Yellow brick road to "Success": A step by step approach to UPSC India, Civil Sevices, Part-II

In the previous post, "Yellow brick road to "Success": A step by step approach to UPSC India, Civil Sevices, Part-I", we focus mainly on how to jump start your preparation for Civil Services Examination. We also covered, how to choose an optional subject, do we need coaching or not and a few other things.

In this part I'm going to focus on Physical and Psychological conditions that  are optimal for maintaining the zeal to prepare in the long run. We will also cover some of the books, magazines and news papers relevant for the preparation. 

First, I'm pretty sure most of you have a problem with reading and studying for long hours and some of you have problem in maintaining the interest for months and in some cases years while preparing. I know that most of you will agree with me when I say, maintaining sound mind and body is very important for achieving success in any field. I have some simple techniques you can follow to make your life easier while preparing.

How do I maintain myself?

During preparation there will be fluctuations in level of enthusiasm, maintaining sound body and mind is the key. some of the things are listed out here.

• Take care of your health, eat well and exercise regularly.
• Maintain positive attitude, even in your lowest time remember that it's just a phase you are passing. You will get civil services if you work hard.
• If you want to become a civil servant start feeling like one. Eat, think, sleep, walk and do everything like one. Take part in the academic discussions, keep your eyes and ears open for every important thing happening.
• Don't try to fill the hours, try to utilize the time you have. Most often people who are preparing tend to sit for long hours, after a certain point sitting like this gives diminishing returns. For this, plan the day as if you are doing a job, 8-9 hours compact yet comprehensive plan.
• Write at least 400-500 words everyday.  Write the gist of everything you have learnt on that day. It helps you remember, recapitulate and improving writing skills.
• Maintain a schedule, this is the hardest task people face. Normally without a schedule, indiscipline tends to creep in. Schedule is the key to self-discipline. 
• Take an outing once in a while. Breaks help in rejuvenating your energy.

These are the basic points you need to follow to keep yourself fit. Now lets talk about books, NEWS papers and magazines important for preparation. As I said earlier, keeping your eyes and ears open for important things happening, is a very important task. For this you need to know some of the basic yet important sources.

 

Here is a list of books subject wise:

Read NCERT books for basic understanding about anything.

Topic Wise Reference On General Studies

Books on Indian History & Culture:
NCERT (+ 2 level) — Ancient India, Medieval India, Modern India.
Publication Division : Gazetteer of India (Vol 2 : History & Culture)
Gandhi Nehru Tagore & Ambedkar — Gopal Krishna
Bipin Chandra - Modern India
A.C.Banerjee - History of Modern India 
Raghavan Aiyer — Mahatma Gandhi
IGNOU Text books- Indian culture and Heritage

Books on Geography:
NCERT : Physical Geography of India for X - XII Std
NATMO atlas, this is a Government printed atlas.
Sharma & Cotinho : Economic and Commercial Geography of India.
Khullar : India- A Comprehnsive Geography
Charles Farro : General Principles of World Geography
Charles Farro : Monsoon Asia Reports published by Centre for Science and Enviornment And Tata Energy Research Institute
National journal - Kurukshetra, Yojana etc.
Down to earth

Books on Indian Economy:
NCERT (+1 level)—Evolution of Indian Economy(I C Dhingra).
Mishra & Puri or Dutt & Sundaram - Indian Economy
Economic Survey
The Economic Times,Business Standard
Yojana Magazine

Books on Social and National Issues :
Social Problem - Ram Ahuja
Social Welfare Magazine - Published by ministry of social welfare
Yojana/Kurukshetra
IIPa Journal

Books on Indian Polity:
NCERT (+1 level)—Indian Political System
N.L. Madan : Bhartiya Rajya Vyavastha
D.D. Basu—Indian Constitution
Kashyap—Constitution of India
Publication Division—Subhash C. Kashyap : Our Parliament
P.M. Bakshi—Indian Constitution
Our Constitution : Subhash C. kashyap
Perspective on Constitution : S.C. Kashyap
Frontline Magazine
IIPa Journal

Books on Science & Technology:
NCERT : (10 level) : Science, (+2 level) : Biology.
Popular Science Series (CSIR)
Reports Of the Ministry of Science and Technology Yojana
Science Reporter
Science and Technology in India - Spectrum

Books on India and the World :
Journal of peace Studies
World Focus
Strategic Analysis
South Asian Journal

Other Books for General Studies:
1. India Year Book latest
2. EPW (Economic and Political Weekly), Outlook and Frontline
3. Guides like Tata Mc Graw Hill, Spectrum or Unique For General Reference 4. The Pearson General Studies Manual

With this I conclude this part. In the next part I'm going to write about Indian culture and heritage. Hope this post helped you.