@spartanx said:@cooldude13This is what I was told by an acquaintance of mine who became an IAS last year. There is a possibility of pattern being changed for mains exams so as now invest yourself in reading NCERT books on History, Geography and Polity of India. Subscribe and diligently go through magazines like wizard, chronicle and CSR. Read the Hindu daily and wait for the notification for the clarity on mains exams pattern.
@mcblutto said:hello puysin civil service examination, do they ask for any preference of services(IAS, IFS, IPS, IAAS etc.) like in SSC, or the selection totally depends on all india ranking??..pls help....
AFAIK they do ask for preference(A maximum upto 3)...but only after clearing prelims (in the mains form they have a section to mention your prefernce of services but it solely depends on your rank whther you will get in to service of your choice or not.):-)
Are the marks of prelims carried forward in mains?? and in prelims is their any sectional cutoff for paper 1 and 2 or overall marks are considerd???
@chelseaboy No the marks are not carried forward
no sectional cut off and only overall marks are considered for clearing cut off
no sectional cut off and only overall marks are considered for clearing cut off
@deepak1139 said:AFAIK they do ask for preference(A maximum upto 3)...but only after clearing prelims (in the mains form they have a section to mention your prefernce of services but it solely depends on your rank whther you will get in to service of your choice or not.)
thanks bro..
@chelseaboy
Prelims exam is qualifying exam only.
Prelims marks arr counted nowhere except for shortlisting candidates for.Mains exams.
Prelims are of 400 marks. You need to get around 200-220 to get it passed.
@deepak1139 You will be asked for preference for all the services when you clear prelims and apply for Mains exam.
@deepak1139 said:AFAIK they do ask for preference(A maximum upto 3)...but only after clearing prelims (in the mains form they have a section to mention your prefernce of services but it solely depends on your rank whther you will get in to service of your choice or not.)
@chelseaboy For Paper I, you cannot just rely on any one book. From my personal experience, I do not like to recommend reliance on any guide for the entire paper. You will have to prepare for it from many books on various subjects. The fundamental book list for Paper I (previously GS prelims), can be found on my blog: https://palakmathur.wordpress.com/notes/general-studies/book-list-for-general-studies-for-upsc-cse/
@chelseaboy said:Can any1 plz guide me for which books should i refer to for paper1 of csat 2013???
@ninadgac said:Which one is better book for prelims preparationCSAT Unique Quintessence of General StudiesorGeneral Studies for Services Preliminary Examination 2013 By TMH
None. Rely on regular books rather than Guides.
@rohit03 said:@PalakMathur sir if u hav some tips on how to read newspaper as i have started reading hindu and business standard but not able to gauge which news is important which is not except some 2-3 news like recently an article was published about cop11. so i cut it out please help by giving some example like yesterday paper plz.
That is going to be difficult to tell on a forum. It needs lot of explaining. But I will give it a try.
How to read a newspaper?
1. Go through previous years Question Papers and try to figure out what questions were of Current Affairs nature. It will be quite difficult to estimate as what was current then is history for you. So, have internet handy and figure out whether the year in which question was asked had the news about that topic.
2. Analyze the issues and try to make the list of them.
3. Try to find out those topics in the newspapers. Prepare notes from them.
4. Political news like what BJP, Congress said about each other can be ignored. Electoral analysis etc can be read.
5. Local news can be ignored until and unless it has serious national or international implications. News like related to Vidhan Sabha, etc can be ignored unless they are directly related to Indian Polity.
6. Basically news related to two countries that doesn't involve India can be ignored. But again if it is something unique and can have implications from a wider international perspective, should be noted down. I will give you an example here: In 2011 Mains, there was a question on melting of ice on Arctic Circle and the fight that was going on between US, Canada and other countries of that region. The question asked what will be the implication of this and the role of India on this issue.
7. Similarly in 2009, there was a news regarding Alteration of common boundaries between two countries (I do not remember the names of the countries now) due to the melting of ice. It was unique thing to happen that countries were altering their boundaries. It is important not only as an environmental issue. But also because of what international laws permitted those. Also, if anything like that happens with India, what laws/constitutional provisions permit this.
