Prelims booklist and resources and Prelims strategy

Prelims booklist and resources

1. Polity- Laxmikanth book only

2. History

• Modern history- Spectrum

• Art and Culture- Nitin Singhania book

• Ancient and medieval history - ICSE book (class 7 (Frank modern certificate) and class 9- Total History and Civics)

3. Geography- NCERT classes 11 and 12

4. Economics- NCERT classes 11 and 12

5. Environment- Shankar IAS book

6. Science and Technology- CA monthly magazines

7. Current Affairs (CA)

• Daily newspaper (The Hindu) reading along with handwritten notes

• Vision CA monthly magazine (mostly News in Shorts)

8. Other resources (used as and when needed)

• Google whenever in doubt

• Vision QRM (quick revision module)

• Test series- reverse learning

Prelims strategy

1. Since this is an objective (MCQ) type paper, you do not need to revise too many times (the correct answer is in front of you). 3-4 times is mostly enough.

2. Instead of revising too many times, try to expand your knowledge base as far as possible (via reverse learning, etc.)

3. Don't spend too much time in current affairs. These days the weightage of current affairs is quite small so you should allocate time to it proportionately (maximum 20% of your studying hours).

4. Though almost every topper has read CA monthly magazines/PT365, etc. but this does not mean they have read it thoroughly. You have to read such magazines very selectively (eg. I read mostly news in shorts only in Vision magazine)

5. I recommend giving 20-30 mock tests for Prelims paper I and 5-10 mock tests for CSAT. These are not strict limits. Modify them as per your individual needs.

6. Don't give too many mocks. Too many mocks means less revision.

7. Also, you must remember that the actual UPSC prelims paper will always be different from the coaching mocks, no matter how many mocks you give. This is because, these days, coaching mock papers are available almost universally (online, offline, tg). So, UPSC also easily gets access to these papers and it later filters out all the mock questions from the question bank that UPSC prepares. This results in the UPSC Prelims paper being different from the mock tests.

8. Also, plagiarism is widely prevalent in coachings UPSC study material and mock test papers. So giving 10 mocks from 10 different coaching institutes is of no use.

9. Due to the new pattern of UPSC Prelims paper, the effectiveness of the old tricks has decreased but not vanished. I will be sharing those tricks soon.

Strategy while solving the Prelims Paper I

1. Attempt questions in maximum 3 rounds (preferably 2) in a sequential order. Bubble OMR sheet after every round.

• First round: start sequentially from question number 1 to 100. This is the surety round. In each question, tick the correct statements/options and put a cross mark on those statements/options which are wrong (do this only if you are sure). If you are partially sure (like 51-90% confidence level) then put a small tick or cross mark accordingly beside the statement/option. If you are unsure, leave it blank and move onto the next statement or option or question as the case may be. After completing 1st round, bubble OMR sheet and drink water. This acts as a little break (bubbling OMR is an easy-peasy thing for your brain). This rest for the brain often proves to be useful when attempting questions in the next round.

• Second round: Attempt only those questions in which a 50:50 scenario exists (i.e. you have already eliminated 2 options). If you can now eliminate one more option then very good. Else, you can just randomly tick either of the two options or go with gut feeling. It might sound funny, but randomly selecting either of 2 options (when you have correctly eliminated two wrong options) will almost always give you a good result (given 1/3rd negative marking penalty). Also, since Prelims paper is quite lengthy these days, so often you might need to resort to this strategy. Another quick alternative to this is to go with the small tick or small cross sign which you marked in the first round when you were only partially sure. Take a leap of faith and treat that partially sure as completely sure. The third way is to go with gut feeling and tick the option which you "feel" is correct. You can choose any way but do it fast. After completing the 2nd round, bubble the OMR sheet. Now quickly count total no. of questions attempted (just count the questions which you have not attempted by looking at the OMR and subtract that number from 100). If the total number of attempted questions falls within your ideal range, then don't go for round 3. You have finished the paper. If the no. of questions attempted are less, then go for round 3. If the no. Of questions attempted are more than your ideal range, then also you have finished the paper. [note: you can't unfill the bubbles once marked; only few centres provide whiteners that usually too 300-400 students in any given centre would have to do with just 1 or 2 whiteners.

• Third round: Attempt remaining questions (preferably those where you have already eliminated one option) till you reach your ideal no. of questions attempted.

2. Read questions carefully. Understand the meaning properly.

3. Extremes in between statements.- solely, only, all, always, never, lethal, etc.- such statements are most probably wrong.

4. On the contrary, when statements contain generic keywords like some, sometimes, etc., then they are most probably correct.

5. Etymology: many a times keyword based questions are asked where you need to know the meaning of that keyword. Even if you don't know the meaning, try to break down that word into smaller parts whose meaning you might know.

6. Always be ready to use your common sense, logic, rationality and practicality. Many statements/options can be eliminated using these.

7. Coherency/ consistency between statements; odd one out. Only inconsistent statements cannot go together. So, an option containing inconsistent statements is eliminated.

8. Try to read questions at a good pace but without hampering comprehension. Read every question max. twice as these days the questions and options are quite long.

9. Unknown/unheard facts/data are usually wrong. This holds true especially in long statements with many facts/data.

10. Careful when *not* is in the question. Highlight/underline the not so as not to miss it otherwise you will mark the exactly opposite option.

11. Attempt 75-90 questions only. Attempting too low is risky because many a times it happens that you feel you are completely sure of the answer but later it turns out to be wrong. [Also, note: UPSC Prelims paper contains some subjective questions as well (though quite many subjective questions were there in 2023). If you are surprised at this thinking that Prelims is completely objective, then you definitely need to solve PYQs and cross check with official UPSC answer keys and coachings' answer keys.] While attempting too many questions (eg. all 100) is also risky as it will involve more of luck and less of knowledge/skill and you never know how your luck would be on the D-day.

12. Preferably attempt only those questions in which you are completely sure and 50:50 questions (i.e. finish the paper by round 2).

13. Always look at the options set up before judging the difficulty of the question. Many a times you will read a question, not understand anything, lose confidence and move onto the next question. But you should always read all the options as sometimes the set up/content of options can make a difficult question easy.

14. Statements having multiple facts are usually wrong.

15. In case of persistent Confusion (like first you thought option a is correct but later you think b is right) go with the first guess. This is especially useful in questions where you last revised a long time ago and your knowledge becomes more like a feeling.

16. If you have exhausted all tricks and need to attempt more questions, then you can solve some questions with gut feeling.

17. Solve PYQs. It will help to verify whether the tricks are working, find the ideal range of no. of questions you should attempt, etc.

18. Underline keywords and extreme words (including in statements and options). It will help avoid silly mistakes.

19. Tick options carefully in the question paper. Knowing the difficulty of the Prelims these days, sometimes candidates get excited whenever they see a question which they are sure of but end up ticking the wrong option due to complacency.

20. Bubble OMR sheet carefully.

21. Leave at least 8-10 minutes at the end to mark OMR.

22. At the end- reverse check if you have attempted all desired questions. A fast way to do this is by looking at your filled OMR sheet, finding the question numbers that you have not bubbled and then cross-checking the question paper to verify that the particular question is not attempted. If in case that particular question is attempted in the question paper, then quickly bubble it.

23. Lastly, feel free to modify this strategy as per your own needs.