PAPER – II

GENERAL APTITUDE TEST

Ahead of the civil services preliminary exam, P.S. Ravindran, director of Vajiram and Ravi, a prominent civil services coaching centre, talks to Aloysius Xavier Lopez about the various aspects of the examination, issues and challenges.

The number of candidates appearing for the civil services preliminary exam seems to have increased by around 30% in the last three years. What are the factors contributing to this trend?

Job opportunities in the private sector have shrunk significantly since the global economic meltdown in 2008. After the sixth and seventh pay commissions’ recommendations, the salaries of civil servants have also seen a visible upward trend. Further, the number of vacancies in the civil services has witnessed a sharp increase. All the above push and pull factors have contributed to the increasing popularity of civil services. Moreover civil services have always been attractive to the middle class in India, and the middle class in India is bulging. The reservation policy has also facilitated the backward classes' attraction toward civil services.

Various expert committees have been constituted to examine issues such as eligibility, syllabus, scheme and exam pattern. Yet, many issues continue to be reported in the media. What do you think has gone wrong?

Many of the expert committees' reports have not been made public. This has resulted in speculation doing the rounds in social media. There are baseless reports such as optional subjects being abolished after the 2018 examination. This makes rural students worried. There is also speculation that the age limit and the number of attempts in the civil services examination (CSE) may be reduced to 26 years and three attempts respectively. All these are anxiety-driven rumours and students should concentrate on their preparation based on the current scheme. Indian universities are keen to retain optional subjects. Otherwise, social sciences might lose their popularity among students.

Is the mushrooming of coaching centres affecting the functioning of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC)?

The number of CS aspirants has grown manifold compared to the number of vacancies. Further, there is a huge gap between the syllabi of the graduate/post-graduate courses at the university level and the syllabus of the civil services exam. Preparation requires a different type of orientation compared to university examinations. These factors have made coaching institutions popular. Obviously, this has led to increased levels of preparation among those who attend coaching classes and consequently, increased levels of competition among candidates. For example, the cut-off marks in the preliminary and the main examination have been steadily rising. A gifted candidate with native intelligence may not pass, whereas an above average candidate with access to coaching may. However, candidates have the legal right to get coaching. The government must start more coaching institutes and provide free coaching to deserving candidates.

What are the challenges faced by persons with disabilities during the preparation for the civil services exam?

The UPSC and the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) have not drafted rules and regulations clearly indicating the services to which special candidates are entitled to. There is much confusion and lack of transparency. The UPSC and the DoPT must clarify this and they must be very transparent in indicating the services to which the persons with disability are eligible and the number of vacancies available.

>>Read More..

Click Here For Website

Courtesy: The Hindu

(Cut-Off) UPSC Combined Defence Services Examination (CDS) Exam - 2015

UPSC Topper Strategy for Public Administration Optional by Ranjan Singh ji (Rank-62)

Paper – I and Indian Administration.

Candidates are expected to give examples from Indian Administration while explaining the concepts in Paper – I.”

I will give you chapter –wise detail of study material which “I followed”. U need not follow this. Just follow your own study material but pls follow the basic instructions mentioned above.

1. Introduction: – Vajiram class notes of Gupta sir (best for this chapter), Paradigms of Public Administration by Nicholas Henry(only few pages), New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya . Restructuring Public Administration A New Look by Mohit Bhattacharya
2. Administrative Thought :- Prasad & Prasad, New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya .
3. Administrative Behaviour :- Prasad & Prasad, New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya . Organization Behaviour by Stephen robbins.
5. Accountability and control :- New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya, 2nd ARC report. Fadia & Fadia Paper-1
6. Administrative Law :- Fadia & Fadia Paper-1

UPSC Topper Strategy for Public Administration (Advanced- Unit wise) by Prince Dhawan

Administration (Advanced- Unit wise)

Some standard books for Public Administration are-

• Awasthi and  S.R. Maheshwari - Public Administration
• Prasad and Prasad – Thinkers
• Ramesh Arora – Indian Administration
• Mohit Bhattacharya – New Horizons in Public Administration.
• S.R. Maheshwari – Indian Administration
• IGNOU books.
• Fadia and Fadia
• Sharma and Sadana
• DD Basu

There is no need to read all the books from cover to cover. Prepare topic wise in a comprehensive manner. Use examples, contemporary relevance, case studies etc. Read case studies from The Hindu, Frontline, Kurukshetra and Yojana. I must admit here that due to paucity of time, I personally could not refer to Kurukshetra but sometimes I did pick up selective issues and found them very useful.

