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Abhijeet Agrawal: 24th Rank CSE-2009

Abhijeet Agrawal
Abhijeet Agrawal
AIR-24
Civil Service Examination 2009.
Optional subjects : Physics and Chemistry
 This was my third attempt(2006,2007,2009).Currently I am undergoing district training of Indian Administrative Service at Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh…..I completed B.Tech in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2005. Currently I am undergoing district training of Indian Administrative Service at Seoni district of Madhya Pradesh. I completed B.Tech in Materials and Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Kanpur in 2005.

Abhijeet Agrawal’s Blog – http://abhijeetagrawal.blogspot.in

Q. When did you decide to appear for the IAS Exam?
Ans. I decided during my graduation days. But I gave a serious thought to it by the end of the second year of my engineering, and embarked upon my preparations.
Q. How did you prepare for this Mother of all Examinations?
Ans. I did not consider any job from the campus placement, and came to Delhi to prepare for this Exam. I studied the syllabus deeply to choose my optionals, and consulted my seniors for preparation. I devoted 3 months exclusively for the PT, made self notes for the optionals and GS, and indulged in group discussions and brainstorming sessions. I undertook test series for the GS and optionals to assess my preparation, and trace my lacunae.

Q. Does IIT graduation help in IAS preparation?Ans. My study at IIT (Kanpur) oriented me in clarity of thoughts and planning my tasks well. It has given me the ability to work enthusiastically and over come obstacles with my abilities. The environment there was very conducive to prepare for such exams. Further, as both of my optionals were from science stream, I got the best of minds to teach me during my graduation, and they were always at bay to help me even after I graduated.
Q. The scores you have got in optionals are whopping. Please share the secrets of your preparation.
Ans. My idea of preparation was simple: Covering the entire syllabus, consulting many authentic books for a wider coverage and crystal clear understanding, self assessment by test series and practicing previous year’s questions in exam like conditions. I made self notes & synopsis and kept improving upon them to keep my answers innovative and impactful. I also took help of internet.
Q. Describe your General Studies preparation.
Ans. For the PT, I focussed on certain key areas of GS like Geography, Modern History, GK, Current Affairs and Maths & mental ability. For the Mains Exam, I studied extensively for all the sections. I formed a study group with some friends, where we discussed issues of national and international importance. We had divided certain sections to save time, and to gather deeper understanding of the topic. I made synoptic notes of the sections, and kept upgrading them. I took extensive help of the Internet for anything I had difficulty with.Q. How important is writing practice in General Studies?Ans. I would like to quote “That which is not re-written, is not well written”. Writing practice-not only in GS but in every paper, is one of the best tools by which one can self assess his/ her preparation. Knowing the answers is different from putting it on paper in the exam’s time frame – that too with an impact to lead in score. It also allows us to improve upon our answers by getting them assessed from experts. I think it should be the prime strategy for any serious aspirant.
Q. What do you feel about change in pattern in the Preliminaries- introduction of CSAT?
Ans. I think it is a very welcome change. It will ease the aspirants from mad cramming of facts and information. The questions will be more of application of understanding rather than mere testing of memory. It should not be feared at all.Q. What are some of the mistakes that an average aspirant can avoid for better time management?
Ans. Chalking out a clear road map and study calender and sticking to it is the first step to use time wisely. I would advise aspirants to read GS on a regular basis. One should avoid studying both the optionals together, as it could be difficult to contain. Further, one should be on toes after PT, and get serious with the preparations.

Strategy for the G.S.Abhijeet Agrawal

History:In mains exam, mainly the questions from the modern India is asked….
15 markers are asked from Modern India and 2 markers are asked from Ancient Indian History and Medieval History…
Last year questions from Culture and Dances were also asked (This was a bouncer for me) but the general books that i considered were Modern India ( Spectrum Publication)
For 2 markers of ancient and Medieval History: refer class notes of Vaji Ram & Ravi…I also got aready made 2 markers notes from one of my senior which was very much helpful

