FAQs

Sunday, March 31, 2019 1:18 AM

FAQS (personal views and comments of K Abhishek)

1. Are Hindu daily, affairscloud and gktoday sufficient for phase 1 current affairs?
Ans: Yes.

2. As there is no specific syllabus for phase 1 general awareness subject, how to analyse what to read and what not to read?
Ans: You need to think for yourselves if the current affairs you are reading is really so important that every person in the country
should know about it. Ask for yourself, if this trivia should be known to everyone of us. Filter out important ones like that.
For example: If you take rythu bandhu scheme of Telangana, it was revolutionary compared to all other schemes in the country.
Such things should be known to everyone. But not all schemes of all states. They are all common everywhere.

3. How to start the preparation for ESI and FM?

Ans: For FM start a topic from syllabus, Finish it and then go for another topic. Allot few days for each topic. Read it with utmost
concentration. The things you read should be understood completely. After reading, question yourself ‘Have I really understood
all the topics that I have read today?’. If the answer is yes, go ahead or else read them again with a fresh mind. By doing so you
will be very productive. Don’t think of time and finishing syllabus.
For ESI, start reading newspaper. Economic times is good, and before that read basics of economy. It can be done from any
source. Whenever you find a new economic term in news paper, google it and understand it. Finish newspaper and understand
every word. In a month or so you will be done with basics and will also be doing good with newspaper. There are many other
sources for ESI, but start with the above. Once you are confident with economy basics and newspaper, you can immediately start
doing the other things such as vision ias and government schemes.

4. What are the sources available for phase 2 subjects and where to start and which is the credible source to follow till the end?
Ans: For sources check the one note link I have shared. It is pinned by Edutap.

5. Is it advisable to take Edutap course?

Ans: If you don’t mind about money, you can definitely go for it. They make a lot of things easy for you. But they will also dump
you with loads of information. You need to be careful about it. One can be careful only if they are very good with the syllabus
and analyzing past papers. You need to be confident about doing only basics and should also be strong enough to not study
unnecessary things covered in the Edutap.

6. There are lot of courses available in Oliveboard, which is the best to buy mocks?
Ans: Go for phase 1 mocks of Oliveboard or practicemock , they are good. Do all of them and carefully analyze every solution
after you are done with the mock. Though the exam standard may not be as Oliveboard but doing them helps you to understand
the basics and also the type of questions asked in the grade b. They prepare questions after analyzing previous year questions
and phase 1 pattern of questions get repeated.

7. Where can I get old question papers?

Ans: In the one note link which is pinned under my youtube video. If you cannot access them, let me know.

8. Which youtube channels, websites, books and courses should I follow?

Ans: Check one note link and other selected people strategies in it

9. Did you read livemint e-paper or hardcopy? What to do if the hardcopy is not easily available?
Ans: For grade b I shifted to online mode. Everything I have done was through online. I have read every financial newspaper. But
livemint is for enthusiasts. You can do Economic times and if you have time then do livemint.
Because Economic times editorials are very good. And even in grade b the essays they ask are of exact words as in the Economic
times editorials. So if you start analyzing how they start and end the editorials you can even get yourselves ready for the English
paper.

10. Can I start reading current affairs from march or should I start from January?
Ans: March is good enough. For phase 2, try to read from January.

11. How to start the preparation for phase 2 from today itself?
Ans: While simultaneously doing current affairs, pick a topic from FM. Do it topic wise.
For example: start management from today. Take the first chapter and read it from any source. Take your own time and finish it
slowly by understanding each and every basic concept and term. Once you finish first topic go for next topic, so start doing
management and you will be finishing it in less than a month. Then you will gain some confidence that half of the paper is done.
And reading management is fun too. It may not bore you.

12. Is this time sufficient for an average student to crack the exam?
Ans: There is no such thing as average or bright students. It’s just the interest. Right now you are interested in it and so you are
as equally competitive as others. And daily 4-5 hours of study is good enough.

13. Is it necessary to read Yojana and Kurukshetra magazines?

Ans: No, not that necessary