GS3 - Sharing my sources and strategy for the paper

GS3

I made notes on every topic of the syllabus and any repeated theme from PYQs (very high repetition). Moreover, tried to reproduce as specific content as possible for GS3.

Sharing my sources and strategy for the paper:

Economy and Agri

1. Similar to other GS, foundation notes were from Target UPSC crash course

2. Economic survey and budget - cannot emphasise enough on their importance. Use the ES summary from any coaching institute for challenges, recommendations and data. Also please quote ES’24/ budget as the source wherever used

3. NITI@75 - a glance to understand the topics covered and recos made. Please quote as source wherever applicable

4. Govt schemes - often included in way forward/ what has been done/ recommendations. Collated the list from PT365 and NITI Ayog’s SDG India Index report

5. Committee recos - Understand UPSC’s PYQ answer writing course included many committee names

Disaster management and Internal security

1. Animesh sir’s notes (AIR-2 CSE’23) on his channel are v crisp for these topics - would highly recommend incl. diagrams (almost every topic), notable events, initiatives, tech used etc.

2. ForumIAS MGP answer key for MGP - very relevant value addition (both from GS1 and GS3)

Science and tech

1. Mains 365 - base material

2. Google - I used to just search for any S&T topics that lacked quality content (e.g. on Vajirao/ PWIAS) and add to my notes

3. MGP answer key and test topper copies

4. Tip: Add diagrams and forward looking applications of the tech (usually from mains 365)!

What may have worked for me

1. Data and charts - I learnt a large number of data points for each topic and used to keep revising over and over again. Moreover, instead of just writing data, I used to draw a bar diagram or a pie chart along with source to make it more presentable

2. Specific intros - quote data/ organisations (eg Interpol for organised crime) to start with

3. Forward looking conclusion - add SDG/ committee names/ govt catchphrases (eg jai vigyan, Jai anusandhan for S&T) in conclusion. I had prepared a list of phrases/ SDGs that I HAD to quote in a question from that topic (e.g. sabka saath sabka Vikas for a ques on inclusive growth or Ashok Dalwai for Agri ques)

4. Govt schemes and committees - quote as many as you can! It makes the answer much more specific

5. Sources - adding source (even ES’24) makes answer more credible

6. Diagrams - esp in IR, DM (can find in my test copies)

7. Addressing the sub-demand of questions - I used to divide my answer into diff parts of the ques so that every aspect can be addressed

8. Learnt a lot from Kunal Rastogi sir’s TG channel as well for GS3: https://t.me/ias_raskun

Sharing my test copies also here