GS1 History

History for mains has not only Indian history but also world history. Basic timeline, facts etc are good for prelims, but mains needs thematic study of history. It requires zooming in on turning points and zooming out to look at progression of movements/events etc. This is what makes it challenging.

Largely, we study art and culture part only for ancient and medieval part. Modern India is studied in detail. World history is also to be studied in fast forward(so many centuries to cover, with so many names, details, concepts). It is very difficult, but if one looks at it like a story, it is indeed interesting. I am not preaching, but I do feel that history can get boring only if perspective is lost. If one tries to live those times, live those obstacles people faced in those times, then it makes sense as to why certain things happened. This helps us come to terms with our own deeds, take lessons from past, and to understand that it is easier to judge in retrospect.

For art and culture of ancient and medieval times, there is of course ncert, old and new, with pictures, tables, point wise description. To revise and to fill in details, there is ccrtindia website.
For modern India, struggle for independence by Bipin Chandra is good, but for mains it has to be studied thematically. Besides, if one goes thru NCERT by Bipin Chandra, it is better(mains point of view). So, I had made notes for mains based on this book and I want to share it to save people the pain of going thru the whole book. Also, Ive made it in point format, leaving out excess detail, so that one can go thru it quickly and get ready to put down at least some basic points on paper.

Link: modern India ncert hand written notes for mains
[its a heavy file, so those with slow connections, careful... 57 pages 24MB]
There are many other books one can read to get more analysis and details for modern India. There is spectrum, Grover Mehta, Plassey to partition, Sumit Sarkar etc. But I found that I used to bite too much, and could not chew, let alone digest these texts. So, I decided to stick to the old ncert by Bipin Chandra and added some notes from above books, so as to cover some missing portions and I was done with subject. I have left some portions blank in above file, due to lack of time to cover those portions. This won;t affect the overall coverage of notes, and one can read up on those(2) sections separately from any source.

For world history there are many books again.. BV Rao, Jain, Norman Lowe, Arjun Dev, Baliyan notes etc. All of the above are alright. But many of these take up too many words to explain same thing, which caused lot of pain to remember. Some dont cover from Renaissance, some do but then go too deep. So, I found that there is an NCERT Contemporary world history class XII 2003 edition that is spot on for the mains world history syllabus. It covers all relevant timeframes, is written in simple language, with less of extra ramblings.

Another hare and tortoise story

The moral race

Fact is stranger than fiction, but difficult to ascertain. So, people settle for stories. The weird thing about stories is that there could be moral of a story, but there might not be justice done to all the characters. Without the facts, morals are drawn based on interpretations by different entities. I have heard so many versions of a simple benign event, that it has forced me to break my silence. The version in vogue is that I raced with a hare and I won, because I kept going, while the hare took a nap in between.  Some said slow and steady win the race. Some doubted that I might have drugged the hare, so that he would fall asleep. Some say, I drugged myself so that I could go faster than usual. One thing I have come to realize, is that everybody likes to get drugged by morality. It lets one slip into comfort and let the invisible hand of morality lead you. But I think it is imperative that I clear out some of these moral cobwebs.

It all started when the hare saw me training for bit of a walk. I thought, I have so much age on my hand, why not become a bit fit, and may be bring some evolutionary change. I did not mind the hare giving me a couple of tips on my pace and posture. But I kept pestering him for the secret to his speed. It was getting embarrassing to prance around with a hare and to not see any progress. Driven to frustration, I asked the hare one last time to reveal his secret. Hare comforted me and said he would gladly share his secret. He said, “Down the path and over the mountain, there is a place. There is not judgment there. You will feel at peace with yourself there. Meet me there and we will realize the secret together.” So, we went down the path together. As usual I was slow, but I had the hope of becoming a better self that drove me. On the way, I saw many mocking me. They told me about the crooked tail of a dog, the different ways of nature, and about contentment in self. With all the confusion, I kept going and lost sight of hare in the woods. Not being able to locate the path that the hare took, I kept going on the path that everyone took. I reached the end of the path, but there was no peaceful place there. There were only the mocking birds, that sat there telling the owl about how the hare and tortoise had raced. The owl declared me the winner, and advised others to take a lesson in fortitude and perseverance. Celebrations went on for a night. The hare reached the spot and was greeted with ridicule for losing to a tortoise. He simply smiled, embraced me and ran away. I called at him to ask for the secret place, the path to inner peace, but the cheer had drowned my voice. Surrounded by glory, fame, and praise, I had never felt more alone and discontent.

There are many hares in the world, many tortoises, mocking birds and owls. Based on what they see, there are morals and based on what they think, there is ethics. There is the animal farm and there is utopia. May be both have a piece of fact in them or may be both are pure fiction. One thing remains unhindered, and that is learning. Even today, I recall the hare and try to run as fast as I can. That is the fact, and I suppose it might be stranger than fiction. But then, I think it makes a better story. With new interpretations this story will also be drowned into morals. But I pray for a raft of peace and love, while we float around in a sea of stories and judgment. Time to go for a run!

