Friday, April 3, 2009
One Month For UPSC Prelims 2009
First of all my sincere apologies to all the readers of this blog
(www.upsc-prelims.blogspot.com) for this inordinate delay in
answering your queries. I had my interview scheduled on 23rd March
(Afternoon Session)and was busy with interview related
preparation.From now onwards I would try to be more regular in
posting relevant articles and answering your queries relating to UPSC
prelims examination.
Those who are appearing for UPSC Prelims in May 2009 should gear up
and focus much more on their optional and current affairs portion of
General Studies. Around this time various books for current affairs are
available in the market,I personally found Spectrum's Current Affairs
guide to be the best of the lot.Another thing that aspirants must do is
to practice previous year UPSC question papers. This practice would be
immensely useful and also build confidence level. One should always
remember that there is no such thing as perfect preparation ,but one
should strive for getting closer to perfection.It is very important to
keep one's spirits high while the exam is approaching and do not fall
into the trap of trying harder next year.Give your best this time only
and god willing things will turn out right.
Posted by Abhishek at 9:14 AM 40 comments
Labels: upsc newcomer, upsc prelims
Friday, March 6, 2009
Civil Services (Mains) 2008 Results ...
Though this blog is dedicated to prelims preparation but one basically
learns about this exam by reading the interviews of IAS toppers in
magazines like Competition Success Review (CSR).In fact i used to be
and still am an avid reader of topper's interviews.Somehow the
thought of appearing on the cover of a magazine as IAS topper is a
dream that many of us harbour.The rumour was rife few days back
that mains result would come on 6th March but the UPSC surprised
everyone by coming out with the mains results on 5th March 2009.So
here's wishing all the candidates who have sailed through to the final
round all the very best. Those who have not made it to the interview
stage should not despair because it is a very thin line that separates
those who have made it from those who have not.After all a honest
and dedicated effort never goes waste, it will help you in some way or
the other. Those who are preparing for prelims 2009 should also get
fully focused as March and April are the critical months for clearing
prelims.Just focus more on the optional subject and the core areas of
GS (current affairs, India specific information,Modern India
History,Geography(mapping),General Science(biology portion)etc).
On the basis of the results of the Civil Services (Main) Examination,
2008 held by the Union Public Service Commission in October
November, 2008,around 2200 candidates have qualified for Personality
Test for selection to the Indian Administrative Service, Indian Foreign
Service, Indian Police Service and other Central Services (Group A
and Group B).
Personality Test of these candidates will commence from 23rd March,
2009.
All the best to candidates who have qualified for Interview/Personality
Test.
Posted by Abhishek at 8:57 AM 19 comments
Labels: upsc newcomer, upsc queries
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Preparing Geography for UPSC/IAS Prelims
Geography is a subject taken mostly by geography students and
science students. I did my engineering in IIT Madras with electrical
optional but was not very good in electrical and so I had to change my
optional and I felt the most scientific subject among social studies was
geography. After 3 years of preparation I can tell you that geography is
a very good optional. The subject has a scientific flavour and is
objective and analytical. It is this scientific nature of the subject which
has made geography a very popular optional. Many people feel it is
very factual but I sincerely feel it is very conceptual and understanding
of concepts will make this optional very easy and interesting , so get
your basics right. To get your basics right I would suggest you to
thoroughly go through all NCERTs and G C Leong(certificate physical
and human geography).Once u do this, then u can start preparing it
more exhaustively. The following books would help you in this
direction. Before that I would suggest you to complete the whole
portion at least once by march end, so as to revise it at least twice .
Chart out your own timetable and study the subject daily and not in
discontinuous spurts. The subject is also very scoring in Mains as it is
not subjective and questions asked are direct and also the mapping
carries 120 marks which if practiced daily will get you good scores.
Mapping is also very important in prelims so practice it regularly. The
pattern of prelims appears to have changed recently by asking of
conceptual question and also more questions from thought and
cartography so concentrate on these areas.
In my first attempt I blindly followed some guides like volume I and 2
of Siddhartha and tried to mug up facts without understanding the
concepts and hence failed in my first attempt to clear prelims. I
changed my strategy completely and cleared both prelims and mains
the next time, but scored very low in interview in both my second and
third attempt and was unable to get any service and awaiting my
results this time and hope to get moksha. So I would sincerely advise
you all not to mug up guides and read different text books which are
good on that particular topic. Selective reading of topics is therefore
important. For example, geomorphology ,climatology and
oceanography are dealt well in Savindra Singh but biogeography is not
dealt well in it, and Rupa Series should be read for biogeography, so
keep your prelims portion in front of you and deal with different
subtopics from different sources which are as follows:
(1)Physical Geography:
geomorphology , climatology and oceanography can be covered from
physical geography by Savindra Singh but bio geography part should
be covered either from Rupa Series orTtata Mcgraw Hill. G C Leong 114th chapter should also be covered.
