Year 2017 Prelims Paper
- This year’s paper was more conceptual compared to the papers of CSAT era and it displayed a good mix of current affairs and conventional subjects.
- The level of questions ranged from easy to moderate and difficult from almost in all the sections. The elimination was difficult as the options framed were too close or very similar.
- However, even in conventional or static portion the tilt was more towards Polity and Governance.
- Polity questions were asked from traditional concepts as compared to previous year’s trend. Eg. concept of rights, democracy, etc.
- In the current affairs section, the testing was done from their basic concepts as well as facts related to them. However, the questions from this section was not restricted to the present year but from the previous 2 – 3 years.
- Economy questions were largely drawn from Current Affairs eg- GST, Monetary Policy Committee, etc. but conventional understanding in questions like post 1991 reforms, etc was also checked.
- Geography and Environment sections were difficult to attempt and required conceptual clarity, linkage of current affairs with basic concepts (e.g. Indian Ocean Dipole), detailed reading of Atlas, Conventions/Alliance to which India is not party were also asked (e.g GCCA, etc), the questions on unique features of geographical locations were also focused (eg Chandipur, Sathyamangalam Tiger Reserve).
- The overall weightage to History sections has remained more or less same but difficulty level has increased in terms of factual knowledge and standard sources.
- S& T questions were largely drawn from news items.
- Govt initiatives ranging from education, health and nutrition, etc. were again focused this year but solving them required deeper knowledge.
- Deceptive presentation is a common method to segregate deep knowledge with superficial knowledge or hunch. This technique was used in questions like National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (4,00,000 crores), National Pension Scheme( age group), etc.
- Pointers for most of the questions could be traced to standard sources such as The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB, etc. But as recommended earlier, in the age of internet, complete knowledge of topic is expected.
Suggestions:
- In a difficult paper, the static-conventional part is the savior. Thoroughly read basic/standard books to be very clear of basic concepts. One good News Paper (like The Hindu, Indian Express, etc) and sites like PIB, PRS must be followed.
- One shall also read India Year Book, as many of the questions related to government initiatives could be answered based on that.
- Regularly follow the current issues and news. One should combine reading newspaper with simultaneous revision of related conceptual key terms.
- Read one good book on each traditional subject. This will help in prelims, mains and interview i.e. all stages of examination. This will also help in making some unapproachable question approachable.
- Be ready for both analytical and factual questions at the same time. This year there is a fair combination of both.
- In this year’s paper, where difficulty level is on the higher side, number of attempted Q's also matter.
In case of confusing options, one cannot go on attempting all as has been the case in previous years.
Negative marking takes a heavy toll.
- Strategy should be to avoid negative marking in tough questions and maximize your score by first finding the easy ones and completing them.
- Read questions carefully and use elimination technique wherever possible.
- One should always have few strong areas to rely on. Do not ignore your strong areas to do research in weak areas.
- Solving previous year’s questions would help in identifying the key areas which UPSC focuses on.
Many of the topics from static portion (like Trade disputes act, liberalization etc.) have been asked earlier by UPSC.