Strategy for Public Administration- Paper 2

Public Administration is widely chosen optional now a days, still candidates remain confused regarding Paper-2. Following are some reasons candidates find paper 2 as tough:

Ø  Absence of good material

Ø  Inefficiency of coaching centers’ to cover paper-2

Ø Students take this paper as current affairs paper rather than Indian Administration

Ø A candidate’s inability to understand and cover the syllabus prescribed by UPSC

How to read??

One should ensure first of all understand the syllabus of paper 2. Following is the syllabus and one should cover in detail these topics:

1.   Evolution of Indian Administration (Kautilya, Mughal & British Administration)

2.       Philosophical & Constitutional framework of government

3.       Public Sector Undertakings

4.       Union Govt & Administration

5.       Plans & Priorities

6.       State Govt. & Administration

7.       District Administration since independence

8.       Civil Services

9.       Financial Administration

10.     Administrative reforms since Independence

11.      Rural Development

12.     Urban Local Government

13.     Law & Order Administration

14. Significant issues in Indian Administration (Human Rights, Corruption, Disaster Management, Regulatory Commission etc.)

Above syllabus is broad syllabus and one should see the detailed syllabus prescribed by UPSC.

One should understand that the Paper-2 is not Current Affairs paper rather it is Indian Administration paper, it is a widely distributed myth and one should prepare paper 2 from administration angle only not from GS point of view.

One should divide the above syllabus and read accordingly. Above syllabus can be covered from the following books:

Ø Rajni Arora & Goyal ( A very good book for understanding but not updated)

Ø  Fadia & Fadia ( Covers almost entire syllabus)

Ø Yojna & Kurukshetra issues ( for Rural Development & Urban Local Govt)

Ø  M.Puri Sir test series for paper 2 ( A very useful source, Mr. M. Puri sir’s understanding & material for paper 2 is very good, if one can have access to his test series it will be very helpful)

Ø ARC reports but need not to be studied in entirety rather should be covered topic wise like ARC recommendation on Law & Order, Disaster Management etc.

It is widely belief that Newspaper is very helpful for pub ad paper, but it must be remembered that unless & until newspaper is incorporated in your notes it will remain useless, so one should be able to relate items covered in newspaper with the syllabus prescribed.

Writing Paper

Again there is one misconception that one should write something very artistic to score in pub ad paper, according to me following points should be considered while writing:

1.  Read the question carefully and understand the content required rather than jumping directly on writing the answer.

2.  Answer should be within the word limit, however, 20% plus minus is acceptable provided content of answer is valid and as per question’s requirement.

3.  Try to include relevant example relating to Indian Administration from newspaper or from magazine e.g. last year a question on Disaster Management Insurance was asked and i included the example of 9/11 incident of US which made the most of US Insurance companies bankrupt. Similar kind of examples can be quoted to make your content innovative and unique.

4.   Write your answer in simple and lucid language but special terms of pub ad can be used.

5.  Diagrams and charts are not required if your content is good. It can be time consuming as well. Diagrams are required only where it serve some purpose not everywhere they should be drawn e.g. Diagram can be drawn in System theory but not in the function of Cabinet Secretary.

6.  Cover your entire paper otherwise it is very difficult to score more than 150 marks out of 300. Time management is the key to crack the civil services.

7.  Write atleast one question daily from previous years’ papers to get an hold over writing skills.

Strategy to Combat CSAT

CSAT (civil service aptitude test) was for the first time introduced by UPSC in 2011 prelims exam. The syllabus of CSAT is following as per UPSC notification:

·         Comprehension

·         Interpersonal skills including communication skills;

·         Logical reasoning and analytical ability

·         Decision-making and problem solving

·         General mental ability

·         Basic numeracy (numbers and their relations, orders of magnitude, etc.) (Class X level), Data interpretation (charts, graphs, tables, data sufficiency etc. - Class X level)

·         English Language Comprehension skills (Class X level).

