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Thursday, May 30, 2013

My Notes

I would have uploaded all my public administration and history notes last year itself in October but I couldn't find a scanner. Only a few days back I found one and I thank Mr. Pranesh who patiently scanned hundreds of pages.

Second Administrative Reforms Commission reports' notes (2nd ARC reports)

World History notes

Miscellaneous topics in Indian history
(Only for people with History optional)

History maps
(Only for people with History optional)

I will upload few more things when time permits and I will share them in this post itself.

24 comments:

  1. First of all i want to Thank You for the effort you put in scanning your notes.
    Also please guide me about making use of your world history notes.I want to prepare this section for the modern world history part of the new GS syllabus.Can you tell me which book (or ignou B.A notes) should i read first so that i can later pass on to your notes.
    Thanks,
    Saurabh.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Read Jain and Mathur. It covers most of the topics in the syllabus. You dont have to read Norman Lowe if someone suggested you that. Even though that is an excellent book, it covers history of 20th century only, and post world war 2 history which is not mentioned in the syllabus occupies more than half of the book.

      After reading that book, you can read my notes. And when you are reading my notes, keep in mind that it was written from the perspective of a candidate whose optional is history which requires depth which may not be necessary for GS.

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  2. Can you please write a post on Essay. I thought I had written a very good essay according to my standards, but ended up with 90 marks only. Mine was also on PPP.

    So I'd be glad if you can share a brief outline of your Mains-2012 essay. Your suggestions on do's and don'ts in an essay, how to impress the examiner, ideal no. of words(now that it's for 250 marks), how to write a catchy and impressve intro and how to end it effectively etc., etc., will be much appreciated.

    Thanks.

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    Replies
    1. just look into this link below...there are many others like bijay ketan etc who wrote on essay in their blogs, you just need to search....all of them write the same things... :-)
      http://garima-mittal-ias.blogspot.in/2010/08/essay.html

      i got 125 (2008), 90 (2009), 85 (2011), 115 (2012) in essay paper in the last four attempts in that order....i followed the same basics of essay writing in all my attempts but i got different marks....setting aside 2009 when i didnt write well, i wrote well in other 3 attempts....so what should be inferred? :-) .....if you are lucky you will get good marks.....

      i too wrote on PPP....i dont exactly remember what i wrote....intro had two anecdotes about the working of two ppp projects, one for the brighter side and darker side of ppp, thereby setting the tone of the essay....from there i went on to explain ppp, its advantages and then its disadvantages....then a conclusion of 160-180 words in favour of ppp and how to improve ppp working....in total around 1200 words....

      in 2008 and 2011, i could straight away select the topic but in 2009 and 2012, i had to spend 20-25 minutes to decide the topic...that is because i was equally proficient in the 2 of the given topics....i really dont know what to do in those situations....no one should spend more than 10 minutes in deciding on the topic....dont spend more than 50-60 minutes on brainstorming, and on structuring the essay.....time management is important....whatever you write, that should be of mainstream view....dont go against the grain on any topic....dont criticise anyone heavily, but mild criticism without showing emotions is okay....it is upto us to underline or not....i prefer to underline assuming that examiner may not have patience to read everything which is true in most of the cases....but underline sparsely....

      an interesting intro and conclusion and good handwriting can impress the examiner.....anecdotes make the intro more interesting than quotes or anything else in my opinion....and i dont think that you can go into the exam hall with a pre-determined mindset about the ideal and effective intro or conclusion....it depends on the topic....but take care that conclusion is optimistic, is constructive, talks about the solutions and improvement....

      and i dont think ideal number of words changes with the marks, which in my opinion is around 1150-1350 words....

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    2. Did you collect anecdotes, or wrote based on current affairs knowledge. Also is there any specific format to follow while including an anecdote.

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  3. I want to take history as an optional but many are of the view that history is not a scoring subject , but I find history very interesting and refereed previous years questions papers .. And decided to opt for history , I have basic knowledge in history ancient medeval and world is it possible to come out with flying colours this mains in december as there is 6 months for the mains and can u please tell which books to refer ... I was planning on ignou b.a for ancient and mediveal along with j. L metha ... For revolt part bipon chandra and ignou and for world history Jain n mathur and I am from science background

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. it is definitely possible but you need to spend at least full 2 months on history as it's syllabus is vast....this time history fared better than public administration...it may not be as scoring and as easy as sociology but if you have interest in history, then go for it....and remember that a subject doesnt remain scoring through out, some years it fares better, some times worse.....pubad fared well in 2010, 2008 but it fared worse in 2012....sociology performed extremely well in 2010 and 2012....

      for books and all you refer to the following link...
      http://srilochan.blogspot.in/2012/12/history-optional-in-civil-service-exam.html

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    2. Thank u , and had you taken any test series for history .... Is test series required for optional ... If so which test series to take , could you please let me know .

