IAS Kracker Update

IAS Kracker has a new home!

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:52:00 +0000

Image by redstamp.com via FlickrThis was a difficult choice to make for sure. Whether to continue IAS Kracker on the free Blogger platform or host it on an independent domain. What made me finally switch was the fact that the Blogger blog had become very cluttered. As as result I was constantly changing themes which must have caused some inconvenience to you, the blog user.

I've wanted to add many features for a long time like related posts, recent comments, and more which would have enhanced your experience manifold but I couldn't have done this on Blogger without adding to the clutter.

So I decided to shift IAS Kracker to its new home at http://iaskracker.com . And the initial results are promising. It has a much improved look, far less clutter and I am constantly adding more civil services related resources so you can get an edge in your IAS preparation. Over the next few days and week I will add many new features like useful links to other civil services related sites, good articles on the new IAS syllabus, sample question papers, free study material to download, useful books for IAS and many more.

But most importantly I hope IAS Kracker will develop into a community where we all can share our views, queries, articles on the IAS exam to our mutual benefit. I suggest you subscribe to the IAS Kracker Email updates so that you continue to receive all the latest civil services exam updates as and when they are posted.

And/or you can also subscribe to the IAS Kracker Feed to receive real time updates from the blog. But most importantly, thank you for all your wonderful comments, feedback, and suggestions till now and I hope you stay with IAS Kracker as it continues its journey towards the IAS goal.

GS Paper 2 of IAS Mains 2010 followed the pattern but Stats was confusing

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:57:00 +0000

As you would have realized from my post on the GS Mains 2010 Paper1 analysis how unpredictable the first paper was and how much it had deviated from the usual pattern. But GS Paper 2 of the 2010 Mains followed the usual pattern except for Statistics which I thought was more confusing than difficult and also the Science part was a mixed bag. Unlike Paper 1 where questions from different sections like History and Geography were clubbed together the General Studies Paper 2 contained questions from the same section under one major question.

But even the second GS paper contained its fair amount of surprises.

Questions were comparative:
If you look at the first question concerning the race for energy resources it asked to compare India's performance vis-a-vis China. The question on Myanmar, Bangladesh, and India regarding the maritime boundary dispute was also comparative in nature. Also, question no. 3.a asked to compare and contrast the World Bank's role with that of the IMF.
So merely factual knowledge is insufficient from now on. You will need to take into account the regional aspects as well as well as develop a comparative understanding of the issue at hand.

Statistics was confusing:
I've noticed this thing about the Stats questions of the GS papers. One year they are quite simple and straightforward and the next year they are quite tough. The trend continues in the 2010 Mains exam. A question on trend values about the murders in an year (9.b) was asked. Now candidates who couldn't understand what trend values are would find the question quite difficult to answer. Similarly, question 10.a on Airlines was also confusing albeit, easy. It merely asked to find the percentage of flights that arrived on time for each city and asked to comment on the trend. But if candidates didn't get this then again 5 valuable marks would be hard to score.

Questions on little known issues were asked:
Usually civil services candidates prepare the major international issues in news but what should one do when obscure incidents are asked? This was just the case in the IAS mains 2010 paper. Indian peacekeeping role as part of MONUSCO was asked. Now how many IAS candidates expected this question? Also do you know which are the PIGS countries in Europe? Usually coaching classes like Vajiram's, ALS et al provide information on the structure and functioning of International institutions like ICC but they don't cover isuues concerning these institutions. So a question on the Kamapala declaration of the International Criminal Court had many stumped. Another question on the trial chamber of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC) (6.d) was on a even more obscure topic. So how do you prepare for such questions?

Science questions were a mixed bag:
Last year's science section of the GS paper resulted in the cut-off falling by more than 50 marks as on an average people couldn't attempt 80 marks of the General Studies Paper 2. This year UPSC has shown some mercy on us but not before extracting its pound of flesh. So there was this perplexing question on computer models used for studying climate change which not many knew. Also many were ignorant of what Phytoremediation meant (5.b). But overall the Science questions were ok.

Now let us come to the all-important question of Cut Off for the IAS Mains 2010:
Last year GS Paper 1 was quite normal but Paper 2 was sizzling tough and so the cut-off fell to 895 (General). This year Paper 2 and 1 were on an even keel difficulty wise and optional papers do not impact the civil services cut-off that much. So I feel that this year the cut-off should be between 900 and 910 marks. Give or take 5 marks.

Your views?

This post has shifted to my new IAS Exam Blog

Analysis of General Studies Mains 2010 Paper 1

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 15:42:00 +0000

If there were any doubts remaining about conventional questions or format in the 2010 General Studies paper of IAS mains exam, now is the time to discard them. One good look at the GS paper of 2010 mains and you will realize just how unpredictable the Civil Services exam has become. In fact I struggled to find some common threads in the GS paper! After a lot of analysis this is what I made out of the General Studies paper.

Analysis of GS Mains 2010 Paper I

Long answers, less marks:

That’s right. The 250 word questions carried just 20 marks instead of the usual 30, and the 150 word questions came for just 12 marks instead of 15. So this means candidates had to rely on the 5 mark questions to score decently.