8. Any other news that you feel fits the nature of questions being asked is important.
9. There may be many other points that I am currently not able to think about.
All the best.
How to read a newspaper?
1. Go through previous years Question Papers and try to figure out what questions were of Current Affairs nature. It will be quite difficult to estimate as what was current then is history for you. So, have internet handy and figure out whether the year in which question was asked had the news about that topic.
2. Analyze the issues and try to make the list of them.
3. Try to find out those topics in the newspapers. Prepare notes from them.
4. Political news like what BJP, Congress said about each other can be ignored. Electoral analysis etc can be read.
5. Local news can be ignored until and unless it has serious national or international implications. News like related to Vidhan Sabha, etc can be ignored unless they are directly related to Indian Polity.
6. Basically news related to two countries that doesn't involve India can be ignored. But again if it is something unique and can have implications from a wider international perspective, should be noted down. I will give you an example here: In 2011 Mains, there was a question on melting of ice on Arctic Circle and the fight that was going on between US, Canada and other countries of that region. The question asked what will be the implication of this and the role of India on this issue.
7. Similarly in 2009, there was a news regarding Alteration of common boundaries between two countries (I do not remember the names of the countries now) due to the melting of ice. It was unique thing to happen that countries were altering their boundaries. It is important not only as an environmental issue. But also because of what international laws permitted those. Also, if anything like that happens with India, what laws/constitutional provisions permit this.
8. Any other news that you feel fits the nature of questions being asked is important.
9. There may be many other points that I am currently not able to think about.
All the best.
@PalakMathur hey Palak.. I am planning for UPSC 2014. Want to know which books should I read to get started.. Also, many ppl say to go thru NCERTs,which subjects one shud cover in NCERTs, and which standard NCERTs one shuld cover.. like many say std. 8th to 12th will suffice while other emphasize on from 1st to 12th..
Thanks in advance
@pujakumari988
@pujakumari988 said:@PalakMathur hey Palak.. I am planning for UPSC 2014. Want to know which books should I read to get started.. Also, many ppl say to go thru NCERTs,which subjects one shud cover in NCERTs, and which standard NCERTs one shuld cover.. like many say std. 8th to 12th will suffice while other emphasize on from 1st to 12th.. Thanks in advance
can i say something??????///
hmm....
- ncert ( from 6th to 12th) to make the concepts....
my seniors said : modern india is more important in history... so more focus on that..
they told me to refer previos yr papers and syllabus...and as per that to read the topics.... thanxxxxxxx...(not in advance...lolz)
@pujakumari988 it's for basics.... after completing these, u got to move forward to read from advanced books....
and for the same i have the list of books....
for mains, u got to prepare for two optional papers which u will opt....
also for general studies: unique or TMH.
for literature : don't know yet... i'll ask and let u knw later...
but we got to study step wise.... no jumping.... :-p
@kplight said:@pujakumari988 it's for basics.... after completing these, u got to move forward to read from advanced books....and for the same i have the list of books....for mains, u got to prepare for two optional papers which u will opt....also for general studies: unique or TMH.for literature : don't know yet... i'll ask and let u knw later...but we got to study step wise.... no jumping....
Please provide me with the list.. I hv started reading history, economics, geo from NCERTs and GS from TMH.. however TMH looks so huge for now.. :P
@pujakumari988 said:Please provide me with the list.. I hv started reading history, economics, geo from NCERTs and GS from TMH.. however TMH looks so huge for now..
yup... tmh books are huge...not only tmh everything is huge... :-p
but i would say use that as a dictionary to clear concepts.... :-)
right now i m in cafe... i'll give u the list after reaching home...
@kplight said:yup... tmh books are huge...not only tmh everything is huge...but i would say use that as a dictionary to clear concepts....right now i m in cafe... i'll give u the list after reaching home...
Sure.. My Pleasure..
all the best for prep 
and one thing i m not " sir " 
i will also appear in 2014 because this time i m busy with my technical studies (prep of ies and all)...
:-p