Polity for prelims

Stuff written here is not meant to set a standard, but to inspire and help people at large.

So, polity for prelims is often tricky not just during preparation, but also in exam.

First of all, the material is expansive, Laxmikanth seems alright and organized but still it is not easy to finish the first reading. So, people who have not read it once through and through, please do so and then come back to this post. It can take even a month for first reading, but one has to be patient and persevere.

Secondly, there is a sort of disconnect between the effort and output, as the effort is often misdirected or inefficient. Further, there is a cycle of learning which is required for acing prelims. We focus on Reading, but more important is Retention, and Reproduction(in Mains) or merely Recall(in prelims).

This requires Revision, which is not possible if one bites so much that chewing becomes difficult.

Coming to the point, I feel one needs only 3 books on polity for prelims which should be enough to hit 90% questions on the topic in exam and one should not go after remaining 10% which only is waste of energy and time.

NCERT 11th Constitution at Work, Laxmikanth, Constitution(bare act, means only the statement of preamble, articles and schedules. People go for PM Bakshi but it has too many citations and cases and is complicated, better take simplest version of bare act)

Now, questions are of two types, 1. direct language out of constitution--bare act should help hit this spot on, 2. about constitution and polity--NCERT and Laxmikanth are enough

After first reading, I fee a 5 day plan is best to cover polity in its totality.

Day1: Part1 of Lxm | Day2: parts 3,4 of Lxm | Day3: Parts 2,5 of Lxm | Day4: part 7 of Lxm | Day5: parts 6,8,9 of Lxm

No need to do remaining parts, while reading these chapters from Laxmikanth, one should go thru the same articles in bare act to gain confidence.

Now, take on the previous year questions of polity and solve them all, those you dont get, go read on them.

This will set the right direction for preparation, now again go for second round which will be very effective as you know what is asked.

I am sure, one can nail any question set with this approach.

No need to go for any other book for prelims--no SC Kashyap, no DD Basu, no Granville Austin

Cheers!

On Mech Engg for CSM

Preparing with mechanical engineering as optional for civil services mains examination is a high risk, high reward option.
1.The syllabus is so vast that it feels like it will take for ever to one reading.
2.The questions that are asked require memory of numerous formulae, methods, facts etc, and there is no scope for "likh diya kuch to sochke"
3.There is no overlap of any kind with GS, so it is drain on GS time
4.You are relying quite a lot on mercy of upsc(in other optionals also, but the point is still valid)
Benefits:
1.If you study well, it is easy to score 200+ any day, compared to some humanities optionals in which even a scholarly aspirant might end up with 160 with no clue of what went wrong.
2.Creates backup options of engg services and forest services, GATE
3.Scores are most likely to increase in successive attempts, so it is a rewarding optional in that way
4.Pulls interview away from complex GS issues
5.Easier to estimate scores expected

Now, how to prepare. First, leave behind whatever you did in college. It gives false sense of ability. You feel "abey, ye to ho jaega. Kiya to that college me". But when it comes to actual solving, you will have to read up and you realize, questions are many times different. Further, internet coughs up many strategies and book lists for mech, but most of it is garbage except for blog by Raveesh Gupta(http://raveeshgupta.blogspot.in/2012/10/mechanical-engineering-as-optional.html)
I took inspiration from Raveesh, but I did my own work over time which might match his approach.

Now, Mech papers can be divided into many parts, and I believe in one-topic, one-book(OTOB) rule. It keeps things narrow, simple, faster. If X is big enough, no need to run around for the small delta-X  you might find in some other book. But, if you are done with X, then you can go after the delta-X.

Paper 1 has 6 major parts with 1 book for each, that I referred to.
[Materials, Manufacturing, Industrial management] are 3 related topics forming one group
[SOM, TOM, MD] is another group
Materials and manufacturing have heavy overlap and often have 1 book covering both. So, I apologize for breaking the rule immediately after making it. For these two books, I used Manufacturing Science by Amitabha Ghosh, Degarmo's Materials and Processes in Manufacturing, 

A Text Book on Production Engineering by Swadesh Singh

For Industrial management, again there is not one particular book, but Hira Gupta for OR, Operations management by Hezier(https://books.google.co.in/books?isbn=8131721388), NPTEL course by IIT-R(http://nptel.ac.in/courses/112107142/)

For SOM, there is a less known by good book SOM by DK Singh(nsit prof) which is very good to quickly finish the topic, for people who want more examples, problems--BC Punmia is best

For TOM, SS Rattan

For MD, not many questions come from MD, so it is high effort, low gains area. I actually skipped it. But you can do it from Shigley or Norton or any other book.

Paper-2 has 4 topics which are easy to study and other topics overlap causing much discomfort.

Basic Thermodynamics(PK Nag), HMT(JP Holman), IC Engines(Mathur Sharma), RAC(CP Arora)

One can use other books, as per their comfort, but in these topics OTOB applies, dont waste time over multiple books.

