I hope the audio video is clear and welcome to the session conducted by organized by Shankarai's Academy on how to plan your next four months, how to plan your next four months. So this is going to be the objective and the topic of discussion for the day. So before I begin, let me make a few ground rules clear for the session. So what we'll do right now is we will deactivate, we'll disable the live chat option. So you'll not be able to do a live chat. It's just to ensure that you don't get distracted in the middle of the session. You don't unnecessarily type and you don't follow the comments so that you don't lose the content, the objective of this session. So what we'll do is we'll just deactivate the live chat. The session will go for 30, 35 minutes or 45 minutes. And after that, the live chat will be once again enabled. So you can start asking your questions at the end of 30, 35 minutes of my session. So that is it. I think we can get straight straight away into the session. So as you know, we still have another 120 plus days for prelims. So the reason of organizing this session is to give all the aspirants a clear mindset. It is to give a sense of direction on how to proceed for the next, remind a period of time. And many of you would have already started writing your test series also. So when you write tests, what should be the mindset with which you should be writing your test series? And how should you be preparing for your test series? And how you should actually never get into some fixed kind of a mindset that in all tests, I must attend 95 plus questions. That's not something that you should be getting into. Each and every question paper should be attempted with a proper method. You should never have a fixed strategy that whatever may be the question paper, I'll attend 95 plus questions. Those are not the ways how you prepare properly to clear your prelims examination. So the purpose of this session basically is to show you that there is no role of luck in prelims. But prelims is something that you can actually clear with the proper strategy, with the proper method. It is this emphasis on the method that becomes the objective of today's session. So what do I mean by a method? A method is knowing what question to attend, what question you should not attend, and how to attend questions which you are somewhat sure about. So this is the three different aspects that will be discussed in today's lecture. So why do we call this as a method? It's because of its repeatability. You have a proper strategy, you have a proper method of how we approach questions. No matter the number of problems you appear, you must be able to crack it. Okay, because some aspirants we see last problems, they crack, but the next two problems, they will not clear. After that fourth problems, once again, they clear the fifth problems, they don't clear. These kind of mistakes, I mean, these kind of problems happen because the aspirant does not have a method of his own. It's more left to chance, it's more left to the day. Okay, you should not leave your success in prelims to be determined by the type of UPZ question paper. No. Whatever may be the difficulty level, maybe it is easy, maybe it is difficult, it is moderate, whatever may be the difficulty level, you must always have a guaranteed formula of success in prelims. So let me walk you through such a kind of a method and how can you build one? You still have 126 more days and you'd already started writing your tests. So as a part or part and parcel of your test series, as you keep attempting tests, how can you build a rigorous method that can test the test of UPS? Okay, that is what we are going to look into in today's session. In fact, I would say that some aspirants, they get scores of 120, 130 in one test series, in one test. The other test, they get some 70, 80 marks. It means that you don't have a method. It means that somehow you were able to get 120 in one paper, but that's not repeating in other tests. I would say an aspirant who is capable of consistently scoring 90 marks or 100 marks, consistently 90 to 100, in 10 tests is better. He has a higher chance of clearing this examination as a whole. Then some aspirant who scores 120 in one test and 60, 70 in the other test. Or even if you score 120 in the first test, first five tests, then three tests, you score 80. It means that there is something wrong. It means that your method is only suitable to get 80 marks. Your method was randomly successful in getting 120 marks, but that is not what you have as a weapon in your hand. But someone who has consistently been scoring 90 to 100 has a proper discipline. He knows why he is scoring only 90 to 100. So once a person identifies why he is scoring 90 to 100 marks, it's capable. You can work on it. You can make sure that 90 to 100 is actually taken upwards to 120 to 130. That is possible. All you need is time. But have you understood your method? Have you understood your philosophy of how you tackle UPSC? That is more important. Okay. So how am I going to explain to you about it? Basically, I take the help of 2020 UPSC prelims question paper. And the reason why I refer 2020 prelims question paper is the world is almost the same. COVID-19 as you all know. So how the world was in 2019, that's how the country as well as the world is in 2020 also. So the kind of current affairs which would be asked this year would almost resemble the same lines as how it was asked in 2020 prelims. So that's why I'll take this 2020 prelims question paper and I can teach you that even after leaving 30 questions unattempted in prelims, you have a very, very high chance of clearing prelims. Many aspirants have this wrong notion in their mind. They tend to pick up the habit that every test they should score more than 90 questions. Don't do that. Don't do that. Instead, focus on identifying which questions are dangerous questions. Okay. Once you identify those dangerous questions, the questions which you should not even touch it, your chances of getting high marks is so easy. It requires a very, very simple preparation from standard textbooks. That is what I'm going to prove to you by analyzing this 2020 civil services prelims question paper. Let's get into and start our analysis. Okay. So let me share my screen. Okay. So, yes. First of all, let me give you a breakup of what I had done with respect to analysis of 2020 prelims question paper.  Frankly speaking, the cutoff would be somewhere around 96, 97, 202 for general category and OBC maybe two marks lesser than that, possibly. So our safe zone is somewhere between 95 to 105. That's our safe zone. If you can hover in between, you are assured of success in prelims. And let me tell you with the kind of approach that I can teach you now, you can definitely score a minimum of 115 marks at least, a minimum of 115, never less than 110 marks. That's something for sure. Okay. It's a fail-proof method.  