Prelims Quick Revision Tips

8/12/2019 Prelims Quick Revision Tips

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PRELIMS QUICK REVISION TIPSFor those of you appearing for the UPSC Preliminary exams on the 23rd, heres a quick

revision checklist that will be very useful to you.

Current Affairs: The last 18 months current affairs. Do a quick scan of India Year Books

latest events section at the end. New Vishals Current Affairs is recommended. Its short

and to the point. The big bang experiment at CERN. Do you know all the facts?

GK: Manorama Year Books GK section at the end, especially, Presidents, Speakers,

PMs, etc. Also brush up the award winners.

Geography: Concentrate on the maps. India, neighbouring countries. Also some places

that were in news like Iceland. Brush up earthquake and volcano facts too.

History: Focus on modern India. All Congress sessions and Presidents, RTCs, different

movements etc.

Science: Application based. More focus on common sense than mugging up

conventional stuff.

Economy: Look up the tables in Economic Survey 2010, particularly, Agricultureproduction, principal crops, exports, imports, chief trading partners, telecom density,

GDP, agri growth of the last few years, electricity generation. Also brush up inflation

basics.

All important infrastructure projects in North East and Indias help in Bhutan, Nepal and

Myanmar. The Hindus annual supplement that came in January 2010 is good for

current affairs recap. Brush up geographical info of central India, particularly, the

Chattisgarh and Jharkhand regions where Maoist attacks took place.


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CURRENT AFFAIRS AND GK FORIAS FOCUS ON THESE TOPICS

TO SCORE SOME EASY MARKS

Focus areas for IAS

Many aspirants have this doubt about what to prepare for current affairs and GK in

Prelims paper 1. After the recent changes in the Prelims syllabus and pattern, a lot of

stress is given to GK questions by UPSC. Of course, current affairs questions were

regularly asked earlier as well but now GK based questions are also being asked

regularly.

It follows then that if you prepare these two topics well then your chances of clearing the

Prelims increase significantly. Before I list what you should cover for current affairs and

GK and from where let me remind you that these two terms in the Prelims are

overlapping and any neat categorization of questions or topics in either current affairs or

GK is not possible. In fact most current affairs topics and questions have a GK aspect to

them and vice-versa. But for keeping things simple here I will attempt to separate the

two.

Also note that getting a good grasp of these two topics from the Prelims view point can

fetch you anywhere between 40-60 marks in Paper 1 quite easily.

This is the focus of the Current Affairs and GK course.

Current Affairs for IAS

These are the topics you should focus on:

Recent developments in the field of Science and Technologylike satellite launches,

vaccine development, defence deals, new diseases etc.

Environmental issuesare given high importance by UPSC and developments like

important summits and their outcomes, global warming, carbon dump, carbon trading,


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environment-affecting projects like Dams, nuclear plants (Kudankulam protests),

pollution should be regularly looked into.

In Polity, important judgments of social or national or economic importance should

be regularly tracked. This includes judgment that chief of Central Information

Commission can only be a retired SC or HC judge, stopping mining in Bellary to

preserve the environment, preventing tourism in core areas of Tiger reserves and so on.

Keeping track of all the important economic datalike growth rate, inflation, exports and

imports, as well as current economic issueslike slowdown, global economic crisis, G-8

meet, FDI in retail, etc.

Sportsevents like tennis grand slams, cricket, Indian achievements in Olympics, world

cups etc. Remember to go beyond cricket and read about other sports as well.

Awards and honoursfrom within India as well as from outside India like Magsaysay

awards, Khel Ratna and son on.

Persons in newsthose that might have received some honour, or have invented

something or achieved a personal feat of social value etc.

GK for IAS

GK is a very vast topic to cover combining many sub-topics. So much information is

being generated through hundreds of books and online sources that it is almost

impossible to keep track of everything. But do you need to keep track of everything? No.

These are the GK topics to focus on from the Prelims perspective:

Facts about India:(demographics, census data, major economy stats and so on)

Facts about World: Limit yourself to the important demographic and economic data of

various countries. Manorama Year Book has a good section on this.

Science and Technology: In current affairs you have to focus on the latest

developments. In GK, look at the history of Indias satellite and missile development

programme by remembering the important landmarks like launch of first satellite,

development of indigenous aircraft carrier, development of important vaccines and so

on.