Now for PowerPlants(PK Nag), Steam(RK Rajput), Gas Dynamics(compressible flow by SM Yahya(, Fluids(RK Bansal)

Many times, for fringe topics, the books fall short, then one can use internet, but before that it would be useful to check IGNOU material on mech(which has good basics) and VTU online course material(which often has good explanations and solved problems)

http://elearning.vtu.ac.in/ go to e-notes

Ignou material on mech is not available online, as egyankosh is down for some reason and I have not tried to avail physical copy(as I dont know how to) But there are some pdfs you can catch online. First chapter of SOM course with code BME-017 is www.ignou.ac.in/upload/Unit-1-17.pdf

Now one has to keep changing unit number till they get page not found. Likewise, one can also change the course code "17" and get other pdfs

There is 18 for materials, 19 for basic thermo, 32 for RAC, 53 for engines, 54 for metal work, 55 for CIM, 56 for TOM, 57 for cnc machines, 58 for powerplants, 59 for advance machining, 60 for machine design, 61 for automobile engineering, 62 for metrology

NPTEL is also there are and there are countless ppt files on net for many chapters. But while sifting thru these, always focus you want out of them and keep it lean.

Strategy:

First I went for books and I thought I will understand concepts and the questions wont stand a chance. But I soon was getting drawn into the quagmire of intense technical problems that are never asked in exam. So, I went completely lean. I sorted out all previous year topic wise and even sub-topic wise and collected them together. In past 2 years, all I did was to solve these questions and read concepts related to these questions. Later closer to exams I went back to books to get a bit of broader view and cover fringes.

So, I would say to all the new entrants in mech, to first and foremost quickly wrap up this exercise of topicwise question sorting, to understand scope and level of exams. Padhna kya hai, ye samajh aa jaye, to baki kaam to bas gadhe wala hai...

In coming posts, I will try to bring my notes and solved questions onto the blog to create some basic resources for mech. Cheers!

Topicwise list HERE

On coaching and first attempts

I had appeared for prelims in 2013 without any preparation whatsoever and realized that luck might help you one stage at a time but you need to prepare for the whole distance if you are serious. So, I got serious and left my job in September 2013 with all the bravado of going all in and clearing in first attempt. When I came to Delhi I had my savings and thought coaching here works like in JEE coaching. Clear cut syllabus, notes, homework question sheets, doubt clearing and rigorous tests. The classes first promise that they will help you all the way through and provide all of the above. So, as I was itching to pay them money, I did and later realized it would have been better to save it for next attempt :)

1. There is no clear cut syllabus for the exam. Any person who is trying to sell a course that will cover everything in syllabus is either lying or if it is true then that course will be going all over the place. Look at it from classes perspective. They would want to spread their net wide, to claim questions to be coming from their material. But then, what is the point of classes then, if they cant be specific.

2.Notes they do provide and sometimes  in classes they read out of it. Now, I dont understand why a literate and intelligent person would join this book reading club, One could easily pickup this stuff(often trash) from the streets for much lesser price. Plus you could finish reading it in 1 couple of days and the classes would run that module for a week.

3.There is no follow up on your progress. You are sitting in huge classrooms where teacher might not even by visible, but is audible from speaker right next to your seat in corner of the large room. You could ask a doubt and the teacher might answer but more than often you would get better answers from Google search.

4. Tests are promised but often the classes find it uneconomical to run tests(as the teachers in this business drain away much of the revenues) and the few tests that do take place are hardly in line with upsc style or level of questioning.

So, investing in the big name classes is a colossal waste of money. The only argument left would be that some topper came from some class, so there might be something in it. But again, if you look at the resources provided by classes, anywhere do you find that the classes are substantively contributing to anyone's preparation? So, clearly success in this exam comes largely from self study.

I personally believe in going for a good test series(no classes) and buying material off the streets, to save time, money, heartburn.

The true problem:

I think the actual problem is two dimensional--psychological and economical. Aspirants have doubts in their mind about their ability to succeed in this shape-shifting examination process. To ease their mind, they seek the comfort of joining a herd, going to classes. Classes take it up a notch, by not only selling dream of success, but glorious dream of becoming a topper in the very first attempt(after joining classes of course). Now, that psychological supply demand is matched, economic movement occurs.Funny thing is, the classes tell you the same funde you might hear from a friend, senior, etc but now as you have paid money, you would listen(more intently).

I have seen people so blinded by this faith in classes, that they make "ignorance is bliss" their motto in preparation. That is ignorance about the whole thing. Classes unload their junk, and these blind mice/junkies just lap it up. On the contrary, I feel we should aim to  be aware. This is like the medieval style of unilateral information dispensation in schooling. Where is critical thinking? In absence of thinking and analysis, there is only regurgitation of little that is gathered from class notes and there is the whining about how UPSC is so random in questions.

Well, it is random but I would any day be satisfied to have fought the battle with my own weapons and not some borrowed fuski bombs. But then that is just me.

I have strongly worded my critique of classes here, because I was not advised strongly against joining classes. But I feel obliged and want to repeat, do not join any classroom programs unless you have problem reading and comprehending English.

