Answers to Shoutbox queries-13

8 Sep 07, 23:03

vikram sahasrabudhe: hello, I am appearing for the IAS mains this Oct, I wanted to know the source from which you have prepared these notes ? Is it a mix of Hindu , TOI and ET ? or only Economic Times, Please let me know. These notes come in very handy at the last moment , I have experienced it in the PT . . though I was preparing the notes that time but now as I am short of time . . its not possible as a result, I would be skipping some part of the newspapers . . so please let me know so that i can sort out my own notes too . . n rely on some part of ur notes as well as mine . .

Ans: It is a mix of ET and Hindu for the most part. I note something from TOI usually on Sundays. My recommendation is – be selective in what you note. Be on your own when you see something complicated and/or not the run-of-the-mill stuff. Because such preparation gives you all the background needed for articulating a point. But for others, you can safely depend on this. My blogs are basically meant for:

1.Those who are short of time to go through the daily newspapers and make notes from.

2. Those who read, but are not able to make any notes from there.

3. Those that need some backgrounders and/or help in understanding the basics behind some current developments.

7 Sep 07, 16:52

Vikash: Dear Sir Glad to join your forum . A simple question , I am not able to devote time in the studies taking into consideration that I am working and often i am on tour . How much time i shud devote.

Ans: For people like you, my advice is follow the time management principles suggested by Dale Carnegie. They are very effective.

But a lot depends on your background/battle-readiness. If you had already seen one Mains attempt, that implies that Prelims should not be a problem area for you. But if you had not cleared Prelims, it calls for lot of preparation effort from you. My recommendation for average students (the 60% to 90% people) is that they should devote a full year for the preparation. Those who are above 90% category, even while working can test their mettle and see. The chinks in their armour, if any, will come out in the first attempt. Take a call then. If the chinks are too many, devote a year and you should be safely through to Mains. See your performance in Mains. That should give you a clear idea of how much effort you should put in for your next attempt. Generally people from CBSE/ICSE schooling backgrounds find it easy to attempt the exam.

7 Sep 07, 13:31

smita: sir plz tel m what strategies i should follow and how i should devote my time 4 optionals

Ans: Had you gone through these three posts?

http://discover-it.blogspot.com/2007/05/preparing-for-civil-services-exam.html

http://discover-it.blogspot.com/2007/06/preparing-for-mains-gs-paper.html

http://discover-it.blogspot.com/2007/06/how-should-i-prepare-for-2007-mains-gs.html

Please go through them first. The suggestions that you are seeking may have been there already. If not, ask me again. I would reply you in your mail.

7 Sep 07, 13:30

smita: hello sir, ur blog is very gr8 & helpful 4m sir I need ur help as m preparing 4 IAS as 1st opt is pub add & 2nd is Agri. but having confusion whether i m on right track or not

Ans: It depends on your background. Are you from Agriculture Science background? If so, that shouldn’t be a bad idea. But why Pub Ad? Why not Botany/Zoology? They could keep you in good stead even for the IFS exam, which is an equally good service. But there are many who are choosing such combinations. But you should be prepared for some grilling in the interview stage.

7 Sep 07, 12:28

Namita: sir presently i am in research at IIT Delhi on GIS.i want to appear for IAS exam but i have lack of idea and i have computer science bankground ,plz help me regarding this.

Ans: Ooh boy err… girl, you will have helluva time convincing the interview board with your background. They are sure to grill you like mad. This is not to deter you. But are you sure that you want to go for this exam? You may be making tons of money with your background in private sector. Many IAS officers are quitting the service midway and joining the private sector. If you still want to have a go at it, here is my advice:

Look at one engineering subject. Civil/Electrical/Mech. I mean glance through the syllabus. It is available everywhere. UPSC site, Civil Service India site etc. Finding it tough? Look at Maths. One of these could be an option. Then look at your mother tongue. Do you get the confidence that you can manage the preparation? Then it could be the other option.

If you have to learn these from the scratch, dump both of them. Go for safer bets like History/Pol Science/Psychology/Sociology/Anthropology etc. Though you may find them also totally new, with an year and a half’s preparation you should be in the reckoning.

But I am still skeptical; are you sure you want to do this?

7 Sep 07, 10:00

yasaswi: sir one thing that i wat to know that i take optionals in general as history and public administration and wat are the books to be read for civils

Ans: Again, my advice is look up the Civil Service India site, for which we have given a link from our Resources page. The recommendations that are found on that site are good enough. My recommendations can’t vary from theirs.

7 Sep 07, 09:57

yasaswi: sir iwat to know when the civilservices exam notification will begiven

Ans: Just keep track of the UPSC site. We have given links from our blog’s “Resources for Preparation” page to a number of sites which keep track of such things like notification dates, and also host forums on speculating about the cut-off marks etc.

Usually a few months before the Prelims and Mains, you can expect the notifications. As you might be knowing Prelims are usually held in June and Mains in October/November.

7 Sep 07, 09:37

chakra: thanku sir, iwant to know about international news so plz send some information regarding this

Ans: International news is more useful for Political Science students only and as a majority of my readers are here for General Studies, I desist from giving it a wider coverage.

6 Sep 07, 10:43

abhijeet: sir, what is the difference betn NREGA and NREG scheme.

Ans: One is the Act and the other is the implementation of the same. That’s all there is to it. To my knowledge the difference, if any, is nothing but semantics.

3 Sep 07, 22:30

jagan: sir, what are derivatives?

Ans: A simple definition is: A derivative is a financial instrument that derives its value from the value of other financial instruments or an underlying asset such as a future, forward, commodity, futures contract, stock, bond, currency, index or interest rate.

If the value of the underlying security undergoes a change it gets reflected in the derivative. At times the converse also is true. The value of the derivative may undergo a change which may trigger a change in the value of the underlying security. That is how the market's perception of an underlying security gets reflected through its derivatives. For eg., remember what we noted about CDS? A change in the value of the CDS (which is a derivative) impacts the value of the underlying debenture of the company.