Sep 30, 2011

[Strategy & Booklist for new comers] CSAT 2012: General studies and Aptitude

The one question asked many times by many people

please suggest me books and best publisher to prepare for CSAT both.

Paper-I (General studies)

NCERTs 7 to 10 (No need to purchase, just click me to download them for free) Also download Class-11 and 12 books for geography, history,economy, statistics, and sociology.
Indian Polity (M.Laxmikanth)
General knowledge 2011 (IIPM Press) [It's a very cheap and tiny book, good for revision of GS facts in free time. With a price of about Rs. 30, I think it's the cheapest among all UPSC books]
Any one GS manual : TMH/Spectrum/Unique/Pierson. You don't need to buy fresh and latest edition. Even second hand used book will do. You need it for the science, History and Geography portion. Because NCERTs don't cover all the science facts and principles of day-to-day life. And after each topic, the manual has tonnes of sample questions so it gives you practice as well.

Keep in mind, above list is only the basic-essential items for the core GS. The current affairs is a different game altogether, and so is Bipin Chandra, DD Basu etc.
Preparing GS, is like Kung-fu. Everyone has a different style and strategy. You can still get success, by going through different set of books. This list is for those newcomer who're totally clueless about where and how to get started in this game.

Paper-II (Aptitude)

Aptitude paper is made of 4 parts

#1 Verbal-Non verbal reasoning

Verbal and Non Verbal reasoning (R.S.Agarwal / S.Chand publication)
This is for questions like verbal analogies, sitting arrangements, family relationships, data interpretation etc.

#2 Mathematics

GMAT related internet material doesn't seem to be of much help here, because our Indian aptitude system is very peculiar.
I'm not recommending R.S. Agarwal's Quantitative aptitude anymore. Because that book is all about mechnical mugging and application of formulas, and very boring presentation. It doesn't help to get the foundations clear & strong. After reading 2-3 chapters from that book, most of the people (including me) want to kill themselves and I don't want blood on my hands (j/k).
So, Instead I suggest use "Quantum CAT (Sarvesh Kumar Varma, Arihant Publication)" The book is written for CAT,XAT etc exams, but he has explained the foundations in a very lucid manner keeping the non-engineer,non-mathematical background candidates in mind. So, you don't need to go through NCERT's math books.
In every chapter, he has given introductory exercises for each concept, then Level -1, Level 2, Level 3 difficulty exercises. For UPSC we don't need to go through everything but only the introductory exercises of each chapter (at max, up to Level 1 only) in his book.
Also we don't need to prepare each and every chapter of his book. for example chapters such trignometry, coordinate geometry,quadratic equations and functions can be skipped after cursory glance, as they're not much relevent for CSAT.
But prepare Linear equation, Time n work, Time speed distance,CI-SI installment, Ratio-proportion, Averages, Allegation, Profit-loss, percentages, set theory (Venn diagrams), geometry, permutation-combination-probability thoroughly as majority of maths questions come from these topics.
And calculate the sums by yourself, don't just read the steps given in the answer. You can never learn maths by 'reading'. Again second hand used version will do, no need to buy latest-fresh edition, as maths is static.

#3 English (Reading comprehension, basic grammer)

There is tonnes of free material on internet for this. I don't think there is need to buy any book for it.

#4 Decision Making

No idea. Lot of bogus books by self-proclaimed experts (like myself) in market. So compare them all, keeping the last 2011 paper in mind, before throwing away your money.

Things to avoid

Certain publication houses like Pratiyogita Darpan and Chronicle, routinely roll out 'special issues/ booklets' on economy, polity, history, Geography and then in order to fill up the 150 pages, they keep copy pasting even the irrelevant minute data in it e.g. names of 13th Mughal emperor's wife & sister and monthly GDP predication rates for last 5 years, name of last 10 RBI Governors, Chief justices of Supreme court and so on.
I would suggest limit your reading to specific core books and don't get too obsessed with names, dates and numbers even in the core books.
Pratiyogia Darpan (the regular monthly magazine) also gives material for the State service exam, eg. who won the state assembly election by how many seats and so on. This is not important for UPSC.

