How to prepare GS portion of General Ability Paper of ESE (Part III)

Success is not final, failure is not fatal.... it is the courage to continue that counts.

Till now I have covered the strategy for 100 marks of GA Paper based on English. Today’s article is very special as it covers another 100 marks of GA Paper based on GS portion. Students were asking for it from the beginning and today I share with you the best strategy to cover GS part of the syllabus within three months without investing much time. I did an extensive research on previous year questions and decoded the current trend that is followed by UPSC. You will also get to know what to read and from where to read. This is based on my original experience of previous year when I was myself preparing for the ESE paper. Take it seriously because I have taken a lot of precious time in making this strategy for you all.

In ESE-15, the pattern was as shown below-

                                                       No. of questions asked

      1)     Current Affairs                                         19

            2)      Geography and Wildlife                          14

            3)      General Knowledge                                 11

           4)      History                                                       6

           5)      Biology                                                      6 

           6)      Polity                                                         4

According to the current trend, UPSC is focussing very much on Current affairs. Almost one third of the questions are asked from current affairs only. But if you think you can prepare the whole current affairs from any one source then you are mistaken. If you try to cover current affairs from newspapers, you will end up wasting a lot of time which can drastically affect your technical part preparation. The best source for current affairs is www.gktoday.in . On this website, current affairs is presented in a concise and crisp manner. Read the current affairs from November 2015 to April 2016. It is sufficient for your ESE preparation.

Geography and Wildlife are very important under GS preparation. But it is so vast that if you go to cover every part of this section, it will be a time wastage. So you need to act a little smart here and focus on the frequently asked  part of the syllabus. According to my analysis, I found below mentioned topics as important-

a)      National Highways (remember at least NH1 to NH10), there location on Indian Map and the largest and shortest NH.

b)      Read about the geographical features (like mountains, rivers, hills and plateaus etc) which are in recent news. For example, the below question is of geography but related to current affairs.

 

c)      Top three crops & mineral( Iron,coal,mica,bauxite,crude oil etc) producing states in India.

      d)      National Parks, Sanctuaries, Biosphere reserves in India.

     

      e)      State borders which are in recent news.

A lot of questions are asked from General knowledge also. This part of syllabus is somewhere linked to your school time knowledge. Some of the questions are so easy that you don’t need any preparation. For example-

I think most of you know the answer, the correct answer is option d.

So for some questions you don’t need to prepare. Many questions are repeated from previous year papers so you just need to see previous 7 years questions from solved ESE Paper prepared by any coaching institute.

Now what to do about other questions under GK ? You can read General Studies book for IES by MadeEasy.

History is my favourite area under GS. Most of the questions are asked from Indian National Movement. So don’t waste time in reading ancient and medieval history as only 1-2 questions are asked from this. Infact, from past 4-5 years there is hardly any question outside Indian National Movement. In ESE-2015, all 6 questions were from Modern India. So  just read Modern India and Indian Struggle for Independence from General Studies for IES by MadeEasy. Also see previous 7 years solved questions under history from previous years solved book prepared by any coaching institute.

Questions are consistently asked under Biology, which are very predictable in nature. The main focus areas under Biology syllabus are given below-

a)      Classification of animals and organisms( bacteria, fungi,virus,protozoa etc)

b)      Disease in human beings

c)      Food, nutrition and digestion

d)      Cell system

A few questions are asked on Polity also. For this just read Indian Polity from the GS book for IES by MadeEasy.

Some general tips for GS preparation-

1)      See previous 7 years questions and answers from any solved ESE book by any coaching institute.

      2)      Always focus on syllabus which is in recent news. For example, below are shown questions from Science, Polity and Goegraphy which were in recent news.

 Science question related to Global Warming which is in recent news

Polity question about Attorney General who is always in recent news 

Geography question on Myanmar where hidden Indian insurgents were in news

3)      Also see 5 years previous years questions from UPSC exams such as CDS, NDA etc.

      4)      Don’t invest a whole day in GS preparation instead read it in between technical study breaks.

This is all about today’s discussion on GS portion of GA paper. Till now I have covered strategy for 200 marks of GA Paper. Next article will be on Technical syllabus of ESE.

    Always remember, no great warrior ever knew about his victory before the battle was actually fought. It was their deep faith within themselves that motivated them all along their path. Just ask yourself why you are doing this work. Keep faith in yourself. This is a test of your patience and perseverance. You can do it and you will do it.

-          Ankit Shukla