Going beyond that is your talent. It is your capacity. It is dependent upon how much you are able to retain in your memory. And many other factors do come into play, your mood and temperament on the day of the exams. So many factors, but 110 plus is guaranteed. So try to follow what I'm trying to say. So you'll be surprised that questions that can be left unattempted. So these are very, very risky questions. And the payoff is not really significant by taking a risk in these kinds of questions. So I have identified around 28 questions in 2020 prelims question paper. So your mindset, why I'm trying to highlight this to you is after four months, when you're going to appear in 2021 prelims examination, let's say you sit in the examination hall, you have all these questions in your hand, you will have a minimum of 25 questions that you should not attend. So don't panic at all because the very first round of choosing your answers, once you're done with the 100 questions, what you do is you generally tend to count how many have I attended. You tend to count it. You'll only get 50 questions. If you get 50 questions, you're really smart there. I would say 50 questions if you're able to manage properly, you have a high chance of clearing problems. So as soon as you count 50 questions, then immediately you will start feeling panicky. Oh my God, only 50-55 questions I have attempted. So 45 questions, I don't know. What will I do? Understand in that 45 questions that you don't know, it is perfectly all right to not know 30 questions, not just you. Most of the aspirants, 99.9% of who all are going to clear this examination will also not know the answers for these 28 questions at least. So don't get into this panic mindset as soon as you find that, only 55 questions you have solved in the first attempt. You still have 45 more questions to go and out of, I'm saying in that 45, 28 questions, it's perfect. It's perfectly all right to not know answers for them. So your only effort that you need to put in is maximum for another 15 to 17 different questions. 15 to 17 different questions if you are, and you will definitely manage it because you will, it is to finish the first 50 questions, you will hardly require one to one hour 15 minutes, not more than that because those are your familiar areas. As soon as you see the question, you'll be just taking it, getting it right and you'll be just moving on. So getting that 55 questions correct is going to take minimal amount of time and you will be having a lot of ample amount of time. So as to focus on the other 15 questions that you must actually attempt. So as to give a decent attempt which can actually safely push you into the mains phase. So what I'll do is I'll tell you why these questions are something that you should not be attempting. And friends, please remember, this is the method. If you find, I'll teach you that you should never attempt a question out of, what do you say, 50, 50 probability. Don't think that, I have eliminated two options, only two options are there. So I'll randomly take one. No, there has to be some logic. There has to be some logic in attempting even those options where questions where you have eliminated two options. If you don't have a logic, even if you're left with two options, don't attempt them. So it means that you are defeating your own method. So it means that you don't have a method. You need to have a method that comes with habit, that comes with continuous discipline and sticking to your method. So how do you stick to a method, even though it is very tempting that after choosing, after eliminating two options out of four, you still have two options. It would be very tempting. Oh my God, I have only attempted 55 questions. I still have so many questions. People will be attempting 85 questions, 90 questions. So I should rather take a blind attempt, start choosing everything without any logic. If you don't have a logic, just leave that happily. As I tell you, 30% of the questions, that is out of 100 questions, 28 questions, you can just completely avoid. And still you can clear problems with 110 plus marks. That's what is the reality of problems. Why do I say so? See, let's assume you are leaving out 28 questions unattemptive. There's a second category of questions, which are very, very straightforward from your standard textbooks. I think there's a problem in clarity of the screen. Are you able to clearly see the screen that is being shared or is there any problem? Just give me a minute. Let me sort it out. Just a minute. So can someone just send a message? Is it clear? Is the screen shared? Is the quality clear? I just hope it is clear because I'm not able to find out the quality of the share. Can the administrator enable the chat so that everybody can participate in the session? I think we can enable the chat so that I can also get some response about any issues if they have any. I think we should continue with the session. I think I'll go ahead and I'm told that if all of you can enable video resolution of 720p, I think that will be perfectly all right. So please enable your video resolution to 720p. I think that will work fine. Okay. So these are questions from your standard textbooks and where do I leave? Yes, I said you can perfectly leave 28 questions to 30 questions unattempted. That is okay. And why do I say that? It's because out of 100, you have 26 questions that you can easily manage only from your standard textbooks, only from what NCITs you read from your Lakshmikanh, from Go Ching Leon, from Bipin Chandra, and from Spectrum, whatever books you may follow. Just with that, easily you can just score 26 questions. Correct. Okay. And if you can score more, see, why do I say you can leave 28 questions unattempted? It is with the confidence that out of most questions that are asked from standard textbooks, maybe more than 90% of those questions, I will get them right. It is only when you have that confidence in your mindset, it is only when you know that whatever questions are asked from standard textbooks, I will definitely get them right. It is only when you have that confidence, you will not panic when you leave 28 questions unattempted. And how can you do that? It is by at least 10 times when you go through your standard textbooks again and again. That is done by solving tests. You keep solving tests regularly. Whenever you make mistakes, if at all you are not aware of any option, immediately you take your standard textbooks and you refer them, go back to your books. So by doing it repeatedly, each and every page of your NCIT book will be etched in your memory. Okay. There is no way that you will forget what you have read. So it is by repetition. It is by repeatedly, it is by looking at the same page again and again. You can ensure that if at all there is a question that is asked from the standard textbook, most probably I will be getting it right. So my assumption is that out of 26 questions, from the standard, from asked from these standard sources, if you are able to get 23 questions correct, that is you still have a liberty of making three questions wrong in these kinds of questions. Okay. Let's say you get 23 out of 26 questions, right? And yes, most of your standard textbook questions happen to be from polity and history with a few of them from economy also. Okay. Apart from that, I don't think any of the other standard textbooks can be helpful in tackling the way UPSC is asking questions these days. It is only from these