Public Administration Optional Strategy by IPS ANKIT JAIN
Hi Friends,
I am Ankit Jain, AIR 222 in CSE 2017. I am sharing my strategy about how I prepared for my optional subject Public Administration that worked for me and helped scoring (309/500) one of the highest score in CSE 2017 Pubad. In General Studies I scored 463 marks. Detailed marks are as following-
I am Ankit Jain, AIR 222 in CSE 2017. I am sharing my strategy about how I prepared for my optional subject Public Administration that worked for me and helped scoring (309/500) one of the highest score in CSE 2017 Pubad. In General Studies I scored 463 marks. Detailed marks are as following-
This was my 3rd attempt, 2nd mains and 1st interview this year. In my
first Main exams (2014), my score in Pub Ad was 204 (114+90).
Why I chose Pub Ad-
Being from Engineering (IT) background, I had no advantage of graduation
in choosing optional. I preferred to go for humanities, reason being, they take
comparatively less time than other science subjects. Also, they help in GS and
essay also. Now, among humanities subject, I found syllabus of other subjects
like Geography and History quite vast and to some extent boring as well. Given
my interest in Polity and overlapping of Pub Ad optional with GS (esp. GS-2 and
Ethics) , I took Pub Ad; which, in hindsight also, was the best decision. I
found this optional very easy as well as interesting. It gave me enough time to
prepare for GS as well. No doubt, Pub Ad used to be the most sought after
optional few years back, it’s only because of less marks given in Pub Ad that
students started switching to other optional. In my opinion, this should not be
the criteria of choosing an optional because we never know which optional is
going to perform good/bad in coming years.
Coachings and Books referred-
·
I joined Mohanty Sir’s class (Synergy) for Pub Ad. It really helped me,
especially in Paper-1 which most of Pub Ad students find more difficult than
Paper-2. He is very good with thinkers part in paper 1 which is the main crux
of whole subject. If you are good with thinkers part then you can really score
high in both papers. Though, some of the paper-2 topics were not covered
properly but you can manage them from book yourself. A book by
Radhabinod Aribam (IAS) is very good, this is kind of a compilation
of Sir’s class notes with some value addition. Conclusion- Found his classes
very good because he is good in those parts which matters most.
·
I joined Pavan Kumar IAS for test series this year. It helped me in
answer writing practice as I wrote around 21 tests in 2017 itself (Before and
after prelims). Questions in his test series are of simple nature mostly and
many of them from previous year papers. If you have gone through previous
papers, then I would say his questions are of simple nature as asked in CSE
2016 and 2017 but not of the complex kind as asked in earlier years like in
2014 and 2012. So his tests might boost up your confidence before exam but I am
not sure of the outcome if difficult questions of 2014 type appear in the
examination hall. Discussion on the same day of test takes away the flexibility
of writing the test i.e. you have to attend the test on the same day as
scheduled which is good in my opinion. One weak point of his test series is
that answer copies are still based on old pattern. May be he starts giving QCA
format copies in coming years. Conclusion- Good for writing practice but found
it average.
Books- I read a number of books, some of which I found quite good and
some not that good.
List of books I read for Pub Ad-
- 1.
Aribam (I read it for both papers, but for paper 1 it is extremely good
and a must read)
- 2.
New Horizon by Mohit Bhattacharya (It’s for Paper-1, very good book
especially to handle the tough questions as asked in 2014 and 2012. But little
difficult to understand it for beginners. Go for it once you are done with
basics/coaching.)
- 3.
Prasad and Prasad (Good for P-1 thinkers part, but read selectively like
no use of reading where Mayo was born and studied.)
- 4.
IGNOU (they are good but read only 2 or 3 of them at max. I read only
MPA 12 for administrative theory which was good.)
- 5.
Super 50 by Shubhra Saxena, IAS (both papers in one book only. covers
all the topics in very short. Good for value addition. You can finish it
quickly.)
- 6.
Vajiram class notes- (I read them for paper-1. They are good to start
with for those who are not taking coaching as they are written in detailed
manner and easy to understand. Others can skip them)
- 7.
Laxmikanth for PubAd- Good book for paper 1. But I think above books are
enough. No need to go for it.
- 8.
Nicholas Henry ( I read it for Public Policy chapter. Not worth, you can
avoid this)
- 9.
Goyal and Arora (For Paper-2, I read it, its good for basics in paper 2
however current pattern in paper 2 is more focused on current affairs. So
didn’t find it much useful)
- 10.Awasthi & Maheshwari- (I read
only Administrative law from here)
- 11.2nd ARCs- (Very important for value
addition in Paper 2 and also in GS-2. Reports that I read full in original-
4th report ethics in governance,
6th Local governance,
10th Personnel administration,
14th financial administration,
15th state and district administration.
