Mains GS 1 -- books and strategy

Mains GS 1 -- books and strategy

Art and Culture - use prelims material itself (focus more on themes, dynasties, examples)

Modern history -- spectrum

World history -- any coaching notes available in market

Post independence -- NCERT

Geography - geography NCERT class 11 & 12, PMF IAS (for examples and diagrams), G C Leong (for keywords given in orange colour, examples like Mt Etna, Mt Vesuvius etc)

Society -- relied completely on newspapers and basic understanding of how Indian society functions + my optional (anthropology) helped me grasp it better.

Add ons: current & contemporary keywords and examples of the topics.

Example -- Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) in questions of climate change and global warming.

Such keywords from latest articles give an edge over others writing generic stuff.

The question on sea surface temperature could have examples like research by IITM- Pune etc.

For people having sociology/ anthropology as optional subject could use certain keywords in society questions like Sanskritisation and subtle usage of thinkers like M N Srinivas and Dr B R Ambedkar.

Use spectrum book itself for quality one liners for introduction and conclusion of thematic answers like Moderates vs Extremists approach. There are plenty in that book if we read it carefully.

Try to have your own booklet of solved mains PYQs (handwritten) based on themes. One need not write all the questions but cover all the themes. For example, Cholas and Vijayanagar is a theme. So, cover it in a holistic manner through PYQs and NCERTs.

Have an impactful intro and conclusion ready for all static part of the syllabus. It saves your time in the exam hall and streamlines the preparation.

Devote more time to Geography and society as the weightage of these subjects has increased over others. But do not neglect any keyword of the Mains syllabus.

Diagrams and maps in geography are non negotiable and try to use maps in history as well wherever it meets the demand of the question. Also, timelines can be used in history, flowcharts in society etc.