subjects, history, polity and certain parts of economy, you can rely upon standard textbooks. Other than that, how can you solve the other questions? So let's look at the other questions and what is my comment and my logic in solving other questions? You look at these questions, questions that can be answered with logic and common sense with your awareness about whatever you have heard in your classes, whatever you have attempted from your various test series, with that kind of a preparation, you can still manage 46 questions perfectly in prelims. And all I expect as a strike ratio in 46 questions, even if you're able to get only 36 questions, correct, you will still be able to get 110 plus marks. Okay. I am expecting a strike rate of only 75%. That is out of 46 questions. If you can get 36 questions, correct, with respect to these, I'll also give you an example of these questions. And I'll also tell you what you can do to get those answers, right? Okay. That will be the later part of the discussion. First, I'm just trying to give you an impression that if you prepare repeatedly, polity, history and your standard NCRT economics, right, you can get 90% of the questions that are asked in UPSC from these topics out of 26 questions, you can get 23 questions, correct. Okay. But I'm not saying that all history questions are only from NCRT books. No, I am saying 50% of the questions, at least in history are from NCRT. And those 50% questions are something which each and every topper who is going to clear this exam, all of them will get all these 50% of the history questions, correct. You should also make sure that you should also get those 50% of the history questions, correct, because they are asked only from standard textbooks. And if you don't know the answer, you are yourself pushing you out of the race. Okay. Whereas someone who's going to clear problems, he has already read that book 10 times or five times, multiple times, because of which he's able to remember where the sport called as Charles is located. Okay. When he is able to remember, you must also be able to remember that and you must also be able to get it, correct. But look at other history questions. Among those questions, which I categorized as if they don't have to be attempted, there are some history questions in this also. Okay. History questions relating to Buddhism, relating to certain terminologies, which is perfectly fine. Even though my optional is history, I can tell you that 50% of the problems questions that are asked in 2020 problems, it cannot be attempted even by someone who has learned history for two attempts. Okay. That is the nature of questions. If you cannot know the answer, nobody else will also know the answer in these kinds of questions, which can be left unattempted. But if at all, it is a question, if at all, it is a question from your standard textbooks. Okay. If at all, it is a question from those areas where some logic and common sense must be used in those type of questions, you must know how to approach those questions. Okay. So let us assume out of 26 questions from standard textbooks. Okay. You are getting 23 of those questions right. And out of 46 questions that can be approached with common sense and logic, you are getting 36 questions right. So basically you are ensuring that you're going to get around 60 questions correct. Right. You're going to get 60 questions correct. You're going to get 12 questions wrong. Okay. I'm saying only out of the 72 questions out of 72, because your success rate in those questions that are asked from standard textbook is so high. It is more than 90%. Whatever is asked from the standard textbooks, you will ensure that you are going to get them right. It is only with such a high success ratio in questions asked from standard textbooks, you can take the chance of not knowing even 32, even 28 questions in the examination and still clearing problems because you have such good command over history, polity questions asked from standard textbooks. Right. So I'm saying, even after leaving out 28 questions in this exam, let's say you're attempting 72 questions. And in that 72, if you're able to get 60 questions correct, 12 questions happen to go wrong. Okay. Even then you can get 112 marks in problems, which is a very, very comfortable margin in clearing problems. So let me point out to you that when you do your first round of answering in your problems, as soon as you're done with one round of facing all the 100 questions, when you count the number of correct, a number of attempts that you have made, you will be having some 50, 55 questions only, not more than that. In spite of that, how can you remain sure that your approach is correct? In spite of knowing only 55 questions you have attempted, how can you be certain that you will definitely clear problems? It is only when you know that all the questions from standard textbooks, whatever has been asked, I have got them correct. So that's the only way you can have the confidence intact. Okay. The reason is when you look at these 26 questions, which I say you should not attempt them. Okay. I say that 26 questions, you should not attempt them. And I'll tell you what is the reason why I tell you you should not attempt them. You should leave them. So tomorrow in the Examination Hall, let's say you face question number one. Okay, this is a set C. This is the set C of the question paper of 2020 prelims. Let's say tomorrow you face the questions. Question number one, first question itself is something that you may not know. What you do is you immediately make a cross mark. Okay, you immediately make a cross mark near that question, because you should be clear that this is a question that is dangerous. Attempting that is going to pull you down unnecessarily. You should be very clear about not attempting that. So make a cross mark as soon as you see such a kind of a question. Okay. So look at the first question. I don't know whether it is shared or not. Is my screen visible? I'm sharing the questions that can be left unattempted. Is that screen visible? So is it the tab that all the aspirants are also able to see? The tab that questions that can be left unattempted. That is the tab I'm sharing with the aspirants. Is it the same tab that aspirants are also able to view? Okay. Fine. All right. So look at this. The first question, it's from Science and Tech or you can say it's from geography or it can say it's from environment or economics. You can classify it in whatever labels you want. But this is a question I should completely just skip away. I should not even think about attempting them because I don't know about what these minerals are. What is given is these are just ores. These are ores. Like how iron has magnetite, hematite is ores. Similarly, aluminum has some kind of ores like cilimanite. But frankly speaking, when I see this question on the paper, I will not know any idea about any of these ores. So I should not blindly make an attempt here. I must just skip this question. Okay. That's the first logic and I should happily skip because there will be students who will even try to attempt this and who will go wrong in that. You can only feel pity for them, but you should be