Chemistry optional- Sources , Role of coaching , Role of test series , Revision strategy and Some general tips

Based on your requests, I intend to cover the following things related to Chemistry optional in as detailed way as possible:

1. My Chemistry journey and learnings

2. Balancing GS and Chemistry

3. Sources - books and people

4. Role of coaching

5. Short notes - how to make, utility

6. Answer writing - how to write, evaluate and improve

7. Role of test series + some sample copies

8. Revision strategy

9. The D Day - what to do/avoid

10. Some general tips

Clarification (once again)

1. Take everything I share with a pinch of salt - some things worked out for me but may not directly work out for you

2. Please do not use any of my short notes as they are. Use them only as reference and to understand how to (or how not to) make your own short notes for better retention.

3. My sources are in no way exhaustive. If you need more practise in a weak topic, do not hesitate to explore more questions from other sources BUT remember not to spread your sources too much that you are unable to consolidate them in the end. Confine yourself to the bounds of syllabus and PYQs.

4. UPSC has started to ask questions from diverse topics of syllabus which were earlier ignored by aspirants due to low effort-to-reward ratio (esp. in inorganic chemistry and spectroscopy). Thus I urge you all to complete the syllabus as comprehensively as possible.

5. Please do not extrapolate that since I have scored 334 marks this year, I know everything about everything. There are many other Chemistry-toppers this year and in the past who have much more knowledge and better strategy than me. I urge you to explore other channels as well and take an informed choice as to what suits you best.

6. You may like answering technique, note-making skills and overall strategy of 3 different people but in the end, you will have to form your own strategy.

COACHING

I undertook coaching in online mode from 'CHEMISTRY DIAS' under Dr RK Singh Sir in 2021-22.

Why?

a. Wanted to cover the syllabus as smoothly and as early as possible.

b. Did not have any external guidance beforehand regarding how to handle the syllabus, so I thought coaching from someone experienced like Ranjan Sir might help. I did not know where to begin, some topics of syllabus felt familiar (Reaction intermediates, d-block) and some completely unheard of (like Spectroscopy, pericyclic and photochemical reactions)

c. I was not able to judge the relative importance of topics in the beginning. I did not want to prepare topics of my liking (esp. in organic chemistry) very deeply by compromising others.

d. Positive feedback for Ranjan sir from previous year toppers also guided my choice.

Is coaching the only way to cover Chemistry syllabus?

a. In hindsight, I can say that syllabus can be completed without coaching. HOWEVER there may be some obvious challenges.

b. First, Coaching (LIVE offline or online) provides a sense of continuity in syllabus coverage everyday. And since Chemistry is a technical optional, you need to stay in touch with it EVERYDAY (atleast I tried to!). I am not very sure about recorded lecture course as it provides us flexibility and makes us lazy (Me to myself : Koi nahi yaar, kal do video dekh lunga…. and the videos keep piling up).

c. Second, coaching provides peers to interact with and learn from. I recall that B.Sc. and M.Sc. Chemistry students were very vocal during lectures in asking doubts, solving questions and providing suggestions for alternate reaction mechanisms. This further pushed students like me from non-Chemistry streams to catch up with their knowledge, learn better and stay competitive.

d. Third, Ranjan Sir used to establish the bounds of syllabus topics (what to study deeply, what to glance over, what to ignore completely), this is somewhat difficult to establish if you are preparing on your own.

How to complete syllabus without coaching?

a. Cardinal requirement = Self-Discipline. You will have to bind yourself in a daily schedule to cover syllabus timely. If you are not disciplined, syllabus completion will become your biggest headache and will divert your attention from GS prep as well.

b. Major issue will be to form detailed notes. Here I would like to thank @Lovepreet_123 for sharing his detailed notes on his group for almost every topic of syllabus. I referred his inorganic notes (esp. bio-inorganic) to cover topics left uncovered by Ranjan sir due to paucity of time. His group also helped me in clarifying some doubts. [LINK - https://t.me/joinchat/U0tHw_vW4v7Nx6nj]

c. I found channel of @trex123 extremely helpful in PYQ analysis, source selection and accessing reference books. [LINK - https://t.me/csechem]

d. These groups can be judiciously utilised by aspirants who do not want to undergo Chemistry-specific coaching. A friendly tip - first explore the pinned messages on both groups before bombarding them with random questions :)

How to complete syllabus with coaching?

a. Make sure you revise class notes and complete PYQs/Back questions of specific reference books/tutorials for that day's topics.

b. Periodic chapter-wise revision every month or so.

c. If you are unable to understand a concept in class or think that there is some error in a particular derivation/reaction/theory covered in class notes, cross-check the same from relevant reference book and update notes accordingly.

d. This all will feel a lot during the starting few months, as if you are left with no time for GS revision. But have faith, things will smooth out if you maintain consistency (more on balancing GS and Chemistry later)

Most important source = PYQ

For a particular book mentioned, please do not read the chapter end to end. Instead read only those portions where you have doubt. Practice questions (other than PYQs) based on 2 factors - time available and your comfort in that topic. I found thermodynamics, spectroscopy, pericyclic and photochemistry a bit hard and thus practiced them more.