Ab rahi baat first attempt ki... When I came into this game, I realized that we start from different points on the learning curve. I had no general knowledge whatsoever, but I could solve equations, imagine structures and engg problems very well. So, I was much behind in race compared to someone who has been reading Nehru, Gandhi, news since childhood or even college. I started reading newspapers after coming to Delhi for prep. So, lets just say that those who clear in first attempt have done relevant homework. Now, it is on each person, how long it takes to catch up. Besides, I believe in making it through competence and not just some shortcut and luck. Of course, jo jeeta wo sikandar, baki sab bandar. Par theek hai, bandar bhi kabhi to evolve hoke topper ban hi jaega. To anyone who is joining the game, I would say, don't expect guarantees/approval from anyone in market. One can seek opinion but always try to put your heart into the process and follow it. Look at me, gyaan to aise de raha hu, as if I am the topper. But, I feel bad when I see so many people with their heart in the right place not making it, because they have a storm running in their mind. Naturally they fall in trap of classes, money and giving up responsibility of preparation on these classes, they seek "other" pleasures in life.

On Republic day and on every other day, lets remember the kids back in 1900s who without any guarantees of success, had a vision in their mind, faith in themselves and hope in India. Lets not disappoint their blood that runs in our veins. Jai Hind

Mains

Mains preparation
Mains is the real deal. 9 papers--English(qualifying), Language(qualifying), Essay, GS1,2,3,4, Optional paper1,2
Someone has rightly pointed out that prelims is like one day international..two innings. Mains is like test match, while interview is like T20.
In the whole process, mains is most gruesome according to me. 3 hours each time, pouring your heart out onto the paper, without time to rest or digress or even repent. I dont want to scare people about mains, but actually I do. There are many who enquire about how to prepare for prelims and feel bit taken aback over the number of NCERTs theyve to go thru. I feel sad in pointing out to them that mains requires sifting thru much greater loads of text to come up with unique, relevant, polished analytical points or at least to get a hang of the topic.
For essays, I have wrote down my approach as follows : Essay writing
First and foremost for study of GS, I wrote the complete syllabus on a chart and divided it into broad sections that seem to belong together and then planned to take them up.

GS1 consists of geography, history(including art and culture), society
For geography, same 4 NCERT texts are good as starting point and one may go deeper into internet as required(looking at level of previous year questions or for topics that are not clearly explained in NCERT), for history part Ive written separate post. History strategy
For society part, I went thru sociology NCERT of 11th, 12th first. Then I felt the need to go thru select chapters of IGNOU notes for BA sociology considering the trend and type of questions asked in past few years.

For GS2 and GS3, Ive divided syllabus into groupings that can be seen in this index:
GS2 and GS3 index.
This classification helps in understanding the structure of the syllabus and hence the demand of the exam. It further helps in remembering the syllabus itself, which in turn helps in creating a "mind palace". A memory technique that involves imagining a palace/library where there are topicwise labeled cupboards/drawers with notes in it. Now we construct our notes on this structure.
Whenever we go thru any material--news, reports, videos, etc we should try to extract points out of it and put it in these well organized folders. So, that in exam, all we have to do is run a mental tag check and extract relevant points and make up instant bhelpuri answer :) I give due credit to Mr Aman(IIT Guwahati) who taught me how to read newspaper, extract relevant points, note topicwise.
Apart from newspaper, there are many sources to enrich these notes and are better located by doing thorough internet research on each topic name. Many govt reports, NGO reports, concepts, special topic related books, yojana, kurukshetra, economic survey, ARC reports are relevant in this matter.

For GS4, I got 60 marks in 2014 mains, 74 in 2015 mains. So, I cant say that Ive seen much difference in my marks, though I went thru much more material on ethics, philosophy etc and also tried to use lot of current affairs, examples in my answers. Only advice I can give for GS4 is that one should start with case studies, finish them up and then go after 10 markers. Case studies need time to understand and come up with a well structured, thought out answer, so cant be done in time crunch. 10 markers are rapid fire on a person's thinking, so it can be written impromptu, so can be left for latter half. Losing out on 1 whole case study is more punishing than missing out on a 10 marker.

These are major points to be kept in mind for mains.


For people opting for forestry optional in IFOS exam, I have tried to create a page with previous year questions sorted topicwise in this post: Forestry optional shortcut

For mechies, I have tried to put forward a plan for ESE2016: Plan for ESE 2016
For mechies, there are 3 cropping seasons, ese, cse and ifos...so high chances of good returns...Early crop of ESE in may helps strengthen optional and gives confidence in latter exams. There is intercropping for CSE and IFOS which is quite hectic, but it pays off when it rains interview calls.

