Monday, June 29, 2009 Strategy For General Studies in UPSC(Mains) Many readers of this blog have repeatedly

requested that this effort should not just be limited to prelims and should also give some pointers on mains preparation. So here is a first hand account by my friend Umesh Agarwal , AIR-237, who has been a driving force behind this blog. I (Umesh agarwal)could score only 309 in 2007 mains where average GS score was around 330 ,though I got the interview Call .While preparing for my 2008 attempt I met Mr Ajit Sinha of Expert Brains and he advised me to follow the guidelines as prescribed by their Experts. I judiciously followed the guidelines as prescribed by their Experts keeping in mind the concept of bounded rationality and by the grace of god , I scored 172 in paper 1 and 173 in paper 2 i.e., 345 ( highest - 353 ) ,where average GS score in 2008 mains was around 285. My strategy in a nutshell : History I studied from Spectrum and Class 12th NCERT and for 2-markers i referred 'Up to the mark' and 2markers given in the test series. Polity I studied from the Vajiram ' Yellow Book and supplemented it from class 12th NCERT i.e., democracy at work. National Issues and Social Issues I referred last one year Yojna , one year chronicle and Vajiram 'class notes Geography I didn't prepare at all. International Relations I referred one year chronicle and supplemented it with vajiram'class notes. Economics I referred India Year Book , Economic Survey,Uma Kapila ,and Vajiram class notes . Science & Technology

I didn't study S&T and lost some marks in this section , hence i am unable to guide you for this section. Statistics I studied from S K Manocha's book and I practiced it in the same way as I would have to appear in my Mains keeping the time and graph paper along with the question papers.

With warm regards Umesh Agarwal (AIR -237)