 

Power plants Turbomachinery

This area drains much energy and gives poor returns. Main problem is that the textbooks are very poorly written. Much of it discuss power plants in shallow manner or go too deep into practical aspects. The middle ground of numericals, problem solving is left wide open. Books like Eastop  McConkey are ones that save students in the end.

Power plant economics is quite straightforward. So it is also good for scoring. Same goes for emissions control part related to power plants.
PP economics and emissions

Power plant cycles are simple only with modifications of Rankine cycle. Cascades, combined cycles etc are very tedious. Also, often the question itself has a piece of info missing, which makes taking up these questions a big risk. On other hand, much of these questions are taken straight from textbooks, so if one has enough experience, one can handle it better(and go for 300+ total in mech)
Unfortunately, I did not have much interest in this area, so my effort is upto bare minimum.
powerplant cycles

Rankine and gas turbine cycles are better topics to invest time and effort, from  exam point of view.

Turbomachinery is another topic which I largely left, as it just drains time and effort and brings frustration. There are no universal symbols being used, no standards followed in making diagrams(velocity triangles). The subject is a big mess and unfortunately, requires lot of decoding symbols and terminologies. Sad part is technically, it is simple, but the researchers have complicated it to such an extent that it is comparable to financial securities being taught to a layman.
I can not recommend any good book for the topic, as frankly there is none. Most of the books use different symbols and sign conventions. I have tried to solve some questions and collected them topicwise.
Axial compressors, centrifugal compressors and gas turbines are subtopics one can look at.
Better to read it from a single book. Books on turbomachinery and those on fluid machinery have different symbols, so better to stick to one.
compressors and gas turbines
Steam turbines(impulse and reaction) also should be studied specific to demand of exam. No extra points for becoming non-certified PhD
compressors and steam turbines

Steam generation, boilers, draught is simple to understand and reproduce. These notes should be enough to cover the demand of the exam.

IC Engines 2

IC engines is topic that gives good returns on time and effort. Mathur Sharma is a good book that covers much of the syllabus relevant to cse. There are many who prefer Ganesan but I found former better. If one does like to dig deeper, one can go for Heywood.

IC Engines 1 was a post I made in the beginning and wanted to make it extensive in terms of coverage but I could only put up the skeleton and filling it up would be like writing a book(too much work and time required)

So, here are the questions, mostly solved, on different topics.

ESE qna 1
ESE qna 2

CSE questions topicwise
Performance calculations and balance sheets
Combustion, knocking, fuels, emissions
Carburetion and diesel injection

RAC 2

RAC 1 is a messy post as it was made in the beginning, while I was figuring out how to upload so many pages. Then I made other posts where I linked questions with pages uploaded on google drive(too much work). Now, I am hastily uploading my notes in chunks, as I am getting tired of the scanning, uploading, linking etc. So, I leave it to the recipient to further organize the material.

Refrigeration is an awesome topic as it is quite neatly laid out in books. Questions are quite straightforward and methods are simple.
Sub topics are VC cycle, components like compressors and expansion valves, refrigerants, LVHE, VA cycle, gas cycle

refrigeration QnA

Psychrometry is also a scoring area. There are some basic derivations and diagrams which are directly asked. Numericals too are easy to deal with.

psychrometry qna

Airconditioning is the tricky part. There are so many technicalities, that sometimes it is even difficult to figure out where to start. Another problem is that often, some piece of data is not given in the question. Then one has to assume some value and continue but it is risky and also creates lot of doubt in one's mind. So, better to identify if the question is familiar, otherwise no point in taking much risk.

AC qna

Gas and Fluid Dynamics GD FD

It is a fringe topic in syllabus. It appears at end of textbooks of thermodynamics and is often poorly explained/covered. Book by Prof SM Yaha on Compressible flow is the best book for the topic. Unfortunately, the symbols he has used in the book are different from those used usually by everyone, which makes it painful to go thru the topic. So, I have decoded and made notes using usual symbols and covering those topics/derivations that are relevant to the exam.
GD notes

GD has only a handful of subtopics: derivations for convergent divergent nozzles, Rayleigh flow, Fanno flow, Normal shocks
But the difficult part is remembering the derivations and formulae for these topics
sub-topicwise solved GD questions

Fluid statics/dynamics is another topic which is ill treated by the exam. The subject as such is extensive which is clear if one sees the size of any textbook for the same(RK Bansal, Frank M White). So, it takes lot of time and returns are poor. So, I made notes in QnA form taking stuff from ESE questions.
Fluids notes ESE QnA

Some solved question from CSE on fluids

2017 ESE CSE

There are many among us sharpening their blades for the 2017 season. I am specifically interested in the preparation of those taking up Mechanical Engineering as optional in CSE and are also naturally appearing for ESE(good practice for optional + good backup if you need one).
But, the game has changed quite a bit, with new schedule and structure, syllabus etc.

