UPSC Mains Exam 2024: Subject-wise strategy for GS papers, expert analysis of trends emerging from past exams
A proper planning is a must if you are preparing for the UPSC civil services main exam. The General Studies and Essay paper carries a big chunk of total marks.
The Civil Services Main Examination 2024 will start on September 20. Candidates who have passed the civil services preliminary examination 2024 must be preparing for the mains examination with full intensity.
The mains exam plays a vital role in the final ranks UPSC aspirants get, ultimately deciding which service he/she will get.
A proper planning is a must if you are preparing for the UPSC civil services main examination. The General Studies and Essay paper carries a big chunk of the total marks in the UPSC mains examination.
In this article, UPSC civil services aspirants will get to know the strategy to prepare for the civil services mains examination as provided by experts from the Rau’s IAS Study Circle. The focus of this article is on the preparation for General Studies papers.
As per experts, unlike the Preliminary exam, the main exam has a well-delineated syllabus which has remained unchanged since it was introduced in 2013. So they feel that excelling in Mains can be assured with thorough preparation and practice.
Highlights based on close analysis of mains exam papers of the past by experts:
1. Largely follow the syllabus: Barring a few years, when random questions have appeared, most of the questions in the main papers have been by the syllabus prescribed by the UPSC.
2. Based on Predictable themes: Questions in the UPSC mains follow a pattern, and we can predict broad themes. If somebody has prepared for the exam smartly, he/she should know the topics. Given no time constraint, he/she will be able to write a good answer to the questions asked.
3. Preparation and Practice cause the difference: What brings the difference in the marks of aspirants in the Mains exam is the hard work and preparation they have put in. Since the questions are predictable and stick to primarily contemporary issues related to the UPSC mains syllabus, the preparation and practice of answer writing bring about differences in the marks fetched by aspirants.
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Subject wise strategy:
● History (GS Paper 1):
○ History has a comprehensive syllabus covering India’s Art & Culture, Modern Indian History, Modern World History & India’s Post-Independence History. However, a quick glance at questions asked by UPSC reveals that the focus of UPSC has been Art & Culture and Modern Indian History, with relatively less focus on other sections like Post-Independence History and World History. Therefore, students should focus on these areas by going through important Art, Architecture and Literature from Ancient to Modern Times and mains aspects of Modern History. Most sources used by students in prelims for these sections are still relevant for this section.
● Geography (GS Paper 1) and Disaster Management (GS-Paper 3):
○ Geography: The focus of geography has been on important geographical phenomena of climatology, climate change, oceanography, the evolution of the earth and geomorphology. Some questions are also asked from industrial locations and distribution of resources. This section can be prepared well by going through NCERTs, PYQs and current affairs developments in geography and related fields. While writing answers, try to incorporate diagrams, maps and specific examples to substantiate which will help you fetch higher marks.
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○ Disaster Management: Every year, one or two questions about disaster management and related issues are asked. Students should prepare for key disasters like cyclones, earthquakes, droughts, heat waves, and floods. The guidelines published by NDMA and the NCERTs are one good source for preparing these topics.
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● Indian Society (GS Paper 1) and Social Justice (GS-Paper 2):
○ Indian Society: Questions from the Indian Society section focus on salient features of Indian society such as Caste, Class, language, religions, urbanisation, and issues related to vulnerable sections such as women, scheduled tribes and scheduled castes. The focus should be on these elements’ current status, dynamism, and inter-relationships. One good way to prepare for this section is from sociology NCERTs of Class XI and Class XII, PYQs and notes of coaching institutions. Answers in this section should be enriched with examples, case studies, and some data to be substantiated.
○ Social Justice: Questions from the social justice section often focus on policy and legislation for vulnerable sections, development sectors such as health, education, and nutrition, and the workings of government schemes and their review. For this, students need to focus on important legislation related to children, women, old age, health, education, etc. For this, it is important to keep abreast of current affairs.
● Polity & Governance (GS Paper 2): Most questions from the Polity & Governance section are around issues of our constitution, such as various constitutional offices of governor, speaker, Parliament, centre-state relations, working and review of our judiciary, bureaucracy and fundamental rights. Students should have a good basic understanding of what they use while preparing for Prelims, and some evaluation, analysis and suggestions, which can be collated from various committee reports such as Second ARC, Law Commission Reports, NCRWC, etc.
● International Relations (GS Paper 2) & Internal Security (GS-Paper 3):
○ Four questions come from the International Relations section, with one on India’s foreign relations with a neighbouring or an important country such as China, USA, Russia, etc. This can be prepared by effectively following current affairs.
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○ However, some static questions from this section are on international organisations and India’s diaspora, which are a bit static in nature. These can be prepared from notes, the Ministry of External Affairs website, and current developments from newspapers.
