiation, Heat Balance and Temperature, 10.
Atmospheric Circulation and Weather Systems

Class 8
Tentative list of topics to be covered: continued from previous class, Precipitation types, and climate and different
world climates.
BR: NCERT- class 11 Fundamentals of Physical geog. - 11. Water in the Atmosphere, 12. World Climate and Climate
Change

G.C. Leong - 14. Climate , and climate related parts of the following chapters - 15. The Hot, Wet Equatorial Climate,
16. The Tropical Monsoon and Tropical Marine Climates, 17. The Savanna or Sudan Climate, 18. The Hot Desert and
Mid - Latitude Desert Climates, 19. The Warm Temperate Western Margin (Mediterranean) Climate, 20. The
Temperate Continental (Steppe) Climate, 21. The Warm Temperate Eastern Margin (China Type) Climate, 22. The
Cool Temperate Western Margin (British Type) Climate, 23, The Cool Temperate Continental (Siberian) Climate, 24.
The Cool Temperate Eastern Margin (Lauren-tian) Climate, 25. The Arctic or Polar Climate .

Class 9
Tentative list of topics to be covered: continued from previous class, miscellaneous other topics like el nino, la nina,
enso, urban climate, applied climatology, heat island etc.
BR: refer the internet and our content

Class 10
Tentative list of topics to be covered: Indian aspects of climate
BR: NCERT class 11 - India Physical environment - chap. 4. Climate

Class 11
Tentative list of topics to be covered: basics about oceans and ocean resources
BR: NCERT- class 11 Fundamentals of Physical geog. - UNIT V: WATER (OCEANS) -chap. 13. Water (Oceans), 14.
Movements of Ocean Water.
G.C. Leong : 12. The Oceans

Class 12
Tentative list of topics to be covered: continued from previous class, coral reefs, islands and Indian ocean related
aspects ( India specific)
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