(2)Human Geography:
Man and environment relationship from geographical thought by Majid
Hussein
Population from geography of population by R C Chandana
Economic activities would be covered in world geography so need not
prepare it seperately
Settlements from Rupa Series and Ramachandran
G C Leong 15th to 25th chapter and the last chapter i.e The
First People from human geography by Majid Hussein should be
covered
(3)Geography of the World :
From Darshan Singh Manku or Tikka. Manku has recent data i.e of
2001
so manku is better. Dont try to remember all places remember only
very important places for example mexico is famous for silver and
therefore need you need not worry about coal and iron industries in
mexico. I have seen many people unnecessarily getting tensed and
confused trying to remember all places and rankings in production
which is quite unnecessary.
(4)Geographical Thought :
From Majid Hussein and Adhikari. Recent pattern shows that thought
has become very crucial in prelims and they are asking questions in
depth so study both these books thoroughly and read in between lines.
(5)Techniques of Geographical Analysis :
From 11th qnd 12th NCERT books and
R L Singh and classnotes of either SK Manocha or Interactions.
Do this topic thoroughly as the questions asked in this topic have
increased over the years. Dont just mug up projections rather try to
understand how they are derived.
(6)Indian Geography :
From Khuller would suffice.
(7)Map Pointing :
From Oxford and Orient Longman.
I will definitely try to mail some useful information for prelims which
are not available in these text books to my friend abhishek so that he
can post it here.
Luck is what you have left over after you give 100 percent. All of us
have bad luck and good luck. The man who persists through the bad
luck -- who keeps right on going -- is the man who is there when the
good luck comes -- and is ready to receive it.
Best of luck!!
S.B.
Posted by Abhishek at 9:50 AM 9 comments
Labels: Geography, upsc guide, upsc newcomer, upsc prelims
Thursday, February 19, 2009
General Knowledge For UPSC Prelims - 2
This is the second part of General Knowledge capsule for UPSC
Prelims. The first one can be accessed in my blog (www.upscprelims.blogspot.com) archives. GK has become an important part of
UPSC prelims general studies paper and especially in 2008 prelims lots
of questions were asked from this section. I am basically trying to give
an overview of information that can be useful from prelims
perspective. The idea should be to remember important pieces of
information as one cannot remember everything under the sun. So one
has to be realistic and at the same time observant enough to select
important information from the unending stream of information that
aspirants are bombarded with by coaching institutes and competition
oriented books.
A.
Organisations HQ
1.UN New York
2.Int l Court of Justice The Hague
3.UNDP,UNICEF New York
4.UNEP Nairobi
5.UNHCR Geneva
6.IAEA,UNIDO Vienna
7.FAO Rome
8.UNESCO,ESRO Paris
9.IMF Paris & Geneva
10.World Bank (IBRD) Washington DC
11.WIPO,WTO Geneva
12.IMO London
13.UPU Berne
14.ICAO Montreal
15.ADB Manila
16.ASEAN Djakarta
17.CARICOM Georgetown (Guyana)
18.CIS Minsk(Belarus)
B. Rivers
Brahmaputra 2900 km
Indus - 2900 km
Ganga - 2510 km
Godavari 1450 km
Narmada 1290 km
Krishna 1290 km
Mahanadi 890 km
Kaveri 760 km
Ranking of rivers on the basis of length and direction (west to east
,north to south etc) is a frequently asked question in UPSC prelims.
One should also have a good idea about the important international
rivers. Ensembles Geography through Maps is a good book to follow
even for non-geography optional students.
C. Information on important straits :
1.Gibraltar strait separates Spain and Morocco.
2.Magellan strait separates Chile and Tierra del Fugeo.
3.Bass strait separates Australia and Tasmania.
4.Torres strait separates Australia and Papua New Guinea.
5.Bab-al-Mandab strait separates Yemen and Djibouti.
6.Strait of Hormuz separates Iran and UAE.
7.Strait of Malacca separates Malaysia and Sumatra.
8.Selat-sunda strait separates Sumatra and Java.
One should look up all important straits in Atlas and in fact referring
atlas should become an important part of reading
newspaper.Whenever and wherever one encounters the name of any
place or country that one cannot place geographically ,one must
immediately look it up in Atlas and dont stop there,go a step further
by looking up nearby countries,mountain ranges,rivers and also
whether any tropic or equator is passing through it.This will make the
learning more complete and can very well make make the difference.
D.Random Information
1.Oxalic Acid used to remove ink spots.
2.Sulphuric Acid dehydrating agent.
3.Hydrogen Peroxide bleaching agent.
4.Habers Process Ammonia.
5.Ostwalds Process Nitric Acid.
6.Solvay Process Sodium Carbonate.
7.Parkes Process Silver.
E.Research Institutes Locations
1.Potato - Shimla
2.Leather - Chennai
3.Poultry - Blore
4.Tobacco - Rajamundry
5.Rice - Cuttack
6.Sugarcane - Lucknow
7.Jute - Barrackpore
8.Botanical Survey - Kolkata
9.Dairy Institute - Karnal
10.Dairy Corporation - Anand
11.Coffee - Chikmaglur
12.Tea - Jorhat
13.Bee - Pune
14.Cotton - Thane
F.Winds
1.Haboob - Sudan
2.Harmattan West Africa
3.Khamsin North Africa
4.Bora Adriatic Coast
5.Zonda Argentina
