HISTORY SOURCE CODE, THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST, CLUES AND THE ULTIMATE QUEST

A serious UPSC aspirant should know that History for the UPSC exam is nothing like the history they
read in school where you could get away with simple memorization.

This is a tragedy because History is so much more than names and dates.

History is a fascinating tale of human civilisation which is read and understood by studying what
remains- records, manuscripts, artifacts, and monuments from a time long before you were born.

The story of history encompasses empires, kings, battles, lifestyles, cultures, and everything else
that our ancestors might have experienced as significant. Just like we experience smartphones,
9/11, Covid-19 and the Burj Khalifa. (This means we are creating history as we go, which begs the
question- will our global civilization fall like all the great ones before? More importantly, will it be
our own fault if it does?)

History is the systematic study of looking back in time for stories and lessons which are worth
preserving for humanity- which is why we study Asoka the great and his principles of Good

COMPATIBLE WITH STRATEGYZER AND THE NAVIGATOR

ONLY FOR DESIGNATED NAVIGATOR OWNERS
 HISTORY SOURCE CODE, THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST, CLUES AND THE ULTIMATE QUEST

governance- an idea which informs our own policies to this day, more than 2000 years after the
great emperor embraced compassion in the teachings of the Buddha. (Buddhism- another grand
idea born in India).

A country like India- ancient, rich with kings, empires, culture, and big ideas has plenty worth
preserving.

As a UPSC aspirant this should strike you as a fascinating thing- something to be curious about. And,
as an opportunity because it is probably the only time in your life you will have the luxury of time
to learn these wonderful things.

This is the mindset with which you must approach History.

SOURCE-CODE

BPF PLAYLIST

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLdxpC-9Y5l8OYEaa5dgZIx0FQGHCkS1_i

The Playlist should be used to form a visual narrative and big picture overview of the Historical
timeline, events etc.

The richer your understanding during the BPF, the easier it will be for you to consume the text to
follow in the other stages.

1ST READING

Wikipedia briefs
Google images

COMPATIBLE WITH STRATEGYZER AND THE NAVIGATOR

ONLY FOR DESIGNATED NAVIGATOR OWNERS
 HISTORY SOURCE CODE, THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST, CLUES AND THE ULTIMATE QUEST

TN Board Class 11 book/ Old NCERT Class 11th

NCERT Class 11th: An introduction to fine arts
CCRT Website
Class 12th old NCERT
A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir (Popularly known as ‘The Spectrum’)

Game Master Clues-

• 1st Reading should involve going over all topics superficially.
• Stop to google and explore new words, personalities, and events as you encounter
them.
• Connect everything to the Big Picture obtained from BPF above.
• Mark important points, highlight important passages which you anticipate will
require more study.
• CCRT website is a very potent tool for Ancient India and should be covered
thoroughly.
• Do not focus on memorization.
• Focus on organisation and adding a deeper layer of details from the BPF obtained
from the documentaries.
• To judge if you are on the right track, take a quick look at PYQs after 1 st Reading and
see if you can recognise some or many of the topics about which questions have
been asked.

2ND READING

TN Board Class 11 book/ Old NCERT Class 11th

NCERT Class 11th: An introduction to fine arts
CCRT Website
Class 12th old NCERT
A Brief History of Modern India by Rajiv Ahir (Popularly known as ‘Spectrum’)
---------------

Go to these sources for further detail enrichment ONLY If time permits and the
above sources have been mastered-
i. Nitin Singhania Art & Culture

ii. Poonam Dalal Modern Indian History

iii. Poonam Dalal Ancient and Medieval History- McGraw Hill

Game Master Clues-

• Spend most of your time in this phase.
• Stop to memorize when needed.
• When you lose your chain of narrative, go back and rebuild it until the
historical story is clear to you.

COMPATIBLE WITH STRATEGYZER AND THE NAVIGATOR

ONLY FOR DESIGNATED NAVIGATOR OWNERS
HISTORY SOURCE CODE, THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST, CLUES AND THE ULTIMATE QUEST

• Repeat the reading as many times as needed until you know the chapters
in detail and can arrange them in a SINGLE Narrative in your mind.
• The level of detail in your memory should be at LEAST as much as the
level of detail in the NCERT (Bipin Chandra)
• You should easily be able to arrange historical events in a chronological
order and know how they are connected. .
• To judge if you are on the right track, take a quick look at PYQs after 2nd
Reading and see if you can accurately answer and pinpoint most of the topics
about which questions have been asked.

COMPATIBLE WITH STRATEGYZER AND THE NAVIGATOR

ONLY FOR DESIGNATED NAVIGATOR OWNERS
 HISTORY SOURCE CODE, THE ULTIMATE PLAYLIST, CLUES AND THE ULTIMATE QUEST

STUDY PLAN

Your strategy and study plan depends on how much time you have at
your disposal and how much you have already covered.

If you have around than 30 days for History, you can use the
following time allocation-

1. BPF- 4 days
2. 1st Reading- 6 days
3. 2nd Reading – 14 days
4. Analyse PYQ – 2 Days
5. Revision – 5 days
6. Testing- 2 Days

If you have less than 20 days for History, you can use the following
time allocation-

1. BPF- 2 days
2. 1st Reading- 4 days
3. 2nd Reading – 10 days
4. Analyse PYQ – 1 Days
5. Revision – 2 days
6. Testing- 1 Days

You should feel free to change and tweak your strategy as required.

COMPATIBLE WITH STRATEGYZER AND THE NAVIGATOR

ONLY FOR DESIGNATED NAVIGATOR OWNERS