Finally coming to mechanical engineering as an optional : On Mech for CSM

Mechanical engineering topicwise links can be found here: Mech Engg Tab

Prelims

Preparing for prelims is best done by keeping a habit of wide reading. There is no need for stress on retention/ratta, but focus should be on recognition. Meaning, I may not remember all of the over 100 national parks in India, but if you name a certain national park, I should be able to faintly recall which state it is in, flora, fauna, landform related to it. In prelims, the options are there right in front of you, so if you are able to say with confidence that a certain thing is right or wrong, is enough.
So, what we need to do is to put our mind through lot of material, so that much of it sticks and the dots get connected in exam hall.
Broadly, prelims prep involves covering 6 broad heads.. History, polity, economy, geography, environment, sci-tech. Point where history syllabus ends(making of constitution), is where polity begins, and latter part of polity(budget, finance commission) has overlap with economy(public finance). So, the first 3 topics have sort of a synergy. Similarly, geography has relation with environment. Environment involves much of sci-tech. So, the other 3 too have interconnections.
This helps to study these subjects in parallel, to save time and for better understanding.
1. More than often, people ask about which books to refer. But, eventually, they digress from this book list and then later settle down to a set of books. I too did the same. So, it is not wrong to read up from many books, but it is not good to take time in doing so. One should quickly move thru various books and then find a book that they feel covers the syllabus fairly, matches the questions asked in previous year questions, and is suited to their style. The more time one takes in deciding, hesitating, switching between books, more one will be left vulnerable.
So, decide on good books and stick to them.
2. Before we go to the book list, I want to emphasize on planning aspect. I like making plans. So much, that I often spend 50% of time on planning and have to hurry through the execution. But a good plan works well, accounts for unforeseen situations. So, one should plan with balance between high ambitions and practicalities. Also, most importantly, your plan should be visible to you and you should be accountable for it. I recommend use of stationery for it. We as kids use to make so many charts and stick them on the wall. I felt we should go back to that crude method instead of a note made on smartphone or an excel sheet on laptop, which is not visible all the time.
So, standard procedure for me was.. chart1 has broad heads to be covered, within them, subtopics. For each subtopic/topic, I scribble the source/material I am going to stick to.
chart2 has time plan.. normal calendar sort of a thing..but with enough space to write down task for the day in a box.
Aesthetics apart, it is important to decide on study cycles. For ex. for beginners, I recommend that they go for 2 week cycle. Meaning, 2 weeks for each topic, so 6 times 2, 12 weeks to cover whole syllabus. Repeat it, and we cover 2 rounds of reading in 24 weeks or 6 months time. So, a basic foundation is established for prelims in 6 months(max). Next, we shorten the cycle down to 1 week per topic, so we finish syllabus in 6 weeks or 1.5 months. Next revision we go for 3 days per topic(or 2 topics per week cycle), so in 3 weeks we cover whole syllabus.
Last stage, before exam, we can use interconnections between topics. So, we take up 3 topics and run them in parallel for first 3 days of a week and take next 3 topics and run them in parallel for next 3 days. So, we cover whole syllabus in 1 week and we are ready to take the exam.

3. Now, another thing that bugs people is number of hours to study in a day. I think it is pointless to count the number of hours as long as you are able to keep up with your plan. No point sitting with book in front, for 12 hours while the mind is drifting in sea of random thoughts/tension. I think one needs to develop stamina to sit for at least 2 hours(min) at a stretch with 1 topic. So, one can then plan 2 hour slots whenever one wants in a day or night. 3 slots then 6 hours of study or more, whatever the constraints one has(job/ghar ka kaam, etc). One good thing about making a good plan is that, you can then go on autopilot. You just follow the plan without worry and you complete syllabus on time. But beware, do not make frequent changes in long term plans, else one ends up not completing syllabus again.

4. Now the last part, is execution. So, the book list. I've gone through many sources and have switched many times, before narrowing down to the following set of books. I say with full confidence that if the following sources are tapped thoroughly, there is no stopping one from clearing prelims.
But, I must also clarify that most of these books/sources act as an index/guide for the right material distributed across the internet. So, always search whatever you come across in these books on the internet. From wiki page, go to the See Also pages at bottom, make habit of speed reading thru tons of text and see how your knowledge level will expand in the right direction.
It is like optimization, if one starts with a seed in a wrong place then one can never reach the optimum solution in a mathematical solution space. That is why, NCERT text is the north pole that takes one towards optimum point. Most of the old NCERTs and much more has been put up Mr Mrunal Patel at https://files.secureserver.net/0fHCh0CLd6Az63 the website mrunal.org is also quite good for simple explanation on many topics.

History has 4 major parts:
Ancient India: old NCERT by RS Sharma
Medieval India: old NCERT by Satish Chandra
Modern India: old NCERT by Bipin Chandra + Struggle for independence by Bipin Chandra for more factual info
Art and culture: ccrtindia.gov.in("Resources" dropdown list), 11th Fine Arts NCERT, Crafts NCERT
The above act as index and give bare minimum required to be covered. Further, one can see that these days questions are coming based on small pictures in new NCERTs. So, one must after completing old NCERTs, go thru new NCERTs and look up on internet and wiki on these places/arts/events/personalities/etc.
Most importantly it is important to get an idea of the general timeline and stage of development of society, polity, economy, technology and trade in different times.
For modern India, it is useful to study history as two way chess game between British and freedom fighters, to understand the situation, action and reaction.