So, there is ESE prelims on 8 Jan 2017. There will be two papers instead of earlier three.
They have clubbed two engineering papers into a single heavy weight paper of 300 marks(3 hours). GS earlier had bit of quant, apti and english. Now there is also ethics and engineering aptitude. From model questions, it appears to quite vague, so I'd say not a game decider. I suppose everyone would be as confused. But I suppose reading up bit of ethics would help, say like Lexicon(beginner's book for GS4 in CSE). Engg aptitude seems to be much of graduation first year course material(NDT, materials, etc), so one can start by brushing up on that.

GS seems to be diluted in weightage. So, good for engineers, as they get better shot and people like me who bash up GS paper with CSE expertise don't get an edge. On other hand, the stakes are now really high on Engineering objective paper. Furthermore, people who are preparing for ESE and CSE both will now have to study more work to do, as they will have to put in efforts for GS which wont help much in ESE.

Next stop, ESE mains 14 May 2017, same as before 300+300

In a month, there is CSE prelims on 18 June 2017. So, not much breathing space to revise well on GS for CSE. On other hand, at least you will have your optional freshly done and exam ready.

As stage1 is completed in Jan itself, I suppose results of ESE mains will be out a bit earlier, so instead of November, I expect they should be out a bit earlier(say Sept/Oct, pure speculation). So, it becomes bit of a pain for CSE mains preparation. As, interview preparation is the most useless kind of preparation. We tend to cover shallow tidbits of much of the syllabus, so even the subject does not get revised well for CSE mains optional.

In that you have CSE mains, from 28 October 2017. I remember for 2015, I had my interview on 3rd Dec and mains from 18 Dec. I was at ease with GS material for interview thanks to CSE prep, but my engg(interview specific) was weak. But then, if one has reached interview and has a little bit of wide reading in engg subject, the technical part of interview goes well.

So, that is my commentary on the timeline, now if we are to attempt actual planning, then it would be something like this...(assuming I am aspiring for ESE+CSE)

5 months in hand(aug-dec). My priority would be to clear ESE prelims and be ready for CSE prelims, as I wont get much time later.
Now, it is very tricky to lay down an actual plan as it would crumble within a week. There are just too many factors and there is bound to be turbulence as one covers ground. We have to cover GS prelims from CSE perspective, which would naturally help in ESE prelims. In parallel, we have to cover objective part of Engg, which has to be done really well, as in or out comes down to this now.

So, as always, I would start with previous year questions and basic books, then go for some more reference books.
5 months = 20 weeks. Lets just say we have only 18 weeks. 6 subjects in GS for prelims, 12 subjects in mech engg. So, we can have a weekly cycle. Take up 1 GS subject and 2 engg subjects(1 from each paper). Doing this, we comfortably cover whole syllabus in 6 weeks. Not bad!!
Of course will suffer, coz lets face it, it is not enough. But its alright, it is just first cycle!
We have 2 more of such cycles left. THIS is a critical part, where I have seen many candidates going astray. One has to take these deadlines seriously. What happens is we take the 1st cycle too casually and end up covering less than 50% of what we planned. In further cycles, we end re-reading same stuff and suddenly 2 weeks before exam, the crushing realization comes... Bhai nahi ho paega!
So, I advise extreme ambition in 1st cycle. One can use rock music, energy bars, beverages to keep yourself going and cover at least 3/4th of syllabus.
I leave the fine details of sequence of subjects in these weeks and intra-week planning open ended.
If you are going for a test series, see how you can pick up topic so that you can sync your schedule with the test schedule.

Now, assuming one goes through with this 18 week course and revision and mock tests in last 2 weeks and gives prelims. So, for ESE mains one again has 5 months(jan-may).
So, another 18 week plan has to be made. Now, this is a great relief, that one only has to study subjective part and not cram up garbage for objective papers(as required earlier). This is a great luxury and must be used to cover GS for CSE mains in parallel.
It is not possible to cover(to satisfactory level) 2 engg subjects in 1 week, so can't go for 6 week cycle. One will have to go for 12 week cycle in beginning. 1 topic 1 week, complete focus.
Now, in parallel one can take up GS mains.. 4 papers.. one can leave GS4 aside for later.
So, 3 weeks each for GS1,2,3.
In remaining 6 weeks, one can leave GS mains aside, and take up only engg. Since, it is second cycle, one can take 2 subjects in a week.
We have 2 weeks in end for revision. ESE mains goes well, and we are back to brushing up GS prelims. 4 weeks, full on prelims prep. Should be enough considering the serious study done in Aug-Dec period.
After CSE prelims, there is nothing much to worry about. Engg is ready for mains. One can shift more time towards GS mains.

There is lot of juggling going on in this preparation. But, we get the comfort of 2 opportunities every year compared to many who wait the whole year only for CSE. So, to all engineers, I say.. Lets be professional and show all of them how its done!! All the best!

PS. I wont be proof reading the above material, as I tend to select everything and delete after doing so. Kindly bear with the typos and grammatical errors..