happy about just skipping that because you're saving yourself from scoring a negative marks. Okay. So let's happily leave that. Look at the next question. I'm just trying to build a list of 28 questions so that you understand there are questions from all subjects where you will not know the answers. Okay. And even though you may think that environment is an area where I'm really weak, where I may not be able to score marks, in reality that is not the case. There are questions even from environment where even without studying environment related current affairs or anything, you can still go and get them right. And let me tell you, there is a very minimal role of current affairs in those 46 questions which have shown you. When I showed you that there are questions which can be answered with logic and common sense, there are 46 questions like that. There is a very, very minimal role of current affairs. So don't think that it's only by knowing current affairs I can handle those 46 questions. No, there is a lot of dynamics which come into play. Your topic content, the concepts that you picked up from the classes, you might have discussed something with your friends. From there you would have got some answers inspired. Your knowledge on art and culture will help you solve a history question. Okay. That is the way how you will intelligently come up with various approaches to get certain answers correct. Don't get unnecessarily obsessed with current affairs. I'll prove it to you that using an intelligent deduction, common-sensical approach can make you get marks even better than unnecessarily focusing too much importance to current affairs. So let me discuss these questions and I'll point out if you were to face similar questions in this year's exam. If you find these reasons even there in that question, it is better to leave that question unattempted. Don't take a risk unnecessarily. Okay. Look at the next question. This next question is about with reference to India's Desert National Park. Which of the following statements are correct? Okay. It is spread across two districts. There is a human habitation inside the park. It is one of the natural habitats. Frankly speaking, I know that great Indian buster lives in desert areas. It's the habitat of the great Indian buster. That is something that I know for sure. Apart from that, these two options, I really have no idea about it. First of all, I only know broadly where India Desert National Park is located. It is not practically possible for the aspirants to have a complete grasp on the topography and the geography of the desert national park. So I don't know whether it is spread across two districts or three districts or four districts. So I should not blindly choose. The only principle you should have very poorly intact is there should not be blind attempts. If you can make sure that is your approach, that is your way of approaching UPSC problems, you will most probably end up clearing problems, one problem or the other. But all the time you... So this is a question there. Look at the reason. I am only convinced about one option and with that, still there are three choices left. Look at this. Only thing I know is great Indian buster survives in desert areas. So I know that three can be. Three can be an answer. Okay. But even if I look at three, you still have B, C and D. I am not able to eliminate just with this one option knowledge because all the both are the two options. I can never be certain about it. Unless I have an encyclopedia in my mind, unless I have Google next to me, I can never be certain about the first two options. So better leave this. This is a dangerous question. Just because you have studied environment from various textbooks, just because you have watched so many environment videos, it doesn't mean that you will have the answer for these two questions. Even if you're from forest background, if you're preparing sincere for a service exam, not an assurance that you can have the correct answer for these two questions. So better skip them. Look at this. Another environment related question. Okay. So all three questions are factual. Whether it is 36% of India's districts or whether it is 42% of India's districts, no idea about it and never have a bias about UPSC. UPSC will not question like state public service commission exams. UPSC is not bothered about these factual correctness. No. Sometimes UPSC can also be focused upon factual correctness. You have a bias that UPSC will not be focused on facts and that is your mistake. It's not the mistake of UPSC. So basically a normal aspirant will not know whether it is 36% or 32% or 40% it is not possible to know about it. And groundwater authority was formed under environment protection act. Our natural instinct will be to think that, oh, yes, it is under environment protection act. But no, that is not the correct answer. So you cannot make any random associations or anything. India has the largest area underground water irrigation in the world. Who knows? Maybe China could be that. Maybe Brazil could be that. Okay, without unless you see, if I'm not saying you should not make an attempt for this question, I'm saying if you have the facts about this question intact, if you know about the facts, at least if one of the fact, if you know, which can help you eliminate something here, it's better for you to attempt. But these kind of questions, it is very, very, it is very remote that an aspirant will have a correct factual knowledge on these aspects. And this is not something that you can internalize or you can get it right by memorizing. Today, you will take about the groundwater profile of India and you start memorizing it. That is not the way how you crack UPSC. UPSC is cracked by focusing on this question, focusing on this 26 questions that are asked from standard textbooks and getting more than 90% of those questions correct. UPSC is cracked by getting 75% of these kind of questions correct. UPSC is cracked by leaving these kind of risky questions completely untouched. Okay, so don't think that just because there is a question, you have to attempt them. No, not at all. Even the first 10 questions, you may not have a single answer, but still you should not be panicky because you know that you have a proper method, the method that you will not attempt questions where you don't know the answer. So this is another type of question which you should just skip, go away. And so many of these questions, I can, yes, among the following tiger resource, which one has the largest area under critical tiger habitat? It will be easy now. We can browse it and find out what is critical tiger habitat and which has the largest area. All that is fine. But on the day of the examination, you will get this confusion. It is given within quotes. So what could be critical tiger habitat? Is it same as what I think it is? You will have all these doubts. And you know that Nagarjuna Srisailam tiger reserve is the largest. You know that, but still you will now get a doubt. But it's something called as critical tiger habitat. Maybe are they referring to Sundarbans because it is in Sundarbans only tigers are getting poached. Tigers are at risk higher. So that is