CSAT is one area which has been deliberately introduced by the UPSC to serve the following purpose:

ü  To provide a level playing field to all the candidates

ü  To recruit the candidates with good communication skills and analytical abilities

ü  To recruit the candidate with decision making skills

CSAT is the need of the current civil service framework as a civil servant now a days has to work in very challenging environment like dealing with MNCs, working on complex projects, working in challenging economic conditions which require special skills for a civil servant to handle. This justifies the introduction of CSAT in civil service exams.

CSAT, however, has raised many questions in the mind of aspiring candidates like it will benefit engineering and science students, rural Vs urban student debate, English Vs Hindi medium students debate etc. Although i believe some of the above apprehensions are true to some extent but not completely. Internet and medium of information has to a large extent has bridge this gap of rural Vs urban student, English medium Vs Hindi medium student, still a rural and Hindi medium candidate needs to work a little harder than other candidate.

Let me now tell you the strategy to crack CSAT. Before starting, I would like to assure all the candidates that a candidate irrespective of his or her background should prepare without bothering about these apprehensions as civil service is the most prestigious service of our country and this small apprehension should not become hindrance in someone’s dream of becoming civil servant.

Although syllabus of CSAT is very wide and anything relating to English & Math can be asked, still we will divide the syllabus into following categories:

ü  Reading Comprehension

ü  Other English Language Skills

ü  Data Interpretation

ü  Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability

ü  General Mental Ability & Basic Numeracy

ü  Decision Making & Problem Solving

1.     Reading Comprehension (RC)

RCs have been playing a major role in CSAT paper from the very beginning. From the analysis of past year papers, it is very much clear that both easy & relatively tough RCs are asked by the UPSC. RCs number has also increased in the 2012 pre exam as compared with the 2011 paper and due to this, students find CSAT paper lengthy.

How to tackle??

It is necessary to increase speed as well as accuracy for getting more marks in RC & other CSAT paper. A candidate should have good reading habit and it can be developed by reading editorial page of newspaper as well. There are a lot of good books available for RCs like Career Launcher material, Vajiram material, RS Aggarwal book or any other good CAT or CSAT book for RC. Important point to note here is to increase the speed and to answer the question accurately, only more practice is the solution to the problem of RC. Some RCs also have Hindi translation as well, so if some candidate find difficulty in answering question from English paragraph, he/she should read it from Hindi also. Ultimately, it’s the number of question attempted matters rather than how they have been attempted.

2.     Other English Language Skills

Other area in English includes following illustrative area:

ü  Syllogism

ü  Synonyms & Antonyms

ü  Critical Reasoning

ü  Para Jumbles

ü  Implicit Assumptions

ü  Part Error

ü  Analogies

ü  Sentence Completion

ü  Word Usage Matching Home

A candidate should prepare the above areas to cover as much syllabus as possible. For English portion, I find Vajiram notes very helpful, however a lot of material is also available for the same from other publishers like Career Launcher Notes, Time Institute notes, Arun Sharma book etc. A candidate can choose anyone for good preparation and for practice can refer to Chronicle special editions on CSAT.

For English medium students who find difficulty in basic grammar can refer Wren & Martin book & for Hindi medium students, JPH English Grammar guide is very easy and good source of English grammar book. A candidate should devote atleast 2-3 hours on English section daily to cover all the above areas. Vocabulary helps in understanding RCs & other area and hence should be prepared accordingly. A candidate should learn alteast 2500-3000 new words to improve his/her vocabulary and newspaper is a very good source for the same.

3.     Data Interpretation (DI)

DI deals with reading & understanding a large amount of information that may be provided in a certain format like graphs, bar diagrams, charts, pie diagram, table format etc. The purpose of DI is to judge the analytical ability of a candidate and with the use of power point presentations; its importance has increased considerably.

