Road Map For IAS Preliminary (CSAT) Exam by UPSC

Dear Students,

As the Civil Services exam, not mearly test your knowledge but it also tests your ability to deliver within a limited time frame. In this regard you need to have a proper planning, proper strategy and a clear road map, where you can monitor your own progress, and if necessary you can change your strategy. In this background suggesting few things which I hope will help you in your planning. Here, We are only presenting the General Studies Paper-I by keeping in mind that you are going to prepare the CSAT paper in according to your own convenience.

Before making actual planning you must be aware of what to read, and from where to read in first stage, In second stage you must be aware of how to read, And in third stage you need to have a personal road map where you can implement the above 2 stages. This road map should be individual specific, because needs and awareness are different for different people.

Now let us discuss the first stage that is what to read and from where to read. For traditional area we are suggesting these following books which are sufficient to qualify P.T.

Books are:

History:

• Ancient - Ram Sharan Sharma, (old) NCERT
• Medieval- Satish Chandra, (old) NCERT
• Modern India- Bipin Chandra, (old) NCERT
• Art & Culture chapter of India Year Book

Science:

• NCERT- VI to X (New)
• What, Why & How by CSIR.
• Defence Current Affairs & Defence chapter of India Year Book
• S&T Current Affairs & S&T Chapter of India Year Book.

Geography:

• XI, XII NCERT (New)
• Read current affair with Atlas, locate each & everything which are in news.
• Thoroughly use your Atlas

And following chapters of India Year Book:

1. Land & The people.
2. Agriculture.
3. Energy.
4. Environment.
5. Water Resources.
6. States & Union Territories

Polity:

• XI, XII NCERT (New).
• Polity chapter of India Year Book.
• General Information chapter of India Year Book.
• Justice & Law chapter of India Year Book.
• Indian Polity , by Laxmikant
• Current Affairs of Polity

Economics:

• Clear your basic concepts of Economics with any book.
• Current Affair of Economics
• Economic Survey  -summery of each chapter which is given in the last page. And see the boxes given in every chapter.

And following chapters of India Year Book:

1. Agriculture.
2. Basic Economic Data.
3. Commerce.
4. Communication.
5. Education.
6. Finance.
7. Corporate Affairs.
8. Food & Civil Supplier.
9. Health & Family Welfare.
10. Housing.
11. Industry.
12. Labour.
13. Mass Communication.
14. Planning.
15. Rural development.
16. Transport.
17. Welfare.
18. Youth Affair & Sports.

Environment:

• Environment chapter of India Year Book.
• Geography books of NCERT (new).
• Current Affair.
• Internet

Current Affairs

This is the most important section of this paper. After analyzing the recent question paper it is necessary for every aspirant that he/she should give more attention to those traditional area which are in news.

For Example:

(a) India’s Fast Breeder Reactor has achieved certain milestone or

(b) The launch of cryogenic technology had failed recently; in this respect you must be aware with the traditional portion of these areas, these includes:

• What is Cryogenic technology?
• When India started to develop this technology?
• How many countries poses this technology? etc.

In the same manner:

• What is India’s Nuclear programme?
• When India started the programme?
• How many stages are there in India’s Nuclear Programme?
• In which Generation the Fast Breeder Reactor comes?
• What are its major use /Advantages? etc.

In Short you should change your traditional way of preparation and mould it with the present trend. The present trend is that you need to prepare your traditional area through current affair. That is whatever is in news you must have the awareness of its traditional background & its concept, Now the next question comes in your mind is that, how one can achieve this?

In this background we suggest you to follow these steps :

1. You need to have a sound knowledge of current affair and the traditional portion of your G.S. paper.
2. Read traditional area, historical background and constitutional provision (if necessary) to each topic which is in news.

For example In polity section what ever is in news try to connect that with the constitutional provision, and its political history. Suppose government has recently amended the constitution and provided 50% reservation for women in panchayat, so in this case you should read the constitutional provision of panchayat, its political history in India, that is from ancient India to till date. In this way you can prepare your traditional area with the current affairs. To achieve this you do not have to do any research because the above mention books are written in such a manner that you can find the historical background with its concept, in one place, you have to just update that with your current affair.

At the same time, with in the Current Affair section there are some special areas where you should have a good command because questions are asked directly from those areas.

They are:

• Various Bills and Acts and their important provisions.

• Important Reports and their contents.

• Various governments plans programmes.

• Initiatives taken by the government in various fields.

I hope now you are familiar with what to read and from where to read. Then the next question comes how to read.

How to read?

what ever you read you must solve the multiple choice questions.
Make your own point wise notes (if necessary) revise your notes again and again.
If possible make your own multiple choice questions with the help of previous year question papers.

• Clear your concepts from NCERT Books.
• Think and analyze those concepts again and again.
• Revise again and again, and no need to mug up the factual information, try to remember only important facts and figures so that you can utilize those, in your mains exam as well.
• From, May solve the question papers in strictly exam like condition. That is with in the 2 hour time frame at morning and evening season.

The Road Map:

Now lets discuss about the roadmap, well road map should be individual specific. A general road map will not provide any fruitful results because candidates awareness and needs are different from person to person, But there are some specific guide lines which one need to follow while making his/her road map. Those points we have already discussed in what to read & how to read section.

Here we would only suggest that according to your convenience make your own road map, at this you are now aware of what to read & How to read, the only thing you have to make is that when you are going to study. To qualify the P.T. you must have to revise the whole thing more than twice, So keep this in your mind before making your own road map.

you can also look at Online Coaching for IAS Exams

-END-