I did not practice DIAS tutorials rigorously for all topics so won't comment on their efficacy.

PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY

High yield topics (update based on your understanding)

a. Atomic structure - expectation value, 1D box, orbital diagrams and wave functions

b. Chemical bonding - born-Haber, MOT explanation of syllabus species, hybradisation

c. Solid state - defects, semiconductors, interplanar distance

d. Liquid state - Clausius Clapeyron, capillary, kelvin equation

e. Gaseous state - Maxwell derivations, critical phenomena, gas viscosity and effusion

f. Thermodynamics - TES 1 and 2, Gibbs and Gibbs Helmholtz, Vant Hoff equation, derivations for Cp, Cv, Joule-Thomson, Entropy calculation, 1st law numericals

g. Phase eq - Phase rule, phase diagrams for water, CO2, S, Iodine, Consolute T

h. Chemical kinetics - half-life derivation, collision and transition state theories, relaxation method, chain reaction

i. Photochemistry - Jablonski diagram, quantum yield calculation

j. Surface catalysis - Derivation for Langmuir and heterogenous catalysis, surface area calculation

k. Electro - types of electrodes, using Nernst equation, transport number calculation, Debye Huckel, ionic mobility, polarography

INORGANIC CHEMISTRY

High yield topics (update based on your understanding)

a. Coordination Chemistry - must have strong grip over 13 (i) and (ii) [See Syllabus], for 13 (iii) and (iv), first strengthen PYQ topics and then focus on other topics since this portion is a bit vast already

b. Bio-inorganic chemistry, F-Block and Main Group - first prepare PYQs, then anything else

In general, inorganic topics are 'make or break' in nature, they play a crucial role in helping you decide ques to be attempted from Section B in Paper 1. UPSC inorganic syllabus is very concise compared to JEE inorganic portion. Thus, try to prepare syllabus topics thoroughly, use diagrams wherever applicable (esp. in Bio-inorganic) and remove any fear of this portion beforehand.

ORGANIC CHEMISTRY

a. Delocalised covalent bonding - easy compulsory q almost every year, draw all resonating structures

b. Reaction Mechanism - core of organic portion

1. Practise reaction identification by focusing on reagents and physical conditions like T

2. Focus on stereochemistry esp. in substitution, elimination and nucleophilic addition

3. Use energy profile diagram, wherever applicable, to explain major product

4. Remember specific reactions depicted by intermediates like benzyne and carbene

5. Studying addition reactions with reagents topic helps in retention

c. Named reactions and rearrangements

1. Try to appreciate their linkage with intermediates, substitution and addition reaction topics to improve learning

2. Study similar reactions together like Clemmensen and Wolf-Kishner or Claisen and Dieckmann

3. UPSC just requires us to identify reactions correctly under pressure, else questions are direct from this part

d. Reagents - list out multiple reactions shown by a reagent, list out multiple reagents to carry out a given reaction

e. Polymers - low effort high reward topic, just memorise things

PERI-PHOTO-SPECTRO

a. PYQs are bible for all 3 topics, practise them religiously before any other source

b. Pericyclic - always depict HOMO-LUMO interaction, spare some time for Jagdamba Singh back ques

c. Photochemistry - practise identifying Paternò–Büchi, Norrish I and II, Barton, HLF, Di-Pi Methane and much of your work is done, also Jagdamba Singh

d. Spectroscopy

1. Highly logical topic but needs lots of practise

2. UV - Memorise Woodward-Fisher (and other related) rules

3. IR - Memorise approximate bands for functional groups, helps in differentiation of binary species

4. NMR - Memorise some common chemical shift values, try to memorise some coupling constants to faster solve compound deduction problems

5. Rotational - Just memorise 2-3 key formulae in this portion

6. Mass spectra - McLafferty, some popular fragmentation patterns for compound deduction problems

Sharing topic-wise PYQs which I compiled during prep, although I strongly believe this should be an individual exercise to better understand ques trends. Also attaching my notes and other PDFs here