Implications of this:Now the GS Mains paper has become more balanced. Previously candidates would score heavily in the 30 and 20 mark questions and could take the 2-markers lightly, which were usually a lottery ticket. But from last year the 2-markers have been reduced considerably, UPSC has also reduced the marks for 250 and 150 word answers as mentioned above, and introduced 5-mark questions. So now candidates will have to prepare for all types of questions equally well and cannot rely solely on the big ones to score well in the General Studies paper.

Topic marks gone for a toss:

One of the primary reasons why coaching classes like Vajirams predicted the IAS Mains paper so well previously is that various topics were assigned fixed marks by UPSC. For instance, History came for 90 marks, Polity 90, Geography 30, and so on. So it was easy to students to cover the syllabus strategically. But again UPSC has shown that it is two steps ahead of the coaching institutes. Now it might not only vary the marks for different topics drastically but may even omit a section completely! This year History came for just 16 marks, whereas Geography for 42 marks, Polity for 48 marks, Indian Economy for 56 marks, Current Affairs for 62 marks, Environment for 39, Personalities for 16, Arts and Culture for 26, and an unexpected question on Decision Making for 5 marks. Of course you can’t add up these marks as they include all the questions and some questions do not fit into any clear category.

Implications: Now no section can be taken lightly. Previously we used to only give Geography a passing glance as it came for not more than 30 marks but now it may even come for 50 marks, no one can say. Also History related questions have been drastically reduced for the past 2 years in a row and this year just one 150 word answer was asked! Current affairs related questions are on the rise, so are environment related ones. So prepare all topics well and leave nothing to chance.

Mix of different topics in one major question:

Earlier questions from the same topics were clubbed together so selecting questions to attempt was easy. But in IAS Mains 2010 questions from different topics were clubbed together. So one had to possess knowledge of all topics in order to attempt the required number of questions. For instance, the question No. 2 on Dalhousie and annexations (History) was combined with question on Constitutional amendment bill (polity), and another question on Indian agriculture. What a mix!

Questions were far more analytical:

The reason why candidates earlier used to score 350 plus in the civil services GS paper was because questions were largely factual and so answers could be easily memorized. Not any longer. In the 2010 General Studies paper not only questions were unpredictable but were very analytical where one had to think logically to answer them correctly. A question on Bus accident was asked (8.e) to test the decision making ability. Candidates should expect similar questions in the 2011 UPSC prelims as well. Similarly question 1.a and 1.b were very analytical pertaining to river water disputes and poverty figure estimates.

Implications: Civil services aspirants now cannot solely rely on coaching classes notes of Vajirams and other fancied IAS coaching institutes but will need to prepare their own notes, think independently, take balanced view of the issue to be able to answer such analytical GS questions with confidence. Candidates preparing for the 2011 IAS Prelims should go through the syllabus thoroughly and refer the right IAS books, magazines, and newspapers along with coaching notes, where needed to score well in the 2011 Prelims as well as mains.

This is all for now. I will shortly analyze the IAS GS Paper 2 as well and post it on this blog of course! Meanwhile I’d love to read you comments and feedback on this post as well as the GS Mains 2010. So start commenting

Update: I've managed to analyze the GS Mains 2010 Paper 2 on my New Blog for Civil Services!

Civil Services IAS Exam 2011 schedule announced by UPSC

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 14:45:00 +0000

As the IAS prelims pattern has been changed from 2011 onwards, UPSC will be issuing the notification for Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2011 on 19th February 2011 and the civil services prelims will be held on 12th June 2011, while the civil services mains examination will commence from 29th October 2011.

How should you approach 2011 prelims:

As there will be no more optional subjects in the Pre, you will have to gain a sufficient degree of mastery over the changed GS pattern to score well in the 2011 prelims. But there's a dilemma involved here. As the IAS 2011 Prelims will be held a full one month later than usual you will get only 4.5 months to prepare for the IAS mains than the usual 5.5 months.

So I suggest that you make full use of the time from now till mid January and try to complete at least one mains optionals before starting with your Prelims studies full steam from 16th Jan onwards. This will ensure that you don't feel overburdened after the prelims as you will have to cover two optionals in entirety besides revise them and attempt test series as well. This will be a real challenge.

Also as the GS paper in Prelims is more or less quite unpredictable preparing one month more will not make much of a difference to the final score. Share your comments regarding the 2011 Prelims schedule.

Information on Books for CSAT/Prelims/GS is available on this blog.
Analysis of changed IAS syllabus is available

New IAS Prelims Syllabus for 2011 CSAT

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 14:41:00 +0000

After months of anticipation the syllabus for the changed Prelims from 2011 IAS Exams also called the CSAT 2011 is finally out. Following is the draft of the page on UPSC where the syllabus is available.