Polity is pretty straightforward. Mr Laxmikanth has done a commendable job bringing all relevant material into a single book. So, thats there to fall back on. But, it is better to take it from horse's mouth. I feel more comfortable reading actual text of Constitution. Any bare act book will do.
Having gone thru actual text of constitution, one cant get confused in exam hall with twist of language.
Next Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha websites, FAQ sections are quite helpful in understanding certain procedural complexities.
To keep up with latest legislations, one can look up provisions on e releases on pib.nic.in or on PRS legislative research website.

Economy can be understood quickly by going thru NCERT 11th Macroeconomics
It covers all basics--national accounting, public finance, markets, regulation, external sector.
Same flow can be seen in govt official document like Economic survey which helps in getting good understanding of the economy. Survey is a bit deep for prelims, but as it comes out in Feb, it is good to give it one reading. Besides it helps understand budget in a better manner.
NCERT is too basic and survey too deep, the middle ground can be covered by referring to a standard textbook or to any certain classes notes on economy, but it is important to make sure that that source covers all one requires. I personally only had Ramesh Singh as backup. Otherwise most things on economy are covered by FAQ of RBI, various govt websites. arthpedia.in is one such good source of authentic info on Indian economy.

Geography is very straightforward. Only 4 NCERT texts to cover. India physical and human, World physical and human. If done thoroughly with use of net and atlas, is enough.
GC Leong is alright as a book for recap of world geography.

Environment--I went through NIOS notes and found them too basic, lacking in technical terminology. Initially, I did not like Environment by ShankarIAS Academy as it goes way too deep into each topic. But later, I felt it is good to have all material you need in a single place. Besides, it is so comprehensive that if one goes thru it completely, it is difficult to miss out on anything. So, I would say go for it, but use internet in parallel.

Sci-Tech is an area where I find it difficult to recommend any book. Physics, chemistry had always been my strong areas(prelims level), so I only had to cover Biology for which I found 11th 12th Bio NCERT a bit too deep. But I took only those parts which seemed to be coming in the prelims exam, the remaining deep technical stuff I left. But one can go for well researched sci-tech books which give relevant material. Do not go for random fat books that put in random excess irrelevant material into the book too ex, Spectrum book on Sci-tech. If I HAVE to name a book, I would say Arihant Magbook on Sci-tech is sort of alright. This one also goes too deep in some areas, but overall it is atleast relevant to upsc prelims.

Last but not the least, India Year Book is a good book to wrap up on prelims preparation. It covers geography, polity, economy, environment and even sci-tech. It has good returns ratio.

Now, in many places above, I have recommended a book and also have asked to use internet along with it. One might say, what is point of book then? I want to clarify, that most of the books are to cover bare minimum, but the extra bit of coverage one can get by following on net along these lines.
Now jumping on net means drowning in sea of info, so when to stop? For this, one must always keep going through previous year questions. Say, you start going thru certain concept in science tech and you got too interested and went thru many research papers and TED talks and put in whole evening. Then you feel, youve missed your deadline on the plan. You can go back to previous year questions on sci-tech and see if what youve studied has been relevant to upsc level. This check will keep prep grounded and strongly rooted to basics. Also, if you are going too shallow, then looking at the questions, youll know where to deep dive. I cant emphasize enough on importance of previous year questions in prelims preparation.[Ive made some run thru posts based on the questions topic wise, links below]

Geography NCERTs
Geography previous year questions
Economy previous year questions
History previous year questions
Polity previous year questions
Polity for prelims

Geography NCERTs

There are 4 NCERT texts that tackle geography which are required to be covered and often enough to cover the basics of questions coming in prelims. These are for classes 11, 12 and cover physical and human geography of world and India. I have tried to summarize them for quick look through.
Aim here is to compile some stuff that will help you punch out the straight out of book questions. Kindly pardon some extra detail I have slipped in here and there. I will mark it using <XDS> meaning extra detail start and <XDE> extra detail ends

Fundamentals of Physical Geography of Class XI
Chapter 1 Geography as a discipline
--term geography coined by Greek scholar Erastosthenes, means geo=earth, graphos=description
--2 major approaches to geography
    -systematic by Alexander Von Humboldt
    -regional by Karl Ritter
    (both are German(or should we say Prussian) geographers and of about same time frame in 18th century)
Systematic approach branches out geography into physical(geomorphology, hydrology, climatology, soil geography), human(social/cultural, settlement wise, economic, historical, political), biological(plant, zoo, ecology, environmental)
Regional approach branches out as Regional studies, planning, development and analysis, further branching out into macro, meso and micro under each head

Chapter 2 Origin and evolution of earth
Immanuel Kant, 1796, Nebular hypothesis--planets formed out of cloud material(nebula) related to sun
Chamberlain and Moulton, 1900,  wandering star comes to sun, cigar shape separates out of sun...
Later, binary theories, say this other star was coexisting with sun
Otto Schmidt(Russia), Carl Weizascar(Germany), 1950, revise Nebular hypothesis saying this cloud stuff by friction, collision--->accretion led to disk shape and then planets