To deal with the DI part, a candidate should first go for good material as specified above for English as well and practice a lot from it. Percentage & Ratio analysis chapters are very useful in DI part and a candidate should improve his/her calculations skill to deal with it effectively. A DI question should be attempted as a whole as it carries always 4-5 questions with it.

A candidate should also use his/her DI skills into day to day affairs as well like while understanding the Eco survey, India Year book or while watching the cricket match as well. A candidate should try to do as many as calculations in his daily life without calculator so it will improve his calculation skills as well.

4.     Logical Reasoning & Analytical Ability   

Following areas are covered in the logical reasoning & analytical ability:

ü  Directions & Arrangements

ü  Relationships

ü  Series, Analogies & Codes

ü  Logical Puzzles

ü  Venn Diagram

ü  Fact, Inference & Judgment

ü  Probably/Definitely True or False

ü  Strong & Weak Arguments

ü  Cause & Effect

ü  Course of Action

A candidate should read a good material and some magazines as well to cover the above areas. One should also cover other exams like Bank PO exams etc to cover this area. CSAT preparation is always fun and one should thoroughly enjoy this process. CSAT demands smart work, short cuts and most important common sense to crack the CSAT.

5.     General Mental Ability & Basic Numeracy

It covers the following areas:

ü  Averages

ü  Ratio & Proportion

ü  Percentages

ü  Time & Distance

ü  Numbers

ü  Basics of Geometry

ü  Sequences, Progression and Series

ü  Permutation & Combinations

ü  Probability

The above areas can be covered from any good CAT book R.S. Aggarwal book or Arun Sharma book. One should learn as much short cut as possible. Although these areas have not appeared for last 2 CSAT exams, but it will not be surprise if they appear anytime in future exams. One should cover all the above areas to save himself from risk of surprise. Again, practice is the key to success in this area as well.

6.     Decision Making & Problem Solving

This area checks the decision making ability & problem solving ability of a candidate. Normally, situation based & behavioral questions are asked from this area like if you are DC of a flood affected district, so what will be your best course of action during emergency period. These kinds of questions check the personality and attitude of a candidate. There cannot be a particular answer to these kinds of question but a better decision than other options; hence these questions do not carry negative marking. A candidate should attempt these questions as these do not carry negative marking.

Some material is again available on this topic and a candidate should practice as well, however, a candidate should properly analyse the question and select the best & ideal answer for that particular situation. These questions can help a candidate in cracking the exam as each question carries 2.5 marks and do not carry negative marking as well.

Time Management

Time management is the key to success in prelims exam. A candidate is allotted 2 hours for attempting the 80 questions and still candidates find it difficult to complete the paper despite being correctly knowing the answer of questions. Some tips for time management:

ü  Join a good test series and assess your performance and speed alongwith common mistakes

ü  Practice as many variety of questions as possible as examiner also has limited choices to set the paper

ü  Carefully read the instruction before starting the exam (Many candidates did the mistake of not reading the non negative questions instruction in 2011 exam and left those questions even).

ü  Do not spend too much time on one question; leave it for the end if you are not able to crack it in sufficient time.

ü  Keep your ego aside during exam with the particular question like why I am not able to attempt even a simple question etc.

ü  Try to start reading the question paper  before starting the exam at actual time as normally question paper is distribute 10 min ago before schedule time ( UPSC paper do not even have seal on the question paper). It will increase your time and will give you confidence

ü  Try to attempt similar questions in a block

ü  While attempting question first look at the options, some questions can be directly cracked by putting option in the question, it saves your calculation time.

ü  Learn as many short cuts as possible to improve calculation speed

ü  DI & RC questions should be attempted after reading the complete detail only

ü  Do not go by approximation & gut feeling, it often proves disaster and try to get precise answer.

ü  Try to attempt easy questions in the beginning, it will give you confidence and even simple questions proved very difficult in the end and difficult questions become easy if a candidate has score enough in the beginning only.

ü  Do not go by the length of RC, often lengthy passages have direct answers and smaller passages have tough questions.

