Why this book?

If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail – Benjamin Franklin

1. Prioritization

PRIORITIZATION.
what to
leave is as important as knowing what to read. PRIORITIZATION among different topics and sources is the
key.
The reason to invest time in a particular material or book or topic should be :

In this book

gain maximum in minimum time.

2. Intelligent thinking

STRUCTURED WAY OF THINKING which can :

Paper setter’s mind.
help in the extended application of limited knowledge to mark the probable correct answer.
avoid silly mistakes in the exam hall.

assessment.

3. Efficient coverage

9
 What the book consists of and how it helps
Part A of the book

conceptual inputs on any subject.

Part B of the book consists of the following three sections for each of the 7 subjects in Prelims.
1. General Overview
INSIDE
UPSC Prelims syllabus.

AIMS TO

2. Thematic PYQs
INSIDE
Different themes of the subject.

Further suggested reading section after each theme.

AIMS TO
Micromanage each theme.
Act as a test after studying the theme.
Avoid unnecessary reading, memorizing, rote learning of facts at the cost of important themes.
Streamline aspirant’s approach along the lines of UPSC papers daily.
Understand whether UPSC wants you to be generalist or specialist in a particular theme.
Understand the depth of UPSC options.
Understand focus areas within the topic
A
Develop the structured way of logical thinking
3. Simplified themes
INSIDE
T
Mnemonics approach for selected themes.
AIMS TO
H
L

mpart skills so that they make their own smart diagrams for remaining themes as per the need.
Part C of the book consists of back matter with inputs on CSAT and optional selection alongwith appendices,

10
 INDEX

Foreword 3
Acknowledgement 5
Preface 7
Why this Book? 9
What the book consists of and how it helps 10

Part A

Chapter 1. Introduction to the Examination 13-24

1.1 Eligibility for the examination 14
1.2 Plan of examination 16
1.3 CSE seats and cut off 20

Chapter 2. Understanding Syllabus of Prelims 25-36

2.1 Subjects in Prelims 26
2.2 40 Heads of Prelims syllabus 27
2.3 Prelims syllabus through themes 32
2.4 Syllabus completion calculator 33
2.5 General composition of Prelims paper 35
Chapter 3. Questions in UPSC Prelims 37-60
3.1 Type of questions asked in Prelims 38
3.2 Attempting the questions 48
3.3 Exam temperament 53

Part B

Chapter 4. Introduction to Part B 61-65

Chapter 5. History 67-142
5.1 General O

11
Chapter 6. Geography 143-226
6.1 General O

Chapter 7. Polity 227-302

7.1 General O

Chapter 8. Economy 303-357

8.1 General O

Chapter 9. Environment 359-444

9.1 General O

Chapter 10. Science 445-491

10.1 General O

Chapter 11. Current Affairs 493-558

11.1 General O

Part C
Chapter 12. Dimensions of the Examination 559-581
12.1 CSAT 560
12.2 CSE Optional selection 570

Annexure-I : 583
Annexure-II : 2019 Prelims questions with theme numbers 588
Annexure-III : 589
Annexure-IV : Themes appearing across subjects/heads 591
Annexure-V : 593
Annexure-VI : 600
Annexure-VII : Prelims 2020 analysis 602

12
 Annexure -V : Thematic division of the syllabus
As referred in 2.3 Prelims syllabus through themes, this book divides the whole Prelims syllabus into 200

at one place to help aspirants have a macro view of the whole syllabus.
HISTORY
Theme Number of Page
Head Theme name
number questions number
alley Civilisation H1 4 75
H2 3 77
1. Ancient History
Mauryan and Post Mauryan H3 2 77
Gupta and Post Gupta H4 6 78
H5 5 81
2. Medieval Sultanate H6 1 82
History Mughal H7 5 82
Terminologies and Miscellaneous H8 9 84
Buddhism H9 11 88
3. Religious beliefs Jainism H10 4 91
H11 6 93
Architecture and Sculpture (including temple
H12 12 96
architecture)
Dance H13 5 100
Painting H14 5 102
4. Culture Music H15 3 103
Festival H16 3 104
H17 4 105
Schools of Philosophy H18 2 107
Martial Arts H19 1 108
Pre 1857 H20 5 109
1857 mutiny and 1858-1905 H21 3 111
Timeline 1905-19 H22 9 112
1919-39 H23 9 114
1939-47 H24 8 117
Associated Organisation/Movement H25 6 120
Personalities
Other Contributions H26 8 122
Major Acts H27 8 125
5. Modern History
Socio-Religious Reforms H28 4 127
Economic impact H29 4 129
Education H30 4 131
Princely States H31 1 132
themes
Policies H32 3 133
Peasant Movement H33 3 134
Movement H34 2 135
Tribal Movement H35 3 136
6. Post-
Post-independence H36 4 137
independence
Total 174