The Magazines

Pratiyogita vs CST (Civil service times) vs Chronical vs Wizard
So far as current affairs go, there is not much difference in their coverage. For current affairs : aim for the S&T, bilateral visits, polity and economy without getting obsessed with names,dates and numbers.
CST gives extra coverage to international affairs, colorful maps and photos otherwise their current-affairs stuff is one and same. Last year they gave a huge material on climate change and biodiversity, but hardly anything came from it.
After November, all these magz will start prelim special issues eg. Geography special issue "complete Geography in 15 days" like get rich quick schemes targetted at those non-serious candidates. Don't put your eggs in these baskets. Stick to core books.
No need to purchase or read more than one magazine per month.
My personal opinion is that nowadays Pratiyogita Darpan is good and sufficient, because of its well classified current-affairs content, and they routinely give bank, LIC and CDS papers, so it provides good practice for aptitude as well.
I donot have good experiance about subscription of Chronicle and Wizard, some one in postal or railway department used to steal them and the Publisher would insist that I pay extra 100-200 for getting it via courier or registered post. (that'd almost nullify the discount-benifit of subscribing vs purchasing from bookstall!)

'That' Big list

I'm talking about 'that' book-list made by eminent coaching experts back in 1992, is still floating around, so whenever you search for IAS booklist on google, you end up with that list: Economic and Political Weekly, Frontline, the Economist and books like Mishra Puri, Dutt Sundaram DD Basu, India yearbook, Economical survey and a dozen more. They're good as reference for mains, essay and interview, provided that you've unlimited time and energy. But at this stage (the newcomers for 2012), you don't need them right now.
First get your foundations clear and strong. The factually important stuff from India-yearbook, you'll get it from that General knowledge IIPM book+manuals that I suggested earlier. Same way the factually important stuff from economic survey: you'll get it in newspaper and regular magazine (PD/CST/whatever).
I'm not saying the books in 'That' list are totally irreverent and have no utility in UPSC exam but time is a luxury most of us cannot afford. Do a cost-benefit analysis before embarking upon any book.
If you want to go through DD Basu, that is well and good but I suggest you do read the Laxmikanth first (unless you want to kill yourself while reading DD Basu!)

Internet searching

Some of you, constantly doing google and wikipedia search of GS related items and save web-pages and ebooks, thinking that I'll read it later on.
Well there is no harm but don't overdo it beyond a level.
Donot use internet as a substitute for core books. e.g. Laxmikanth is Laxmikanth, there is no internet site or article or ebook that can help you grasp Indian polity better than him. So go ahead and buy it.
Better revise one core-book 5 times than doing cursory reading of 10 different books one time.
Donot get obsessed with material quantity: You don't need to create a library in your house.

Mock test papers

Now this is just a tactic of the Delhi coaching classes to the increase the sales: mock test series for Rs.2500 and so on for mere 4-5 papers, many online sites also popped up selling mock papers. You don't need it.
Most of their paper-setters think that UPSC= tough question = lets ask very hard and irrelvent questions from trivial current affairs to show off 'yeah we got something'.
Well, UPSC doesn't need some trivial current-affairs facts to ask difficult questions, they know the art of creating tough questions from even the simplest and well known topics like AIDS and Malaria. So I suggest you be good at core areas. Rather than doing shadow boxing with trivial current affairs.( more in next para)
So instead of wasting money on such test-series, solve old papers, the mock questions given in the books, manual etc. For extra practice questions, use following free site: http://www.gktoday.in/ (they give free mock question sets almost every week)

Trivial Facts of current affairs

Sometimes (most of the times in mock papers), you'll come across questions like

1. Hina Rabbani belongs to which political party ?
2. Rajiv /Indira Gandhi institute for XYZ topic, is situated in which city ?
3. What was the Repo rate / WPI or GDP forecast by Monteksingh in the second week of July 2010?

