GS Paper 2

Broad Strategy:

1. Have Short Notes ready for every topic in Syllabus + Revise them multiple times.
2. Write many Mock tests: Complete the papers always.Give proper time to every question. 10 Mark question should be done in 7 minutes. 15 mark question should be done in 10-11 minutes. Write minimum 3-4 mocks for GS2 (or any GS paper) during Mains stage.
3. Collect Recommendations of reports like ARC II, Punchhi Commission, Sarkaria Commission, Niti Aayog Reports (like Strategy for New India@75), Constitution Articles and Supreme Court Judgements and Quote them in your answers liberally to get good marks. Examiner expects to read these facts in your answers. Many toppers like Anudeep Durushetty Sir and Shubham Kumar Sir have collected these recommendations at one place (Google Karo). You can use the same or take them as reference and make your own collection.
4. Draw Maps in IR part. Don’t unnecessarily keep drawing diagrams and Maps in questions where it is not needed. Relevance matters. Focus more on addressing the question. Don’t overdo things.
5. These days questions in GS2 are becoming more and more complex. It takes time to even understand what the examiner is asking. Don’t be in a haste to write the answer. Take your time to understand what the examiner is asking. Even if you write less, you will get good marks if you are satisfying the demand of the question.
6. Make use of Subheadings to clearing show the examiner that you have addressed all the parts of the question. If a question is asking 3 parts, then make three subheadings in answer and write points under them to have better presentation.
7. Make use of 3-4 Topper copies (of candidates who have scored highest marks in GS2) to understand how people are writing the answers. You can get such copies from many forums like Visionias website. You need not copy anyone. Develop your own style on writing. If some topper has used lot of flowcharts in his/her answer, you need not follow the same. Frankly I never drew a lot of them and still got good marks. Evolve your own style. I used to appreciate Answer Copies of Anudeep Durushetty Sir and Trupti Dhodmise mam. Try looking at answer copies of most recent toppers.
8. Be happy. Mains is an exciting stage of this exam where you discover a lot of qualities in yourself. Happy writing. 🙂

Topicwise resources: Prepare Topicwise notes using 1 or 2 resources from below. You need not refer to all the resources. Use one resource as base material and another one to enrich your content. If you have attended coaching, then stick to those notes only and refer atmost one more resource if you can’t control your urges to read more. Value addition will be done by the Newspapers and Monthly magazines/Mains 365 booklets.

Resources general used for Constitution and Polity part by candidates are:

1. M. Laxmikanth Polity Book
2. M. Puri notes
3. Anudeep Durushetty Sir Notes
4. Any coaching material like Visionias Mains material or your own coaching notes
5. Your answers must quote Constitution Articles, Constitutional terminology, Reports like ARC II, Sarkaria Commission, Punchhi Commission, NCRWC etc. Quoting such reports within the answer, especially in Conclusions fetches good marks. Almost all Toppers use these reports to substantiate their answers. You can simply mention in Conclusions that “ARCII has recommended _________” or “Thus, we need to implement reforms like _____________ as suggested by the Sarkaria Commission” and so on.
6. Use latest indices, statistics, reports etc in your answers. For instance, you can always quote ADR reports that highlighting increase of criminalisation of Politics in India. You can even quote Milan Vaishnav’s book “When crime pays” in your answers. You can innovate a little by drawing a bar diagram or a pie diagram for the same as below.
7. I found Mains 365 (Polity) decent to cover recent developments. Mains 365 helps in covering issues topic wise. Even from Mains 365, focus more on covering the Major issues that are in news when you are giving Mains.

Resources generally used for Governance part:

1. M Puri notes or Visionias Printed material (any 1)
2. ARC II relevant report (Use summaries here, reports are bulky)
3. Niti Aayog reports like Strategy for New India @ 75 report. Read it topicwise and extract few points that you can use in your answers directly. (https://www.niti.gov.in/the-strategy-for-new-india)
4. Mention Supreme Court Judgements in your answers
5. Use latest reports and Indices in your answers. Like ASER report findings in a question on Education or the UNDP HDI ranking for India. Prepare a list of Data/Statistics/Reports etc topicwise for various parts of the Syllabus and practice using them in your mock tests. No need to have multiple data & reports for one topic. You already have enough on your plate with a huge syllabus.
6. Have good examples and Models ready for this part. Like in Question on Education, you can always quote Delhi Model or the Happiness Curriculum. You can make use of Niti Aayog Best practices compendium too. Models like Sevottam Model and Meghalaya model are expected by the examiner in your answers in questions on Governance and Social Audit respectively.
7. For topics like ‘Role of civil services in a democracy’ include various committee reports like Vohra Committee, Hota Committee, the Surinder Nath Committee,ARC II, SC guidelines in Prakash Singh case or the recent Niti Aayog Strategy for new India @75 recommendations. You can include latest developments like Mission Karmayogi in your answers.
8. Use Mains 365 (Polity) to cover recent developments

