10/18/2018 Cracking the UPSC - The Hindu

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Cracking the UPSC

A K Mishra
FEBRUARY 03, 2018 15:28 IST
UPDATED: FEBRUARY 06, 2018 16:40 IST

Preparing for the Prelims? Don’t leave out these important topics

Civil Services Preliminary exam is just four months away, and aspirants aiming at Prelims
2018 must be fully engrossed in covering the vast syllabus of the UPSC Prelims Exam.
Before moving further, I suggest that all aspirants keep the syllabus handy and get a
thorough knowledge about what the UPSC exactly looks for.

Syllabus

Paper 1 (General Studies):

• Current events of national and international importance

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• History of India and Indian National Movement

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• Indian and World Geography — Physical,
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Hindu Economic Geography of India
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• Indian Polity and Governance — Constitution,
to keep getting the alerts. Political System, Panchayati Raj,
Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
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• Economic and Social Development — Sustainable Development, Poverty,
Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change —
that do not require subject specialisation General Science

Paper 2 (Civil Services Aptitude Test):

• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision-making and problem-solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc. — Class
X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. — Class
X level)

If we look at the trend of the past four years, the maximum number of questions were
asked from geography, agriculture and environment, but every question for each topic or
subject was directly or indirectly related to current affairs. Therefore, current affairs is
extremely important that you cannot afford to miss while preparing for the Prelims.

Topics of importance

Polity: Polity should be covered with a blend of current affairs. Simply put, topics like new
schemes initiated by the government, recent changes or developments in Constitution,
amendments and bills are important for polity which can be covered from current affairs
sources. Apart from this, look at topics such as the other topics which should be covered
are: judiciary, NITI Aayog, Panchayati Raj and PESA 1996, Different Committees of
Parliament, Distribution of Powers between Union and States, Indian Membership in
Regional Establishments, parliament and state legislature, President, Prime Minister,
Council of Ministers, Speaker, Governor, CAG and attorney general, Forest Rights ACT 2006,
passing of Bills (Ordinary and Money), different parliamentary proceedings, Non–
Proliferation Treaty and MTCR, directive principles, and fundamental duties, besides
others.

Economics: Lots of economic changes occurred in this past one year, so having the
knowledge of current affairs is very important to prepare for this subject. Also look at

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10/18/2018 Cracking the UPSC - The Hindu

topics like Apart from this, the topics which should be covered are: depreciation and
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appreciation, fiscal deficit and upcoming
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programmes, basic terms likeOurgrowth rate, national income, GDP, GVA, FDI, FII, and recent
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changes in these fields. Question
to keepbased
getting on Economic Survey, Convertibility of Rupee,
the alerts.

Monetary Policy and its Measures (CRR / SLR), Finance Commission and recent
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recommendations, Unemployment and Poverty in India, Supply and Demand of Money,
Demonetisation, Banking Systems and Based III, Inflation rates, and Demographic
Transition.

History: Looking at the trend of past few years, the ratio of questions from history portion
is sloping downward. But this doesn’t mean that history is an unimportant subject, as UPSC
wants candidates to have a fair knowledge on the subject. Modern Indian history, culture,
and medieval periods are important to study. Apart from this, other topics to be covered
are: occupational caste, tribe and nomad, rock-cut monuments, governor generals and
viceroys, medieval dictionary, freedom struggle and important movements, ancient times
taxation and administration, land reforms and revenue system, important dynasties in
medieval India

Geography and Environment: UPSC syllabus covers both Indian and world geography.
Along with basic conceptual clarity, candidates need to stay abreast with recent updates.
Besides, topics like floods, earthquakes and cyclones, temperature and precipitation,
location of countries between seas, ocean currents, climatic conditions in different regions,
westerlies, national highways and other infrastructure, different types of soil, their
conservation methods, national parks, wetlands, wildlife sanctuaries and biosphere
reserves, atmosphere, natural vegetation, flora and fauna, rivers in India and their
protection, geographical region and regions, National Green Tribunal, La Nina and El Nino,
etc are to be looked into.

Environment and Agriculture: Aspirants must have fair knowledge about what all
initiatives are being taken up globally for the protection, conservation and preservation of
the environment. Besides, the other topics which should be covered are eco-friendly
technologies, agriculture, crops, drainage and irrigation, international treaties,
organization and meeting on environment, International reports and list, recent
government reports on environment, and national schemes for agriculture, and irrigation.

Science: UPSC only checks the knowledge of candidates on current happenings in the
science field. Some leading newspapers and some other sources of current affairs would be
sufficient. Apart from this, government schemes and initiative related to public health,
genetics, medicine and public health, food and chemical, gravitation, plant and animal
classification, light and matter, Bt – Crops, Nanotechnology, communication technology,
renewable sources of energy and eco-friendly technology, nuclear energy, work and energy,
missiles, space crafts, and satellites, ICT, diseases and causes are to be studied.

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Some tips
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Revise: Before moving to thenews
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topic,from The
do not Hinduto revise what you have studied.
forget
Keep one day in a week for revision and
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Solve previous years’ question papers: Once you get good hold on subjects with NCERTs
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and other standard books, make sure you check question papers of the past five years and
solve them. This will not only help you get a fair idea about the examination and question
pattern, but will also help you cover the syllabus.

Enrol in test series: When you get a real time experience of actual examination, you
become more confident. Test series helps streamline your preparation and provides ample
practice.

The writer is Director, Chanakya IAS Academy.

The article has been edited post publication. An earlier version of the story said
"Civil Services Preliminary exam is six months away" instead of "four months".

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Printable version | Oct 18, 2018 3:43:16 PM |

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