Awaaz!

WHY PHILOSOPHY? INTEREST is foremost important in deciding the optional. Personally, I had a humanities elective called “Gandhian Thought” at IIIT-H that grew my interest in Gandhian philosophy and philosophy in general.  SYLLABUS for philosophy is relatively compact, precise and well defined.  SOURCES like standard books and notes are easily accessible. SOURCES Coaching class notes. Standard books Indian Philosophy - C.D. Sharma Western Philosophy - Y. Masih Contemporary Western philosophy - Donald Palmer (E-book is available online, however it is not mandatory to read this book) Socio Political Philosophy - O.P. Gauba Philosophy of Religion - Y.Masih  Please note that these books cover much more than the UPSC syllabus, so optimize your time by reading them selectively.  HOW TO PREPARE CONSOLIDATED NOTES - Prepare consolidated notes for each topic based on class notes, standard book and other printed material. Try and finish this job before prelim

Hello Everyone, I am Garima Agrawal. I am an engineer by profession and have qualified UPSC CSE-2018 with AIR 40. I started my preparation in 2016 after finishing my Btech and MS from IIIT-Hyderabad. I did take coaching in 2016 for GS and Optional to get a direction in my preparation. However I feel that it is the self-studies and tests that helped me the most in this exam. Here, I would like to share my strategy for clearing this exam in the very first sincere attempt. PRELIMS & MAINS While I will be discussing the essential book list in another blogpost, I would like to share some other strategies and tips that may help. Integrated study plan for Prelims and Mains for General Studies. Have a detailed time table (monthly, weekly and daily) to read and revise all standard books keeping requirements of both Prelims and Mains in mind while studying. For eg. If you are doing a topic of polity- Ordinance from M. Laxmikant, you should read the constitutional provisions for pre