Complete UPSC Prelims strategy

The UPSC Prelims consists of 2 exams :General Studies I and CSAT. Both are objective type exams.

UPSC General Studies Paper I:

The exams consists of 100 questions carrying maximum marks of 200. The duration of exam is usually 2 hours and is conducted through offline mode .There is a negative marking of one-third marks assigned to that question.

Date: June 5, 2022

Syllabus for UPSC GS Paper I is mentioned below:

1.Current events of national and international importance

2.History of India and Indian National Movement

3.Indian and World Geography: Physical ,Social and Economic Geography of India and World

4.Indian Polity and Governance: Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj ,Public Policy, Rights issues

5.Economic and Social Development: Sustainable Development, Poverty ,Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives

6.General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and climate, Disaster Management

7.General Science

Here are all the important books for GS Paper I are listed below.

1.Indian Polity by M .Laxmikant

2.Indian Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania

3.Certificate Physical and Human Geography by G.C.Leong

4.Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh

5.A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir

6.Shanker IAS notes for Environment

Some important tips for UPSC PRELIMS GS PAPER I are given below.

1.Read all the NCERTS from class VI to XII. If you have a basic understanding of the subject you can skip class VI to VII NCERTS. But all the NCERTS of class XI to XII should be read thoroughly. Also, they must be revised at least 2-3 times. Some important NCERTs that must be read are listed below.

(i)NCERT Class XI- Introduction to Indian Art

(ii)Last chapters from NCERTs for Biology and Chemistry of class XI and XII

(iii)India’s Ancient History by R.S. Sharma(NCERT class XI)

(iv)Medieval India by Satish Chandra(NCERT class XI)

(v)Class XI and XII NCERT for Economics

(vi)All Geography NCERTs from class XI-XII

2.Read newspaper daily. You can read The Hindu or Indian Express.

3.Keep a daily look at the PIB website .

4.Practice mock tests

UPSC General Studies Paper II (CSAT)

Civil Service Aptitude Test: The exam consists of 80 MCQ questions carrying a maximum marks of 200 .It is a qualifying paper and you need to score minimum 33% to clear the exam. Each question carries 2.5 marks. There is a negative marking of one-third of the maximum marks for that question.

1.Comprehension

2.Interpersonal skills including communication skills;

3.Logical reasoning and analytical ability

4.Decision-making and Problem-solving skills

5.General mental ability

6.Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency, etc. – Class X level)

Here are all the important books related to UPSC GS Paper II

1.CSAR Paper II-Manual by TMH

2.Analytical Reasoning by M.K. Pandey

3.Verbal and Non-Verbal Reasoning by R.S. Aggarwal

Prepare for the exam seriously. Difficulty level for this exam is being raised up each year .Therefore, practice all the questions thoroughly.