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Books and Authors: Some questions from this topic are routinely asked in Prelims

paper 1. So keep track of books by popular authors including their latest ones.

Firstslike First Army General, Chief Justice, Nobel Winner, Woman Chief Minister etc.

Again Manorama Year Book is your friend for this type of information.Of course as mentioned earlier I can help make your journey easier with my Current

Affairs and GK course by covering the above topics. Even if you prefer a go-it-aloneapproach, be sure to cover each topic discussed above in detail from the standardreference books to score easy marks in the Prelims. Do share your thoughts in thecomments below

Important Topics in Polity for UPSC/IAS/PSC/ Prelims-

2014 :

1. Acts: 1773, 1813, 1833, 1909, 1919, 1935, 1947

2. Preamble

3. Fundamental Rights(FR), Directive Principles of state policy(DPSP) and Fundamental

Duties(FD).

4. Amendments of the Constitution, any Acts related to SC/ST, minority and environment

related.

5. Parliament

6. President, Governer

7. Prime Minister, Chief Minister, Council of Ministers

8. Judiciary: Supreme Court, High Court, Lok Adalat

9. 73rd, 74th Amendment Acts, PESA(Panchayat Extesion to Scheduled Areas Act,1996),

FRA(Forest Rights Act,2006)

10.Constitutional, Statutary, Non Constitutional/ Non Statutory bodies.

Any Polity related terms are in NEWS (last one year) Please go through that terms and their

backgrounds

E.g. Article3(Telangana Issue), Removal of States human Right Commission, No Confidence

motion etc.My strategy forUPSCPrelimsI cleared the prelims exam twice. In 2012, I cleared without attending any classes, and by

studying on weekends while I was working full time. I learnt a few things along the way

that I wish someone told me earlier!

Tip 1. Do not read books from cover to cover.

When I had just started preparing for the UPSC exams, I would pick up a book and start

reading it from the first page. I would read till like the 30th page, get bored, and then put

the book aside for a while. When I picked it up later, I would forget what I read earlier. This

went on for a while till I realized there was no progress.
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Instead, here is what I suggest you doread a book with a specific purpose. Before you pick

up the book, you should have an answer to this questionwhat do I expect to learn from

this book today?. This will help you navigate the book better. Go straight to the pages that

will give you what you need, read selectively, write notes and stash the book away till you

need it for a different topic!

For example, dont justpick up Spectrum Modern India and start reading it from the

preface till the last page (thats exactly what I tried to do the first time). Instead, first figure

out a list of topics that you need to cover in modern Indian history. Then pick up your book

to tackle a specific topic, like Causes and Consequences of the 1857 Revolt. That way, you

spend your time more purposefully. You will be able to better track what you have read

and what you have yet to cover.

Tip 2. LaxmikanthsIndian Polityis an exception.

All rules have exceptions. Laxmikanth is one book that you could read from cover to cover.

This book is organized as per the requirements of the prelims exam, and has helped me

answer 16 questions in 2012 and 8-10 questions in 2013*.

But two important things to note here: read this book repeatedly, and pay attention to

detail.

UPSC likes to ask us edge case questions and questions that we could easily mark wrong

if we read the book only superficially. For example, 2013 Prelims had a question on

whether the Attorney General can be a member of a Parliamentary Committee. It is difficult

to remember this if you only read Laxmikanth once. Another question was on whether

nominated members of the Rajya Sabha can vote in Vice Presidential elections. The one-time-reader is susceptible to marking this incorrectly unless attention was paid to the

detail that nominated members cannot vote in Presidential elections, but can vote in VP

elections.

*Note: I am recommending Laxmikanth just because that is the book that I used for Polity.

If you have an equivalent book by another author, that should do as well. I also read DD

Basu, but found that a) it was more analytical/dense, b) not as well organized as

Laxmikanth (it is good for Mains, though).

Tip 3. Economy questions are the easiest to get right

Economy may be daunting to some, but the questions are based on your conceptual

understanding of macroeconomics. If you have this conceptual clarity, you can answer

every single question accurately, without having to memorize boatloads of data! So invest

time in understanding the concepts and analyzing how all the parts fit together.

What to study in economy?


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1*. GDP (factor cost/production method, market price/expenditure method, income

method. Dont just read definitions, analyze! When do we use one method vs. another? How

will each method give us a different value?)

