IASbaba's Mains Strategy, Mains Examination, UPSC
UPSC Mains Strategy Introduction
This forum is for UPSC Mains Strategy Introduction.
INTRODUCTION
The Civil Services (Mains) Examination has undergone a sea change in its content and character and has been completely revamped by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) in 2013. This change has been for the greater good and has ushered the exam into a new era, where General Studies plays a vital role in ‘making or breaking’ a candidate.
GS Paper 1 which is of 250 marks includes Indian and World History, Art and Culture, Indian and World Geography and Sociology. This new paper ensures that a candidate is judged on the basis of in-depth knowledge and understanding rather than just byhearting collected information at the last moment. A civil servant should know and understand the history and geography of a particular place, including the behavior of the society, to help himself mold and get transformed in such a way that his duties/actions would have the highest efficacy on the citizenry.
GS Paper 2 which is of 250 marks is all about governance at its core. This paper tests the wisdom of the candidate in areas related to the Legislative, Executive and the Judiciary. It also deals with various sacrosanct institutions and other development agendas which become imperative for a budding civil servant to delve into. Because, once they start on the ladder of their career, much of their lives will be affected by this activity of governance.
GS Paper 3 which is of 250 marks is based on Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security Issues and Disaster Management. The syllabus imbibes various subjects from a very diverse arena of life. A budding bureaucrat is expected to know the issues in depth as well as in breadth as far as possible. Issues like economy and development can never be expected to be static and mere rote memorization will never equip them with enough weapons in their arsenal to attack the CS(M).
GS Paper 4 which is also of 250 marks is on Ethics, Integrity, and Aptitude. The exam which earlier used to judge the level of knowledge and intelligence of candidates will now also look into their wisdom and moral conception. It also checks if the candidate has aptitude and values for surviving and successfully performing his duties as a civil servant. Thus, this step would theoretically make every new recruit ethical and moral with high integrity values.
It is in this context that we at IAS-Baba acknowledge this challenge put forth by the draconian UPSC and so are making a concerted and honest effort to come out with subject matter that can address the issues faced by the candidates. Our focus and approach have been in such a manner that a student gradually moves from a microscopic concept to a macroscopic view.
The website and this strategy have been designed in such a way that it is extremely comprehensive but at the same time, lucid and compact. This strategy intends to serve the objective of the aspirants by acquainting them with conceptual development so that they may channelize their effort in developing a critical understanding of the subject matter and eventually develop their own potential to the optimum level, which would help them in excelling this gigantic examination conducted by the UPSC.
These strategies are indicative only. We will come up with more detailed and focused strategy for each and every topics and subtopic right after Prelims. This will give you an overall idea of the previous year papers as well as the intelligent approach to be followed.
We will be publishing Mains strategy for Paper 1 to 4 at regular intervals. Following the same, the first strategy from IASbaba is for Paper 4- Ethics. Click on Paper 4 tab above for Ethics strategy.
Do share your views and thoughts since your acknowledgement is our Fuel 🙂
All the very Best!
IASbaba Team
