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PSIR Strategy by Tushar Gupta IPS, CSE-2017 - Mudit Jain Blog
PSIR Strategy by Tushar Gupta IPS, CSE-2017 - Mudit Jain Blog
PSIR Strategy by Tushar Gupta IPS, CSE-2017 - Mudit Jain Blog
Courtesy Tushar.
PSIR strategy in his words: I had attended Shubra Ranjan Mam’s classes as my attempts at
reading the optional on my own were a complete failure. It started in Dec 2016 and went on for
around 5 months. She has a very lucid and a beautiful way of teaching such that even a person
from Engineering background is able to comprehend enough to write good answers. I used to
read for an hour what mam would teach in class the previous day before going in the morning
to attend her next class. My actual preparation started after Prelims ended. So effectively my
optional preparation had been for around 4 months. Regarding books i would say that if i had
more time, i might have looked at some books like OP Gauba among others. But learning Mam’s
notes was enough to get through the exam. Make short notes for final revisions as just revising
the class notes would take too much time, which near the exam period you won’t have. My
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short notes were what i had made in Evernote.
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Join here for free guidance from Mudit Jain, IRS CSE-17 (IPS CSE-14 & 15), Author
of Decode Civils – Philosophical Essay Writing, Decode GS2, Decode Ethics
4.0 & Decode History Books
Ethics book referred by CSE 22 Toppers: AIR –76, 91, 176, 189, 249, 288, 297, 299,
326, 356, 476, 541, 611, 616, 700, 737, 739, 746 & others
History book referred by CSE 21 Toppers: AIR – 44, 212, 572, 653 & others
Sample PDFs of Books: Decode Civils – Philosophical Essay Writing, Decode Ethics 4th
Edition, Decode GS2 & Decode History
If you take a good look at the notes which i have made for PSIR, you will see that every scholar
has a pictorial reference and what s/he said has been tabulated. While writing answers, the
images are what came to mind and the corresponding lines i could easily recall.
Since we have so many scholars to learn for PSIR, i was finding it utterly confusing to learn their
names. So i had come up with the Pictographical mapping idea. All my notes have been made
within those 4 months of preparation and they dont take a lot of time but are very rewarding in
terms of efficiency of revision. I remember the day before the Optional test in Mains paper, I
had sat for a non-stop 19 hour session with my evernote and was able to complete the whole
course.
You can follow as i had, or you can directly learn as well. Link to my notes will be attached. You
can take a look at it for reference.
General Strategy
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One needs to understand that we are studying the optional to clear the UPSC examination and
not to do a PhD. So dont get emotional while preparation. Be objective with a clear focus on
results.
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Answer writing requires some work. Introduction and conclusion have to be very specific and
need to be prepared in advance for each type of question. Eg : For Secularism topic in IGP, my
intro was Starting with what Machiavelli – Father of European secularism had said, what it
means in the international context and what in the Indian context. Irrespective of the question,
if secularism is asked, this used to be the intro. So always have Intro and conclusions prepared
as they are very important to fetch marks.
I would recommend you to change the size of your handwriting such that you fill up the
answers sheets completely. 294 in the first attempt is a testament to that fact. Perception does
matter.
Previous year questions are of paramount importance in Optional paper (not so much for
Mains) . Whichever topic you have finished reading, pick up its PYQs and solve them. Time
yourself and ensure that you are able to reach the word limit in that time. Writing practice is
the only thing that will sail you through the optional. I had written answers to most of the
questions which had been asked in the previous years.
Start with defining the basic terms In PSIR wherever possible, follow the dictum of 4Cs. —
Compare, Criticise, Contemporary, Conclude. Check after every question whether you have done
this, It will fetch a lot of marks Do not forget criticism if available. It is extremely important. In
questions that require you to differentiate between 2 concepts say Social movements New and
Old, Run them in parallel. Your answer should not be divided between New para and old para.
On each and every point of differentiation write them both together. Always look for temporal
terms in the question ( Like Old, New, Contemporary, etc) . They will help you understand what
the examiner is asking and write accordingly.
Books:
A History Of Political Thought: Plato To Marx – Mukherjee and Susheela Ramaswamy
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Again Mam’s notes were enough for this section Highly current affairs related paper, so keep
a close eye on issues which could be asked here, It also helps you a lot in GS2 paper.
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Revision is the key to writing good answers. So revise it 7-8 times at least.
ATB!
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