why it's called as critical tiger habitat. You get all these kinds of doubts because you're not certain about the word critical tiger habitat. So it means that you should just skip that question. Don't attempt that. If you're attempting, it means that you are you are failing your own method, which means that you don't have a method. So relax, take things easily. There will be so many questions like this. Just happily avoid them because there are so many other questions where you can take it to your advantage and you can crack problems. Look at this, many of the environment related questions are of this nature only. It is easy. You can go and I mean, I'm not saying the question is easy. It would be easy to tell me that, sir, how do you not know about the answer for this? I know about the answer for this. Yes, you know it because it has already been asked in problems. But when you go and sit in this year's problems question paper, you may not know the answer for even simpler questions also. Why? In fact, if I will have a question like this, I would better skip this. The reason is because first is I don't have any knowledge on the specifics of this policy because I don't mug up or I don't memorize anything for cracking. So definitely I will not have because there will be 100 pages of policy and I cannot go and memorize each and every text in that policy, not possible. So that is one. And I really don't know whether ground that seeds, the normal ground that seed that I eat, whether it can be used for making bioethanol or not. I have no idea about it. I know that beet can be used. Even that also I'm not sure, but I'm just assuming because alcohol, liquor is made. For example, wheat is a source of liquor. I know that for sure. So if liquor can be made out of wheat, I know that that can be distilled and bioethanol can also be made. That is something I know for sure. But ground that seeds, do I know about its properties, whether it is suitable for making alcohol or not? I'm not sure. So without having, when I have all these kinds of doubts, how can I even attempt this question? I cannot and I should not. Instead, I should happily skip this question. Go to the next. Look at this. All these, all four statements are factual questions. I think UPSC is giving these kinds of questions, not for the aspirants to get them right. It is UPSC is asking these kinds of questions to trap aspirants and bring them into negative territory. Okay, because whether an elephant group is male or a female, unless you are preparing specifically for forest services exam, unless you are specifically preparing with an idea that you are too much inclined into environment, unless that a general aspirant with one or two years of preparation, a normal aspirant will not be able to focus on all these aspects because there is so much else to prepare from. There is so much of history, so much of polity, so much of geography, so much of current affairs that has to be focused instead of focusing what is the gestation period of elephant, right? A normal aspirant will not be able to focus on these aspects. Then how are you expected to get it right? Because UPSC also does not expect you to get these answers right. UPSC is expecting you should identify this is a trap question and you should just leave it unattempted. But if you want to go and take a blind attempt here then it is you who do not understand UPSC, right? All four questions are completely factual and I have no idea about the character of elephant group, whether how long will be the gestation period, until what age it can lay, calf, I have no idea. So at least three options out of the four I have no idea about then how can I take a risk in this question? Better I avoid it. So in this fashion I have identified all these kinds of questions. You may be surprised that what is this sir? All these are environmental related questions. Yes environment questions, because there are just too many things in the environment, right? There are just so many things in the environment which are beyond your control, which are beyond your scope of acquiring knowledge. And look at this, which of the following protected areas is known for the conservation of a subspecies of Indian swamp deer Varasinga? Well I don't think this can be managed from any compilations or anything for the last one year. If you browse all the compilations, will you be able to get the answer for this? No, not at all. If you would have done some specific study from the internet, if you would have focused on what is the habitat of Indian swamp deer, where is it found in India? What is the natural preferred prey and the ecosystem in which it is found? If you would have made your own search and browsing about it, then there is a slight possibility of getting it correct if you are able to remember it on the day of the accident. Otherwise it is a random fact which is being asked at you. It could be related to current affairs. It could be because there was a news on Indian swamp deer. But I am saying, even though there could have been a news on Indian swamp deer, will you be able to retain that news on the day of the exam? I don't really think so. But if you have these kind of, again, these are all complete factual questions. Maybe you may find it hard to believe that so many questions can be left out on the day of the problems you will understand. In spite of these kind of questions asked, if you are making an attempt, most probably that will go wrong. So I am cautioning you beforehand. Yes, it is just factual. It may appear to be such a simple question. Swamp deer, where is it? Maybe you will try to find out some logic and everything. But high probability of going wrong. And look at this. What is the use of biochar in farming? I have no idea about what is biochar. Then how can I attempt three options where everything is about biochar? This is a new term. Maybe today you will be knowing after browsing and everything. But if an aspirin has to attend it last exam, just a random word like biochar, if at all you would not have read the current affairs, a random word like biochar, someone who is not from agricultural background, someone who is not from environmental background will definitely not be able to know the correct answer for this. Better leave it. It could be anything. You cannot make a guess. That's what I'm trying to say. So I don't want to go through each single question. But what I want to say is, there are questions like this. Yes, look at this question. This is from economics. With reference to Indian economy, after 1991 liberalization, consider the following statements and there are four options. See, I am just pointing out four questions from environment or five questions from environment, which cannot be attempted. At the same time, when you look at the other parts, other categories of questions, you will come to understand there are 10 questions from environment, which you can easily attempt and get them right. So you should be instead focusing on those 10 questions, getting them right instead of focusing on these four factual questions. You happily leave it. That's what I'm trying to say because I'll show you how deduction and elimination can help you with