Surbhi Goyal secured AIR-78 in CSE-21 in her 3rd attempt. She scored 98 marks in GS-3 paper and below is her GS-3 strategy

You can contact Surbhi at her Instagram Profile or Telegram Channel.

Booklist:

• Economics:
  • Mrunal sir’s lectures on Unacademy for prelims and mains. I took the course once in my first attempt and afterwards, I took the free classes of current affairs updates posted by him on Unacademy. He also covers Economic Survey & Budget.
  • For mains, I also referred to Vision value addition material.
  • For current affairs aspect, I used Vision monthly magazines.
  • Some topics or PYQs that weren’t covered through them, I googled those and found their answers on different websites platform.

Decode GS-2: Governance & Social Justice Sample & Format Explainer:

• Environment:
  • Shankar book for prelims.
  • Vision monthly current affairs magazine.
• Security:
  • Vision value addition material and Vision current affairs magazine.
• Science and Technology:
  • For space developments, I referred to ISRO website where it had posted all the achievements till now. I prepared these for both prelims and mains.
  • For rest of the topics like nanotechnology and robotics, I referred to 1-2 page notes in Vision S&T Mains365.
  • For current affairs, Vision current affairs magazine.
• Agriculture:
  • For Crop based questions like rice and pulses, I used Human geography Class XII NCERT.
  • For agriculture schemes, Mrunal sir economic notes.
  • Vision value addition material for topics not covered in these materials.
• Disaster management:
  • Geography NCERT Class XI covers basics of disasters.
  • For recommendations and facts, I referred selectively to NDMA website where it has given guidelines for every disaster.

I have already shared the value addition material. It has facts, committees and examples for all the above subjects. Also, I used PYQs extensively for GS3 because these sources may not cover them entirely with, so whatever is left can be analysed by PYQs and completed.

GS 3 Answer Writing Approach:

1. Use facts and figures wherever possible. Eg: You can mention India’s target $5 trillion GDP, what percentage of India is affected by naxalism, what percentage of different sources of air pollution, what percentage of India is affected by floods etc
2. Draw maps in internal security, disaster management, environment (wetlands, air pollution main cities etc), agriculture, etc.
3. Draw graphs, especially in economics. For Eg, a graph showing gdp pattern for 4-5 years or FDI Investments for 3-4 years. Try to use figures and graphs from latest economic survey.
4. Use suggestions for conclusion from Niti Aayog’s strategy for India @75. Again, don’t read it entirely. Read it selectively for economics and agriculture.
5. Use SDGs for conclusion.
6. Mention best practises. Eg: for water management, give Eg of Netherlands. For plastic waste, Kerala’s Suchitwa mission.
7. Use the name of committees for economic reforms, security reforms, etc.
8. For economics, try to use keywords from the latest surveys and budgets.
9. In economics answers, try to keep a balanced approach. For Eg, this year question was asked, has India’s GDP growth been V shaped? So I gave points in favour and against both along with graph of GDP.

Join Decode Civils Telegram Group For Free UPSC CSE Guidance From Mudit Jain, IRS CSE 2017 (Ex-IPS CSE 2014 & 2015), Author of Decode GS-2, Decode Ethics and Decode History Books

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All My Notes @ 1 Place