For those topics that were covered in the class, I first used to read my class notes and tried to understand them. Then, I used to refer to other sources for more details and clarity. For topics that were not covered in the class, I began by reading that topic from at least 2 different books and understanding the basics. Sometimes, I also read the printed material to supplement my knowledge. Then I made my own notes for these topics.

Next, I tried to memorize all that I had studied so that I could recall the crucial points at the right time. I used to do this by reading my notes and underlined portions in the books again and again.

Finally, to gain confidence, I used to write answers to as many questions as I could.

• Paper-I

1. Introduction:

This Chapter is very important. Read topics from class notes, Fadia and Fadia, and Mohit Bhattacharya. Also refer to IGNOU notes for this topic. The information from this topic can be used in answering questions of other units as well. This is a very scoring area.

2. Administrative Thought:

You must know the theories of various scholars very well. Try to go in as much detail as you can but do not go into unnecessary details. Writing some details (but not all details) gives a unique touch to your answers. Read from Prasad and Prasad. This is also a very scoring area.

3.  Administrative Behaviour:

For this chapter, read from Sharma and Sadana. It is a very good source of information. I also found the printed material of my coaching class helpful. You may want to make your own notes though this depends from person to person.

4.  Organisations:

This is a relatively small chapter which can be studied from any standard book or from the printed material of any coaching class.

5.   Accountability and Control:

Questions from this chapter are being asked lately as it is relevant in the current context. Apart from your class notes, you can go through Sharma and Sadana, printed material and Yojana and Kurukshetra articles. There is a lot of scope of innovation in this topic in the sense that you will often be able to correlate it to news items/editorials in the news papers and you will also find many case studies. If questions come from this area there is ample scope for you to give some unique points that may not be found in most of the answer scripts.

UPSC Topper Strategy for Public Administration - Mains by Mr. Anay Dwivedi

Public Administration - Mains

UPSC Topper Strategy for Electrical Engineering Optional by Prakash Rajpurohit (Rank-2)

Electrical Engineering

For Electrical Engineering, I personally feel that Prakash Rajpurohit Sir’s (AIR-2 in CSE-2009) blog has all the required information that one needs to know. In fact that is the main reason why I am so late in writing a post on Electrical Engineering. I did not feel the need to provide any extra information other than what was mentioned on his blog.For the book list, please refer to:

Paper – I

1. Circuit Theory: This topic requires continuous practice. One should solve as many numericals as you can from A. Chakrabarti.  Even though I couldn’t do it due to paucity of time but solving IES papers may help.
2. Signals and systems: In this topic, one must remember the formulas by making a formula sheet. As Prakash Sir has mentioned, for DFT/FFT, refer to Oppenheim’s book on DSP.
3. E.M. Theory: Read chapter 6(till 6.29), 7 and 8 from K.D. Prasad. Practice some numerical examples. Sometimes the book solves them in a long way, but you must do them in the shortest way possible. For Smith chart and impedance matching refer Jordan & Balmain. Make the list of formulas and practice all the derivations.
4. Analog Electronics: Diode, Transistors and Amplifiers can be done from any book. Topics that are to be covered from JB Gupta are: Oscillators, Op Amp, Wave shaping circuits, Multivibrators, Waveform Generators and Power supplies. You will have to practice numerical from IES papers since JB Gupta doesn’t have many numerical. Also, in this chapter practice derivations well and make sure you do not do mistakes in symbols.
5. Digital Electronics: I referred to R.P. Jain for this topic. It is a very good book that covers all the concepts and also provides sufficient numerical practice. Please stick to the syllabus while reading this book.
6. Energy Conversion: Try to cover everything given in the syllabus from Ashfaq Hussain and make good command over all the numerical given in the book. It covers topic from IES point of view. Do all the questions asked in the IES exams thoroughly.
7. Power Electronics and Electric Drives: Topics to be covered are Chapter 2(characteristics of diode, BJT, MOSFET, IGBT), chapter 4-Thyrister(complete), chapter 5 – Thyrister commutation techniques (complete), chapter 6 –Phase controlled rectifiers(Leave dual converters), chapter 7- Choppers(Leave Thyrister Chopper circuits and multiphase choppers) , chapter 8 –Inverters(Leave force-commutated thyrister inverters, current source and series inverters) and chapter 12-electric drives(complete). Cover all the derivations (like deriving expressions for particular type of rectifier or inverter) as well as working of circuits. Note that this book can be difficult to read at first due to extensive coverage of topics. But you must nevertheless go through it. At first, focus on the concepts. You may leave the numericals at the back of the Chapters since there are sufficient solved examples in the book. Do not just read the examples, solve them yourself.

