7/25/22, 9:20 PM Is selective IGNOU BA and MA political science sufficient for political science optional in UPSC?

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Is selective IGNOU BA and MA political science sufficient for

political science optional in UPSC?
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Anonymous
5y

I wrote 2016 mains with PSIR optional.I was working in an IT firm till a month before prelims
and had been preparing for a year before .
Related questions
PSIR is very vast. Selective reading of IGNOU material can be effective as i used it for few
Is the IGNOU MA in Political Science
topics like Justice , Equality , MN Roy , Sri Aurobindo, Theory of international relations etc.
syllabus enough for the UPSC Political…
But with whatever experience i have had i can tell you IGNOU material is not easy to digest
Does BA political science notes of IGNOU
particularly for an engineering backgrounder.
relevant for UPSC political science…
Paper 1- part A
How do I prepare Political Science
Gauba is good but has information split into random chapters and you need to read the book optional from IGNOU books?
atleast 2–3 times to get the complete hang of it. Get hold of Shubra Ranjan notes, they
What are the pros and cons for selecting
summarise these points in the UPSC syllabus format and are indeed a good source.
political science or social science for the…
For thinkers - you can read Brian Nelson (for wetern) and selective IGNOU (for indian) if you
are willing to take that extra effort to make your answer stand out form the crowd, else Where can I get IGNOU notes for political
Shubhra mams notes are good enough. science and other materials' soft copy?

Part 1 - Paper B How good is a B.A. in political science

from IGNOU?
Complete laxmikant. ( but again not the way you would read for prelims or gs2 )
Read the interpretations given by famous anaysts , their viewpoints, case laws and its history Add question
and the politics that played behind the evolution of laws how and why the judiciary evolved .
Use Shubra notes . Fadia also does the job but its painfully huge .

For remaining topics use oxford publications along with notes.

40% OFF 50% OFF 50% OFF
Paper 2- part A

I would suggest you to read Heywood’s global politics first (its lucid and very well written) and
use IGNOU material to fill in the gaps. Also it is wise to go through the questions given in
Baylis and Smith because some times they appear verbatim and quoting the exact same 50% OFF 50% OFF
viewpoint can get you brownie points.

Paper 2 - Part B

Get some notes or make your own thru internet searches on each topic in the syllabus. then
read the commenatries on IDSA /IPCS websites to get a deaper understanding and the current
status of the relations.

once done. stress on developing the vocab for PSIR , the way you write answers evenly
distributed with theories,quotes, facts, years etc to make your answer stand out. Do a lot of
answer writing practice.

many will say that only Shubhra notes are enough or may be that you should not read notes
and read only standard books etc. But the truth is its a battle and you have to give your best
and PSIR being the most vast and dynamic optional you have to keep up the ante by
diversifying and doing selective reading of whatever sources that meet the demands of the
syllabus. Messages

Again one golden rule is STICK to the SYLLABUS, whichever resource you refer to.

I didn't have a great mains. Ran out of time and couldn't complete the last question properly
in both PSIR papers.
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Shehin Shaji · Follow Connect with others on
PHD in Political Science, St. Thomas College, Palai (Expected 2024) · 2y Quora by beginning a new
yes it will be enough but just go through op gauba also revise it many times and see previous conversation.
year mains questions it will fetch you good marks see the optionals syllabus pan int
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7/25/22, 9:20 PM Is selective IGNOU BA and MA political science sufficient for political science optional in UPSC? - Quora
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accordingly all the
1 best for your preperation
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3 1

Naveen Kumar Chandra · Follow

IAS Indian Administrative Service at Government of India (2018–present) · 4y

Related How can I get the political science and IR notes of any topper for the
UPSC?
I was expecting a score of 310+ but scored a decent 280 this year, kindly wait for a few days
and I 148
would upload all1 my notes,
4 it would take a few days to scan them all.

Good luck!

Bharat Sharma · Follow

9
B.A in Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science, University of Delhi (Graduated 2017) · 3y

Related What are some backup plans for an UPSC aspirant from BA political
science field?
As a back up plan after completing your B.A Political Science go for M.A in Political Science
without any gap year so that if you are not able to qualify UPSC then you can go for UGC
NET/JRF and after qualifying it you can apply for the post of Assistant Professor/Junior
Research Fellowship and for appearing in this exam you should have atleast 55% in your M.A
in Political Science.

From my personal experience I only want to suggest you that if you have B.A then must go for
M.A especially when you are pursuing UPSC prepration as it will help you in that plus the
option of UGC-NET and to become A… (more)

Kunal Aggarwal · Follow

239 17
IRS IT 2019 | IIT Hyderabad15
| Worked at Goldman Sachs · Updated 3y

Related Can you share your strategy for the PSIR? How can I get a score of
around 300?
PSIR as an optional has huge syllabus to be covered. We generally divide it in following
categories:

1. Western Political Thought

2. Political Theory

3. Indian Political Thought

4. Indian government and politics

5. IR Theory

6. India and the world

7. International organisations

8. Comparative politics

For each one of them, base of my study used to be Shubhra Mam’s notes. They are
available in market. I purchased them and started reading them word to word. It would take
2–3 readings before you start making sense of it and start remembering things.

