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It was in 1981 when I had my first encounters with UPSC through the
aspirants (for IAS etc.) who sought my help to prepare for certain specific
topics in GS and my parent discipline, i.e. Anthropology. Today, 13 years
later, through regular interaction with the UPSC experts and students all
over India, particularly at Delhi, Lucknow, Patna, Chandigarh and
Hyderabad, I find myself in a favourable position to pen down my
experiences and suggestions to the young aspirants.
In the early eighties, there were three (Delhi, Allahabad and Patna) major
centre of UPSC related activities, while Hyderabad was coming up fast.
There used to be 40 to 60 thousand contenders for the coveted posts.
Today, while the number of aspirants has risen by over 200 percent, many
new centres have come up in almost every state capital and many other
major cities. In those days professionals did not see any merit in
contention for these jobs, but recent years have witnessed a flood of such
aspirants, at times sweeping the top positions in the merit list. In those
days History, Sociology, Political Science etc. used to be the most popular
optionals while today, many hitherto less known subjects have taken
over. Besides, many states have changed their pattern of PCS
examination in line with UPSC examination.
The Mains:
For right approach, the preparation of Mains should start before or at
least concurrent with Prelims. Just because you have to prepare for
Essay, GS and the two optionals (English and a regional language, the
one/two other compulsory, do not require a separate preparation) you
never get enough time (to prepare for all these) after the declaration of
Prelims' results. Further, while Prelims is only a screening test, it is on
the basis of your performance in Mains, on which mainly depends the final
outcome of your efforts. Strategically, therefore, the preparation for the
examination should start about one year in advance and you should think
about appearing in the Prelims only when you have had a strong grip over
the Mains' subject matter.
The two optionals, that form a major part of your score, have to be
decided judiciously. Candidates living in the major centres of Civil
Services related activities, generally do not face much problem in
finalising their optionals but others, living in smaller towns or where
there is no such environment, do faulter. For those of you post-graduate
in any subject or having a professional degree, the first optional is the
one that you have pursued for the last few years. But, for ordinary
graduates the choice of first optional too, is equally problematic . Most of
the candidates undecided about the optionals, are strongly influenced by
the interviews (given by the previous years' successful candidates) that
appear in various magazines. Decisions made on this basis, can, at times,
land you in the no man's land.
While selecting an optional I would suggest that you care for the
following :
The last decade has seen a catastrophic change of the sort, regarding the
preference of the candidates for traditional subjects as also regarding the
scoring pattern. The last five years in particular have seen the emergence
of Physics-Maths combination opted by the IITians, as the most
successful one. Mid-Eighties saw the upsurge of Anthropology, a subject
which is taught in the least number of Universities in India, followed by
creation of Public Administration as a separate subject and its instant
success in terms of candidates attracted as also in the scoring pattern.
Geography has been making silent strides and the literatures of various
regional languages have proved their credibility time and again. These
subjects affected the popularity of History and Psychology that went out
of favour because of revision and substantial increase in the syllabus
undertaken during that period. Sociology suffered at the hands of
Anthropology because the two can not be opted together and the wind
favoured Anthropology.
During the last three years, however, Psychology and Sociology gained
some ground while Public Administration has declined slightly in
popularity. Regional languages have shown a spectacular rise while
Anthropology has stagnated at the top. Philosophy, another fascinating
optional, is restricted in popularity and there is not much to write about
it. Change in the syllabi of many popular optionals along with bringing
parity in the papers of various optionals is bound to bring many
significant changes that should be reflected in the results of IAS 2000.
Maths is not going to be a popular subject any more. Engineering
subjects, too are likely to lose in popularity. Anthropology, Geography and
Litt. (despite revision of syllabi) should emerge as major successful
optionals. Psychology too may improve is tally. Sociology and Public
Administration should attract larger chunk of aspirants but in terms of
results, both these optionals may prove disastrous.
If you ask me to rate various optionals and to opt for which one of them,
my suggestions should be as follows:
If you are looking for the smallest syllabus, the obvious choice should fall
on Anthropology, but wait, preparing this subject through self-study may
not be that easy because the subject combines biological and sociological
aspects. If you intend to choose a subject with scientific orientation, your
choice should fall on Geography, Psychology or Anthropology. If you have
a good command on the language, any subject can be chosen provided
you can develop interest in that subject. Otherwise, those of you who do
not have good writing skill, then please for your sake do not opt for
History, Sociology, Philosophy or Political Science. Candidates with a
command on any regional language or Hindi can taste success by opting
for a literature as an optional paper. With a strong base in Economics or
Commerce, Geography can be a good second optional.
There is no standard formula for success in the competition. The only rule
is that you realise your real capacities and capabilities and chalk out your
own strategy. How to perform well in Mains and Personality Test are the
issues that should be dealt at length and I shall discuss these issue with
you at the appropriate time.
Ans. It may sound absurd but the best way to prepare for Prelims is to
prepare for Mains first. Generally, for Prelims, the questions asked can be
grouped into two broad categories : factual & conceptual. Conceptual
questions can be handled more effectively only if Mains is prepared first.
Besides, objective facts can be related and remembered easily only when
a sound conceptual base is pre-existing.
Therefore, your strategy for preparation of Prelims should be such that
you are thorough in your first optional (that you take in Prelims as well as
in Mains) as also in G.S. This is important because you do not get enough
time after Prelims to prepare for the Mains.
Ans. It is a highly sensitive issue, and the most crucial too, because
choice of optionals goes a long way in deciding your prospects. However,
the answer to your question can not be as straight-forward.
It you have command on language, you can achieve your goal by keeping
any optional. My suggestion, however, would be as follows:
If you are a post-graduate in any discipline, that should be your first and
obvious choice; the same would be true if you have done honours in a
social science. Selection of first optional for IIT/Medical graduates too
has become difficult. The puzzle, therefore relates to graduates in arts
and literature who do feel confused.
These days, at Mains level, some literature subjects, Anthro, Geography
and Public Administration have been doing very well. Of these, the first
two are only second optionals, and hence, your choice could fall on either
Geography or Public Admn. However, History and Sociology have been
counted as safe subjects for Prelims. So, if you intend to take
Anthropology and any literature for Mains, you can, for Prelims, rely
either on Sociology (most of which is covered in the Anthro syllabus and
hence you get rid of the agony of reading a third subject) or History (that
covers quite a significant part of GS).