You can also read summary of these reports.)
Books I didn’t read: Sharma Sadana, Fadia &
Fadia, IIPA
Conclusion: you can follow above books and your class notes. But I highly
recommend Aribam book. Especially for those who are not well prepared and going
to write mains, they can rely solely on this one book. Revise it multiple times
and practise answer writing.
Answer Writing:
Paper 1- Most important part of this paper is Thinkers. You have to
master this part as it has to be used in all of your answers in paper-1 and you
also have to relate answers in paper 2 with thinkers of P-1. Questions in P-1
are generally static in nature, however make your answer dynamic by relating it
with Indian administration and current affairs with relevant examples to fetch
good marks. Examples are very important. Use diagrams and flow charts wherever
suitable but don’t draw them just for the sake of drawing them.
Paper 2- Its dynamic in nature and many current issues are being asked
like lateral entry, Pragati portal etc. You should be good in contemporary
issues and try to link your answer with administrative thoughts of P-1 wherever
possible. For example, if question talks about harmony in organization, you can
write about mental revolution of Taylor, Esprit de corps of Fayol or Theory Y
of McGregor. If question talks about equity, you can relate it to NPA. If
question talks about PPP or PSUs, you can relate it to NPM and so on. Again,
Examples are going to make your answer stand apart.
Notes making:
It is very important. Keep your notes handy so that you can revise them quickly. If you have made good notes, you can revise 4-5 units in the gap of 2 hours between P-1 and P-2 in mains. And that helps you very much when you enter the exam hall after revising almost whole paper.
Short Notes does not mean that you have to reduce the font size as I observed many students doing the same. You only have to write key point and you should be able to recall what all that key point means. For example, while making notes of Chester Barnard, you write key points like contribution-satisfaction equilibrium, zone of indifference, communication, authority, Inducements-gen and specific, Informal organization etc. and you must be aware of what all these points mean.
Examples- you must learn whole syllabus first and then, while reading news paper whenever you find relevant example, keep noting them down. Another method which I used to follow was , just google the topic you are reading, for example “delegated legislation the hindu” and you will get some latest articles on the same. Read them and note down the example.
It is very important. Keep your notes handy so that you can revise them quickly. If you have made good notes, you can revise 4-5 units in the gap of 2 hours between P-1 and P-2 in mains. And that helps you very much when you enter the exam hall after revising almost whole paper.
Short Notes does not mean that you have to reduce the font size as I observed many students doing the same. You only have to write key point and you should be able to recall what all that key point means. For example, while making notes of Chester Barnard, you write key points like contribution-satisfaction equilibrium, zone of indifference, communication, authority, Inducements-gen and specific, Informal organization etc. and you must be aware of what all these points mean.
Examples- you must learn whole syllabus first and then, while reading news paper whenever you find relevant example, keep noting them down. Another method which I used to follow was , just google the topic you are reading, for example “delegated legislation the hindu” and you will get some latest articles on the same. Read them and note down the example.
Time management in exam-
You have to attempt 5/8 questions where two questions (Total 10) are compulsory. You have to attempt these compulsory questions (of 10*10 marks) in any case. Therefore don’t waste time reading them when you get question paper. Generally paper is given 5 minutes before the exam is commenced. So first of all select which questions you are going to attempt. Then you can first attempt the compulsory questions or the other as per your convenience/strategy. I used to attempt optional questions first in around 1 hrs 45 mins and then 10 compulsory questions. Find out during mock tests what strategy works for you to complete the paper in time.
You have to attempt 5/8 questions where two questions (Total 10) are compulsory. You have to attempt these compulsory questions (of 10*10 marks) in any case. Therefore don’t waste time reading them when you get question paper. Generally paper is given 5 minutes before the exam is commenced. So first of all select which questions you are going to attempt. Then you can first attempt the compulsory questions or the other as per your convenience/strategy. I used to attempt optional questions first in around 1 hrs 45 mins and then 10 compulsory questions. Find out during mock tests what strategy works for you to complete the paper in time.
Crux-
Read, Revise multiple (6-7) times, Write as much as you can.
Underline key words
Address the demand of the question so understand question properly
Be creative in those 3 hours with relevant examples from current affairs as well as from history, inter-linking both papers
Always complete the whole paper.
All the best.
Read, Revise multiple (6-7) times, Write as much as you can.
Underline key words
Address the demand of the question so understand question properly
Be creative in those 3 hours with relevant examples from current affairs as well as from history, inter-linking both papers
Always complete the whole paper.
All the best.
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