These are trivial facts, generally they don't come in UPSC and even if they're asked, it's not worth all the time and energy required to master such trivial facts. I mean what if they asked about GDP forecast in third week of July 2010? Even Montek Singh himself in his infinite wisdom worth 32 Rupees wouldn't remember that. And What if they gave 4 such trivial statements from current-affairs and asked you to identify the incorrect ones.
So, There is no end to trivial facts in current affairs. Reading once, will not help, you'll need to revise atleast 5-6 times to cram these facts in your head. So know your memory limits, know what is worth the effort and what is not? UPSC generally doesn't ask trivial stuff, but the experts who set the mock tests, believe that UPSC will or should.
You need to be good at current affairs BUT you don't need to be a master of trivial current affairs. National Games 2011 were held at Ranchi. You should remember that. But name of the male/female athlete who won the weightlifting tournament in 65 kg category?--- again trivial, irrelevant and waste of memory. What if he asked about 75 kg category? Assuming there are 20 different games, each with 4 weight and 2 gender categories: it is 160 names just for one event, what about the rest of them: CWG, Asian and Olympics? And that's just be beginning, what about the winners of Sangeet Naatak kala acadamy, Shaanti Swaroop Bhatnagar and 50 odd Padma-Shrees?
So don't get frustrated, if you see such stuff in magazines or newspaper: give a cursory reading only. And Even if you see such questions in older UPSC papers, don't worry. You're not expected to tick all 150 questions in the exam. These questions are planted only to see how you perform under pressure. Nowadays trend is changed so such trivial questions are unlikely to appear in upcoming exams, as we saw in the analysis of 2011's GS prelim paper.

Postal material

I repeat my advice: DONOT waste money on postal correspondence material, whether it is Brilliant Tutorial, Vajiram, Rau, Michel jackson or Mithun Chakraborty. Stick to core books. The postal material is nothing but copy pasted rephrased sentences in bullet format, from the corebooks and yet 10x times expensive than the core books.

On UPSC's question trends, hit the first two links under 'CSAT analysis' in the right hand side corner of my blog.
How to make notes and prepare current affairs in general, see the Tips section in the left hand side corner of my blog.

PS. The technical glitch with Contact-Me link has been fixed.If you've a question, send it via 'contact me', please donot post it as comment below the blogpost, because it's hard to keep track of comment list, both for you and me. And please search before asking questions and be specific in your question.

Sep 27, 2011

[Economy Q] Difference between Subprime Crisis and Eurozone Crisis

Question via email

Difference between Eurozone crisis and Subprime Crisis?

I'm writing for explanation purpose only. Technical details, intentionally skipped.

Subprime Crisis

First you need to understand Mortgage, derivatives and Asset bubble.

Mortage

You give me $10,000 loan and I sign on a paper that if I can't pay back the amount before 2045, you can take over my house. So my house is 'mortgaged'.

Subprime dude

He is the borrower who is less likely to repay a loan. Because his income is low or irregular.

Why would bank want to give loans to sub-prime dudes in the first place?

Because bank can demand more interest rates from such people because of their bad credit history. Subprime is also in the car-loans, credit card etc. Besides when the general manager gives 'impossible targets' to his probationary officer, So what can a man do? Just give loan to every swinging dude around.

Derivative

You’re a big bank, you've given such loans or credit cards to lot of sub-prime dudes and you know it well that they're less likely to pay. So after a while, you decide to cash in your investment before these dudes start defaulting, so you repack those mortgage papers (security) and make a new security paper “anyone who gives me $50,000, I’ll give him mortgage papers of 5 houses” = this is derivative product, because this security paper derives its value from those mortgage papers.

Asset bubble

So now you sold such a derivate product to second guy, he then re-packs it with other things and makes a new derivative product sells it to third guy...chain continues. Here, no new asset (property or something that can generate $$) is created, basically you all are playing games with the same five houses mortgaged, blowing the ballon with new derivates. Thus the asset bubble is created. A point comes when people who took loans or did big shoppings with credit cards : they refuse to pay back and say

take our houses, we don't have the money.