UPSC Topper Strategy for Geography Optional by Mangesh Kumar (Rank-4)

Geography :

How to prepare for Geography

Geography is a good subject with the civil services point of view. During last few years it comes out to be one of the most favourite choices of Civil Services Aspirants.  The basic strategy for geography starts with study of NCERT books.

UPSC Topper Strategy for Essay Optional by Puneet Gulati (Rank-319)

Essay :

Essay is often seen as a poor cousin of the other more important papers in the Mains Examination. While GS and each of the optionals are worth 600 marks each, Essay contributes a small 200 marks to the total. But just like the interview, these 200 marks often prove to be the Waterloo for many candidates. In CSE 2009, UPSC has been particularly strict in giving out these 200 marks. Not many candidates managed to score over a 100 marks and there have been a shockingly high number of double and even single digit scores in the Essay this time. While none of us can justify the extremely low scores given out by UPSC, I do think that there does exist a strategy for tackling the Essay paper, which, if adopted and implemented thoughtfully, can reap a decent 50-70% mark in the Essay. Such marks will ensure that a candidate does not fail to make it to the list just because of poor showing in the Essay.

The strategy that I propose for the essay is based on my own experience as well as what I learnt from my English teacher during my school days. In CSE 2009, I scored 140/200 in the Essay. I wrote on “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours”.

1. Preparation for the Essay 

Regular reading is the only stable and time-tested way to prepare for the Essay. There is no short-cut to improving one’s

language. One must read and learn to apply what one has read. Those attempting the paper in English, should read the Editorials of papers like the

Hindu, the ToI, Indian Express, Hindustan Times etc. One should also try remembering some quotations that one comes across while reading books etc. Maintain a notebook/word document for keeping track of such quotations. Let me recommend here “Inspite of the Gods” by Edward Luce as a valuable read on India before you go for your Mains. Practice Writing Essays for those who are not very sure of their abilities to tackle Essay paper well. Write at least 4-5 essays before sitting for the Mains in Oct-Nov this year.

2. Attempting the Essay Paper

a. Choosing the Essay – This is the most critical but curiously most under-rated part of the paper. Choosing the right topic to write on is half the battle won. Spend at least 5-10 minutes carefully studying the topics. Many candidates pick up a topic and start writing and then realize they don’t have enough to talk about. They end up wasting time as they try choosing another topic later. This year there were 5 topics:

i. Are our traditional handicrafts doomed to a slow death?

ii. Are we a ‘soft’ state?

iii. The focus of health care is increasingly getting skewed towards the ‘haves’ of our society

iv. Good fences make good neighbours

v. Globalism vs Nationalism

The candidate must study each topic and decide which of these topics gives him the maximum number of ideas. Mind-mapping or jotting points may help. Take up each topic and ask yourself, “What can I say about this?” For some topics you’ll not be able to proceed beyond two lines. I felt this when I looked at “Handicrafts” and “Healthcare” questions. Both these essays are asking us questions – Do you agree with the statement? (explicitly in the case of ‘handicrafts’ and implicitly in the case of ‘healthcare’. In fact, all other questions are doing this, except “Globalism vs Nationalism”). Candidates must answer the question no matter which of these two topics they choose. 

Writing a general answer without taking a stand when the question is asking you for a stand will not fetch you high marks because then you would not be answering the question. Hence, please, please, please answer the question. In my case, I realized I would not be able to handle either of these topics even if I agreed with the statements because of very limited knowledge about the arguments ‘for’ or ‘against’ the topic. Having rejected these two topics, I examined the other three. I thought about the question on “Soft” State. It was an inviting topic but I realized that I would not be able to provide any interesting insights into the issue. Moreover, I was worried I may inadvertently overlook some important arguments. Hence, I decided to examine the other two questions – Good fences and Globalism vs Nationalism. Topic 5 offered a discussion based essay where there was nothing obvious to agree or disagree about except maybe that there is necessarily a clash of ideologies (this could be questioned), while topic 4 required me to take a stand. I spent some time thinking about the arguments I could offer in both essays and realized that ‘Good Fences’ offered me greater creative license. To me, this was important as I was free to offer a much wider perspective on it. In addition, I could recall the poem – Mending Wall (by Robert Frost….I had studied it in class X) from which the line “Good Fences Make Good Neighbours” was taken. Moreover, I felt that this essay would be attempted by fewer candidates because of the nature of the question. (Please note that this criteria helps only those who are fairly sure of their ability to handle the topic. If you are not sure of your language or knowledge about the topic, please choose topics entirely on the basis of what may be easier to handle)