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Monday, February 20, 2012

IAS test series: GS, Essay, History, Public Adm - 2

In GS, there are some coaching centers which offer test series like Srirams, Synergy(Expert Brain), CST etc.

Regarding Expert Brain, from what I heard from many, it is good enough. Mostly I got positive feedback on it. I have seen the question papers, standard of the questions in most cases is on par with the level of the questions UPSC asks.

I attended Srirams 3 years back, I can give first hand info on that. The question papers were of the same standard as the question papers set by UPSC. I wrote 3 tests, one in polity, other two in statistics and geography. My answer sheets were evaluated properly. To my surprise, Sriram himself evaluated polity questions which is his subject. He pointed out the mistakes I did, which are actually difficult to notice if he didn't read what I wrote. That means that he actually read what I wrote.

For Essay, there are numerous coaching centers which offer test series like Ramaswamy IAS, some one in Vajiram, Minocha etc. All of them teach same things, give same suggestions about writing the essay. There is absolutely no need to spend Rs4000 or Rs5000 on it. Just search in google, you will find many blogs written by successful IAS candidates on how to write essays. I will also write on this topic later.

For the optional History, there are few coaching centers in Delhi which offer test series. There is Baliyan of Insight in Rajendra Nagar who takes around Rs 10K which is enormous. I attended his test series for lack of choice in Delhi.

First of all his questions are not up to the mark. They are of some what lower standards. Most of his questions are direct questions, i.e., you just need to have pertinent knowledge, you don't have to write any analysis. Most of the questions asked now a days require you to write down analysis.

His evaluation is not good enough. He awards good marks even if you don't write a good answer. That means that he is not actually reading properly what you write

He discusses the answers of all the questions in a lecture after every test. He tries to maintain student-teacher interaction which is actually a good thing. His answers are not consistently perfect, sometimes bad, sometimes good.

Overall  I was neither satisfied nor disappointed with Baliyan's test series. But there are very few choices in Delhi in the case of History.

2 comments:

  1. I am an ias aspirant and my optional subject is History.I want to opt for the correspondence course because am already in govt service and can't go to Delhi for the same.So can u suggest me a coaching center which can provide good notes.I am considering Baliyan or Career Point.Please reply.

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    1. yaar, read the following post once....
      http://srilochan.blogspot.in/2012/12/history-optional-in-civil-service-exam.html

      i didnt read any coaching center material for history...so i cant suggest any....i suggest you to read the books i followed which are written in that post....

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