UNION PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
PRESS NOTE
Subject: Changes in syllabus and pattern of the Preliminary Examination from
2011 in the scheme of Civil Services Examination
• As per the decision of Government of India, there shall be change in the syllabus and
pattern of the Preliminary Examination from 2011 in the scheme of the Civil Services
Examination.
• The Preliminary Examination shall now comprise of two compulsory Papers of 200
marks each and of two hours duration each. Detailed below is the new syllabus and
pattern of the Preliminary Examination, which is brought to the notice of the
prospective candidates intending to appear at the Civil Services Examination (CSE) in
2011 onwards:
Paper I - (200 marks) Duration: Two hours
• Current events of national and international importance
• History of India and Indian National Movement
• Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic geography
of India and the World.
• Indian Polity and Governance – Constitution, Political System,
Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
• Economic and Social Development – Sustainable Development,
Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
• General issues on Environmental ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate
Change - that do not require subject specialization
• General Science.
Paper II- (200 marks) Duration: Two hours
• Comprehension
• Interpersonal skills including communication skills;
• Logical reasoning and analytical ability
• Decision making and problem solving
• General mental ability
• Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude
etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data
sufficiency etc. -Class X level)
• English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).
• Questions relating to English Language Comprehension skills of Class X level
(last item in the Syllabus of Paper-II) will be tested through passages from
English language only without providing Hindi translation thereof in the question
paper.
• The questions will be of multiple choice, objective type.
• A set of sample questions for both Papers would be put on the UPSC website
http://www.upsc.gov.in in due course for reference of the prospective candidates.
• The prospective candidates are advised to note that no changes are being introduced
at this stage in the Civil Services (Main) Examination and Personality Test in the
scheme of Civil Services Examination (CSE).
Analysis of the changes in IAS Exams Syllabus:
Sample papers will be provided by UPSC which is good as candidates will not be heading towards a blind alley.

Both papers will be of 2 hours duration which means time management will be crucial factor in scoring.
Roting is out as no more optional paper. Wide study of all topics mentioned is required.
Mental ability, logical reasoning has gained added importance so expect more questions from these topics.
English comprehension is a factor now. Candidates from non-English background will need to vastly improve their English reading and comprehension skills as it is mentioned that no Hindi or other language translation of the passages will be provided in the exam.
Syllabus is more clearly defined now especially concerning Economics, Geography and Climate Change which is again good for the candidates.
Role of coaching classes will decrease somewhat as analytical questions relating to decision making cannot be "taught" but require common sense and presence of mind.
Expect some situational questions as this blog has consistently advocated.
Inter-personal and communication skills will also be tested. So candidates will do well to start improving the same.

If you have any query regarding the new syllabus. Just leave a comment and I will be glad to discuss it.
For complete, in-depth analysis of the changed IAS syllabus refer my Hub on the new syllabus for IAS prelims, which describes in detail the benefits, disadvantages of the changed syllabus including what has not changed and the strategy to be adopted.

Did you receive the mains form in time?

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 11:03:00 +0000

Long time no post as usual so I thought I should finally update. Well, results were out on 19th (right?) of August but the mains form didn't reach my address even after the last date (9th September). Luckily UPSC has allowed downloading the form from their site and submitting it in the usual way. Of course, another option was to just go to Dholpur House and get the IAS mains 2010 form from their itself, fill it and submit it. All in a day's work.

So more than 15,000 fortunate candidates will be appearing for the mains in October. BTW the timetable has been posted on the UPSC site. Given that vacancies are in excess of 950 there's a good chance of making it but of course the competition will be as tough as in any year. I just hope UPSC spares us the GS main paper and it's not a horror like the 2009 IAS mains when most candidates couldn't attempt 100 marks on average. Keep your fingers crossed.

Some important topics for Mains 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 13:05:00 +0000

Sorry for this loong break but most of my time is taken up travelling to and from Gurgaon for the FCI training. I thought while there is dearth of news on the CSAT front why not discuss some topics that are relevant from the mains point of view.

1. Price Rise

Of late food inflation has been hovering around the 12% mark and has raised quite a ruckus in the Parliament, not to mention in the pockets of the common man too and it might squirm its way into the GS paper too this year. So better prepare for battle on the food front. Go through this year's Economic Survey and study the chapters related to inflation, base effect, divergence between CPI and WPI, need for a new price index, external causes and so on.
2. Agriculture

Always a possible topic this, more so due to the impending Food Security Act, stagnating farm output, food grain imports and food inflation. So may articles have appeared on ways to increase the agricultural growth rate during the 12th plan period in The Hindu. Did you bother reading them? If not, search for them on their site and especially read up MS Swaminathan's recommendations among other stuff.
3. Governor's powers to recommend removal of a minister

I know most of us just let this bit pass while the drama unfolded in Karnataka. Pub Ad students, keep your eyes wide open for such happenings because they are very likely to appear in Paper 2. What we witnessed was that although a Governor can recommend removal on grounds of misconduct it is not binding on the Chief Minister to heed the advice. Go through some previous similar incidents as well.
4. Afghanistan imbroglio

While there are many international issues that require attention the Afghan crisis is crucial due to the recent leaks on wikileaks.org and also as the Taliban has regained its original strength which is bad news for India considering the money and good will we invested to win over the Afghan hearts. Gringe.
This discussion will continue and there are many more topics to list here. What I'll do is put up a series of such articles with reference to all the previous posts so that we can cover most of the plausible topics before October. Your suggestions and contributions are most welcome. Day.

Notes for Civil Services Exams

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 05:12:00 +0000

So many comments this IAS preparation blog receives relate to notes for civil services exams and understandably so. I figured out that most of the blog visitors have only just started preparing for the civil services and are situated far off from Delhi, the coaching hub for the IAS exams and so this important information gap regarding correspondence notes must be plugged.