 Polity:
Vaji Ram and Ravi class notes are good but it need to be supplemented from the books like Indian Polity by D.D.Basu…..for the new topics of Indian Politics,I referred the following books:
I also referred to the questions of Indian polity and Politics asked in Political Science and International Relations mains papers… I made a list of questions that can be asked from the Politics section and prepared them from the above mentioned books…
Social Issues: This segment has no particular reference books that caters to most of the topics but some of the references that i read were:
Social Change and Developments in India( NCERT Class XIIth)
Class notes of Sriram IAS…
Class notes of Vaji Ram and Ravi of last 2 years…
I also referred to the old questions of social issues asked in Sociology mains paper…
Current National Issues: Regular reading of Newspapers like
The Hindu and The Times of India ….also referred the class notes of Vaji Ram and Ravi, and also Sri Ram IAS….
International affairs:Class notes of Vaji Ram and Ravi and also of Sri ram’s class notes are helpful…refer to the class notes as well as Yellow Book of International Affairs of Vaji Ram and Ravi (not only the current year but also of last two years) because now a days the lot of questions are asked from previous year’s International affairs…Notes of VAJI Ram and Ravi are good only for the conventional areas of International Relations that are in news….but now a these days a lot of questions are asked which are not based on the current International affairs….In this regard the Class notes of Sriram IAS was quite helpful….In fact the Syllabus of International affairs never says” Current International Affairs” but it only states that “India and the World”so we need to focus on the conventional aspects of International relations…
For example, the following question can be asked:
  • Discuss India’s role in Global Disarmament.
  • Assess the importance of globalisation in India’s foreign policy etc
So for these kind of conventional topics in International relations i referred the following books:
  • Contemporary World Politics( Class XIIth NCERT)
  • International relations chapters in the book Democracy in India: Issues and Challenges (NCERT Class XIIth textbook in Political Science, older syllabus) here is the link for the download of this book:
http://rapidshare.com/files/401344586/ncert_XII_political_science_democracy_india.pdf.html
this material will cover the the basics of India’s bilateral and multilateral relations..
I also referred to the old questions of international affairs asked in the Political Science and International Affairs mains paper…
Economics:
The Economy portion in last 2-3 year has undergone significant change so it need elaborate preparation keeping in mind the current trend…the strategy that I adopted was to make a list of topics falling under broad sectors like Agriculture, Industry, Banking, Infrastructure, WTO, Monetary and Credit Policies, Finance, Globalization, International Agencies like WB, IMF,WIPO; Trade etc and prepare them from different sources…..
The references were:
I also referred to the last 25 year questions asked in G.S. economy section and also the questions that were asked in Economy optional paper( especially Paper-2 )
Science and Technology: I followed the strategy of covering as many topics as possible in Science and Technology rather than going into depth of the topics that i know..for this reason i divided the whole Science and ech into 7-8 segments and prepared a list of topics that i knew…then i kept on adding the topics in respective segment…since i was maintaining a file so it was easy for me to insert various topics that i could prepare….the segments were: Biotechnology,Agriculture, Environment, Energy,Space, Nuclear Science, Electronics, IT & Computers and Misc…By this way i covered all the references and made a decently bulky notes…
  • VAJI Ram Classs Notes of last 2-3 years.
  • Shri ram Class Notes of Science and Technology
  • Science and Tech Book by Ashok Singh
  • Science and Tech Book by Spectrum Publication
  • All the nobel prize winners in last 2 years (in Chemistry, Physics,Medical Sciences)
  • Biology NCERT Class XIIth(chapter 8-12)
  • All the question papers of Science and Tech of “Expert Brains” and “Shri ram” and “ALS Interactions” and “Civil Services Times”
  • Science and Tech questions asked in the Indian Forest Service Question papers and General Studies paper in the Indian Economic Service Examination.
  • Science and tech issues that had appeared in Frontline in last 1 year.
  • Put some of the key words in Wikipedia like ” nanotechnology”,”Biotechnology”,” Space Technology”, “IT technology” etc…prepare the newer topics… here is the link for a list of emerging technologies: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_emerging_technologies
  • Some of the government of India’s websites relating to the Science and Technology like:http://dbtindia.nic.in/index.asp
I prepared some of the key topics mentioned in these websites.
5 Upsc Gyan: Abhijeet Agrawal: 24th Rank CSE-2009 Abhijeet Agrawal AIR-24 Civil Service Examination 2009. Optional subjects :  Physics and Chemistry  This was my third attemp...

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