अक्श

Preparation Strategy  PLEASE NOTE THESE ARE JUST MY OPINIONS AND MY WAYS OF DOING THINGS. IN NO WAY IS ALL THIS WHAT I ASK ALL OF YOU TO DO . I only prepared the topics I was comfortable with. I cannot mug up stuff so I left the topics which required mugging up. I do not prepare data and I don’t know data for anything. Never mugged up any.  Left Art & Culture and Environment topics in G.S. and left Map completely in Geography. They required mugging up and I am not very good with that. So I focused on preparing the topics I could handle.  Started from the basics. I found NCERTs are a must-read. But yes, some subjects require specialised books after that. But I found that you cannot ignore NCERTs. You have to do other books alongside NCERTs. Everything starts from there. Also we need to do them multiple times.  Mostly depended on online material. Did not go to any one site, but checked multiple sources for everything. I like getting different points of view on everything so

BOOKLIST FOR MAINS- Essay  – No book. Marks 160/250 General Studies Paper 1   – Marks 103/250 Art & Culture – never prepared. But I have heard people say Spectrum is good. No clue cause I didn’t study so please check with others. I left all the questions in the exam – which is reflected in my marks.  J Independence History – Old NCERT for pre-1857 and Spectrum for 1857 and beyond. I found that the questions need you to not go in depth but just know the topic and be able to analyse it right then and there. So I found reading the fat Bipin Chandra etc a complete waste of time. If you feel like it, then please go ahead but I didn’t do it. Also check out the new NCERT because the important  Personalities are mentioned in Boxes in that book. Post- independence History – ONLY the new NCERT – India Since Independence. It is a brilliant book which gives everything you need to know clearly and concisely.  Also again, the personalities are given in boxes. UPSC hasn’t run out

Answer Writing Strategy Wrote in points wherever possible. Even in the optional. And I write full sentences as points, not phrases. In my previous attempts I used to write answers in paragraph form and I never got any marks. I used to know the whole paper but I still did not get any marks because of writing in paragraph form. Underlined key words – did not ever do this before so it must have helped. Did not give a beginning or an ending paragraph. No time generally. Might have done for a few answers where it was absolutely necessary to start giving the points. I used to write nice starting and ending paras earlier but did not finish the exam paper…so I skipped it this time. Did not use coloured pens. Mainly used the pencil or the pen I was already writing with to underline. Diagrams if possible or needed. Not always possible or needed. Drew them in pen or pencil as convenient. Did not lie to the examiner like in my previous attempts. I wrote only those questions that I knew.

COACHING and My recommendation – I took coaching in my first attempt in 2009-10. I did not have idea about the preparation. I did not even know what the topics of the course meant! I had no friends or family who had ever done this. That time, in 2009-10 there was no material available online. I didn’t know even NCERT books are needed. I needed coaching mainly for my optional. I didn’t attend most of the G.S. classes but did attend the optional classes. I had to prepare most of the stuff on my own though they helped guide me on where to start. These days a lot of material is available online and a lot of guidance on where to begin is also present online so if I were preparing today, I would not join them. I don’t recommend or condemn them. It depends on the sort of person you are. Some of us need hand-holding and need someone else to keep them on track and some of us are self-motivated. So it all depends on how you think you can succeed best. Though if it is only about material, a lot

youtube Hangout Link - https://youtu.be/FXgBValkEK4

SOME USEFUL RESOURCES– The usual suspects- RSTV, LSTV 1. Akashvani AIR- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdwm5QNss1TpY_whBkql0dw 2. Al jazeera English- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNye-wNBqNL5ZzHSJj3l8Bg 3. Big think- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvQECJukTDE2i6aCoMnS-Vg 4. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiCPv2sV_D3FqMRzzUFA2Fg 5. BBC NEWS– https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC16niRr50-MSBwiO3YDb3RA 6. Big History Project – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNQsm_PPL5jZhcuoowPZDQA 7. Centre for strategic and international studies- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCr5jq6MC_VCe1c5ciIZtk_w 8. CGP grey- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C_jShtL725hvbm1arSV9w 9. CNN- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCupvZG-5ko_eiXAupbDfxWw 10. Council on foreign relations- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL_A4jkwvKuMyToAPy3FQKQ 11. Crash Course- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q 12. DD news – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwucPzHZ

