CSE by Faizan Ahmed, IAS

⏳ Last 15 days left for Prelims ⏳ 🎯Focus on PYQ papers and oft repeated topics from Economy, Environment, Polity, S&T, Modern History, Geography and Art & Culture. I’ve already provided the list in previous messages in this channel. 🎯Revise mock tests whatsoever you've already written or just read solution now since not much time is left. 🎯Focus more on static syllabus rather than current affairs. 🎯Don't read anything new now. 🎯Correct your sleep cycle if not done yet. 🎯Be active - be with books, engage your brain in studies affirmatively during 9 to 12 and 2 to 5 window. 🎯2 to 5 pm time window mai thoda garmi mai baithne ki aadat dal lo because CSAT paper ke time exam hall mai full garmi rahegi and koi cooler AC ki rahat nahi milegi. Have faith in your preparation, sab acha hoga. 👍💪 Aaaall izzzz well!

Overthinking led me to the failure in my first UPSC attempt. It led me to study topics which are not usually asked by UPSC just because my brain was overthinking that what if this year UPSC asks 5 questions from the same topic. In prelims, I marked at least 5 easy questions wrong because I overthought that UPSC will never ask such an easy question. Overthinking leads to simple things becoming complex. Stop overthinking, start winning!

For prelims, Indian Geography along with world mapping & climatology/oceanography are the most important topics from geography. Focus on topics which have been frequently asked by UPSC during the previous years - Indian river system (including waterfalls, dams, lakes, tributaries, distributaries, cities on river banks, etc), hills and mountain ranges, mineral resources and their associated industries, crops and soils, forest types and their locations, etc. Similarly major rivers, lakes, different major landforms across the world from world mapping. Different types of weather systems (from GC Leong), monsoon system in India, major ocean currents around the world, etc. These should be on your tips and not even a single question should go wrong from these topics no matter what, cuz these are low hanging fruits. Similarly based on PYQ paper analysis, identify such frequently recurring themes and topics in every major subject and pay your utmost attention to them in these last 70 odd days.

Political Theory NCERT book for Class XI is an important resource for prelims which aspirants generally tend to ignore. Every year you will find direct questions from the book related to constitutional terms like liberty, equality, justice, etc. Do read it in my opinion if you haven't read it so far.

Mountain Ranges of India map - important for prelims, esp geographical order north to south, East to West, etc

GS Paper 1 Analysis Repetitive topics from previous years 1. Rivers and Hills 2. Places in news/conflict 3. Types of forest and trees 4. Minerals 5. Wildlife species 6. Mushroom, moss, lichen 7. RBI/central bank 8. Capital and money market 9. Basic terms from polity - rule of law, constitution 10. Constitutional Amendments 11. President, Parliament, schedules, Supreme court, centre-state relations 12. Protected areas in India - NP, WLS, TR, Community Reserve 13. Buddhism Jainism 14. Literature books - art n culture 15. Vijaynagar Empire 16. Pre-constitution Acts of British India 17. Space technology, Defence Technology 18. Environment - pollution, green hydrogen type basics, carbon sequestration 19. Phy Geo - Atmosphere, ocean 20. G20 Many of these above topics I had marked as important in my previous posts for prelims because UPSC regularly asks questions from these topics. But still, remaining questions were just random and from anywhere and everywhere.

Focus areas for economy prelims Almost 25% of the paper is economics only So you have to think which is more important in the last month, studying static subjects like economics or polity, etc. or maybe studying ancient/medieval

Scoring good marks in prelims is not only about attempting questions that you know, but equally important is to skip question you have no idea about. For eg- in this question, from prelims 2022, there is a very low chance for someone to answer it correctly if they have never heard about the G20 Common Framework, or Paris Club. Hence, avoid making such wild guesses so that you don't lose your hard earned marks. Guess work is important in UPSC without which it is very hard to clear the cutoff, but logical and well reasoned guess work is important and not wild guesses.