another 10 questions from environment. You can get all the 10 questions of environment correct. Our real game is somewhere else, not in these kinds of questions. You should be very observant and cautious about understanding that these are questions which have a danger, risk associated. Look at this. You cannot make assumptions. See, after 1991, what is the trend in various parameters? That is the question. The percentage share of rural areas in the workforce steadily increased. Both the scenarios can be true unless I have read some papers or unless I have read some from economic survey, unless I know the recent trend, I should not make a guess because after 1991 urbanization, you can think on both ways if you're making a guess. Maybe industrialization has improved. So where are industries located? It is located in urban areas. So rural workforce might have migrated from rural area to urban area. If that is the case, maybe the percentage of rural workforce would have actually decreased. That could be one assumption. But the other assumption, a contrarian assumption is the benefit of more LPG reforms can be seen in the form of more food processing industries located in rural areas. So if that is the case, more employment opportunities are also possible in rural areas. So both the assumptions can be right, can be wrong. If you would not have read about it very precisely, very specifically beforehand, you should not make these kinds of assumptions because it's going to make your, because both could have happened. There are just so many forces that dictates what happens and you are just considering this one aspect alone, but there could have been so many other agents of change. So you cannot really narrow down and say the second option is correct. And look at the other options. In rural areas, the growth in non-farm economy increased. We really don't know. See, there are, if the question was two core concepts and one option was a trend option, by knowing the concepts, you can make a guess and you can still go get it right. But here, all the four options are trends. All the four are patterns, about patterns, whether it has decreased or whether it has increased. Unless you have a very clear understanding and study, which you have already made about all these matters, almost you're going to get it wrong. So this is one other question where, see, knowledge on trends must be clear. For example, there can be a question like this. The GDP growth rate of the second fire plan is higher compared to the GDP growth rate of the third fire plan. So will you know the answer for that? Yes, you can know the answer. Only you may think, okay, second industry fire plan law, too much importance was given on industrialization and heavy mechanization. So there could be a reason why GDP growth could have increased. You cannot make such thoughts. Maybe there could have been a war in the second fire plan, that because of that one single war, the GDP growth could have completely come down. Yes, anything could have happened. So you cannot make guesses. The only way you should be attempting such trend-based questions is, if you know it for certain, if you have already read it in your NCRT that GDP growth rate of third fire plan is higher than second fire plan. If you have read it already, then you can attempt that question. Otherwise, don't make assumptions because there are just so many forces that can influence these kind of patterns. It's many things which are beyond your imagination, correct? So this is one other pitfalls and there are such kind of questions. This is about science and tech. Okay, science and tech. Frankly speaking, when I looked at this question, all I knew was Voyager and New Horizon. I knew about these two because I knew these two are to probe individual planet. I think New Horizons is for Pluto. I don't know for sure. Voyager 2 is either for Jupiter or for Saturn, I think. I know about Voyager and New Horizon will not be a part of this question. But I have zero idea about it. So I cannot immediately come to a conclusion that I have eliminated two options. So let me now go and attempt evolved Lisa. Don't make such kind of issues. Okay, so better leave this question. So there are just so many such questions and look at this. It might look as a very simple question today. General difference between plant cell and animal cell. Sixth standard, seventh standard, eighth standard, biology stuff. Maybe ninth standard or tenth standard. School textbook biology. But I don't remember. I don't remember whether plant cells have cell membranes or not. Whether animal cells have cellulose or not. I really don't remember it because of which I should not attempt this question. So I can just go on and on and look at this bulk of the questions from history, mostly from all those terminology related questions. Even after having history as an optional, I'm not able to recollect. So will you also not be able to recollect it because they are not asked from NCRTs. They are not asked from even some standard textbooks, which UPSC history optional students will study from. So if that is the case, then how can you even get these kind of answers correct? You cannot. So better leave it because there are another eight to nine questions in history, which are only asked from NCRT textbooks. You can easily get them correct. And let me also tell you, you should never make an attempt to go and study for these kind of questions now. Thinking that because these questions will never be repeated in UPSC history for next 30, 40 years, these questions will not be repeated. So don't go and waste your time finding out what are parameters, what are Dharmashtras, what are sutras, don't do all those kind of things. It's a waste of time. The very purpose of me discussing about all these kind of different categories of questions is to build the consciousness in you that from today onwards, you must go and start studying very intensely from your standard textbooks for these subjects. You must solve many questions as possible so as to improve your strike rate in these kind of questions, where logic and common sense is going to dictate your correctness. You should practice questions so as to find out, okay, I made a mistake. Why did I make a mistake? Even though I know that I should not attempt this option, still I went and attempt with the greed that I want to get more marks.  