Note: I have listed the books and notes required for Public Administration preparation in this post. CSAT 2011 preparation strategy along with books is detailed here.
Correspondence notes of most coaching classes are not of adequately high quality. But I found the correspondence notes of Vajiram for Pub Ad quite good and still use it. The good part about these notes is that they are the same printed material which are distributed in the class. Of course you won't get the benefit of class room notes.
For Sociology, Upendra and Vajiram's Mohapatra are quite good as far as classroom coaching is concerned but no such luck with long distance notes with either. In fact it is recommended you take one of the two's classroom notes available in Ber Sarai near JNU in Delhi. This is important as Socio is a very vast subject and you can easily lose yourself in the textbook maze and still not cover the entire syllabus!
Focused approach is the need of the hour in Sociology.
Some readers inquired about Brilliant Tutorials notes, but I and many other civil veterans don't have high opinion about them. And please, just skip the Rau's notes, as I have said umpteen times Rau's is a fraud which lures people from far-off places who don't have any idea about the scene in Delhi.
CrackIAS notes are also quite good for GS, Pub Ad, and Socio and maybe even other subjects but I need more information on this. But these notes are more relevant from the revision point of view after you have grasped the intricacies of the optional.
Hope this helps. TC.

IAS Prelims 2010 GS Key

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Mon, 24 May 2010 08:02:00 +0000

One of the blog friends, Upendra was kind enough to research the GS 2010 paper and come up with the key for B series, which I am posting here. Although I cannot vouch for it's authenticity as I have Series C GS paper for which I will post the GS Key shortly. Please add your comments.

1. C 2. B 3. D 4. B 5. B 6. B 7. Not sure 8. C 9. C 10. C 11. Not sure 12. Not Sure 13. C 14. C 15. D 16. A 17. B 18. Not Sure 19. A 20. B 21. A 22. C 23. A 24. B 25. A 26. B 27. B 28. 29. C 30. D 31. Not Sure 32. B 33. B 34. B 35. Not Sure 36. C 37. Not Sure 38. C 39. B 40. B 41. A 42. B 43. D 44. Not Sure 45. D 46. D 47. B 48. A 49. C 50. Not Sure 51. C 52. Not Sure 53. B 54. C 55. C 56. Not Sure 57. D 58. D 59. A 60. B 61. C 62. D 63. D 64. D 65. D 66. A 67. D 68. B 69. D 70. D 71. C 72. B 73. C 74. B 75. B 76. B 77. C 78. C 79. C 80. C 81. A 82. D 83. A 84. A 85. D 86. D 87. B 88. B 89. D 90. A 91. C 92. C 93. A 94. B 95. C 96. C 97. B 98. A 99. A 100. C 101. B 102. D 103. D 104. Not Sure 105. D 106. A 107. C 108. B 109. A 110. C 111. A 112. C 113. C 114. B 115. A 116. C 117. A 118. Not Sure 119. D 120. A 121. A 122. C 123. D 124. B 125. Not Sure 126. Not Sure 127. D 128. C 129. B 130. C 131. B 132. D 133. C 134. D 135. C 136. B 137. Not Sure 138. A 139. B 140. D 141. D 142. A 143. C 144. Not Sure 145. A 146. B 147. C 148. B 149. C 150. C

UPDATE: Authentic GS Key (all series) for UPSC Prelims 2010 can be found here. I have verified it and it seems pretty authentic. But remember, the cut off for Prelims 2010 will most likely be what I stated in this post.

Public Administration key for Civil Services Prelims 2010 can be found here. Remember to share with others and do update us on its authenticity.

Sociology key for UPSC prelims 2010 is available here.

Initial Reactions on UPSC Preliminary Examination 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sun, 23 May 2010 12:56:00 +0000

Hello friends, those who gave today's Prelims might have been taken aback by the General Studies paper, which was quite tough to say the least. In fact, more tricky than tough. My first reaction was the cut-off for the 2010 Pre will drop to around 50-60 in GS. Remember though, marks are averaged for the GS and Optional so in the present pattern, which will be replaced in 2011, the optional decides whether you write your mains exams or not.

If you have 70-80 in any optional and about 55-65 in GS, rest assured you will clear for sure. More so because the seats for this year are about 965 so the candidates who will clear the pre and appear for mains will be about 965 X 13 = 12,900 (approx).
Of course, even candidates with lower score will clear although a lot will depend on different permutations and combinations. And many such combinations are possible in the Prelim exams but what I have stated is the definite bar at which any candidate with any optional will clear.
Regarding Sociology, the paper was much tougher than last year and I expect 70-75 to be a very safe score regardless of the category. Coming back to GS, UPSC changed the pattern somewhat.Not only were conventional questions not asked but many Mains type questions figured in 2010 Preliminary exams.
Also, the Geography questions were quite tricky and one had to be pretty thorough with climatic types to answer them. Same for economy questions, no easy ones either. Only mental ability was a saving grace and there were many easy questions that should boost the GS score.
Over the next week I will post the GS and Sociology answer key. Your feedback is most welcome.

The Indian Obsession with Sir/Madam

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 15 May 2010 19:50:00 +0000

In a hierarchical society people are perpetually status conscious and the internet is no exception to this principle. And remember, the net is the most democratic and equality affirming communications platform ever devised by humankind. So how come many civil services aspirants regularly address blog writers as Sir or Madam?

