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Gunjan Dwivedi, AIR 9 CSE 2018.

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Booklist/Sources (GS Mains)

 Gunjan Dwivedi  UPSC  4th Jul 2019 3 Minutes

GS 1

Culture- (Same as prelims)

An Introduction to Indian Art- class 11th ncert
Nitin Singhania’s book
Chapters related to culture in ancient and medieval history sources
Vajiram classnotes (selected topics like stone age, IVC )
Modern Indian History – (same as prelims)
A Brief history of modern India , Spectrum publication
Class notes for period before 1857
My notes ( a few pointers of ncerts)
Post Independence Consolidation
VisionIAS material ( It is a summary of the NCERT on the same topic )
World History – Althoughit is very vast, only one or two questions are being asked.
Thus, I made sure not to spend a lot of time on it (Maximum 5-6 exclusive days before
the sectional mock test and then the few left over topics were done later while preparing
for full length test). My idea was to focus on the important topics.
Theory of Civilisation – Arjun Dev
Crash Course Videos on YouTube ( Revolutions , World Wars, Colonisation etc)
Indian Society–
Newspaper (The Hindu)
Vision IAS Mains 365 on society ( I found this very good )
Geography- (same as prelims)
Class 11th and 12th ncerts
Geography of India, Periyar publication (selected topics like minerals)
Mrunal Videos ( to understand certain concepts like jet streams, monsoon, natural
resources etc)
GS 2

Polity, Constitution (static)-

Laxmikanth
2nd ARC Report (I jotted down the important points)
Comparison Of Indian Constitution with others – VisionIAS material
RPA Act – Mains 365 on Polity
Regulatory Bodies– Mains 365 on Polity
Current Affairs- Mains 365 on Polity, The Hindu, RsTV
Government policies and interventions for development- Mains 365 on Polity, The
Hindu, RsTV
Development processes – Mains 365 on Polity
Welfare schemes- Mains 365 on Polity and Social Issues ( +Prelims Knowledge)
Social sector/services- Mains 365 on Social Issues, The Hindu and RsTV
Poverty and Hunger- Mains 365 on Social Issues, The Hindu and RsTV
E-gov, transparency, acc. , citizen charter etc – Mains 365 on Polity, 2nd ARC, Vaji Ram
class notes (for definitions and characteristics)
Role of Civil Services- Internet, 2nd ARC, Mains 365 on Polity (+ ethics knowledge)
International Relations – Mains 365 on IR (relied almost completely on this), optional
notes (not really needed from GS point of view)

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This is a current affairs based paper. I used Mains 365 holistically. Along with this I watched
a lot of debates on RsTV (The Big Picture especially). GS2 does not merely depend on
knowledge/content but tests your ability to understand the dynamics of whatever is
happening around you. Here answer writing practice is extremely crucial. Nonetheless,
static portion cannot be taken too lightly. A lot of questions are a combination of static +
current. Thus prepare theory of every topic in brief. For eg, for topics like e-gov, acc, citizen
charter, ngos etc I had made a page long notes for each. This was backed up by current
affairs from The Hindu, Mains 365 and RsTV.

GS 3

Disaster Management- Roman Saini’s Videos on YouTube, VisionIAS materialIndian

Economy and issues relating to planning, mobilisation of resources, growth,
 development and employment- Mains 365 on economy, Economic Survey
Inclusive growth – Vaji Ram class notes, Mains 365 on economy
Government Budgeting- 2018 budget, Laxmikanth, Mains 365
Major crops cropping pattern- Vaji Ram class notes, Eco Survey
MSP, subsidies, PDS, food security etc- Mains 365 on Economy
Food Processing- Made notes from the internet, Mains 365
Land Reforms- optional notes ( Mrunal notes are very good )
LPG, Infrastructure – Mains 365
Investment Models – Vaji Ram class notes
Science and Technology- Mains 365 on SnT only
Environment and ecology- (same as prelims)
Shankar IAS book ( I made notes of this)
Mains 365 on environment
Disaster Management- Roman Saini’s Videos on YouTube, VisionIAS material
Security- Vaji Ram yellow book, Mains 365 on Security
Miscellaneous-
– Niti Aayog’s 3-year Action Plan report
– Best Practices from our States – Nite Aayog (Just the summary to give examples)
– Yojana Magazine ( I used to read only 2-3 articles and jot down the important points on
the 1st page (Editor’s notes- contains the summary). I used only this for revisions later
on. This way I had around 20 pages of good content ( 2017 + 2018 Yojana)

GS 4

Theory – I did not have a lot of time to prepare for this paper. Thus, I relied on my class
notes (Vaji Ram) for theory. I prepared definitions of the terms given in the syllabus.
Along with this I prepared examples showing how a particular value was
incorporated/manifested in my or other’s action/s. Such examples can be tweaked
according to the question asked.
Moral Thinkers – internet + optional knowledge
Case studies- The questions seek to test your values ,morality, rationality along with
your capability to be a civil servant. Thus, one always needs to follow the rules and laid
down procedures while suggesting solutions and not get idealistic. I am presuming that
anyone preparing for this exam is a public spirited person. This is all that is required to
solve case studies.
-VisionIAS videos on how to solve case studies (available for free on YouTube)
-Toppers’ answer copies
Miscellaneous-
-LBSNAA prospectus
-2nd ARC reports
Here is the first booklist that was made by my mentor. I happened to find it, so thought of
attaching it.

1stbooklist-1 (https://gunjandwivedi.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/1stbooklist-
1.pdf) Download (https://gunjandwivedi.files.wordpress.com/2019/07/1stbooklist-
1.pdf?force_download=true)
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Published by Gunjan Dwivedi

Hello everyone. I am 24 years old and have secured AIR 9 in CSE 2018. I have done BA Hons
(Political Science) from Daulat Ram College, Delhi University. Here, I would be sharing my detailed
preparation strategy, along with other musings. View all posts by Gunjan Dwivedi