It is to make you as a better confident person when you go and sit on the day of the examination. So the reason why I'm categorizing and showing you the first, the 26 questions which I feel you should not attempt is don't be worried. Yes, history questions, terminologies that will be asked, you may not know about them, not just you, most of the aspirants who clear also will not know about them. So don't be worried. Rakma by case. Oh my God, that is a question you could have answered, only if you would have read a book, there is a book for history written by Shekhar Bandhopadhyayi. So if you would have read that book, you can get this answer exactly correct. Yes, UPSC has asked that question from that textbook. But is it possible for a UPSC aspirant to go and start studying Sumit Sarkar, Shekhar Bandhopadhyayi? It's not possible. And so if that is the case, forget it. Leave it. Don't attempt it. Similarly, I can make a compelling case that all these questions, you should leave it. So maybe if you would want to have a copy of these questions, which I feel it should be left unattempted, you can contact Shankar Academy, I'll pass this document on to them. You can have a look at this. Why have I mentioned that this question should not be unattempted? Why? What is the reason? Be convinced about the reason. Okay, if you don't get convinced about the reason why I say you should not attempt, then don't follow my advice. But my reason is based on the conviction that, yes, this is not humanly possible to attempt. But let's move on to the other categories, that is what is the subject matter of our focus. You have other 26 questions, mostly from history and quality. And in addition to that, some questions from minor geography and economic aspects can also be handled from standard textbooks. So you already know the list of standard textbooks, keep revising them, keep repeating them again and again, especially try to solve and make it a daily routine to solve previous year's questions, questions of previous year's test series, or this test series, whatever random material about tests you get your hand, solve questions from these areas, test yourself whether and what, so okay, let's say you take a test series or history and you attempt it, you see a question which you did not get it right. What you should be doing, you should immediately find out whether that book is asked from standard sources or is it asked from outside the standard sources. If it is outside the standard sources, don't worry. Just get to know the answer for that, find out from the key what is the answer for that question, but don't be even slightly worried in search of extra material or anything. But if that question is asked from standard textbook, if you didn't know there is something seriously wrong about it, it means that you have to put more hours of effort. So find out whether it is asked, if it is a quality and a history or a geography, economic question, if it is asked from your standard NCR, please, you must know them. If you don't know, you have to go and read that chapter 10 times. 10 times is just an exaggerated figure. I'm just saying you should once again go back to those chapter and read it and reread it again and again. That should be your priority. So keep solving questions from static subjects, from standard textbook subjects. Make sure whatever is asked from standard textbooks, you get all of them correct. That should be your effort in the next 10 or 20 or 30 tests that you are going to attempt in the span of next four minutes. Whatever test series you attempt, if you're able to get by the last test that you attempt, all the questions asked from NCRTs and standard textbooks, 100% must be correct. It's only when you assure 90% plus questions are correct in standard textbook. You will not have this panic mindset. You will not self-doubt your own capability on the day of problems, because that approach and mindset which can actually help you clear problems. So when you look at all the other questions also, these are also very pretty straightforward. Either from standard books or from suggested reading materials. It will be one from there. Look at this. If RBA deserves to adopt an expansionist monetary policy, which it should not do. So expansionist monetary policy that is increasing the liquidity. So if you want to increase the liquidity, basically you have to slash down the various rates. So with that idea in your mind, which you actually pick from standard textbook, NCRT book on introductory macroeconomics, you will understand about banking, liquidity adjustment facility, repo, and all these kind of terms you will come across. When you read that, you will understand the concept behind what RBI does to increase the liquidity and to decrease the liquidity. Based on that, easily you can get this answer, right? Similarly, look at the history question. Indigo cultivation, NCRT, Wellesley, direct from NCRT. Ulgulan, this is Birsa Mundas revolt from Bipanchendra or modern India spectrum. Just from that, you'll be able to get this correct. Impact of industrial revolution, very common sensical. You can get it right. This is a chronology, the very first chapter in medieval India, NCRT, Satish Chandra's NCRT on medieval India. The very first chapter talks about Pala, Pratihara, Chola and all those people. If you know that chronology, how which kings came first, which kings came after that, if you know that broadly, you don't even have to know the dates or years or anything. But you should have a sense of chronological arrangement. If you know that, you can get this answer correct. That is why I'm saying these are, if you don't know the answer for this, it means that you still have to read NCRT, Bipanchendra's, sorry, Satish Chandra's medieval India NCRT two, three times more. If you read it and you should not blindly read it, solve questions, solve questions, make mistakes, now go and read NCRTs so that when you make a mistake and then you go and find out an answer from NCRT, the page in the NCRT will be permanently, it will be photographed in your memory.  This is the advantage that you have when you make a mistake and then you try finding an answer for a question. So keep doing this. I think for all, and look at this, defines the nature of hoondies, generally considered, and this is a very clear question from Satish Chandra NCRT. These are financial instruments. This is like modern day demand draft or a check system, just from NCRT. You may find, where is this terminology? I did not even study that. That's because you are yet to go and do one more reading of Satish Chandra's NCRT, Gandhi Irwin Pack. Just from any standard book, be it Spectrum or be it History, Bipan Chandra, any book you read, you will get a good idea about Gandhi Irwin Pack. So similarly, you have all these kind of questions. I have only chosen the questions, which you can directly attempt from your reading of NCRT and they are total of 26 questions in Civil Service Exam 2020 prelims. I expect all of you, if you have such kind of questions, you must get at least 23 of them correct. That is 90% of the questions from standard textbooks, you must get them correct. There is no option about it. So what you can do is, next four months, instead of wasting your time on compilations and random material, random videos on current affair compilations and all those things on YouTube, which is going to be a complete waste of time for your UPSC prelims, focus on strengthening from this. In your control, these are the topics which are completely in your control. More time you spend, more marks you can get for sure. Because current affairs are such a vast field and yes, questions that can be answered with logic and common sense. So this brings us to the third category of questions, which to handle which you have to have a slightly different approach. And your priority is to get 75% of these kind of questions. Correct. What can be done? I can give you some three different strategies. So first is make sure this is the first point. That is, even to choose one among the two, I mean, first you eliminate two options.  