Can't we have the normal Hi Ramesh, Joe, Rihana greeting instead of Sir, I would like to know...... Frankly it's quite amusing. Even in this civil services blog, I sometimes read comments addressed to me as Sir. Chill friends. I am just like you, not an IAS yet and even if and when I become one, I don't expect nor want civil services aspirants to address me as Sir.
We need whittle down the status pyramid in this country. It is the cause of many ills that afflict the Indian society today. If you visit my Twitter profile, you'll see some of the IAS officers I follow. Guess what's common to all? Apart from the fact that they all are IAS officers, all of them have suffixed their name with their designation, IAS. Now may I ask, what for?
After all, Barack Obama's username doesn't read Barack Obama US President then why do these public servants need to add the esteemed IAS tag? Twitter isn't a 'sarkari' office. On it everyone's equal, like it or not and everyone gets to tweet with 140 characters. Just because you are xyz doesn't entitle you to 10 or 15 more characters.
Night.

Prelims Quick Revision Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Tue, 11 May 2010 16:48:00 +0000

For those of you appearing for the UPSC Preliminary exams on the 23rd, here's a quick revision checklist that will be very useful to you.

Current Affairs: The last 18 months current affairs. Do a quick scan of India Year Book's latest events section at the end. New Vishal's Current Affairs is recommended. It's short and to the point. The big bang experiment at CERN. Do you know all the facts?
GK: Manorama Year Book's GK section at the end, especially, Presidents, Speakers, PMs, etc. Also brush up the award winners.
Geography: Concentrate on the maps. India, neighbouring countries. Also some places that were in news like Iceland. Brush up earthquake and volcano facts too.
History: Focus on modern India. All Congress sessions and Presidents, RTCs, different movements etc.
Science: Application based. More focus on common sense than mugging up conventional stuff.
Economy: Look up the tables in Economic Survey 2010, particularly, Agriculture production, principal crops, exports, imports, chief trading partners, telecom density, GDP, agri growth of the last few years, electricity generation. Also brush up inflation basics.
All important infrastructure projects in North East and India's help in Bhutan, Nepal and Myanmar. The Hindu's annual supplement that came in January 2010 is good for current affairs recap. Brush up geographical info of central India, particularly, the Chattisgarh and Jharkhand regions where Maoist attacks took place.
Will update more in a few days. ciao.

Civil Services Coaching, Optionals, and Syllabus with Personal Tips

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 15:08:00 +0000

I have received some mails regarding guidance for civil services optionals and coaching classes. I will address the same here. But I would request you to kindly post your comments and queries in the comment box instead of mailing me as I cannot provide personalized guidance to everyone through e-mail.

Coaching Classes in Delhi for civil services exams follow this pattern:
Summer batch from June to September end. Recommended mostly for the second optional of civil services mains, especially if you are going to give IAS mains examination in that year itself.
Winter batch from October to March end. You can enroll for a prelims-cum-mains batch or only the mains batch which will be of shorter duration. Recommended for those who wish to take coaching for pre as well as mains. You can even join coaching for the first and second optional simultaneously.
However, I will recommend you take coaching for your second optional during the June batch and for the first optional from the October batch. You can also take coaching in just one subject, like I did.
Which optionals to choose for the civil services exams:

Saurabh Jain - If you are comfortable with Economics you can opt for Pub Ad as the first optional and Economics or Sociology as the second. read up my article on Public Administration preparation strategy for the civil services prelims and mains.
Saurav Roy - If you have never prepared for the civil services exams before it will be advisable to take a year drop, considering the fact that CSAT is coming from 2011. But you can give the exam in 2011.
Mohammad Umar - For Law the two well known coaching classes in Delhi are Rahul's Law and Ambition. Both conduct classes as per the schedule detailed above.
Which coaching classes to join for civil services:

For Public Administration, consider Vajiram, Uniyals IAS. Sunil Gupta's Inspiration is good only for Public Administration Mains test series. Bhawani SIngh is for those who have given civil services mains at least once.Synergy is good only for Paper 1 of Public Administration.
For Sociology, Vajiram and Upendra are both quite good. I had taken mains coaching for Sociology from Vajiram where Mohapatra teaches.
Syllabus for all subjects are available here.
If you want to know about civil services coaching for other subjects, just leave your comment.

Preparation Strategy for Pub Ad for Civil Services Prelims

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:46:00 +0000

It's not for nothing that Public Administration is the most popular optional for the civil services exams. It has a relatively short syllabus, can be covered within 8 months (pre and mains), and is safe and scoring in pre as well as IAS mains. But let's just focus on preparation strategy for civil services prelims right now.

Books for Public Administration:

1. New Horizons of Public Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya ( must read for mains as well)

2. Indian Public Administration by Rajni Goyal and Ramesh K Arora ( till recently this was the only book to be read for paper 2 of mains. It is still the most crucial book for P2).

3. Administrative Thinkers by Prasad and Prasad ( must read for pre and mains paper one).

4. Public Administration and Public Affairs by Nicholas Henry ( some chapters need more focus than others).

5. Development Administration by Mohit Bhattacharya ( many new topics of the changed syllabus for mains are covered in this book).

Notes: Sunil Gupta's test series notes for mains. Vajiram and Ravi's printed notes for civil services Pre and mains (very useful).

Newspaper clippings. This is very important as Pub Ad is a very dynamic subject and deals with governments functioning, which is tracked by the media. Although The Hindu is a must read, I will recommend Indian Express for Pub Ad preparation.