● Indian Economy & Agriculture in GS Paper 3:
○ Macroeconomics: This requires focusing on macroeconomic indicators, fiscal policy, monetary policy and broader issues in the Indian economy. The answers in this section should have focus on data and committee reports to substantiate better.
○ Agriculture: Agriculture section has high weightage which focuses on key challenges, trends and developments in the Indian Agricultural sector. For this one very good resource is reports of government committees like Ashok Dalwai Committee report on Doubling of Farming Income, Swaminathan Committee Reports, current policy developments in the agricultural sector. Students can prepare these using following current affairs and policy developments in the agricultural sector.
○ Infrastructure: Here the students should focus on issues related to Roadways, Railways, Ports, Airports etc. and their financing such as PPP etc. Focus should be on government initiatives and its assessment. This topic can include data, maps and diagrams to better enhance answer writing.
● Environment in GS Paper 3: About 3-4 questions come from environment and related issues such as biodiversity, conservation, India’s and global policies to address climate change, pollution and Environmental Impact Assessment. Most questions on these issues focus on the basic concepts and current developments related to the above aspects particularly policies and legislations etc. Focus should be current developments, examples, statistics and static concepts of environment from newspapers, monthly magazines etc.
● Science & Technology in GS Paper 3: Science & Technology section is dynamic in nature. However, what students need to prepare is to know what a technology is, its key applications in various fields; related regulatory and other challenges and suggestions to improve the situation. Students need to prepare these items with examples for various technologies and developments from the field of Indian science and technology.
● Ethics, Integrity & Aptitude in GS Paper 4: This paper demands good conceptual understanding of key ethical concepts like integrity, transparency, governance etc. with their applications, concerns and ways to bring them about in governance structures of India. Focus should be on also understanding the key philosophical positions and ethical theories in the field. There are many good textbooks to prepare for this paper, however, one thing that needs to be emphasised is the diligent preparation of topics from Previous Year Questions asked by UPSC.
So, what should the aspirants do?
1. Analyse past trends of GS Mains Paper and the weightage UPSC accords to them: For example, the history syllabus of the exam is very large. It is actually similar to the History Optional syllabus. However, the number of questions asked from say world history and post-independence history topics have been very limited. Students should therefore spend time while preparing for the Mains exam according to the respective weightage of topics in the exam.
2. Prepare important themes: Without memorisation & quick recall getting good marks in the exam is very difficult. Analysis of the past papers will give us an idea of the important themes that we have to prepare for the coming exam. We need to prepare comprehensive analysis, points and examples on these topics and memorise them, to produce the best answers on the topics. This will help us write the best answer in the limited time we have.
3. Do smart work along with hard work: The word limit for mains answers is between 150 or 250 words answers. Many students, while preparing for the exam, tend to think that they will become scholars of the subject while preparing for the GS syllabus. This often leads them to waste their time and effort, with the result that they neither become scholars nor do they achieve their goal of getting into Civil Services. Our target while preparing for this exam is to qualify for civil services and we need to prepare according to the demand of the exam.
4. Answer Writing Practice: Practice makes the perfect answers and hence maximum marks, this is the mantra of success in the mains exam. In the Mains Exam on an average, aspirants are expected to attempt 20 questions on disparate topics in 180 minutes. This is a very demanding task.
Students in order to write this quantum, should have a habit of writing this amount. Regular answer writing on its own or under the guidance of a coaching institution is advisable. Also, answer writing will expose us to the shortcomings in our preparation.
5. Write after preparation: In order to get maximum benefit of answer writing, start writing answers after reading the material for the subject. For example, before writing a test, try and revise the topic from the study materials you have collected. This will give you confidence while writing the test. Also, however, marks you score in the tests, ask your examiner for what more could have been done by you in the answer, so that you get those one or two extra marks. These one or two extra marks in each question will make all the difference in whether you are in the list or not.
6. Being optional ready: The scoring pattern in the mains exams reveal that most aspirants score in a band of 370-440 in the four GS papers. However, there is a wide difference in the marks students score in their optional subjects. Optional subjects have large syllabus and cannot be prepared in a small window. Ideally a student should have adequate preparation when he is appearing for the Prelims. The period between prelims and mains should be dedicated to revision, answer writing practice and mastering the Previous Year Questions asked by UPSC. This will help students score around 300 marks which is what top ranks score.
7. Prepare for Essay and Ethics: The Essay paper and Ethics paper together account for 500 marks. If we analyse the actual and maximum marks fetched by students in these papers, we will find that top rankers tend to score much higher in these papers. However, average aspirants tend to discount these papers and do not accord enough time in preparing for them. Ethics & Essay papers are very predictable and doable, if we put in effort the reward will be very high. Therefore, Aspirants should focus on them.
8. Take feedback and improve: Most students when they start writing mains answers are not able to write good answers. It is here that the role of good mentorship kicks in. A good mentor can analyse your answers and give personalised suggestions which students can incorporate in their answer writing styles and improve their marks.