Pro tip for prelims For ancient, medieval history and art and culture, don't skip the ncert (class 6 to 12, all) Esp pay special attention to the images and drawings, many times direct questions asked from them.

Sharing this file, will give you an idea about the important topics in previous years prelims paper. Credit to the owner and person who created the file

SCIENCE & TECH Important topics for prelims Biotechnology/ Genetics Digital Technology Nanotechnology Defence technology Space technology Nuclear technology Quantum Technology For above topics, read some good current affairs magazine for current development and any good coaching notes for basics of these technologies. This should be sufficient. Basic science concepts - can refer to some coaching material

ECONOMICS Important topics for prelims You must be absolutely clear with basic concepts of economics and their inter-dependence - GDP, GNP, inflation, national income, monetary policy, fiscal policy, types of deficits, NPA, poverty and types, income inequality and related curves, unemployment types, budget, tax, types of tax, various graphs related to taxes, balance of payment, FDI and FPI, capital and current accounts, exchange rates. Apart from this, international and national institutions related to economics. Banking sector, Investments Models, Public sector enterprises and their privatisation, Focus a lot on economics PYQ to understand which topics have to be given more importance.

GEOGRAPHY Important topics for prelims 1. Places in News - current affairs 2. Map Work - both world and India 3. River system (major rivers, tributaries, distributaries, origin, etc) and mountains in India 4. Mineral Resources and nearby industries in India - types and location 5. Climate, atmosphere, weather 6. Oceans 7. Agriculture in India - soil, important crops, etc One can skip topics like geomorphology, evolution of landforms, continents, etc because rarely question asked from these topics in prelims

ENVIRONMENT Important topics for prelims 1. Basic concepts like ecosystem, pollution, ecology, biodiversity, etc. 2. Important wildlife of India - tiger, elephant, leopard, vultures, dolphins, etc. 3. Animals in news in last one, one and a half year 4. National parks, ramsar sites, major wildlife sanctuaries, tiger reserves, biosphere reserves, etc. - you just don't have to remember their name and location, but also memorise the type of flora and fauna available, some unique features, river or mountains in them, etc. 5. Indian environment laws and wildlife organisations 6. Major international environmental organisations (IUCN, WWF, etc) and laws/initiatives (CITES, CBD, UNCCD, Kyoto protocol, etc) Focus more on those which have been in news or which are hugely important, or are UN bodies. Every year 10-15 questions are asked from environment and mostly are basic which are easy to score. Ignoring environment will lend one in serious trouble. So prepare well.

MODERN HISTORY Prelims In this, factual knowledge is important. Who did what, when and why needs to be remembered. Goal is to roughly remember at least 60-70% facts so that based on their knowledge, you can eliminate options and get the correct answer. To remember rough chronology of events is very necessary, you don't need to remember the exact year for everything. Try to remember event(s) by connecting them to other contemporary events. The period from swadeshi 1905 till independence 1947 is most important as direct questions are asked from this period and are easy to answer. Below are some of the low hanging fruits which can help score better 1. Socio-religious and cultural organisations 2. Political Organizations and their founders, year 3. Governor Generals 4. Newspaper and magazines and their publishers 5. Important Congress (INC) sessions 6. Tribal and other revolts against the British 7. British colonial acts and British committees for reforms 8. Police reforms, civil service reforms, education, administrative etc 9. Peasant movements Almost everything is to be studied and is important, one can skip chapters like Advent of Europeans, Expansion of British Power, etc. Just try to remember famous personalities involved in famous incidents, these are many times directly asked, and the rough chronology of these events.

I will soon post the most important topics from each subject for prelims that you can focus on in these last few days to ace prelims. Below are important topics for- POLITY Historical Background of Constitution Salient features of constitution Fundamental Rights Centre-State Relations Parliament President Governor Council of Ministers Emergency Provisions Judiciary Panchayati Raj Important Amendments Election Commission

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