Go through the reports of various committees and commissions set up to evaluate governmental functioning. This includes the pay commission reports, administrative reform commission and other panels reports.

Functioning, powers of constitutional bodies. Go through the Articles concerning PRIs very thoroughly. Polity alone can fetch you 10-15 marks in civil services prelims exams.

To join a coaching class or not to join...

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:56:00 +0000

This seems to be the foremost thought on not just the newbies to civil services exam but also the old hats who have appeared for one or more mains but haven't scored well and are looking to change their optionals for which they are considering coaching options.

But is coaching for civil services exam a must?

Let me state upfront, no it isn't. You can still score well and cover the syllabus without investing thousands of rupees in costly coaching classes. But I should add, coaching does make your journey to the IAS goal somewhat easier and provides a focus and definite direction with the help of useful tips, notes, information, tests that can save your precious time. And as we all know time is of precious essence in any UPSC exam.

Having said that there is no one-size-fits-all rule regarding coaching classes for UPSC civil services. Rather you should first evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, availability of books, notes, ready information before standing in the queue for Vajirams or xyz coaching centre's tokens.

For instance, I took coaching in only Sociology mains, which is my first optional and none for pre or even for Pub ad and GS. It may vary for different people. But one thing is certain. The way GS paper turned out in the civil services mains 2009 and also considering the fact that the prelims pattern will change in 2010, coaching for GS may not deliver what it used to a few years back.

After all the GS paper of civil services mains has become more dynamic and very unpredictable and believe it or not, the best and highly regarded coaching institutes flopped badly in the 2009 GS mains paper. On an average civil services candidates attempted 100 marks less, which is really something!

But if you don't have any idea on how to approach the civil services prelims and mains then opting for a good coaching class, in that particular subject, can do wonders. If you want to know which coaching classes are good for what subjects just ask me.

How Should You Prepare for CSAT 2011?

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 16:27:00 +0000

This seems to be an obvious question in the minds of many IAS aspirants. Although I have given some pointers here, I guess a more detailed explanation is called for.

Step 1: If you went through the UPSC civil services preliminary question papers of the past few years you would've noticed that UPSC is giving less importance to conventional stuff and laying more stress on general awareness, applied science, maps, mental ability, and of course, current affairs.

The same pattern should hold for the the GS paper of CSAT. Instead of mugging up coaching classes notes, you will be better off focusing on the topics mentioned above. Books to refer? Manorama Year Book is a must for GK, The Hindu for current affairs and GK, Oxford College Atlas for Geography, Subhash Kashyap and bare constitution for Polity, focus more on Modern History than ancient and medieval. You should prepare current affairs of the last 2 years and not just 8 months. The pattern has changed drastically.

Step 2: Mental Ability. Yes it's importance and number of questions are ever increasing. Although many candidates have got by without attempting mental ability questions so far, this could soon change from CSAT 2011. But don't refer to RS Agarwal, rather, prepare mental ability from CET or MAT notes for MBA. CAT level is higher and not required.

Step 3: Get ready to answer some psycho-analytical questions from 2011 IAS CSAT. You will be asked situational questions that test your overall personality and decision making ability. I will detail such questions in some other post.

Enough gyaan for one day. Ciao.

New Articles on IAS Interview Tips and CSAT Preparation

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 15:04:00 +0000

Hello friends. I have posted exhaustive, all-encompassing articles on civil services interview tips and on CSAT pattern and intent. The links are also on the left side of the blog. Your comments will be highly appreciated. Thanks.

IAS Interview Tips: Which Coaching Class Should You Join?

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 17:14:00 +0000

Come the IAS Mains results and the panic starts among the civil service candidates who were fortunate to have cleared the IAS Mains exam. And as most IAS aspirants aren’t completely sure of their fortunes, they generally don’t prepare for the IAS interview until the results, after which, they make a beeline to various coaching centres for mock IAS interviews. Having personally gone through this routine I thought I should list some the good coaching and other centre’s for IAS interviews along with those that you, the IAS hopeful, should avoid.

Coaching Class	Strong Points	Weak Points	Points (out of ten)
Vajiram and Ravi, Delhi	One-to-one with Ravindran is useful. Will prepare you for current issues.	IAS Interview conducted by own faculty who lack experience of civil services interview. Also, the setting is very different from the one you will face in the actual interview.	5
Chanakya IAS, Delhi	Unaware of any (Are you?)	Overhyped classes without any results to show.	2
ALS, Delhi	They do bring some public servants to conduct the mock IAS interviews.	Has been slipping down result wise for the past few years.	4
RAUs IAS, Delhi	NOTHING.	The worst coaching centre. Only seeks to grab your money through ads. AVOID IT.	0
Inspiration IAS, Delhi	Good for Public Administration Test Series.	Sunil Gupta can’t communicate properly. Also not known for Interview.	2
Ramasamy IAS, Delhi	He brings some IPS fellow every year for the mock interview.	Given to a lot of bombast but with near nil results.	2
Sankalp IAS, Delhi	Good for mock interviews. They conduct at least two mock interviews and also provide detailed feedback of your performance.	Run by the RSS, they try to give their own Saffron brand of ideology to the candidates.	7

So which coaching classes should you join for IAS interview?

