Prelim: GS-The Monster

Prelim 2010 is the last prelim in its current avatar. There are many of us who fear the prelim the most especially the GS. I was also terrified of the GS when I started with my preparation. The syllabus seemed endless with a great amount of premium placed on the memory and recall. The amount of information to be collected and assimilated is mind numbing. However, with little planning and strategy the monster called GS can be tamed. Here is how I prepared for the GS:

1. Identified the standard books for each subject and stuck to them. Did not refer to too many books. There is no end to the number of books that one can study. Information overload must be avoided at all cost.
2. Did my own strengths/weaknesses analysis and identified the comfortable/not so comfortable/ absolutely non-comfortable areas of the syllabus. My comfort zones were POLITY, ECONOMY, MODERN INDIAN HISTORY AND CURRENT AFFAIRS. Not so comfortable zones included GEOGRAPHY, GENERAL MENTAL ABILITY, BIOLOGY and absolutely non comfortable zones were PHYSICS, CHEMISTRY AND HISTORY (MEDIEVAL AND ANCIENT).
3. I worked hard on the areas I was comfortable at so as to score every possible marks from there. For not so comfortable areas, I studied selectively focusing on the areas that I could manage. (For example in Geography, I primarily focused on Indian Geography. Similarly for General Mental Ability I only practiced questions from speed, distance, percentage, average etc. only ) I did not prepare at all for the absolutely non comfortable areas (in my case physics, chemistry, medieval and ancient history).
4. Looked at the last 10 year question papers to get an idea of the possible kind of questions. The GS paper in the last 2-3 years has undergone quite a change. The approximate division of marks for each area is not as clear as it used to be 3-4 years back. Current affairs and general awareness now account for at least 50-60 questions whereas the no of questions from medieval and ancient history has significantly reduced.
5. Took 2-3 mock tests in exam like situation.
6. I could not get myself to memorize at all. Therefore, I kept revising especially the current affairs portion many a times over and I was able to answer most of the questions. It is not necessary to know the exact answers to all the questions. Getting the right answer by excluding the irrelevant options in each question is what I did for several questions.
7. There was no tossing of coin for the questions I had absolutely no clue about. However, I answered all such questions where I was confused between two possible answers. I think it makes great sense to do that. Even if only half of such questions were to be correct, one would still be better off in terms of marks by answering them than by leaving them unanswered.
8. Following were the materials I relied on in the course of preparation:
   HISTORY- Spectrum’s and NCERT’s Modern Indian History
   GEOGRAPHY- NCERT’s text books (i) India Physical Environment-Class XI
   (ii) India People and Economy- Class XII.For world geography I just read NCERT’s text books for classes VI to VIII
   POLITY - P.M. Bakshi’s Constitution of India (Bare Act), Printed Study material of Vajiram and Ravi
   ECONOMICS- Vajiram’s Class notes and Pratiyogata Darpan’s Special issue on
   Economics. CURRENT AFFAIRS- Vajiram’s printed materials, Competition Wizard’s Special Issue on Current Affairs for Prelims and India Year Book
   BIOLOGY- Vajiram’s Class notes

Please do not go for every possible material available in the market. Stick to standard books and materials and revise them several times over. Do not aim to attempt only 60-70 questions. Target at least 100-110 questions so that you do not spend the time after prelims figuring out whether you would clear the same or not. Aim to reach the stars; we might at least land up on the moon.