593
 GEOGRAPHY
Theme Number of Page
Head Theme name
number questions number
Earth in Solar system G1 5 151
Origin & evolution of earth G2 4 153
Geomorphic process G3 1 154
Atmosphere G4 1 155
1. Physical Solar radiation G5 2 155
Geography Atmospheric circulation G6 5 156
Water in the atmosphere G7 1 158
Water (Oceans) G8 2 158
Movement of ocean G9 6 159
Climatic regions G 10 6 161
Structure/Physiography G 11 3 163
2. Indian Climate G 12 4 164
Geography G 13 4 165
Soils G 14 3 167
Rivers- origin and tributaries G 15 3 169
River paths (places, topography etc) G 16 6 170
G 17 2 172
G 18 4 173
3. India Mapping
Hills G 19 4 175
State position + boundary G 20 3 177
State characteristics G 21 3 177
Famous places G 22 2 178
Seas and their borders G 23 7 180
4. World
G 24 5 183
Mapping
Other Current related world mapping G 25 3 184
Good practices G 26 14 186
Crops G 27 6 192
5. Agriculture Propagation techniques G 28 5 194
Agri economics G 29 13 196
GM crops G 30 5 201
Fossil based sources G 31 11 204
6. Energy G 32 10 208
G 33 3 212
Population density, distribution and growth G 34 2 214
7. Human
Tribes G 35 3 215
Geography
Minerals G 36 5 216
Total 166

594
 POLITY

Theme Number of Page

Head Theme name
number questions number
Preamble and Schedules P1 5 236
P2 6 238
1. Preamble,
Schedules & P3 5 240
(Article 36-51)
Part
P4 4 241
3, 4, 4A
P5 7 243
Rights other than Fundamental Rights P6 3 244
President (Article 52-62) P7 5 246
2. Executive Governor (Article 153-162) P8 4 248
Prime Minister (Article 74-75, 77-78) P9 2 250

P 10 6 251
(Article 79-98)
Parliament P 11 6 254
(Article 79- Procedure in Financial Matters
3. Legislature P 12 4 256
122) (Article 112-117)
Motions P 13 3 258
Committees P 14 3 259
State legislature (Article 168-212) P 15 3 260
Supreme Court (Article 124-147) P 16 8 262
4. Judiciary High Court (Article 214-231) P 17 1 265
Subordinate Courts (Article 233-237) P 18 3 266
Panchayat (Part 9) (Article 243-243O) P 19 4 268
PESA P 20 2 270
government Municipality (Part 9A) (Article
P 21 1 271
243P-243ZG)
5. Part 9 to 20 Relations between the Union and the States (Part 11)
of the P 22 5 271
(Article 245-263)
Constitution
Funds (Article 266-267) P 23 2 273
Elections (Part 15, Article 324-329) and election laws P 24 2 274
Emergency provisions (Part 18) (Article 352-360) P 25 2 275
Amendment of the Constitution (Part 20) (Article 368) P 26 1 275
Election Commission (Article 324) P 27 1 277
Finance Commission (Article 280) P 28 3 278
6. Bodies P 29 1 279
P 30 1 280
Other bodies P 31 8 280
Preamble keywords P 32 4 284
Philosophical
7. Philosophical, Forms of Government P 33 7 285
type
amendments Others P 34 3 288
and cases P 35 1 290
P 36 5 291
Total 131

595
 ECONOMY

Theme Number of Page

Head Theme name
number questions number
Human and social development Eco1 7 311
1. Basics
Other basic concepts in economy Eco2 6 314
Eco3 5 316
2. Fiscal policy & Budget Eco4 9 318
Government
Eco5 6 322
budgeting
Five-year plans Eco6 2 324
3. Monetary policy Eco7 8 326
Eco8 13 329
Banking operations Eco9 7 334
Banking regulations Eco10 5 336
4. Banking
Digital economy Eco11 4 338
Financial inclusion Eco12 10 339
5. Finance & Eco13 10 343
Investment Tools (Money and Capital market) Eco14 6 346
Balance of payment Eco15 10 349
6. External sector
Eco16 8 352
Total 116