Right question, since the above list is more useful to indicate which ones you should not join. I and many others who have cleared the final civil services hurdle will advise you to conduct mock interview among your own small group of interview candidates. But don’t make it too big otherwise the whole purpose of recognizing ones strong and weak points will be lost.

Other advice is you should enroll in the state run IAS coaching centres. Usually every state has at least one such IAS coaching centre and they call some senior bureaucrats who themselves have gone through the IAS interview and also interviewed many candidates for various government jobs.

Also, sitting in front of a serving or a retired bureaucrat reproduces the actual situation you will face during the UPSC interview. This can never be the case in private coaching centres no matter what they promise.

If you have your own views to share or queries in mind, kindly use the comment box below to give expression to your thoughts.

IAS CSAT Pattern, Subjects and Marks with FAQ

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:32:00 +0000

Many civil service candidates are anxious to know about the Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT, and rightly so. So here’s the most current information on CSAT available. Rest assured this blog will be the first to update you on the latest UPSC CSAT news as when they come. For that make sure you bookmark the page by pressing Ctrl-D and better still, follow me on Twitter where I have started tweeting about the IAS exams news, views and books on a regular basis.

Enough self promotion and on to CSAT information.

Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) Pattern (tentative)

PAPER 1	PAPER 2
Aptitude Test for testing the candidates from moral and ethical dimension.	Similar to present General Studies to test the conventional, un-conventional and current affairs knowledge of candidate.

NOTE: Both papers will carry equal marks

Likely Marks:

Paper 1: 150 Marks

Paper 2: 150 Marks

Total CSAT Marks: 300

CSAT FAQ:

1. So will the optional subject be done away with?

As of now the Civil Services Prelims exams will not have optional subjects but two common papers for all candidates.

2. Will the IAS mains pattern also change?

No decision in this regard has been taken so far by UPSC. But the mains pattern will also be changed drastically sooner than later.

3. Will the number of attempts remain the same?

Although the UPSC favors reducing the maximum number of attempts for the IAS exams, the final decision will be taken by the central government. So this is a political question and will depend on the will of reformers within the government to push for lowering the attempt limit against stiff resistance from certain quarters.

4. Will the upper age limit be reduced?

This was also recommended by the second ARC and PC Hota committee and the UPSC favors reduction in the age limit but again a political decision and any reduction will see large scale student protests as witnessed in Andhra Pradesh recently.

5. Any tips?

Have a back up, be ready for any eventuality and prepare for the current attempt like it’s your last one and look to clear the civils this year itself.

Note: Books for CSAT are availabe

Is the UPSC Evaluation Process Transparent?

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:49:00 +0000

Every year thousands of hopefuls give the IAS Mains exams with great anticipation and hope. Some do very well in the Civil Services Mains, some average and others not so good. So who should be clearing the Mains hurdle? The very good ones or the average and not so good ones? While this may seem a no brainer to some, UPSC has its own thinking.

Not only does the UPSC indulge in scaling, the criteria of which no one one knows, but also follows a very secretive civil services papers evaluation process. The end result is that many deserving IAS hopefuls get left behind whereas many guys, whose papers weren't as good (and this is admitted by the candidates themselves) get through the civil services mains. This has led to many agitations and filing of writ petitions in various High Courts and even the Supreme Court, all of which are in different stages of appeal.

So can the premier recruitment agency in India afford to be so secretive that the candidates who appear for the IAS exams have no or very little faith in it? My article on Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT contains a link to the article in Frontline (issue dated 13-26 March 2010) in which this questionable attitude of UPSC is analyzed in detail.

Committee after committee has gone into the UPSC's working (the latest being the Natchiappan committee) but have failed to elicit any response from UPSC regarding the evaluation and the scaling methodology adopted. Guess the mandarins at UPSC have their own logic, which is too sacrosanct for us mortals to understand.

Civil Services Aptitude Test from 2011 Pre

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:12:00 +0000

Yes, the genie is out! Civil Services Aptitude Test or CSAT will be replacing the current Civil Services Preliminary examination from the 2011 calendar. While many may rejoice, old timers who have mastered the present pattern will surely be disappointed. After all, it's not easy to learn something completely new and different and that too when you're left with just an attempt or two.

In case you think the CSAT news is just another rumor, think again. The source this time is the very credible Frontline magazine and the report has been acknowledged by the Minister for Personnel in a reply to a Parliamentary question. Also check out this interesting article in TOI. So winds of change are finally here, to be precise, 31 years after the first IAS Pre in 1979.

So what will be the CSAT like, similar to CAT or MAT or will UPSC really innovate and come up with a surprise, as it has been doing for the past few years. Let's wait and watch. Although we can get some indication from the Minister's reply who said that CSAT will consist of 2 papers, one for testing the aptitude for civil services and the second for testing the moral and ethical qualities of the candidates. Both papers will be compulsory and the optional subject will be done away with. As for changes in the Mains, they are still to be approved by the Union government.

For those of you planning to appear for the 2010 Civil Services Preliminary Exam, give it your best shot because the you don't know what's in store the next year!

UPSC Civil Services Mains 2009 IAS Results

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 13:59:00 +0000

While speculation is rife about the declaration of Mains 2009 Civil Services results, which is usual at this time of the year, no one (and I mean no one) can predict the exact dates of the Mains 2009 IAS results. Such are the ways of good old UPSC.

