IAS Prelims Strategy By Amit Verma
Prelims( Got 154/200) is a tough competition where first elimination for CSE takes place and one should devote proper time for its preparation.
Strategy which I followed was -
- Dedicated three months preparation which would cover my static portion of mains syllabus as well as current affairs till prelims exam for GS.
- Last five year question papers as guide to understand which type of questions UPSC is asking. For example reports by world organisations , space programs, missiles, national parks, biosphere reserves etc are frequently asked now.
- Reading selected standard books and their frequent revision.
- Followed InsightonIndia daily quizzes, Daily current affairs, Vision monthly, PT 365 and Insight revision tests.
- Revising the above as many times as possible.
Booklist –
- Polity – Laxmikanth
- Culture – Nitin Singhania Notes
- History – Spectrum Modern India
- Economics – Mrunal lectures and Economic survey
- Geography – Rajtanil Madam lectures available on http://Mrunal.org
- Maps – Prem Patel (India Through Maps )
- Environment – ShankarIAS
- Current Affairs – InsightonIndia, Vision Monthly and PT 365.
- NCERTs of History and Geography
One must take as many tests as possible before the prelims and study the answer keys in a very detailed manner because one never knows which information would be helpful during the real examination.
The art of eliminating the options is very important which one could learn through practicing tests and solving last year Question papers as UPSC many a times would be asking questions which are not straightforward.
Frequent revision of studied material is very important as that increases the accuracy in prelims as well as reduces the negative marking which overall helps in getting through.
P.S. - Not the best strategy but yes could help one to form one’s own strategy.