But you can't sell the house, real-estate has collapsed, noone is ready to pay even $5000 for that house, on which you had given $10000 loan. Your asset bubble is burst, and what you've in your hand: that piece of trash paper is a 'toxic asset' or a 'non-performing asset' (NPA). This is sub-prime crisis. And technically it contained, after American treasury bought all such NPAs worth $1 trillion (somewhere in 2009), but the aftershocks are still felt: American economy is not back on track yet, because that $1 trillion bailout money didnot fall from sky, nor does the dollars spend on military expenditure in Iraq or Afghanistan fall from sky.

Eurozone Crisis

Also known as Sovereign debt crisis. What happened here is the Governments of PIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Spain) were spending way too much money on subsidies, NREGA stuff and bank bailouts etc. They used to finance their spending by borrowing from the market. These nations earn most of their money from export to America and tourism income from American travelers. But the sub-prime crisis and the recession in 2008-09 meant Americans stopped going on vacations. So the airlines,tourism and export business declined, while the expenditure remained the same. Hence in a way, Eurozone crisis is an aftershock of the Sub-prime earthquake.

Little concept: debt to GDP :

Suppose Debt to GDP is 96% (meaning if the country produced goods and services worth $100 in a year, they already had outstanding loan-repayment worth $96)
High Debt to GDP means investors loose confidence in your country. These PIGS had high Debt to GDP than other nations, hence they are in the crisis.

But why only PIGS: why they ran out of money? (along with Debt to GDP %)

Portugal:93%

Over-spending by Government, inefficient PSUs with too much manpower (just like our Air-India).

Ireland:96%

Their banks were running the same asset bubble game like the Americans. When it collapsed, Government had to bail'em out.

Greece:143%

Overspending on Social schemes, overinflated staff in PSUs. Misreported its official economic statistics, to fool the investors in buying the Government bonds. Caught.

Spain:60%

Socialist Government, so lot subsidy and NREGA stuff.

More on the Eurozone crisis is given on following page
http://mrunal-exam.blogspot.com/2011/03/economy-q-greece-crisis-and-sovereign.html

Sep 21, 2011

[Essay Tip for Newcomers] What to write & What not to write in Mains IAS exam?

This is what I learned from my seniors and toppers. There are plenty of articles on internet on how to prepare the essay (=read editorials daily etc.) I'm writing one about how to 'actually' write it inside the exam hall.
In the Essay paper, they give you 4-5 essays and you've to write only one. Time limit -3 hours, Max-marks=200.

In a 2 marker question, UPSC specifically mentions that answer it in 20 words. So with that logic, you're expected to write an essay containing around 2000 words for the 200 marks.

Tip#1: Think for 30-45 minutes before you start the Essay writing

Take this example.
They asked an essay on Gandhi, I start writing it. I write something like

Gandhi was born in Porbandar & then He went to England…africa..come back…freedom struggle..Gandhi-Irwin..2nd round table….partition…etc.

After 1 hour of writing, I realize that I forgot mention about Champaran's Indigo Struggle when Gandhi got actively involved in Indian Freedom struggle for the first time! Now I can't add it. Because there is no space in initial pages. However I can still try to add it in the conclusion like

…in 1947 Gandhi won the fight he started with Champaran…"

But when Examiner doesn't find the mention of Champaran in the initial pages, then he gets an impression you forgot it = less marks. Hence everything has to be written in its place.

That's why you must…..

Think for 30-45 minutes before you start the Essay writing

You've 3 hours to write the essay. Don't immediately start

1st try to recall everything that you can remember / want to say about the essay.
Take a pencil and write them all (in very brief) on the end of the answer sheet
See if there is any chance of adding some diagram or table in it?

Do you remember any?

any famous quotes?
Current events
People
Historical events
Laws / Administrative polices related to it

*Related to that topic, What are the

Positive
Negative sides
obstacles
Reforms you suggest?

