Hello Everyone,
I am Kartikeya Jaiswal (AIR 35, UPSC CSE 2021). This will be my official channel for sharing my strategy, notes and other CSE-related stuff. My strategy may not be the best one or the most suitable for you. So, as the description says, Critically Analyse before Consumption. Hope to help some of you. Thanks.
RANK 35 Topper KARTIKEYA JAISWAL Marksheet:
Who am I:
I graduated from St. Stephen's College (University of Delhi) in 2020, with B. Sc. (H) in
Mathematics. My Optional was also Mathematics. This was my first attempt. I have created this channel to be a one-stop solution for the queries people had regarding my strategy. Adopt what suits you, if at all, discard the rest.
Coaching Institutes I was associated with:
1. Took VisionIAS GS test series for Mains (in Feb., 2021)
2. Took IMS Maths test series for my Optional, i.e. Maths (in Feb., 2021 and Oct., 2021)
3. Took Mock Interviews at Byju's, Chahal Academy-cum-Dikshant, KSG, Vajirao and Reddy, Unacademy, Vision, Rau's and Samkalp
Note:
1. I read VisionIAS monthly magazines (free pdf is uploaded on its website)
2. I read VisionIAS and Insights daily current affairs (freely available online)
3. I accessed IMS notes (for Maths) from the Google Drive link on their Telegram channel and got the pdfs of the notes printed. These notes were my source material for self-study of Maths. Only for Physics-related portions, I used Krishna Series books. No other books for any other Maths topic. Solved previous years' IMS tests for practice
4. I only solved Prelims tests through pdfs which are freely available online and solved various quizzes and open tests by different institutes
5. Used mains tests pdfs, which I could find freely available online, for practice
6. For essays, no test series. Only got some of them evaluated by my friends and seniors (a bunch of aspirants and non-aspirants). More on this in the Essay related post (Coming Soon..)
Current Affairs Sources (Prelims and Mains):
Newspaper (The Hindu) - When I started preparing, I took 1.5 hrs to read. In a few months, the time reduced to 45-50 mins. I felt 45 mins. to be the optimal duration. Try speed reading the articles in general and read only the keywords carefully. Always bear the Syllabus and PYQs in mind.
Daily CA material tailor-made for CSE -
1) VisionIAS Daily CA - Covers news comprehensively. Gives some background information also. E.g.- An article on a newly launched scheme in renewable energy sector, would also cover past schemes of that sector and some stats. Overall, quite useful.
2) Insights Daily CA - Often a direct copy-paste of newspaper articles, or its own website's past articles. But helpful, coz by repetition, it facilitates revision. More revision, better absorption.
Monthly Magazine - VisionIAS. Got its pdf printed on my own, every month. Read only these for repeated CA revisions. Had Maths optional, so no time to make Yojana for the ultimate Kurukshetra
Union Budget and Economic Survey - Read their Analysis (not just Summary) by VisionIAS
Note -
1) Personality Test (Interview) preparation requires a different strategy to cover CA thoroughly, which I'll be sharing in due course.
2) Note making strategy for CA will be shared shortly.
Booklist for Static parts of the Syllabus - Both Prelims and Mains (primarily GS 1, 2 and 3)
Ancient and Medieval (A&M) History - Tamil Nadu board 11th Std History book, supplemented by NIOS textbook for A&M history. These were my Core Materials. Read 12th NCERTs for A&M history only after finishing the Core texts, for covering anything that may have been left out.
Art and Culture - 11th Std Fine Arts NCERT. Read through VisionIAS material on A&C a couple of times, was quite good.
Modern History - Spectrum (by Rajiv Ahir)
Post Independence History - 12th NCERT for Political Science and Spectrum's last few chapters.
World History - Old NCERTs of 9th and 10th Std. for World History, by Arjun Dev
Geography - 11th and 12th NCERT, G. C. Leong and Maps (bought an Oxford Atlas, but only used it for the full size Maps attached at the end and for map drawing practice)
Polity - Laxmikant and Bare Acts of the Constitution (These days they ask Direct questions from the Constitution). Read 11th NCERT for basic knowledge of political science (I am from Science background)
Economy - Sriram IAS book on Indian Economy (quite good) and 11th and 12th NCERT (Except 12th std. Microeconomics)
Environment - Shankar IAS book (cursory reading). Focused on a topic specifically only if asked in a PYQ or repeated often in Prelims mocks. Went through the last 4 chapters of 12th Std. Bio NCERT
Science and Technology, IR, Internal Security etc. - Newspaper; Daily news material on VisionIAS and Insights website and VisionIAS monthly magazines.
Extras -
1) Made short notes on Landmark Judgements by SC in the past (gathered material from the internet) - Name of the case, year and key observations in the verdict
2) Made notes on important provisions of Bills passed/being discussed by the Parliament and of "policies" brought out by the government ("Policies" and "Schemes" are different)
3) Made a list of important committees and commissions, particularly for important sectors, e.g. Agriculture, Electoral Reforms, Centre-State relations, Poverty etc.
4) Noted down only the Recommendations of 2nd ARC (in detail, for Ethics Report and just the gist for the rest)
5) Made a list of all the SDGs, for ready recall during Mains answer writing. Writing a few schemes and stats related to each SDG may be doubly helpful.
6) With only a few months left for Mains, made a list of key stats, in sectors like Education, Healthcare, Environment, Agriculture etc. for quickly quoting in Mains answers.
7) Took notes of key observations by SC in contemporary cases (2020 and 2021)
8) Made a list of India's rankings in key global indices and noted down the indices brought out by NITI Aayog, RBI etc.
More strategy and tips in other articles.
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