ü  Prepare for CSAT when you want to read some lighter subject as I have already mentioned that CSAT is a great fun.

ü  Prepare your concept for CSAT in summary form so that in last days one only needs to revise the concept and need not to spend much time for its revision.

ü  Maintain your cool during the exam, it will help you not to panic and will save your silly mistakes and time.

ü  Always remember two hours during the exam are the most important time in your life, so keep your whole concentration in the exam and give your best shot in the exam.

Prelims Result Out: The Way Forward!

Dear Friends,

Now the prelims result is out, some of you have cleared some may not be that lucky enough. I can understand the feelings of both. Those who have cleared might be confused how to utilize the remaining 2 months to crack this exam and those who couldn’t clear will be demoralized and will be in confusion how to proceed further.

First let talk about those candidates who could not clear prelims, first I make you one thing clear that I will not console you as after your result so many people must be consoling you. I will rather give you a reality check, this exam is a knock out exam and you will have to clear every stage to get into next stage. Guess What, competition is maximum at prelims stage. So if you are not among top 3% i.e. among 13000 candidates approximately in prelims result then you are not ready for next stage also. Your criticizer will be feeling happy for your failure and must be thanking god as well, but your job is again to become a deaf frog. You have to ignore their voices and must be ready with better strategy and more energy for next attempt.

One feeling a candidate gets after failing in prelims exam is that he/she cannot clear this exam or he /she does not have necessary capability to clear this exam. Before starting your preparation so many people must have doubted on your capability and after failing you must also starting doubting on yourself. One should not fall in this trap otherwise he/she will not be able to clear next time also.

So what should be strategy for those who failed in this exam??

One should prepare in the same way he/she would have prepared for the mains if they would have cleared prelims.  If you were writing any test series, continue the same and do not leave your classes in mid way. This way your next year mains preparation will be completed and one can assess him/herself also about their preparation. If you are not leaving spectre of failure behind, you will lose continuity of studies and will become more prone to fail next time also. Now it is your responsibility to accept your defeat and learn from your mistakes rather than cursing the UPSC or coaching institutes. I am quoting here a famous quote by Muhammad Ali:

“I never thought of losing, but now that it’s happened, the only thing is to do it right. That's my obligation to all the people who believe in me. We all have to take defeats in life. “

            -Muhammad Ali, After losing his first fight to Ken Norton, March 31, 1973

Path is equally tough for the candidates who have cleared this exam as they must be confused how to utilize remaining time to their best. One should not become complacent after clearing prelims as this only the first ladder in the journey of your becoming a civil servant, rather one should be more dedicated and energetic for the mains exam. Mains marks will play a crucial role in not only getting interview call but also getting a good rank in final list also.

So what should be strategy for who got success in prelims??

I should reasonably assume that most of you were preparing immediately after your prelims exam, so a chunk of portion a candidate must have revised. Even if some portion is not revised properly these next 2 months should be devoted to improve upon your weaknesses and maintaining your strength. One should divide these 2 months as per his/her comfort. Last one month should be dedicated for revision only and August can be used to write test series and preparing over unprepared area. One should do GS portion on daily basis and one can leave newspaper reading by 15^th September. If you have sufficient leave between your optional that will be an added advantage.

One should write some essays as well to get a hold over this area and spend some time on language paper also, but one should not spend much time on language paper rather solve previous years’ question papers within 4-5 hours only. If somebody thinks that these two months are not sufficient for covering a huge syllabus then I must remind you that Mahabharta was fought in 18 days only and it also happen often that when we have less time our reading capabilities increased and better performance comes in less time.

One should not keep too many doubts at this time and should prepare with the cool mind for this exam. Writing practice is again the key for success in this exam and one should maintain it. An Olympic champion do hardwork for atleast 4 years, you are just 2 months away from your success so give your hundred percent and rest leave on the almighty.

Best of Luck!