<XDS>So there is nebula(cloud stuff) in which there is a star and around it is the circum(round)+stellar(star) disc which can be protoplanetary disc or an accretion disc. Fascinating thing is that accretion can be understood as process of planets sweeping and picking up stuff, growing. But actually there are other systems where accretion takes place from outer edge of disc towards the star/center. Like the magnetic field in a toroid/doughnut. One can only imagine, how fascinating the momentum distribution might be working in such system.<XDE>

1920 Edwin Hubble gave Expanding universe hypothesis or Big bang theory(not the TV show)

So, ~13.7 bn years ago ka-boom.
<XDS>Hubble says v=H D meaning velocity of an object is Hubble constant times "proper distance" to that object. So, a galaxy further away is moving faster away from us. So, clearly it is accelerating, and where is it getting energy to do so? The answer is dark energy. Still largely a mystery. <XDE>

Some big units of length: Light-year=9.46e12 km, Astronomical Unit=1.496e8 km(sun to earth avg), <XDS>parsec=3.086e13km[distance at which one astronomical unit subtends an angle of one arcsecond]<XDE>

<XDS>Life of a star:
This single picture is enough to understand stellar evolution: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Star_life_cycles_red_dwarf_en.svg
so, low mass star life cycle: nebula-protostar-red dwarf-white dwarf-blue dwarf-black dwarf
mid-size star: nebula-protostar-red giant-planetary nebula-white dwarf-black dwarf
big star: nebula-protostar-massive star-red supergiant-supernova
supernova blows up outer layers while remaining core can become neutron star if small, a black hole if massive
Now, Chandrashekhar limit is 1.39 x mass of sun(Ms) and is the max mass of a stable white dwarf star, calculated by S Chandreshekhar at age of 19. Lets understand what it means. As star gains power by nuclear fusion, at core lighter elements like hydrogen fuse and form heavier elements like Helium. Now, there is a phenomenon in quantum physics which does not allow certain particles(called Fermions) like electrons to have same energy level. So, cant allow degeneracy. This creates pressure which counters inwards gravitational pull. Beyond certain mass limit, pressure is not enough and star collapses on itself and cant be a stable white dwarf, hence the limit.<XDE>

Solar system formed 4.6 bn years ago
<XDS>
Sun: 99.86% of solar system mass, 3/4th of it is hydrogen by mass, has layers Core, Radiative zone, Tachocline(transition layer), Convective zone, photosphere(visible surface of sun)
Sun's atmosphere is hotter than the surface, has 3 layers--chromosphere(colored), transition zone, corona(hottest layer)
Beyond this is heliosphere(where solar winds flow), extending beyond Neptune and protecting planets from interstellar medium
Inner/terrestrial/earth-like planets: mercury, venus, earth, mars
Inferior planets: closer to sun than earth=mercury, venus and others/farther are superior planets
Asteroids: largest is Ceres
Outer/jovian/jupiter-like: Gas giants-- Jupiter, Saturn, Ice giants-- Uranus, Neptune
Kuiper belt: a circumstellar orbit beyond Neptune's orbit(30AU) to ~55AU from sun, has 3 officially recognized dwarf planets--Pluto, Haumea, Makemake
Oort cloud: much more on the outside is the inner Oort cloud disc shaped AKA Hills cloud and further is outer Oort cloud, spherical upto 1,00,000 AU

More on planets:
IAU 2006 definition of planet: 3 criteria--1.orbits around sun, 2.mass enough to assume round shape, 3.has cleared its neighbourhood(stuff in its orbit)
If only 1,2 satisfied then it is a dwarf planet like Pluto
Mercury: named after Roman deity Mercury, messenger to gods and NASA had sent MESSENGER to it(launched 2004, ran out of fuel in 2015)
Venus: hottest planet, named after Roman goddess of love and beauty, earth's sister planet, 96% CO2 in atmosphere, highly reflective sulfuric acid clouds make atmosphere opaque, Magellan orbiter 1991
Mars: Roman god of war, has 2 moons Phobos(fear, hence phobia), Deimos(terror), MAVEN and MOM are orbiting it, on surface we have Opportunity rover and Curiosity
Jupiter: largest, named after Roman god of sky and thunder, eq to Greek Zeus, 67 moons, 4 large Galilean moons--Io, Europa, Ganymede, Callisto named after lovers of Zeus
Saturn: Roman god of agriculture, 62 moons, largest moon Titan(brothers/sisters of Greek equivalent god Cronus), Cassini-Huygens space probe
Uranus: only planet named after Greek god(of sky), apart from hydrogen and helium in atmosphere has "ices"--water, ammonia, methane, trace hydrocarbons, 27 moons largest is Titania
Neptune--Roman god of sea, 14 moons largest is Triton(has retrograde orbit), Voyager 2 is only spacecraft to visit it
All planets revolve in same direction around sun in anti-clockwise orbit. Also all planets rotate in same direction as sun (prograde) except. venus that rotates in reverse direction(retrograde) on its own axis, while Uranus has an axis almost horizontal(tilted by 90deg)
<XDE>