2. GNP (compare with GDP. When are the two different?)

3. NNP/NDP (why deduct depreciation?)

4*. Inflation (demand pull and cost push. Structural. Headline and core. CPI and WPI.Phillips curve, stagflation and skewflation. Why has inflation remained persistently high in

India?)

5*. Monetary tools to combat inflation (there is always a question from this area) CRR,

SLR, Repo, open market operations, government securities and treasury bills.

6. Nominal vs real GDP/GNP/Net National Income etc. (i.e., current prices vs constant

prices.)

6a. Base year selection (why does this matter? Why did we recently update to 2004-05 and

are now planning to update to 2011-12? Arent we eroding the value of constant prices if

we keeping changing the base year frequently?)

6b. GDP deflator. Just the definition here.

7*. MSME industries- also just the definition and current thresholds8*. Budget process (you may have this covered in Polity already. Look at FRBMA goals also)

9*. Deficits in the budget- fiscal, primary, revenue, primary revenue, effective revenue

9a. Deficit financing (monetizing vs borrowing)

10. Balance of Payments- current account and capital account.

11*. Current Account Deficit. Financing it with capital inflows.

12. FDI, FII, ECBs.

13. Capital account convertibility

14. Currency- fixed vs floating. LERMS (Liberalized Exchange Rate Management System).

15. Why is the rupee in a free fall? How is this good/bad for India? Why are some countries

competitively devaluing their currencies (currency war)? NEER and REER if you have the

time.16*. Demographic Transition Theory (another area which frequently shows up in the

exam)

17. Banking: all the stuff under#5 above + base rate, priority sector lending, NPAs,

SARFAESI Act. No need to go into excessive detail. Read any conceptual stuff that shows up

in the newspapers.

18*. National Manufacturing Policy (asked in both Prelims and Mains last year). Maybe also

look at the National Minerals Policy this year.

19. Savings and investment rates (both expressed as % of GDP). First understanding how

they are different. India has a higher investment rate than savings rate. How is that

possible?

20*. Taxation- may be important this year due to GST. (direct and indirect. progressive andregressive. Pigovian. VAT, GST)

21*. RGESS may show up this year. Keep on the lookout for such current-affairs related

topics.

22*. Inclusive growth. Maybe focus on gender inclusion.

23. Agricultural subsidies, PDS, Food Security.
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Now, whenever you pick up any book on Economy, instead of reading it cover to cover, you

can use this list to study according to Tip 1 above. I would recommend Ramesh Singhs

book, just because it is organized better than other Economy books.

After reading all the above concepts, understand how things link up. How are growth

inflationfiscal deficitpovertyrupee valuecurrent account deficit etc. all related? If RBIincreases the CRR, for example, what effect would it have on all of these?

There were around 10 questions from Economy in both 2012 and 2013!

Note: I have left out several things you find in Economy books, like Planning, details on

Indian Agriculture and Industry etc. I do not think these are as important, but you can

cover them if you like Economy, or if you have a lot of time in your hands.

Tip 4. Tackle History smartly

I did not read Ancient history. I feel like it is too vast with a ton of facts to memorize, plus

only 1-2 questions ever show up. So the return on investment is low.

Rather, focus on Modern India and study it thoroughly. By thoroughly, I do not mean

picking up a History book and reading it cover to cover. Instead, split the syllabus into

chunks and read+revise each chunk smartly.

What to study in History?

Political developments: starting from the Regulating Act of 1773 to Indian Independence

Act of 1947. Pay attention to detail because this is another area where edge-case typequestions are asked. Sample questionswhen did Communal Electorates begin? When was

the Central Assembly made bicameral? And you can have multiple options questions like

Which of the following were introduced in the Minto-Morley reforms? You will be given

some 5-6 options, and given permutations of those to pick from.

1857 to Pre-congress: there are some facts here about early political organizations etc.

Pre-Gandhian INC: Bengal Partition and Swadeshi movement, Moderate vs. Extremist

Debate

Early Gandhian: Champaran, Ahmedabad Mill Strike, Kheda

Gandhian INC: this is the biggest chunk. Non-Cooperation Movement, Civil Disobedience

Movement, Round Table Conferences, Quit India Movement etc.

Non-INC / parallel threads in the Freedom struggle: revolutionary movements, tribal and

Peasant uprisings, Ambedkar, INA etc.

