UPSC Prelims consists of two papers. General Studies and Aptitude of 2 hours duration and 200 marks each. I concentrated more on Paper1 i.e GS.
Strategy for Paper1:
I followed Standard Books , news paper and Magazines.
Books:
NCERT XI and XII Class books of History, Geography, Economics,( Skip MicroEconomics Part ) Political Science , Sociology, Business Management.
India Struggle for Independence : Bipin Chandra
Our Parliament : Subash Kashyap
Constitution: D.D Basu
News paper:
The Hindu, Indian Express ( Mostly Editorial Part ).
You can take online Subscription of The Hindu if you are working and and during your free time in office you can prepare you notes by copy pasting relevant news.
Do maintain the important news cutting or else just write it down if its just the fact.
Magazines:
Civil Services Chronicle, Frontline.
I could never complete any magazine completely but made sure to glance over all the toipcs.
Here again , frontline is available online , so it would be advisable to working fellows to cover it during office time if you get free time.
Past Year Papers:
I solved some past year papers of UPSC exams including CDS, NDA, CRPF. These papers are available on UPSC site.
Internet:
I used Internet extensively. Any new terms in newspaper or magazines I would straight way jump to Wikipedia and go in depth of news or term.
Thats all I did for Paper1. Here , I would say you can go on to use coaching notes , or other books but make sure you cover the basics well from NCERT Books.
Strategy for Paper2:
Paper 2 is Aptitude type some what on CAT/MBA entrance exam pattern. It was introduced for first time.
Books :
Get any decent book from market. I glanced through a CAT exam books.
Past year Papers:
I solved last 8-10 years CAT paper knowing that exam can not get tougher than this. I made sure to pay special attention to all wrong answers especially in English Section. I Also solved UPSC exam papers like CDS, NDA, CRPF which have good amount of Math, reasoning , English etc.
Thats all I did for Paper -2.
Here , I would say that Paper -2 has potential to give you high score. So Please prepare it in best possible way. If English or Math is not your strength then please work hard on it and sharpen your skills as much as possible. It will pay rich dividend.
On day of exam I was apprehensive but satisfied with my preparation . As per answer keys available I had scored above 300 mainly due to high score in 2nd paper.
A score in range of 190-210 in general category is good enough for selection to Mains but a high score in prelims will give you extra confidence required to bell the mains.
Strategy for Paper1:
I followed Standard Books , news paper and Magazines.
Books:
NCERT XI and XII Class books of History, Geography, Economics,( Skip MicroEconomics Part ) Political Science , Sociology, Business Management.
India Struggle for Independence : Bipin Chandra
Our Parliament : Subash Kashyap
Constitution: D.D Basu
News paper:
The Hindu, Indian Express ( Mostly Editorial Part ).
You can take online Subscription of The Hindu if you are working and and during your free time in office you can prepare you notes by copy pasting relevant news.
Do maintain the important news cutting or else just write it down if its just the fact.
Magazines:
Civil Services Chronicle, Frontline.
I could never complete any magazine completely but made sure to glance over all the toipcs.
Here again , frontline is available online , so it would be advisable to working fellows to cover it during office time if you get free time.
Past Year Papers:
I solved some past year papers of UPSC exams including CDS, NDA, CRPF. These papers are available on UPSC site.
Internet:
I used Internet extensively. Any new terms in newspaper or magazines I would straight way jump to Wikipedia and go in depth of news or term.
Thats all I did for Paper1. Here , I would say you can go on to use coaching notes , or other books but make sure you cover the basics well from NCERT Books.
Strategy for Paper2:
Paper 2 is Aptitude type some what on CAT/MBA entrance exam pattern. It was introduced for first time.
Books :
Get any decent book from market. I glanced through a CAT exam books.
Past year Papers:
I solved last 8-10 years CAT paper knowing that exam can not get tougher than this. I made sure to pay special attention to all wrong answers especially in English Section. I Also solved UPSC exam papers like CDS, NDA, CRPF which have good amount of Math, reasoning , English etc.
Thats all I did for Paper -2.
Here , I would say that Paper -2 has potential to give you high score. So Please prepare it in best possible way. If English or Math is not your strength then please work hard on it and sharpen your skills as much as possible. It will pay rich dividend.
On day of exam I was apprehensive but satisfied with my preparation . As per answer keys available I had scored above 300 mainly due to high score in 2nd paper.
A score in range of 190-210 in general category is good enough for selection to Mains but a high score in prelims will give you extra confidence required to bell the mains.
2 comments:
Hello Santosh. I want to prepare for the CAT exams. I have been reading CAT Exam Books and solving reasoning questions. Can you help me guide through the process of passing the exam? Do you have any suggestion on preparation? Thanks in advance.
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