90-days Strategy for UPSC Civil Services Prelims 2019

Hello Aspirants, The Preliminary Examinations appear to be around the corner and the final countdown to UPSC IAS Prelims 2019 has begun. As usual few months before the pre-exam the entire aspirants feel stressed, be it first-timers or the experienced candidates. As the final day comes closer people will start making predictions on difficulty level and expected cut-off for the paper even before it is conducted. This is a round of elimination and rests assured that a well-prepared candidate cannot be eliminated. We at O2 IAS academy believe that clearing Prelims is not rocket science. We believe ninety days will be enough if proper strategy is followed. Hard work, sincere efforts and sticking to a good revision strategy during this period is all that it takes to qualify this round.

Thus in this blog, we will be sharing a final 90-day strategy for candidates studying in IAS coaching institutes in Chandigarh and other parts of India. We sincerely hope that this will help you to revise the vast syllabus in time and feel confident to face the Prelims 2019.

The Rules

1. Focus on newspaper

Don’t stop reading the newspaper during this period under the false impression or misconception the question paper will be set 1-2month before and the current affairs will not come from these weeks.

Aspirants should continue their current affairs preparation along with the static portion. Moreover many current affairs topics from polity, economics and govt. schemes tend to be repeated in news over a long span of time. Thus regular newspaper reading will aid you in continuous revision.

2. Give time to CSAT

Even though the GS 2 exam is only of qualifying nature but doesn’t skip or ignore its preparation. Make sure to revise the formulas and other topics of CSAT and stay in touch by solving a few questions every week. Since candidates who do not qualify CSAT exam will be deemed ineligible.

3. Don’t lose focus

It is good to carry on your mains preparation along with the prelims prep but doesn’t lose your focus from prelims during these crucial months. Aspirants should complete their prelims targets for the day before starting an optional subject or mains answer writing.

4. Revise, REVISE and revise

We assume that 90 days before the prelims all aspirants would have gone through the entire UPSC prelims syllabus (Geography, History, Art and culture, Polity, Science, Economics etc) topics at least once. Now aspirants should revisit all the topics and even if you haven’t completed the syllabus you should still to go on with revision while completing the leftover syllabus. The revision will strengthen your weak areas and help you in gaining confidence.

5. Take mock tests

Attempting mock tests and analyzing your performance will aid you in fine-tuning your preparation and revision. By this time all aspirant should start attempting mock tests to know their weak and strong areas.

You can begin by attempting a full-length sectional test of 2subjects on Sunday of every week or as per your convenience anytime in between when you complete the subject revision.

Merely solving test papers is not enough. You must analyse your performance, areas of confusion, accuracy, time taken to complete the test etc. make a note off of the topics/areas you have missed or could not recollect. This should your focus area in upcoming revision rounds.

Analyze your wrong answer after the test

Why did you skip/mark the wrong answer?

• Misunderstood or misinterpreted the question, or
• A silly mistake like say missing some important keyword in the question or
• Completely unaware of the question but still went ahead and made a guess
• Due to confusion thought of some answer but marked another answer i.e. difficulty in choosing between 2 closely related options

Plan for Experience Candidates

Aspirants whom previous experience of prelims and mains would have a better understanding of revision strategy and strong fundamentals. Thus they can afford to complete their optional until mid-march. Simultaneously they can start with one GS subject revision.

We recommend that they should take 2 weekly tests to get into prelims mode.

Books for UPSC Prelims

General Studies Paper – 1

GS Prelims Syllabus and Topics

Books/Study material

1. Ancient History

•        India’s Ancient Past New (its also Called Old NCERT) (Must have a book)
•                 NCERT New

2. Medieval History

•        History Of Medieval India (its also Called Old NCERT)
•       NCERT New

3. Modern History

•        History of Modern India – Spectrum (Very Brief one) (Must have a book)

4. Culture

•        Indian Art & Culture – Nitin Singhania
•        NCERT 11th & 12th

5. Geography

•        Certificate Physical and Human Geography – Goh Cheng Leong.  (Physical Geography) Important Book
•        The Orient BlackSwan School Atlas / Oxford School Atlas by Oxford University Press (Choose one Atlas) (Must have a book)
•        NCERT class 6th to 10th social science/ or ICSE Board Books 7th to 10th
•        NCERT Geography class 11th, 12th (Very Important)

6. Indian Polity

•        Indian Polity – M. Laxmikanth (Must have a book)

or

•        Introduction to the Constitution of India – DD Basu
•        NCERT/NIOS of Class 6th-10th Social Science
•        NCERT/NIOS of Class 11th-12th Political Science

7. Economic & Social Development

•         Indian Economy – Ramesh Singh (Must have a book)
•       Budget and  Economic Survey  (Economy) Very Important
•        Yojna & Kurukshetra
•        NCERT 10th 11th, 12th Economics

8. Environment & Biodiversity

•        Environment – Shankar IAS

9. General Science

Lucent’s manual

Or

•        Tata McGraw-Hill General Studies Manual: English / Hindi (Must have the book)
•        For Latest technology related News read Magazines/Newspaper, Internet

10. Current Affairs

•        India Yearbook
•        Newspapers: The Hindu, the Indian Express, Frontline

This is not a concrete booklist instead it is a suggestive and customizable book-list in which we have tried to minimize the books for pre-preparation.

The Plan

We designed a 90-day revision plan using a week-by-week approach from Monday to Sunday. This has been done so that you can utilize the weekend for attempting mock tests. The plan runs till May 31^st so that you can relax for one day before appearing for l the Prelims Day and give your best attempt.

For the sources, you should stick to the standard textbooks and for Current Affairs either follows your handmade The Hindu notes or any coaching notes.

For aspirant attending classes, you can replace it with one of the GS subject being covered in your coaching and revise the class notes of that particular class on daily basis.

Final UPSC Prelims strategy related questions are the most recurring questions in IAS coaching institutes in Chandigarh and India.

Even though, we cannot design a magical plan that suits all aspirants. But we are providing you with a highly customization plan with a broad outline. This plan can be easily modified to meet your specific needs as and where needed as per your strengths and weaknesses. You can base your personal plan upon this and streamline it.

Best wishes.

We hope that these tips will help you. These were our views and opinions on this topic. What are your thoughts and inputs or queries on this topic? Comment below and share your views with us. We would be happy to assist you in your UPSC preparation battles and answer your queries.