13.7BYA big bang, 5-6 BYA stars formed, 5-5.6BYA solar system formed, 4.6BYA planets formed, 4.44BYA moon formed, 4BYA oceans formed on earth, 3.8BYA life began, 2.5-3 BYA photosynthesis got evolved, 2BYA oxygen began to flood atmosphere

On time scale: Eons>Era>Period>Epoch>Age/years
currently we are in Cainozoic era, Quaternary period, Holocene epoch

Evolution of earth
--of lithosphere: process of differentiation(cooling, density change, material moves, layer formation)
--3 stages of atmosphere, hydrosphere: 1.loss of primordial atmosphere due to solar winds, 2. degassing--interior gas released, 3.photosynthesis

Chapter 3  Interior of Earth
Sources of information:
Direct: rocks from mining, deep drilling, volcanic eruptions
Indirect: PVT(pressure, volume/density, temperature) estimates at different depths, gravitation, magnetic field and seismic activity studies

Earthquake: source point=focus=hypocentre, closest point on surface to focus=epicenter
Types of earthquake waves

On ESE

I have qualified the engineering services examination 2015 and have been ranked 58. I do not want to reverse engineer this result and under influence of the wishes of people fall into the delusion that I might have indeed done something special. I have put up an extremely moderate effort. In fact I have been preparing for civil services examination and ESE helped in pressuring me into studying my optional subject mechanical engineering. It is my preparation for civils, that helped me clear ESE. My marks will make it clear.

GAT 172.22, obj1 91.67, obj2 90.55, conv1 58, conv2 85, PT 134

So, with total of 631, it is clear that if I had not applied as OBC I would not have made it into the final list.

On Classroom programs and test series:

I have not been part of any classroom program but had joined classroom test series program at Made Easy. It starts in March and goes on till the exam in May. I felt I was alright in my prep but I used to get rank of about 700-800 in the tests and I often felt that the objective part of test was based on their own material. Towards the end I was getting more demoralized so, I did not appear for most of their tests.

On mock interviews:

Further, in mock interviews too, I was given marks ranging 90-100, which is like the bare minimum one gets in interviews. I agree with the panel in mocks, as my subject preparation was extremely poor. But then UPSC panel is not testing for research, it wants generalists with technical abilities, so I guess I was OK for them. I gave only 1 mock interview and later did not bother much about it. I would say, one should keep working on communication skills in parallel to gain confidence.

Disclaimer:

I am not trying to say that the classes were wrong and that I knew all the while that I was right and I am a champion because I made it. All I want to say is that, like me, when you get these signs pointing out, you are not up to the mark, don’t give up. Work hard on the subject and have faith in your method, instead of giving up to luck. Also, people who are working or, those who are not able to avail classes, don’t feel that you are missing out on something substantial.

On GAT:

My prep approach for GS is actually based on civils but it works for any other exam.

GS has 6 major parts: (History, Polity, Economy),(Geography, Enviro, SnT)

One has to study under these heads and also analyze papers under same heads.

For history, best approach is to read NCERT thoroughly. One should be able to narrate major events, objects, people and concepts in history with certainty. That will come only when you go one layer deeper. So, I recommend while reading NCERT, keep Wikipedia ready and keep opening multiple tabs as you go on reading and scroll through those pages. Say you are reading about Delhi sultanate and you start with Qutb-ud-din Aibak. Then go to wiki page of this guy and just run thru it. Then you will come across many interesting details and link suggestions under See Also, read those too. One might think, abey ye bahot jyada deep ghus raha hai. But by my experience, mcq in GS is all about wide reading. You gather enough details to create dots which you can then connect in exam hall. You cant expect that you will get some single bundle of notes that you will read(like the very popular Lucent book) and cruise through the exam, as UPSC wants to beat just that. OK, back to history. History has 4 diffused parts—ancient, medieval, modern India and art+culture. There are ncerts for each. If one finds some time, I recommend Discovery of India by JLNehru.

For polity, buy a copy of constitution of India(bare act, which means only articles not any fancy explanations and cases etc). Knowing the language of constitution itself gives lot of clarity. Then one can use Laxmikant for revision.

For economy, first and foremost Macroeconomics NCERT, use it to study Budget speech and then if you have interest Economic Survey. These are enough as such to get decent understanding of economy.

For geography, ncerts of course, 4 of them, physical and human for world and India. But one must use maps in parallel. Go to corresponding govt websites and gather maps and use blank ones to plot and understand geography. Example, say you study chapter on hydrology or rivers etc then go to water resources ministry and see how govt classifies water basins, what are major rivers, their courses, cities on them etc, plot them. Use an atlas or even Maps by google/bing/any other.

Environment, there are many books. Pick a good one and dig deep. There are NIOS notes on enviro for which links are available on Mrunal.org then there are textbooks by beta publications. If you want deeper stuff there is book by ShankarIAS. But I would recommend also going to ministry website MOEF&CC for latest details.

