Deciphering the Civil Services Prelims..

I had mentioned about the relevance of the syllabus in one of my earlier posts. Let us take it further to analyse the pattern for the Civil Services(Preliminary) Examination (Here after I call it CSP). A general reading of the CSP syllabus would make your heads dizzy especially for those folks from a non-Humanities background. But a clear understanding of the pattern of the previous years question papers would help a lot in making up a strategy for the examination.

Before directly going to the question paper analysis, we study the syllabus initially and present it in a simpler form. The Union Public Service Commission(UPSC) has published a 7 point syllabus for the CSP and this is in place for the last few years, and most probably will continue this year also. It is as follows:

1. History of India and Indian National Movement.
2. Indian and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World.
3. Indian Polity and Governance - Constitution, Political System, Panchayati Raj, Public Policy, Rights Issues, etc.
4. Economic and Social Development - Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.
5. General issues on Environmental Ecology, Bio-diversity and Climate Change - that do not require subject specialization.
6. General Science.
7. Current Events of National and International Importance.

Well, that covers many a things, a few among which would have definitely gone over your head. Now let me write these 7 topics once again in a plain language so that you get an overview of the syllabus, if not its details.  

1. History.
2. Geography.
3. Polity.
4. Economics.
5. Ecology and Environment.
6. Science & Technology.
7. Current affairs.

Now let us see what is the weightage for the above subjects in the CSP. It is to be noted that UPSC neither provides any such information, nor follows a fixed pattern. But a general trend can be obtained from the analysis of previous years question-papers. Below is the statistics regarding the same.

Subject	2013	2014
History	16	21
Geography	16	17
Economics	18	11
Polity	16	12
Science & Technology	16	15
Environment & Ecology	18	19
Current affairs	0	5
Total	100	100

Some highlights of the above data are:

• The distribution of marks among different topics seems to be even in 2013(except Current Affairs) while it is skewed in 2014 with topics like History getting a higher weightage.
• History - the most important sub-topics were modern Indian history and Art & Culture. The latter consumes almost half of the history questions (8 no.s) in 2013, while in 2014 the number has risen to 15. On the other hand the ancient/ medieval history is becoming less attractive w.r.t the examination, with just 2 questions being asked each in 2013 and 2014.
• Geography - Most of the questions were map-based. A few were from the field of agriculture, crops, soil-forms etc. In 2014, some questions were asked from World Geography also.
• Economics - A number of questions were from basic concepts like inflation, money supply, public finance, balance of payment etc. Also there has been a stress on the latest economic terms coming in the newspapers like Bank Saathi, Marginal Standing Facility, venture capital etc.
• Polity - Some concept oriented questions were asked from the philosophy of the Constitution. A number of questions were about the Parliament and the Union Executive. The 2014 questions were a lot simpler when compared to the previous year.
• Science & Technology - Many questions were life-science based ie related to living-organisms like micro-organisms, plants, animals and human-beings. A few questions were asked from areas like science in daily-life and latest advancements in technology. 
• Environment & Ecology - The number of questions from this topic has remained almost the same in 2013 and 2014. An important area is ecology and questions about the food-chain, ecological adaptations, succession and exchange of matter have been consistently asked from here. In 2014, a greater stress has been given to various organisations and statutes related to the conservation of environment.
• Current affairs - The notable fact is a set questions on current international issues asked in 2014 (like BRICS, Arctic Council etc). UPSC had not touched upon this area in 2013.

A few take-aways

The preparation for the Civil Service Examination is a smart work rather than hard work. Even though the syllabus seems to be enormous, what we should do is to prioritise the different subjects and their sub-sections. The following tips would help you in this regard.

• In History, stress upon Modern History and Art & Culture.
• In Geography, adopt a map-based learning. Be ready with an ATLAS.
• In Economics, try to understand the basic economic concepts. Track the newspapers for frequently occurring terms.
• In Polity, thoroughly understand the areas like the Executive, Parliament and Constitutional philosophy.
• In S&T, study the basic science(especially biology) from textbooks and update yourself with the latest technology.
• In Environment, understand the science concepts (like ecosystem, Green House Effect) from textbooks and update yourself with the latest happenings related to environmental degradation and its conservation.
• For current affairs, make your own short-notes on national and international issues. 

I would like you to make informed choices on top of these observations. It is better to have your own strategies rather than "doing what others do" and "reading what others read". Hence, try to be yourself and get going.. All the very best..!!!