Every year coaching classes, claiming insider information, leak dates to create euphoria among unsuspecting and highly anxious IAS aspirants, only to disappoint them a few days later. But my honest advice to all fellow civil service aspirants is this: don't fall into the trap of these coaching classes, no matter how reputed or unknown they are. And this includes the exalted Vajiram and ALS.

All that the IAS coaching centres are interested in is enrolling you for their interview batches. And as we all know the popular saying "Jo Civils Clear Hua Wahi Sikandar" ( the one who clears the civil services exam is the real champ), all coaching classes are very keen to get as many aspirants names on their registers as possible, before the actual results come.

There are many classes who are not even worth attending even if they offer free coaching, still they claim top rankers as their students. How is this possible? Simply because you might have visited them for some inquiry, asking for some mains results related info and they happily noted down your name and roll no only to misuse it after the final results in May.

Friends, remember this. When will the results be declared, even the UPSC may not be knowing, if past experience is anything to go by. After all the manipulation is completed, yes marks are tampered with every year, they might just decide "lets release the results today or tomorrow" or they might decide not to release it on the chosen day. Understanding UPSC is like banging ones head against the wall, literally.

So relax. Do your prayers or whatever you do and study, if you can, while you wait for the Mains 2009 results. All the best!

IAS Civil Services Exams 2010 UPSC Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:35:00 +0000

Well as you know UPSC does not conduct just one exam in a year but many competitive exams, the most important of which is the IAS or the civil services exam. If you want to find out the list of all the exams including IAS civil services exams to be conducted by UPSC in 2010, you can do so here. UPSC does a great service by announcing the year's exam schedule in advance so candidates can accordingly plan and prepare for the IAS and other competitive exams. Of course this is in stark contrast to the practice followed by the regional boards that, many times, do not even publish the exam notification on their websites, that cry out for being updated.

UPPCS recently announced the Combined State Upper Subordinate Exams but did not bother to post the notification online on their website! So candidates living in areas where access to employment news is difficult will be left in the dark. Fortunately this is not the case with Union Public Service Commission that conducts the prestigious Civil Services Exam 2010 for entry into IAS, IPS and other top services.

IAS Exam 2010 Guidelines and Suggestions

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Now that the notification for the Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2010 is out the next step is filling out the form correctly and on time. If you want to get the initial roll number for the IAS Pre then you will have to submit the Civil Services Preliminary Exam form as soon as possible as the roll numbers are allocated by UPSC on first-come-first-serve basis. I remember this is of some significance in Mumbai as those with the early roll numbers always got the centers in South Mumbai whereas those with the later roll numbers for Prelims had to settle for the suburbs.

Even in case of Delhi the early roll numbers will get the UPSC center at Dholpur House while the rest will have to make do with some or the other school. Also remember you can also post more than one application for to be sure of reaching UPSC but make sure both the forms are entirely identical in all respects. Any differences in the details and both the forms will be rejected and you will be debarred from apperaing for 2010 Civil Services Pre Exam.

As far as the choice of optionals is concerned choose a optional that you are most comfortable with irrespective of whether or not it is a scoring subject or not. Scoring is relative and candidates always score well in subjects which they have mastered even though such a optional was considered low scoring. For instance, Mathematics and Sanskrit. So with these points in mind fill out your 2010 IAS Pre form coolly and calmly.

UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Exam 2010 Notification

noreply@blogger.com (Lazylord) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 20:13:00 +0000

UPSC has finally come out with the 2010 Civil Services Pre notification, full one month late than last year. And the good news is that the pattern and all other criteria remain the same as last year. What a relief. While there were many speculations on major changes being introduced in this years pre, nothing of that sought has happened. In fact UPSC has given us a nice New Year's Gift by announcing 900 vacancies in 2010 Civil Services exam notification.

A report in the Hindustan Times a few days back had stated that due to the Telangana crisis, the government doesn't want another flare up in the form of agitating students; hence it wisely decided to postpone the introduction of the far-reaching changes to a later date. It may be recalled that UPSC was seriously considering implementing the recommendations of the 2^nd ARC from the 2010 pre itself. These recommendations were also made by other committees including Y.K. Alagh Committee and P.C. Hota committee. The radical recommendations included reducing the upper age limit to 25-26 years from the present 30 years. Also it was suggested to do away with the optional entirely at the preliminary and the mains stages as it brought in a lot of subjectivity and candidates could get through merely by cramming the answers, which were mostly provided by the coaching classes.

The Y.K. Alagh committee recommended common papers for all in the Mains exam and introducing two G.S. papers at the preliminary stage. If this were to be carried out, then the pre veterans are sure to lose out as they can easily get through the pre by focusing on the optional paper while almost completely neglecting the GS. In fact it's not uncommon to find people who have cleared the Civil Services Pre by scoring as low as 30-35 in GS paper provided they had scored more than 82-85 in their optional. But if the optional paper were to be eliminated then such candidates will have to again return to their GS books.

In spite of the short term relief provided by the UPSC 2010 pre notification, candidates will only have a small respite as the changes are sure to be introduced in the next 2 to 3 years. So it's advisable to try and clear the civils this year itself, especially when there are 900 odd seats for the taking. I expect the pre cut-off to shoot up this time as students will not take a complacent attitude and will hit the books right away. What do you think?

Detailed Notification of UPSC Civil Services Pre 2010