Science tech is manageable if studied in a focused manner. I suppose phy chem wont be a problem for engineers. So, it comes down to biology. Class 11,12 ncert are enough and sometimes are a bit too deep. So, one should not go beyond these books. For the tech part, follow latest news.

Supplements:

Newspaper, India Year Book are the major supplements in GS prep. Especially the chapter on states is very informative in IYB, when used along with Wikipedia and maps.

Mechanical Engineering:

I have written a lot on GAT because as you can see it makes up 1/3 of my written total. So, it can be a real gamechanger. For mechanical engg, I was preparing as per civils syllabus. So, I can only tell what I did.

Paper-1(2 for civils) can be divided into 4 major parts which are easy to attack---Basic thermo(PK Nag), HMT(JP Holman), RAC(CP Arora), IC Engines(MathurSharma+Heywood)

Apart from these there are the trouble making subjects, because they often criss-cross into each other’s territories and the sad part is that I could not find one single authoritative text on each one of them. So, there are multiple books with their multiple notations. You will find some previous year question solved in one book and the concept explained better in some other. But still, if I HAVE to divide it up, then it would be as Fluids(RK Bansal), compressible flow(Yahya), Powerplants(PK Nag/RK Rajput), Fans,turbines(Eastop McConkey/Yahya).

Frankly, I studied only the 4 major topics and among the latter topics only Yahya on Compressible flow is OK, but he too uses unnecessarily complex notations. Eastop McConkey was used at IIT-D so I was comfortable but the kind of questions these people ask on fans turbines, I don’t know where they get it from and who teaches these things. I feel sorry for the subject. Why cant someone write one single clear cut book for graduate students and not for critical acclaim! 

Paper-2(paper-1 in civils) comparatively is neater and I am more comfortable with it. It is in fact the scoring zone. Don’t miss out on this or you get pushed out of the list(my feeling, some are better off with paper-1). This one can be cleanly cut into 6 parts—SOM(BC Punmia or an interestingly smaller and straightforward book by DK Singh), TOM(SS Rattan), MD(any book)

Above 3 topics have relation between them, so better to run them in parallel when studying.

Next 3 topics are Materials(Amitabh Ghosh/DeGarmo select pages/Swadesh Singh), Manufacturing(same sources as materials) and Industrial Engineering(Hezier—I used google books). These too have some relation between them so, can be run in parallel.

Supplements:

Google books: when the domestic books are not clear enough, it is useful to use google search to get notes and ppt by foreign univs and also using google books. Use it judiciously as there is page view limitations.

NPTEL: is OK for quick reference, but it wont help much in problem solving esp the complex kind of Qs in conventional papers

VTU: vtu has surprisingly big stock of notes on different topics. I found it much more relevant than nptel notes

IGNOU: also has notes on different topics, but there are not direct links to these pdfs. I think they are sorting out some issue on IPRs. The pdf is still available, so I don’t know what they are achieving by keeping notes disarrayed across internet. Ignou notes on cnc, jigs fixtures and such special topics are good. Not so good for basics.

COMPASS:

Most importantly, it is important to not drift away from your course. Aim is to do well in the exam. Your knowledge and expertise in subject would be appreciated but if it is not useful in fetching marks then you will suffer the taunts from many “less knowledgeable”---yaar aata to sab hai, but pata nahi kyu nahi nikal raha. So, dont try to get a phd in each topic. Start with previous year questions---ALWAYS.

Even in GAT—look at the questions upsc is asking and direct your efforts to master those areas. Same in mech, locate things upsc is asking and study around that in books and notes. That part one must master, beyond that is optional. Don’t get strayed by test series. If you are scoring poorly in them then compare questions with previous year Qs and you can recalibrate.

Last minute pressure:

Engineering subjects are vast and one takes 4 years to know what is in it, whereas one would also like to clear the exam in 1^st shot so, pressure to complete the study in 1 year can be quite a lot. Especially the day before exam, one feels the real extent of pressure and the vastness of syllabus. Happened to me in 2014. I had not prepared much for mech and focus was on GS for civils and I thought I would manage. But after appearing for GAT, that night I realized I cant do anything and just went to sleep. Point is mere reading of subject is not enough. You should know exact formulae and methods for specific questions and theory part.

Patience:

If you have reached this part of the post, congrats! You have patience. Use the same when dealing with the subject. There are quite a few confusing areas. Spend time on it. Use internet and multiple sources. Ask a friend. Or soak it. Come back to it later. Target and secure the low hanging fruit. Keep moving towards your goal without worrying about what others are doing and kaun kitna bada stud hai ya padhaku hai. Apna kaam karte raho and as Gaurav Agarwal says Khelo India.

Promise:

Preparing for this exam I realized that most of the technical stuff is not written for students and is for satisfaction of the author. So, I promise that I will write posts on specific theory and questions because if that is out of the way then students can move on to some quality research, nahi to sab wahi atke reh jayenge. In return, bas dua de dena yaaro. Civils nikal jaye, poori free e-book likh dalunga mechanical engineering pe :)