Pay special attention to the participation of women and Indians abroad.

Also go through social reforms that were happening in parallel, cover all religions.

How to study History?


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Dont just read through Spectrum like a novel. Read purposefully. Make a one-page note for

each event, where you note Causes-Consequences-Important Personalities. At the end, you

will have around 40 pages of these which will make revision more efficient. Revise often.

Studying Indian History this way should help you answer another 8-10 questions.

Tip 5. Focus on the basics for Geography

Study physical geography well, because it is conceptual and therefore will not fail you

during the exam. You should be able to get at least 5 physical geo questions on the exam if

you study the Fundamentals of Physical Geography NCERT XI textbook thoroughly.

Cover latitudes and longtitudes, layers of the atmosphere, pressure belts, types of rainfall

(convection, orographic, frontal), monsoons, ocean currents, jet streams, different types of

rainfall etc. Pretty basic stuff.

I know geography can be covered more thoroughly than that, but I hate memorizing stuff

so I didnt go any deeper into things like names of dams, tributaries etc.

Tip 6. Study the above areas in depth, and the rest in breadth

The rest of the areas in Paper 1, like environment, culture, social issues etc. donothave apredictable base from which questions are asked. So you have to cast a wider net here.

Dont stress out too much about these, just stay curious and read whatever you can lay your

hands on. Like wikipedia articles, coaching centre notes, blogs etc.

For environment, Vajirams booklet was nice and concise. I also searched online forendangered and critically endangered species in India. Then I looked up to see what the

basic criteria are for classifying species as endangered or vulnerable. I also searched for

some government initiatives, like Project Tiger, Project Snow Leopard etc. There were

some 4 questions I could attempt based on this.

Tip 7: Guess smartly, but not indiscriminately

After you have attempted all of your sure shot questions in Paper 1, you will have plenty

of time left in your hands! Spend this time to go back to other questions.

Now, follow this process to smart guess:

1. Read the question carefully. More importantly, study the options carefully.

2. Can you confidently eliminate any of the options based on your preparation?

2. Can you eliminate any options based on common sense?

3. If you have eliminated at least 2 options, only then should you guess between the

remaining two. Otherwise, leave the question. This restraint is essential, unless you want to

end up with a negative score.


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See this example from Prelims 2013:

Question: Due to improper/indiscriminate disposal of old and used computers or their

parts, which of the following are released into the environment as e-waste?

1. Beryllium2. Cadmium

3. Chromium

4. Heptachlor

5. Mercury

6. Lead

7. Plutonium

Options:

a) 1,3,4,6 and 7

b) 1,2,3,5 and 6

c) 2,4,5 and 7

d) 1,2,3,4,5,6 and 7

Now I didnt read up about this, so I had no clue. BUT common-sense suggests that

Plutonium, which is a heavy, unstable and radioactive element, cannot be released. So if I

eliminate option 7, I am left with only one possible answer, which is b!

There are always 2 or 3 such questions, so be on the lookout.

Tip 8: How many questions should you attempt in Paper 1?

Obviously, you must first attempt all the questions that you are sure about. If you focus on

Polity, Economy, History and Geography as mentioned above, you will be able to attempt at

least 40 questions. That should give you around 60-80 marks, based on your accuracy. Now

the challenge is to take this up to 100+ marks.

In your second round, go back and attempt all the questions where you can reasonably

eliminate at least 2 options. You should be able to get another 40 questions that way.

Accounting for negative marking, this should get you well above 100 marks.

At the very end, I generally mark a few questions where I have a good gut feeling too, but

do this at your own risk!

Tip 9: One simple rule for Paper 2: PRACTICE!


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You wont believe how many people end up running out of time because they get stuck on

one math question, or read a passage for too long trying to figure out one ambiguous

question. All your timing woes can be avoided if you practice enough.

I suggest you set this as a baseline: practice as many tests as you need to, until you are able

to consistently score above 150 in CSAT.

What books should you read? I got the TMH manual for CSAT in 2011, it was pretty good. It

had some 8 tests in the end, which were pretty good. It looks like TMHs latest edition is

much fatter and much pricier! I havent tried any other manuals, but look through all of

them and make your own call.

Leave a comment if you have any question.

Prelims Quick Revision Tips

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