Courtesy Anupama & Quora.

Anthro strategy in her own words:

In CSE 2017, I have scored 158 in Anthropology Paper one and 133 in Anthropology paper 2. My total is 291.

Frankly, I hoped for a better score in paper 2. I had worked really hard for my optional. I aimed to cross 300 this time. Overall, my subject papers went well. However, certain things in UPSC are beyond control. All you can do is try your best!

Join Decode Civils Telegram Group For Free UPSC CSE Guidance From Mudit Jain, IRS CSE 2017 (Ex-IPS CSE 2014 & 2015), Author of Decode Ethics and Decode History Books

I joined Shrinivas IAS and found it to be good for Paper 1 of Anthropology. I am an engineer and I had no background in Biology as such. Therefore, I found Paper 1 a little challenging. Sir helps you understand the physical and archeological portion well. However, I do suggest that you read all the books he mentions simultaneously. While attending his class I read other books and made my self notes. I also attempted his test series regularly and submitted answers to him for feedback.

I also joined L2A Coaching’s test series. I found it extremely useful. I watched the paper discussion videos and added points to my notes. Sir also helped my during my interview. Answer writing and test series are extremely important. Please take evey test as your final paper and give your best effort. I always revised before attempting the paper and finished them on time.

I feel the biggest problem with this optional is that no single source is good enough. So I strongly suggest that each candidate should extract points from multiple sources and make notes. I had self notes made for almost all topics mentioned in the syllabus. I will be sharing them soon!

Must Read Sources:

Paper I

1. Braintree material
2. Physical Anthropology – P Nath
3. Anthropology Simplified – Vivek Bhasme (very good source for diagrams and answer structuring)
4. Anthropology – Ember and Ember

Paper II

1. Indian Anthropology -Nadeem Hasnain
2. Tribal India – Nadeem Hasnain
3. Anthropology Simplified– Vivek Bhasme
4. The Tribal Culture of India – LP Vidyarthi
5. Xaxa Report. State Society and Tribes by Virginius Xaxa
6. January 2014 edition of Yojana- Tribal and Marginalized Communities

As far as the booklist is concerned, I read all the basic books- Ember and Ember, P. Nath, B.M. Das, Nadeem Hasnain, Brain tree, Muniratnam, Laxmaiah etc. I also studied Tribal Ministry report and Xaxa report. As mentioned earlier, I made notes after extracting points from multiple sources. So study all good books and whenever you find a good point just add it to your notes.

Some areas in the syllabus which will help you in GS mains as well :

• Geological time scale ( few questions very rarely show up in pre )
• Study of prehistoric ages. (This will help in history)
• Basic biology- cell, chromosomes, cell division etc ( sometimes asked in prelims)
• Indian social system- caste, varna, sanskritization etc ( mains topic of Indian society)
• Study of tribes, minorities, SCs ( polity portion, social issues )

ATB!!!