On yearbook

[Originally posted in Feb 2016, on other blog which was too large and had to be deleted. Pasting it here, as it is.]

On yearbook

The YearBook Plan

Again IYB has come out and it is time to look at how the govt is structured and how it is handling governance. IYB is one stop source for general info on a variety of topics. Much of it is generic and does not change over the years but comparative study shows how policies change(if they change), besides you get to know the details of all schemes being run all in one place and one is better placed to then take in all gyaan from Yojana which focuses on specific issues like health/ edu/ livelihood/ vulnerable sections.

A structure approach is helpful here to filter out faltu ka gyan and only take that which will help us in prelims and in mains.

We have to group related chapters together and swiftly go thru them.

First, one should take up the very first chapter as many straight questions come from here, and it is like a kick between the legs to make a mistake in such Qs. Also, immediately one should take a round tour of India by taking on Ch30. Diverse questions are possible from this chapter and also it covers the fine details of state economy, culture and nature(places of importance). Go wild with internet, search as much as possible on facts/figures/names in these and you will see your GS rise to a whole new level.

1.Land and people + 30.States and UTs

Now, we have gone thru much of economic data of states, so one can go back to national level

6.Basic Economic Data + 13.Finance

then quickly transition to sectoral study

4.Agriculture  19.Industry 14.Corporate affairs

Now we go after the infrastructure which is the driver of progress

8.CIT + 22.Mass communication + 11.Energy +26.Transport

Then comes basic social services and welfare

15.Food and Civil supplies + 16.Health and family welfare 10.Education 17.Housing

Remains of a command structure

23.planning 24.rural and urban development

Then the essentials

12.Environment 27.water resources

Then the efforts towards justice

20.law and justice 21.labour, skill development and employment 28.welfare

Things that make us great

25.scientific and tech developments 5.culture and tourism 29.youth affairs and sports

Looking beyond our borders

7.commerce 18.India and world 9.defence

Last but not the least a recap of Laxmikanth and more, esp the structure of executive(ministries, depts.)

3.polity

Now, I know I speak here as if I have topped the exam or am slam dunking 150+ in every prelims, neither of which I have done yet. But same goes for the babajis in the market. So, I thought let my idea/plan also float on the neutral internet and let people benefit(if they find any worth in it)

Besides, the economic survey is structured in similar manner, and as a matter of fact, so is the syllabus. So it makes sense to read the year book in above mentioned manner(instead of the alphabetically ordered chapters)

I suppose I could open up another tab on the blog for yearbook crisp structured chapter wise notes, but right now, I dont have the incentive or inclination. Maybe later, after survey comes out, I could extract all of it and place into GS2, GS3 post entries directly. Till then, Cheers!

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