A brief introduction about myself An engineer by graduation and anthropologist/history buff by passion. Rank 58 UPSC 2020, IAS Telangana.
Hey everyone,
Myself Faizan Ahmed, I belong to Kota, Rajasthan. I completed my schooling from St. Paul's School Mala Road Kota and then did my undergrad from University College of Engineering, Rajasthan Technical University, Kota in mechanical engineering. I graduated in 2018.
This was my second attempt at UPSC in which I cleared the exam with an all India rank 58. In my first attempt, I could not even clear the prelims. My optional subject was anthropology and I am currently pursuing postgrad in the same from IGNOU. I have represented my university at zonal level in table tennis. I love quizzing.
When I am not studying, I can be found playing football, badminton, video games, reading non-fiction books and travelling to different places.
I am an IAS officer of 2021 batch and have been allocated Telangana cadre.
I will be honest with you, I wanted to be something like this in my life but never pursued it seriously until I graduated. I just wanted to have fun and enjoy my life just like other most youth of my age.
I pursued UPSC because I did not have any other better options due to my lack of interest in engineering as such and since it was also a dream of my late grandparents who wanted to see me as a collector, doing good to those who are marginalised and less privileged. So I decided to take a shot at it and fortunately cleared it with the support and prayers of my near and dear ones. The people who clear this exam are normal human beings like you yourself and not some kind of Gods or exceptional superhuman stuff. There's no Captain America or Shaktiman amongst us who have cleared the exam, only sheer dedication, commitment and consistency to achieve what we wanted to achieve and then also, little bit of luck and prayers earned through goodwill.
So if I can clear this exam, more certainly you also can clear it. Believe me when I say that.
I would be trying my best to guide and help you in whatever way I can so that you also can fulfill your dream of being a civil servant.
That's it for now. Adios. Take care. 🌸🌼💐
URGENT MATTERS FIRST!
For those who wrote prelims 2022
The cutoffs I suppose will be almost on the lines of the previous year prelims cutoffs only, with a deviation of 2 or 3 marks (+/-)
If you're scoring near these marks, then I would advise you, as all others would, that start preparing for mains. One of my very dear friend missed out last year because he was on the border and did not believe that he could clear the exam and hence, lost precious time of preparation.
So take a couple of days off, check the keys and start your preparation in case you're not appearing for UPPCS next Sunday.
Start with three things -
1. Optional
2. Ethics
3. Essay
In case, even if you are not able to clear this prelims, preparation for these will definitely come handy for the next attempt. Also, these three have limited syllabus and are very scoring. Imagine, GS4 have only one subject that is ethics while GS 3 have multitude of subjects (economics, agriculture, disaster management, security, science and technology, etc.) that you need to study for the same 250 marks on offer. So you can focus more on ethics which have syllabus equivalent to, say economics and hence score more marks that is what I did.
Same is true for optional, 500 marks on the offering and with limited syllabus, you can clear the exam if you score 260+, even if you lack somewhere in essay or some GS papers.
Similarly, for essay also, you have 250 marks on offer and not very huge syllabus to cover. Would soon share a small essay strategy that worked for me.
For now if you're very very confident, you can go for test series but if you have some doubts, then wait till the result of prelims is out.
So, start working on these three areas till the prelims results are out and I hope and pray that you make it.
And yes, insane and humanly impossible 15-16 hour study is not required, consistent daily study for 8-10 hours is sufficient for the exam, trust me.
All the best! 💪🔥
Booklist and Sources -
History
1. Ancient
Ncert class 6 to 8, themes in Indian history part 1 class 11, Ancient India by RS Sharma or Tamil Nadu class 11 textbook
2. Medieval
ncert class 6 to 8, themes in Indian history part 2 class 11, Tamil Nadu board class 11th
3. Modern Indian history
NCERT class 6 to 8, themes in Indian history part 3 class 11, Spectrum Modern India by Rajiv Ahir, From Plassey to Partition by Sekhar Bandopadhyay (esp for mains)
4. Post-independence
NCERT Class 12 Politics in India since independence, Vision IAS material on post independence lndia
5. World History
Don't need to devote a lot of time for this since hardly one question asked in GS1.
