My name is Dwij Goel. I have secured AIR 71 in UPSC civil services examination 2022. My optional was anthropology and I have secured 315 marks in my optional subject.
Here is my strategy, insights and learnings of anthropology:
When I started as a beginner, I followed the blog of Anudeep Durishetty sir (AIR 1, 2017) for anthropology sources. I have written mine as well so you can check my resources list here
First and foremost, Read Ember and ember, it is very interesting book. I read marriage, family, kinship and other socio cultural part from it. Coming from the science background I was not knowing such aspects of society, it widened my horizon of seeing the things. Culture relativism and holism were truly amazing. This book is good for building the interest in anthropology. After reading it, I felt that anthropology would suit me and I never looked back at any other optional.
Secondly, I have shared the list of resources I followed. Cover one by one, like genetics, socio-cultural, theories part, archaeology and make notes of them. After paper 1, go for paper 2. Value addition is not required at this stage. Only make notes from basic material for now. At that time I remember, I followed Anudeep Sir’s (AIR 1, 2017) blog for choosing my resources and it actually helped me.
Thirdly, Dedicate 50-60% of the time of your study hours to anthropology to cover it in 4 months(without value addition).
How to make notes
Start from paper 1, study each section and then make notes as per syllabus and PYQs. For example, if you are studying primates, first cover all the dimensions of it, understand the concepts and theory.
Then start making notes in question answer format (reference: PYQs). After this question answer format notes, make notes of topics which are left now but they are mentioned in syllabus.
After that gradually move to paper 2 and majorly three sections are there. Archeology, Indian village and related topics, Tribal section. For archeology make comprehensive notes along with map and detailing of sites. Topic 1.8 of paper 1 and Topic 1.1-1.3 of paper 2 should be done together.
When you are making notes in question answer format, your mind is getting trained to think like that only. However, the exact copy-paste method of answer writing is now outdated in anthropology. Mugging and vomiting is not working anymore. The paper has become more analytical now, and to deal that good understanding is highly desired.
So, after you make notes of one section, suppose you are done with physical part, start answer writing for that section. Atleast rewrite the question you have already attempted (in your notes ). Try it, how you can fit the content if it is a 10-marker, 15-marker or 20-marker. Try mind mapping of the content and try all permutations andncombinations.
I used to write in intro-body-conclusion format. This way you can maintain the flow of your answers.
How to do answer writing of anthropology
I have shared in detail, step by step and section by section. I have tried to explain answer writing style of each section like genetics, Archeology, Indian village, tribal anthropology etc. Find detailed write up here
How I improved my marks from 232 to 315
As said consistency and continuous improvement is the key. I have improved my score in each attempt. Here is the detailed insights to maximise your score.
Your optional can get you into the list or get you out of the list. In my first attempt I was out of mains list because of my optional (232 marks), this time I’m getting into IAS because of this optional (315 marks). This incremental journey may help aspirants learn some good pointers about Anthropology.
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