UPSC Study Material | Shankar IAS Academy

When you build your basics strong, other things such as answer writing and fine-tuning can be done with practice. The best way to begin preparation is by reading the NCERT books. It is advisable to read class 6 to class 12 NCERT books and simultaneously make crisp notes from them. NCERTs provide a base for further reading and also a foundation for Current Affairs preparation.

We suggest the aim should be to grasp everything possible in one single reading. The notes you make can be used only for final revision just before the examination. Other basic mandatory books should be covered by the candidates.

The classic mistake during Civil service preparation is that aspirants spend too much time on a single subject/ portion discarding various other subjects. “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.” – Stephen R. Covey. The selection of books should be in such a way that it helps in investing time equitably in all the subjects. Hence in our UPSC postal study materials, we have included the books which will make an aspirant strong in topics without going overboard. The IAS postal study materials provide a one-stop solution for the search for quality books needed for every subject.

During the beginning of your preparation, aim to cover the topics from Polity, Economy, Geography, and History. These four subjects are considered – the four pillars of the UPSC examination. Most of the questions in the Prelims examination will be from these four subjects.

• * For Geography, Start with NCERTs of XIII and proceed forward. Then proceed with the books as mentioned for the subject in the study material. Most important of all is Current affairs – Connect the place in the news to Geography by locating the places in the map.
• * For History, it is better to learn the weightage of the different segments and plan according to the priority. Focus mainly on Modern India. For Medieval and Ancient History focus on important things like The Mughals, the Vijayanagar empire, and the Sultanate, etc, their religious movements, various periods, art and other impacts, etc. Making chronological chart of the things makes it easier to learn, remember and revise.
• * For Polity, rather than just memorising the Articles in the Constitution and other things, it is necessary to get the complete understanding of the Articles and their practical implementation. Learn to develop a view towards the topic.
• * For Economy, Covering the basics and current affairs will fetch you more marks when you completely understand the subject. Other than that, it is suggested to learn from IAS Parliament website where all the current affairs part are analysed in detail only with the exam point of view.

You can jump to science and technology, Environment and ecology after you have covered the four important subjects from the IAS study material. The best study material for UPSC should include all the necessary content as per the latest syllabus. Hence, we have designed and curated the UPSC study material in such a way that it caters to all the needs of an aspirant.

The strategy is to start by analysing the UPSC Prelims' previous year's question papers. Understand the structure, pattern, weightage, and areas of question. When you go through these, you may notice that Current affairs preparation is most significant considering a shift in the type of questions asked in the past few years. There is a dominance of current affairs-related questions in the Prelims questions paper for the past few years. Therefore, it is important to be thorough with current affairs. In case you have not been regular with newspaper reading, you could refer to a monthly compilation of current affairs from SIA.

Ignoring CSAT preparation is the biggest blunder you could make. More often than not, aspirants do not practice for the CSAT paper. Though CSAT is just a qualifying paper, you must practice at least a few previous year CSAT question papers and also revise the topics to ensure that you score at least 33% of the marks allocated for the Paper. Also, make sure, you try and solve the question paper within the time limit. This practice is essential to obtain the required cut-off.

This is also the reason we offer the best postal materials for IAS, focusing on various kinds of aspirants from those looking for Prelims cum Mains, Prelims cum Mains with CSAT books, Prelims alone package with and without CSAT books.

The importance of revision cannot be emphasized enough. Prelims exam is a test of knowledge and hence it is important to remember factual details as well. At least 2-3 revisions are a must before you appear for the examination. Notes and our IAS materials help in this. Solve Test Series papers from SIA. This exercise will help you develop a sense of time management and decide on your strategy, the approach for the Prelims.

The UPSC exam has a well-defined syllabus and it would do the candidates a whole lot of good if they decide to restrict themselves to it. Perhaps one of the greatest myths about the UPSC exam is that there can be questions on ‘anything under the sun.’

If one studies the question carefully, candidates will realize that even questions from seemingly align topics do have a background linkage to topics listed in the syllabus. Have an eye for connecting the dots while your UPSC preparation.

Hence our study materials are analytical as well as comprehensive in nature to cater the all the requirements of both Preliminary and Main examinations. The postal material has been prepared taking into note the present trends and previous years’ questions of the Civil Services Examination. They are revised at regular intervals as per the latest happenings, developments, and recent trends of the examination. Make use of the best postal study material for UPSC from the packages available above.