Now, one can score about 220–240 by remembering the concepts of all these section… (more)

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Avinash Medidhi · Follow
116 3 of Politics...
Engineering the Art 2 · Updated 4y

Related How do I study political science optional for UPSC CSE?

Political Science & International Relations as an optional is diverse & the syllabus is quite
exhaustive. So, need to built subject in a conceptual way.

If you are preparing for giving attempt in this year, then, it would be better if you can get
some coaching preferably by Subhra mam at Vajiram. If you are preparing for next year, then No messages
you can be bit relaxed and go for more sources. Any how I will try to give a common Plan. Connect with others on
Quora by beginning a new
Assuming you are at level zero & don't want to take coaching:-
conversation.

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7/25/22, 9:20 PM Is selective IGNOU BA and MA political science sufficient for political science optional in UPSC? - Quora
e essage
1.) Preparing Pol 1Sci NCERT books till 12th class & NIOS can be of some help. (Basic
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Terminology)

2.) Listening … (more)

Ramakrishnan C M · Follow
17
A senior citizen · 13y 3

Related How many exams in total do I have to take to clear the MA Political
Science from IGNOU in both years?
Yes, I did my Master’s in Political Science from IGNOU. It has an excellent curriculum, study
material and assessment procedures.

I did it through correspondence .

In the first year you will have to compusarily take four papers ( 8 credits each) followed by 8
papers (4 credits each). The eight papers are from subjects, which you can choose according
to your interests from a bouquet.

However you can pace yourself. IGNOU holds exams twice a year and you are allowed to
choose the papers you would like to attend in every exam.

Other universities must be offering on a similar pattern. If you can attend… (more)

Abhishek Yadav · Follow

6PhD Candidate and Senior Research Fellow at JNU, New Delhi · Upvoted by Ipsa Sahu, MA Political
Science, Utkal University, Bhubaneswar (2021) · 4y

Related Is it helpful to do an MA before the UPSC, or should I go for it after my

BA in Political Science?
UPSC just requires a Graduation Degree for the purpose of eligibility. Therefore, theoretically
speaking, you can appear for the Prelims after the graduation.

However, in practical aspect, if you did not acquire the required level of in-depth knowledge
of Political Science during Graduation, then MA would help you further in two ways:

Writing Skills- Semester Exams would demand writing lengthy answers. It would
help you to think more and write good answers during Mains.

Optional Paper- Command in Political Science during MA would help you further to
acquire more marks than others in the Optional

… (more)

Zahir Shaikh · Follow

3
Research Scholar at Lovely Professional University (LPU) (2018–present) · 4y

Related Is it necessary to take coaching for PSIR Optional (UPSC) or is self-study

from Shubra Ranjan Mam's notes and books sufficient?
First things first it depends on your ability to understand and interpret.

Today the need of coaching is declining sharply in the UPSC arena,many had cleared without
coaching.But still u had money invest in a good coaching academy otherwise follow this steps.

1.I will not name any coaching notes ( Old Rajendra Nagar you can find good notes )

2.Use online lectures on youtube of various Channels related to Geography.

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3.Develop a habit of expressing yourself in the answer sheet because the end of the day it
matters most that what u had written in the answer sheet.

4.Read last 10 years question papers.

… (more)

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Simran · Follow
1Pursuing Master Degree in Sociology at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) · 1y Connect with others on
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Related Should I choose BA political science or BA Hons political science, if I'm conversation.
going to take this as my optional subject in UPSC?
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7/25/22, 9:20 PM Is selective IGNOU BA and MA political science sufficient for political science optional in UPSC? - Quora
e essage
See you can choose
1 any stream. Upsc asks for graduation only. U can do this in any stream
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from any college maybe open and regular.

For optional subject you can choose anyone. Both are good choice. But the best suggestion is
see the syllabus of your optional first and then took a look on your graduation subject. And
see the syllbus of your graduation course. Compare and find which is having more topics
similar. And you will get the right ans.

Also you can check the difference between two course syllabus and which is more similar to
your optional.

My one of the suggestion is took a easy subject and… (more)

Nachita · Follow
2Updated 1y

Related Is it good to do a BA by taking political science, if I want to crack the

UPSC?
There is no specific degree that is perfect for UPSC. However political science as in your case is
a good choice that can help you a lot later. If you decide to take political science as your
optional it will help you a lot if you have studied in your college well because a lot of your
syllabus will overlap with your optional syllabus.

All the best

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