People laughed and made fun of him but he just continued with his work for 22 years. This was Dashrath Manjhi, famously known as the Mountain Man who single-handedly carved a path through a mountain. He gave 22 years of his life to his village and made a difference in the lives of the people of this small village in the state of Bihar. Using only a hammer and chisel, Dashrath Manjhi, a landless farmer, carved a path through a mountain in the Gehlour Hills, Bihar just so that his village could have easier access to medical facilities. Directed by Ketan Mehta, Manjhi - The Mountain Man, is an upcoming documentary on the life of this man. Let's inspire ourselves to do the impossible and read some facts about the Mountain Man: The villagers had to travel 70 kilometres to reach to the nearest town to get medical attention In the year 1959, Dashrath Manjhi's wife Falguni Devi died from lack of medical care In the memory of his wife, he carved the path in the Gehlour hills so that

This is a salesman who sells puppets at F block, Inner Circle Connaught Place. He can be seen there every day. He is neatly dressed, wears ironed full-sleeves shirt, which is properly tucked into his ironed trousers, that has a black leather belt and he carries a stick to support his steps. His hand is covered with a puppet glove, which make a "PPPPPIIIIPPPP" sound that enables him to attract people passing by him. Let's meet Mr. Sahay. He is a living example for all those people who are scared to struggle in life. He had a son, who was a chartered accountant & Mr. Sahay had to spend all his savings for his career. But his son moved to Bahrain without informing him and after some time Mr. Sahay got the news that his son has died in an accident. He is 75. At this age, he comes daily from Rohtak, with a bag full of puppets and a water bottle which is very heavy & makes it difficult for him to take each step. He has a railway pass which enables him to commute daily f

दोस्तो,                      मैं बता नहीं सकती कि मुझे आपको यह बताते हुए कितनी खुशी हो रही है कि आप सब के सपोर्ट और वैल विशेज़ के चलते अंतत: मैंने इस वर्ष सिविल सेवा परीक्षा में कामयाबी हासिल कर ही ली। 108वीं रैंक रही मेरी। दोस्तो, जिस तरह मुझसे पहले कामयाब हुए लोगों की कामयाबी से मुझे मदद मिली अपनी तैयारियों में, उसी तरह अब अगर मेरी कामयाबी से आगे कोशिश करने वालों को कुछ मदद मिल सके तो मैं खुद को एक तरह से ‘इनडेब्टेड’ महसूस करूँगी। इसी उद्देश्य को ध्यान में रखकर मैं यहाँ कुछ ऐसी बातें आपके साथ शेयर करना चाह रही हूँ जिन्होंने मेरी तैयारी और मेरी कामयाबी में बहुत योगदान किया है और शायद वे आपके लिए भी काम की साबित होंगी: 1. अपनी तैयारी अपने ढंग से कीजिए: बजाए इसके कि हम खुद को किसी और की स्ट्रेटजी के मुताबिक ढालने की कोशिश करें, हमें चाहिए कि हम परीक्षा की तैयारी का अपना खुद का तरीका ईजाद करें जो हमारी ज़रूरतों और हमारी स्ट्रेन्थ को मैच करता हो। केवल और केवल वही हमें सफ लता दिला पाएगा। 2.हर एक प्रश्र को हल करने की कोशिश होनी चाहिए: इस परीक्षा में 1 नंबर का अंतर भी बहुत बड़ा अंतर साबि

Aman Mittal , an IIT-Delhi graduate, got rank 20 in Civil services exam, 2014 and will be joining IAS-2015 batch. He reminds me so much of myself, gave exam while still in college, same age, was demotivated whenever he felt alone, overcame those obstacles and got through in his first attempt. The article below is copied from his Facebook post. Journey for IAS (Unacademy and Roman Saini) Aman Mittal (Roll number: 275061) First of all, allow me to thank all the well- wishers, friends and family who have been of immense support to me throughout my period of preparation. I am especially writing this note to thank the immense help of Roman Saini Sir and his initiative in the form of both the Unacademy, along with his friend Gaurav Munjal , as well as the interview preparation by way of a WhatsApp group for all the aspirants. I came to know of the initiative (Unacademy) around 10 days before prelims. I remember watching the ecology and history lectures of the same befor

So, UPSC result 2014 is out!!   Now some of you are selected and many are dejected thinking their life is finished, right? Let’s talk about the realities. Today I am here to discuss the blatant truth. Let’s not hide it and talk about it….. You know this is the biggest problem. We love to make sweeping assumptions. It makes our task easier, isn’t it? Otherwise, how on earth it is even imaginable to address the entire fraternity of Civil Service aspirants through a single letter or lecture or monologue. But we love doing that. Deep within our hearts we know that out there in a dingy room of  Rajinder Nagar/Mukherjee Nagar or any place on earth  sits a hapless candidate browsing through multiple websites, hopping in between from facebook to PIB, from Youtube and random online retail websites to Wikipedia. The person sitting in the next room is equally or even more desperate. May be after spending three hours on the internet he will move out of his room and make a visit to the nea