Once you're done adding everything that you can think about, regarding the essay- then give those topics, order of preference. 1.2.3.4.
The order is very important, just like in wedding parties you start with Soup…dal-roti and…Ice cream in the end.
The order should be

Introduction
Background / History related
Main concept / theory / what the subject is about
Current scenario related to it.
Good sides
Negative sides / obstacles
Suggested reforms
Conclusion

everything has to be written in its place. Gandhi's Champaran must come in the beginning not in the end.

Tip#2: SOME DON'Ts: What not to write in essay

1. Autocracy is better than democracy. (know that it's the democracy that's allowing you to criticize it) so you should never justify certain solution to India's problems.
2. Excessive criticism of Govt. / administration (I mean the frontline and The Hindu's stand)
3. Seeing negative sides with out suggesting reforms in it.

Tip#3: Provocative Essays:

Sometimes the essay topics are given in such a way, that you want to agree all the way. E.g.

Panchayati raj is wastage of tax payer's money. (yes it seems so, just like NREGA but when you're writing an Essay you need to maintain some balance)
Poor people are their own enemies.

In such cases - just because he gave you statement doesn't mean you've to sing in his tune throughout the paper.DO NOT forget to show the other side of the mirror.
Its Easier to criticize a non working things than to fix it. (Remember this all time during essay.)
Donot give filmy solutions to real life problems. (Munna Bhai MBBS / Slum Dog Millioner.)

Tip#4: Donot get personal

Don't go naming individual politicians - their achievement / scandals (Kalmadi, Raja,Amar Singh etc.)
(except in the foreign policy related essay, where you've to analyse from entire Nehru's Panchsheel era to Vajpayee's Lahore Bus visit and current affairs.) our Foreign policy has changed with every prime minister so their names need to be mentioned.
Never write essay talking like "Congress did this and BJP did that." It's the trait of a common man, not of a future officer.
Give a balanced answer With out getting into hero-worship or mud slinging
If criticizing Govenrment in the essay alone was going to make you IAS officer, then every journalist of Aaj Tak would be an IAS officer.
An officer's trait is to remain 'anonymous', 'faceless' and neutral- meaning your essay should look like it has been written by a graduate.

Same applies for

1. Religion / culture/ language-literature (in philosophical essays)
2. States (in polity / federalism / Development)

I'm not saying you should transform into a sterile person writing the essay with out having any personal view/ opinion or righteous anger but, you mustn't become too much passionate about certain things.
I'm saying all this because you can never be sure about what will be the political / ideological / religious / regional alignment of the examiner.

This suggestion also applies while dealing with Public Administration (optional subject).

Tip#5: Quotes

1. Don't make mistakes in writing who said what. E.g. you quote Abraham Lincon's sentence and write George Washington said it. nothing will make you look more stupid in the eyes of the examiner than that.

2.Quote Exactly as it was said. Mao said "Power flows from the barrel of a gun" so you should not write it as

"barrel of the gun contains power" or
"muzzle of the gun flows the power"

You must quote the quote verbatim. If you're not sure then don't quote it.

Tip#6: Padding & Deviating from the subject

Even in the worst case, you're supposed to write 1200-1500 words for a 200 marks essay.
Padding means, you don't know the exact answer so you just beat around the bushes and write the garbage stuff to fill up the pages, while this tactic does work in the school and college exams but don't try it in the essay paper.
Don't write too many proverbs / quotes/ (invented) case studies/examples per page. It makes the examiner think that you've no input of your own so you're just filling up the pages.

Donot pick up the subject where your idea or thought content is very low.