OnlyIAS pdf on world history
Arjun Dev History of the World - just superficial reading, no need to dwell deep
Other sources -
1. Bharat ek khoj series on YouTube
2. Pradhan Mantri series on YouTube
3. Crash Course channel YouTube - agriculture revolution, indus valley civilization, Buddha and Ashoka, silk route trade, the dark ages, renaissance, American revolution, french revolution, industrial revolution, capitalism and socialism, imperialism, world war 1, world war 2, nationalism, China's revolution, cold war, decolonisation, globalization 1 and 2
Art and Culture
1. NCERT class 11 - An Introduction to Indian Art part 1
2. Art and Culture by Nitin Singhania - selected chapters only - Indian Architecture, Sculpture and Pottery
Edicts and Inscriptions
Indian Paintings
Indian Handicrafts*
Indian Music
Indian dance forms
Indian theatre*
Indian puppetry*
Martial Arts in India*
UNESCO’S List of Intangible Cultural Heritage
Languages in India (don't dwell deep)
Religion in India
Buddhism and Jainism
Indian Literature
Philosophy
Fair and festivals*
India through the eyes of foreign travellers
Bhakti and Sufi movements
*Try to mainly memorise the type and where it belong to as questions from these chapters mostly come in the form of match the correct pairs.
Booklist and Sources
Geography
NCERT - Class 6 to 12 if you are from technical background and not humanities
NCERT - Class 11 and 12 if you are from humanities background
Geography: NCERT Class VI – The Earth Our Habitat
Geography: NCERT Class VII – Our Environment
Geography: NCERT Class VIII – Resource and Development
Geography: NCERT Class IX – Contemporary India – I
Geography: NCERT Class X – Contemporary India – II
Geography: NCERT Class XI – Fundamentals of Physical Geography
Geography: NCERT Class XI – India – Physical Environment
Geography: NCERT Class XII – Fundamentals of Human Geography
Geography: NCERT Class XII – India – People and Economy
GC Leong - selected chapters only as follows:
Ch 1, 2, 3, 11, 12, 13, 14 to be read in detail and in entirety
Ch 15 to 25 need not be read in very detail, need to have a basic idea like where this type of climate found and why, types of people who live there, rainfall pattern, vegetation, latitude, crops grown, etc.
PMFIAS Geography PDF are also very good and in much detail, would recommend as they are pretty much in notes format itself.
ATLAS - Oxford student Atlas or Orient Blackswan Atlas
YouTube channels -
1. Samjho Learning
2. Amit Sen Gupta
3. Crash Course
P.S. For those doing self-study, such channels are a blessing. When you are unable to understand any particular concept, please watch a video on YouTube either on these channels or any other channel, and that will be a huge help to you in understanding the concepts.
Booklist and Sources
Polity
1. NCERT - Class 9th to 12th
2. Indian Polity by M. Laxminkanth latest edition
3. Universal's The Constitution of India Bare Act
4. OnlyIAS important judgement and their significance pdf
Other sources -
1. Abhey Kumar Polity for CSE Telegram channel - it has lot of good quality polity MCQ
2. Abhey Kumar Youtube channel
3. Complete M. Laxmikanth by Siddharth Arora video on YouTube
4. Polity Laxmikanth Videos on YouTube by Study Lover Veer channel - esp recommend for Hindi medium students
Booklist and Sources
Economics
1. NCERT Class 9th to 12th (can skip microeconomics book)
2. Indian Economy by Sanjeev Varma for static concepts, unfortunately data is not updated frequently
3. Indian economy book by Sankarganesh K - very thin book, point to point explanation
4. Unacademy videos by Mrunal sir (worth it)
5. Handwritten Notes - Zulfiqar Ali sir
5. Summary of budget and economic survey (esp useful for mains)
6. Vivek Singh 550 questions for economics - for question solving practice for prelims
7. Newspaper and current affairs magazine very important for answer writing material on various topics for mains
Other sources -
1. Investopedia website
2. Arthapedia website
3. Telegram channel by Vibhas Jha sir - Economics an addiction (shares very relevant economics related news articles and other stuff)
4. Amit Sengupta videos on economics - short videos explaining basic concepts