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    3. Yes niki, I attended Baliyan for test series. Refer the link below for my feedback on Baliyan.
      http://srilochan.blogspot.in/2012/02/ias-test-series-gs-essay-history-public_20.html

      You have to practise writing answers for optional which is essential. For that either you may pay fee and attend test series or you may get the question papers photocopied and write answers in your room itself and get them evaluated by your friends or check for yourself. Choice is yours. I attended test series in 2011 but didnt attend any in 2012.

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    4. Thanks a lot ... Your blog has been very useful for me ...

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  4. Dear Sir,
    It would be of immense help if you suggest books for new gs topic wise based on your experience. I am planning to join sriram IAS as I could not get seat in Vajiram. Vajiram kept registration link yesterday at 9:00 am and gave time till today 4 pm. I went to their website at 9:30 am yesterday (0.5 hr after they kept link) and surprised to see that seats are over. Sir, I had gone through your post on GS coaching and you recommended sriram IAS. Do you still recommend it? Sir, also plz suggest books for PUBAD.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yaar, i wrote 'dont go for coaching and selfstudy is better'....but if you have really made up your mind to take coaching then go for sriram....i still stand by that....

      GS books:

      history -
      spectrum's modern indian history,
      old ancient and medieval history books of ncert 11th, 12th,
      world history - jain and mathur
      ramachandra guha -india after gandhi

      geography -
      11th, 12th ncert books
      oxford atlas
      goh cheng leong
      internet for environment, agriculture related issues...

      economy -
      sriram economy material
      economic survey
      newspaper

      polity -
      laxmikanth or sriram polity material
      pm bakshi
      newspaper

      international relations -
      newspapers
      sriram current affairs material

      s&t -
      ashok singh (tmh publications)
      newspapers
      internet - wikipedia, official government websites like moef, csir, drdo, nasa etc

      magazines -
      yojana
      either chronicle or times

      culture -
      internet is the primary source
      spectrum culture

      society, social issues -
      ncert books
      newspapers
      internet

      political philosophies -
      internet, wikipedia

      many administration related topics in 3rd, 4th, 5th papers -
      2nd ARC reports

      ethics etc in 5th paper -
      some ignou booklets which i dont know....refer to some threads in orkut community to know them....

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    2. for pubad, refer to the link below...i wrote everything there....

      http://srilochan.blogspot.in/2012/04/china-town.html?showComment=1335072814625#c7167940754578995312

      Delete
  5. I have seen many toppers recommending to write multidimensional answer..What is multidimensional answer.If possible can you please clear it with example.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. really sorry for a late reply....i dont know what they mean by multi-dimensional answer...probably they mean to say that you have cover the answer from all angles, all dimensions possible....from all perspectives - social, political, economic, cultural, historical, geographical, environmental, technological etc etc....nothing more than that...

      for example there is a question in 2012 GS: "why have the resource rich african and south asian countries remained poor for decades? explain"
      this question is very conducive for that kind of multi-dimensional answer....you can think of reasons from all perspectives....

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  6. sir,

    i want to practice marking on maps so please let me know what type of map will be provided in history mains examination i.e.the indian subcontinent map or indian outline map?(becoz some ancient sites are located in pakistan,..).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yaar, in 2012 they gave an indian outline map with pakistan coast marked....locations were marked on it (some of them were in pakistan)....earlier, i.e., before 2007 i suppose, they used to give indian map with rivers marked....so it is not fixed what kind of maps they give...my advice is practice on both types of maps...

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    2. Thankyou so much for your timely help sir.

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  7. Hi ... I couldn't clear prelims in my second attempt I was pretty confident of making through but couldn't .. I have started to doubt my abilities to become an ips officer which is my goal ... Now 1 long year for 3 rd prelims .. Now I am in confusion with optionals also I have studied around 60percent of political science but my interest was always with history .. I believe I can do better with history since it wil be a static subject with analysis where as political science beign more contemporary oriented .. So I am planning to opt for history since I have time on hand now ..but Many say history is not so scoring n I am from science background ... So could you please help me out

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hard luck bro...it is not true that history is not scoring....actually there is nothing like a 'scoring subject'...in one year some optional becomes a 'scoring subject' and the same optional gets butchered next year...this happens very often...in that last 5 years public administration performed excellently twice, performed averagely twice, performed badly once...political science performed well this year...but few years back it used to be difficult to score in it...

      history is performing better than average since last 5 years...but there is no guarantee that that will remain the same this year or next year...always choose optional based on your aptitude...me too am from science background but i am a history buff...so history was a natural choice for me when i had to drop chemistry in my third attempt...go ahead an choose history if you like it and you are confident that you will complete the syllabus and become thorough within next one year...

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  8. For history optional is it enough if I go with baliyan sirs notes alone or should I read other study materials as well. Please suggest me the books to study for history opitonal ..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry for a late reply yaar...follow the link given below....

      http://srilochan.blogspot.in/2012/12/history-optional-in-civil-service-exam.html

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  9. HI Lochan,

    Thanks for all ur efforts for uploading the material.I am preparing with history optional, please let me know the notes u have uploaded for world history are covering every topic mentioned in the syllabus and is it enough for world history?
    Thanks in advance

    ReplyDelete