Do you know the one area where UPSC aspirants lose a lot of time and waste a lot of their efforts? It’s finding the right study material to begin their preparation. There are literally thousands of books available in the market and most students end up buying a lot of books without realizing that most of them are not useful.
In fact, an analysis of the last ten years’ papers has revealed that around 50% of the effort in cracking the exam lies in the strategy. And if you know how to pick the right study material from the start, your chances of cracking the exam increases by 50%.
The biggest problem new aspirants face is deciding what to study and what not to study. This wastes their time, and the syllabus starts piling up. So, what can you do to identify the right material as you start your preparation? We have spoken with over 400 rankers from the last 2 years to create the most effective and suitable study material.
- History – Students often buy and read multiple books like Bipin Chandra, Grover, Sumit Sarkar, Chattopadhyay, etc. But if History is not your optional subject, you really do not need to read each of these books. You need to be highly selective and use the most important source that can help you get marks in the exam. A quick review of the previous year’s question papers would give you an idea about the kinds of question that come from History. Eliminate the idea of reading everything, read only the books that matter.
- Geography – While NCERTs are a must read for any UPSC aspirant, there are specific books like G.C. Leong, Savindra Singh, Majid Hussain, etc. For example, there are many technical chapters in Savindra Singh like isostasy, drainage patterns, etc. Are they important? No! Should you spend time on them? No. Limit your study material but read the selected ones in detail. Instead, you can simply speak to our mentors and reduce your reading material to only the most important chapters.
- Art and culture – UPSC asks a lot of questions from Art and Culture but there is no one book that is completely helpful. Often, UPSC asks some questions that you may not find in most of the popular books. For example, if you are reading Nitin Singhania, you do not have to read the chapters on Cinema and Circus. You do not have to read every chapter in every book!
- Current affairs – Yes, it is important to read the newspaper but how do you identify what to read in a newspaper? Is everything important? No! Should you make a note of everything that comes in the newspaper? No! Try to identify only those topics that will fetch you marks, everything else will waste your time.
- Environment – Most students read Shankar IAS for environment. But the questions from environment often have Current Affairs element in them. So, while you should read the basic concepts from this book, you will have to tie it with Current Affairs to score.
- .Science and Tech – Science and tech has a huge syllabus. It contains everything from Biology to Sattelites. But can you read and remember everything? Is it important to know the names of all the human bones? No! It may be important to know India’s space program but do you need to know every sattelite’s details? No! You have to learn to differentiate what is important and what isn’t.
- Economics – 15 questions were asked from Economics in Prelims 2020. But Economics cannot be completed by reading one book. These questions can only be solved by reading the basic concepts and tying them with current affairs. There is no book that does this perfectly. What will you do? It is best to speak with mentors who know which areas to focus on to get maximum marks. They can help reduce your workload to very specific reading points.
- Government schemes and plans – You have less than a year to prepare for the exam, can you afford to read all the Yojana, Kurukshetra, etc. before the exam? Should you spend so much time reading topics that may or may not come in the exam? No! Only focused study fetches you marks.
This is an exam of elimination. You can only succeed when you know which study material to eliminate and which to pick. Otherwise, you will have a library of books that are completely useless for your preparation. All your time, money, and efforts will be wasted and you will start feeling overwhelmed by the syllabus.
Remember: Smart work is needed to clear the exam. It’s better to read a particular book many times rather than reading multiple books without revision.
After speaking with over 400 rankers from the last 2 years, our mentors have created the most suitable study material that is selective and highly effective. Speak with our mentors. They will tell you exactly which books and which chapters to read. Don’t waste time, read only the focused material.