596
 ENVIRONMENT

Theme Number of Page

Head Theme
number questions number
Ecology/Biodiversity basics Env1 5 368
Food chain/web/Cycles Env2 8 369
1. Theory
Adaptations Env3 3 371
Patterns/distribution Env4 4 372
Global issues like Climate change Env5 6 374
Environmental
Problems Env6 1 376
Pollution
Solutions to Global issues Env7 3 377
2. Environmental Solutions to
problems and environmental Env8 4 378
problems including Pollution mitigation
solutions
Source Env9 14 379
Chemical/
Threat Env10 2 383
pollutants
Remedy/alternate usage Env11 6 384
Consequences of Environmental hazards Env12 7 386
About summit/conferences Env13 4 390
Formation/Parent org Env14 13 392
3. International
Aim/working Env15 4 396
initiatives
Fund Env16 4 398
Terminology Env17 7 400
Env18 16 403
Rules and regulations Env19 3 409
4. National
Env20 2 411
initiatives
Missions and policies Env21 2 411
Env22 1 412
5. Protected Basic theory Env23 3 414
areas and Env24 8 415
Conservation Climate Env25 4 417
sites Other Current affairs Env26 6 419
Flora Env27 5 421
Categorization Env28 8 422
6. Species
Fauna Env29 14 424
Threat Env30 2 428
Total 169

597
 SCIENCE
Theme Number of Page
Head Theme name
number questions number
Physics S1 6 452
1. General Science Chemistry S2 3 454
Biology S3 3 456
Concepts S4 7 458
Space S5 4 460
2. Space,
S6 5 462
Communications
Concepts S7 7 464
and Defence Communications
S8 2 466
Defence S9 3 468
Diseases S 10 10 469
3. Health S 11 5 472
Healthy food/clean water S 12 5 474
Genetic Engineering S 13 11 477
4. Emerging
S 14 2 481
technologies and
S 15 7 482
research areas
Futuristic technologies S 16 9 484
Total 89

598
 CURRENT AFFAIRS
Theme Number of Page
Head Theme name
number questions number
C1 2 502
Agriculture C2 10 503
Food C3 6 507
Health (including women and child) C4 4 510
Education C5 4 511
C6 3 512
C7 3 513
1. National C8 3 515
initiatives Economy C9 9 516
C 10 5 519
Skilling and job C 11 6 520
C 12 4 522
Energy C 13 7 524
C 14 2 526
Consumer rights and Quality assurance C 15 3 526
Sectors other than above C 16 4 527
C 17 4 529
World Bank and other banks C 18 3 531
C 19 3 532
WTO and other trade groupings C 20 8 533
2. International
C 21 12 535
initiatives
Asia C 22 5 539
Outside Asia C 23 5 540
C 24 10 542
C 25 2 545
3. Indices and C 26 5 547
reports C 27 10 549
4. Sporadically C 28 2 551
asked factual C 29 4 551
themes Others C 30 7 552
Total 155

599
 Annexure-VI : Head-wise division of the Prelims syllabus
(refer 2.2.3 for instructions)

Page number
FSR covered
Basic source
component*

PYQ solved
Number of

Number of
questions

covered
themes
Major
Subject Head

1. Ancient History S 4 15 75
2. Medieval History S 4 20 81
History (H)

3. Religious beliefs S 3 21 88
4. Culture S 8 35 96
5. Modern History S 16 79 109
6. Post-independence S 1 4 137
1. Physical Geography S 10 33 151
S 4 14 163
Geography (G)

SC 8 27 169
4. World Mapping SC 3 15 180
5. Agriculture SC 5 43 186
6. Energy SC 3 24 204
7. Human Geography S 3 10 214
1. Preamble Schedules &
S 6 30 236
Part 3, 4, 4A
S 3 11 246
Polity (P)

S 6 25 251
4. Judiciary S 3 12 262
5. Part 9 to 20 of the Constitution S 8 19 268
6. Bodies S 5 14 277
7. Philosophical, amendments
S 5 20 284
and judgements
1. Basics S 2 13 311
Economy (Eco)

2. Fiscal policy & Government

SC 4 22 316
budgeting
SC 2 21 326
4. Banking SC 4 26 334
5. Finance & investment SC 2 16 343
SC 2 18 349
1. Theory S 4 20 368
Environment (Env)

2. Environmental problems
SC 8 43 374
and solutions
SC 5 32 390
SC 5 24 403
5. Protected areas and
SC 4 21 414
Conservation sites
6. Species C 4 29 421

600
 1. General Science S 3 12 452
2. Space, Communications and
Science (S)

SC 6 28 458
Defence
3. Health SC 3 20 469
4. Emerging technologies and
SC 4 29 477
research areas
C 16 75 501
Current Affairs

C 9 52 529
C 2 15 547
(C)

4. Sporadically asked factual

C 3 13 551
themes
Total 200 1000

601