Ex. you picked up "Do we need nuclear power" - So you start with how thermal power-stations create pollution, there is huge demand and low supply of electricity, nuke power is cheap, and then the dangers such as Japanese Tsunami etc.
After 4 pages, your thoughts and ideas are exhausted-you've nothing more to say and assuming that you write 100 words per page, you realise that only 400 words won't get you any marks ! now you can't scratch those pages and write a new essay on new topic, you've wasted enough time on this one.
So you decide to continue with this nuke-power essay and start rewriting the same stuff you already stated in different ways and then you'll deviate from the main topic- like nuke power is unsafe as we saw in Japan so we need to switch to renewable energy source like Sun, Wind and Water -> then 4 pages on advantages of renewable energy as if this is an essay on "the benefits of Non-renewable energy" and not on nuke power, you write about the pro-cons of hydro-electricity like dams and displacement of people.
Then you realise "omg, displacement of people also applies while making nuke-powerplants like in Maharashtra!" so you come back to the topic -half page written but still you've not filled up enough pages so you start talking about to land-acquisition policy and start writing the pro-cons..another half page on it. Then you think "oh i must talk something about the Indo-US nuke deal" so you go on talking about how we haven't signed the CTBT and yet N.S.G gave us clearance and China-Pakistan couldn't stop it so we are a global power now and we deserve a permanent seat in UNSC! This kind of padding goes on until time is up.
You've messed up the whole thing, you totally deviated from the subject. Your essay doesn't have any flow of thoughts or proper rhythm. The seasoned examiners immediatly sniff out this padding and they don't give much marks for it, your expected score for this kind of garbage writing is less than 50/200, means even with decent score in all other papers, your chances of getting interview call is close to zero. You've jeopardised your chances of selection in IAS, you've digged your own grave. That's why

take great care in picking up the subject
first 30-40 minutes for thorough thinking.
stick to the subject

Same applies while dealing with the big 60 marker question in GS and optional papers. (not 30 minutes of thinking but atleast 5-7 minutes!)

Me and my ruined essay

In 2009's mains attempt, I got only 20/200 marks in the Essay. It was about 'are we a soft state?'. I wrote it only from the foriegn policy and law-n-order point of view, without seeing the cultural -historical contexts. It was a monotonous essay without any spark. Moral of the story: First 30-40 minutes, do try to see different angles of the subject and give a thorough thought before you start writing.

-Some veterans are in opinion that you should pick up the essay on technical subject, example space-technology, advances in medical science, how IT has changed lives and so on. Because only a few people attempt them, and due to technical nature, your ideas are unlikely to be in conflict with the examiner so you'll get more marks. But then again you need enough 'content' to write 1500+ words else the padding route=digging your own grave. And there are enough toppers who wrote the non-technical essay and still got in the top-merit list so as usual for every generalisation made about UPSC, you'll find a counter example!

Predicting Essays for 2011 Mains paper

As usual coaching classes try to anticipate which essays will be asked, and UPSC makes sure they are not asked. So be prepared for everything- don't just rely on selected hot-topics like Lokpal and Civil society.

In old times, it was quite predictable, see the papers from 1997 to 2006: almost every year there is an essay on polity-judiciary, one on women empowerment, one on Science-tech, one on democracy and governance. But nowadays UPSC is rapidly breaking the trends.

Lets look @ the 2010 paper. People predicted: there will be some essay on games, due to CWG or Asiad or even on corruption and good Governance given CWG and 2G scams. But there was nothing.

I'm putting the comparative list of essays asked in last two years (2009 and 2010). Make your own judgement and prediction and prepare accordingly.

Vulnerable groups of society (India vs. Bharat Debate)

Should a moratorium be imposed on all fresh mining in tribal areas of the country? (2010) (can be classified as current affairs due to Mines regulation bill)
Are our traditional handicrafts doomed to a slow death? (2009)
From traditional Indian philanthropy to the Gates-Buffet model-a natural progression or a paradigm shift?-2010
The focus of health care is increasingly getting skewed towards the 'haves' of our society-2009

International relations

Preparedness of our society for India's global leadership role. 2010
Are we a soft state? 2009
Good Fences make good neighbors. 2009

One more bad news: in 1997 to 2006 era, UPSC gave 6 subjects and you had to write one essay, in 2009: five options and in 2010 : only 4 options.

Mrunal Patel

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