Resources & Strategy for IR part:

Though I didnot specifically prepare for IR part as my optional was PSIR, but you can use the following approach to cover this part:

• UPSC Mostly sticks to Current affairs in this part. Few questions are asked which are very scoring. To cover Static information which helps us understand the background of IR issues from an Indian perspective, you can read an IR Book like Pax Indica by Dr. Shashi Tharoor or the book by former Diplomat Rajiv Sikri or the more recent and updated book by Dr. S.Jaisankar “The India’s way” (Use only 1 if you do want to read a book). Contemporary World Politics NCERT and your coaching notes would be equally good. But one must read these resources way before Prelims and not between Prelims and Mains exam. We have very less time during Mains stage. At Mains exam stage, only focus on Mains 365 documents and newspapers for this section as mostly questions are Dynamic in nature.
• Your answers must be Multidimensional covering Strategic, Geoeconomic, Geopolitical, Security, Cultural, Defence, Maritime etc angles. Show the examiner that you take a comprehensive and broad of India’s relations with other countries. In IR, words like Strategic and Security have many dimensions. Google Barry Buzan’s view on Security (he gives 5 dimensions of Security). So, write answers covering multiple dimensions.
• Make a list of IR terminology like Soft Power, Complex Interdependence, Convergence of Interests, National Interest, Strategic Interest, Cultural diplomacy etc and use it in your answers. Non-PSIR students can make use of Mains 365 (IR) to collect 10-15 such terms for their reference.
• Mention India’s policies like Neighbourhood First policy or the Gujral Doctrine or the SAGAR doctrine or any recent policy changes in your answers
• You can quote Prime Minister’s or the Minister of External affair’s statements in your answers. Don’t think you have to only write a “general” answer
• Make use of Maps in this part to fetch extra marks. Like in a question on QUAD in 2021 Mains paper, you can make a small Map highlight the Quad Countries. You can draw map of India to show external threats to India coming from Neighbouring countries and from non-state actors like threat to maritime security from Piracy and terrorists.
• You can quote Books like “India’s way” by our Minister of External Affairs S. Jaisankar or “Pax Indica” by Shashi Tharoor or any recent Book to fetch extra marks.
• Standalone topics like “Indian Diaspora” can be covered from Mains 365. You can use 2 pages given in Visionias Mains 365 IR of 2021. Have 1 page summary for such topics.
• Important International Institutions, agencies and fora – their Structure, Mandate:
  • Make short summary notes of this topic by collecting information on International bodies like World Bank, IMF, WHO, WTO etc. If any Institution is in news then prepare it (Mains 365 will cover it)

Note for PSIR Candidates

1. Students with PSIR Optional have extra edge in this paper. But many times i see PSIR candidates get average marks in this section. There can be many reasons for this. Often PSIR candidates neglect this paper. They donot cover the syllabus separately of this paper. I understand that there is overlap between PSIR Paper A Section B and GS2 syllabus but one should not leave a paper unprepared thinking that we will manage with PSIR knowledge. Rather, we should try to maximise our marks in this paper by devoting some time.
2. I advice that one should have short notes ready for all syllabus topics. You can use your PSIR material plus 1 more resource to make very short notes which you can revise before exams. Atleast have few specific points including various reports, statistics, SC Judgements etc ready for whole syllabus.
3. We tend not to use our PSIR Knowledge thinking that we have to only write “general” information and if we quote an expert the examiner will cut marks. I do not understand the reasoning behind this belief. The examiner of GS2 paper will invariably be a Political Science and IR expert and would naturally relate to what we are writing. Quoting a major personality or Book, lets say “India’s way” by our present External affairs minister in IR answers or “Uncertain Glory” by Amartya Sen or even “The Transformative Constitution” by Gautam Bhatia differentiates our answers from rest of the candidates.
4. You can always quote any major Statements by the Honourable President of India, the Prime Minister, the Supreme Court of India or even the Chief Justice of India in Introductions to tell the examiner that you understand the context of the question (Use your newspaper reading during Mains, which we religiously do for PSIR to collect few such statements).
5. We just need 2-3 differentiating points in one answer to fetch extra marks and PSIR equips us with such points, so why not use it? Plus, over the years competition has been getting tough and more students are quoting specific and specialised content in GS answers. You see the Printed material or Class Notes of any good Coaching and you will see that they make use of such specialised points. You can always use your knowledge where you have it.
6. Only thing you have to take care of is that you should not overdo it. It is a GS paper and not PSIR paper.A GS answer should not look like a PSIR answer where we majorly focus on quoting various thinkers and perspectives. Examiner expects Width (multiple dimensions) in your GS answers, not depth. The more diverse you write, the better. Thus, use your optional knowledge to sprinkle few specialised points and in rest of the answer focus on general information. So with little effort, we can get great marks in this paper.

Find My GS2 Mock Test copy here