It is better than going for it without any logic and blindly choosing it. Because you have an impression that many questions I have only chosen A as the correct answer. So let me choose B now. That is not a logic. That is not a logic. That is stupidity. But when you look at the question, let's say, look at the first question, very first question. These are all ancient terminologies. These are all ancient names of various modern-day cities. Girinagar is the name of Girnar. Dwarasamudra is the name of Halbit. And let me also tell you, all these places, you would have studied in your NCRTs also possible, but not all the four places. For example, Bilsa might not have been in your NCRTs. But let's see how you can face this kind of a question. How can you get this answer right for this question? Girinagar, it is something which all of you will know for sure because the most prominent inscription that you read in history is the Girnar inscription. It talks about Chandragupta Maurya. It talks about Rudra Dhaman. That's a very common inscription which all of you will know if you would have read NCRT on ancient India. So I know for sure, three must be there in the answer. Yes, and I know where Girnar inscription is. It is in Gir area. It is in Gujarat. I know that for sure. So three is there. So let me say A has to be there or it should be A or C. I look at the first option, one and three, Bilsa Madhya Pradesh. I don't know. C is two and three, Dwarasamudra Maharashtra. I have no idea about Dwarasamudra, but at least I know that there is a tribes called as Bils tribes in Madhya Pradesh. Bils are a group of tribals in Madhya Pradesh that I am very sure because I have read in various parts of art and culture and history and all these kinds of things. So with that, this is what is called as a logic. I use this Bils tribes as a connecting thread and I go and choose this answer. One and three is the correct answer. So that is what I say. There has to be some logic in getting this answer right. So similar concepts, question 19, correct association with question 15. What is it? Correct association of meaning with the terms in the question. We will go one by one. Look at the next question. This is about geography. This is also not something that you will directly read in your NCRTs. Maybe if you are a geography optional student, you might have had a very deeper ideas about all these three options. But a general aspirant, how can you handle these three options? Let's say you know, see after one year of coaching, you will definitely know what is the idea behind cyclone, how differential heating happens and how air masses starts flowing from area of high pressure to low pressure. All that is an idea that you know, correct? And you also know that cyclones, it's because you have high pressure, air flows from high pressure to low pressure and you know what causes the low pressure. What causes low pressure? It's more and more amount of heating that causes low pressure. So you know that air masses flow from high pressure area to low pressure area. That is how when they move, then they start rotating because of the Coriolis force, they start getting a rotational direction. And so you know that high pressure as you go closer and closer to the eye of the cyclone, you have low pressure. This is a logic that you know. When you have low pressure, it should be having more temperature, maybe more heating has taken place there, correct? If that is the case, you know that third option is wrong. How can it have lower temperature? How can the eye of the cyclone have lower temperature than that of the surroundings? Cannot be the answer. Eliminate three from the options. You are left with one only, you are left with two only. And now let's look at the options. Even though I may not have studied about jet streams in detail, even if I would have known about jet streams, when I read my geography books, I did not focus whether it is present in Northern Hemisphere or whether it is present in Southern Hemisphere. I don't know about that. If that is the case, then how could I have got this answer, right? First of all, do we have any phenomenon which is only limited to the Northern Hemisphere and not to the Southern Hemisphere? Do we have such kind of a geographical phenomenon in the first place? I don't think so. So I would say that jet streams would also occur in Southern Hemisphere. That could be a intelligent guess or at least only some cyclones develop an eye. What is this? How is that possible? All the cyclones that you would have studied about, they will all have an eye. Maybe the eye may not be very concentrated. It might be eye itself could be very big in diameter, anything is possible. But I have never come across a cyclone without an eye. At least these aspects I am familiar with. So there is a natural tendency for me to go in favor of option number one more than option number two. You cannot say that because only is the word that is used, so it will be wrong option. That is what is called as not having a method. Not having a method is basically you are biased. You are biased thinking that wherever there is a word only, that option is wrong. Wherever there is a factual data, most probably that option is correct. That is all your wrong mindset. Because UPSC has asked last year's question, ocean, mid-ocean dipole. Some question was asked. The only mistake in the first option in that question is the depth of the dipole that is oceanic dipole that was given is not correct. It was found shallower. It was not found as deep as 126 meters. But a general aspirant, when he looks at that option, he will feel that it is just a figure. It is a factual question. Oceanic dipole is present at a depth of 126 meters. Maybe it should be correct. I will go with it right. It means that you are going to get it wrong because you do not have a method. Do not have all these kind of notions. When you find the word only, that is a wrong note. But instead of going by such kind of pre, I mean, what do I say? It is fixed mindset, wrong mindset. Go with the open mind. Apply some logic. The logic that everything that is there in Northern Hemisphere should also be possible in Southern Hemisphere. Correct? How can some phenomenon only be limited to Northern Hemisphere? That should not be the case. So, I am using this logic. Maybe if somebody has extensively read well on jet streams, you would have also read that jet streams are found in Southern Hemisphere also. If you are very certain, then there is no question at all. But if you face these kinds of uncertainties, your decision must be pragmatic. Your decision must be logical. That is the only guiding factor in choosing an answer. If you do not have a logic, skip it. You do not deserve marks for that question. And that mark also does not deserve your correct answers. So, do not worry about it. And this question, describe the social cost of carbon. I would not have, definitely I would not have read elsewhere, anywhere about what is the exact meaning of this word, social cost of carbon. I have no idea about it. In spite of that, let me see how I can get this answer right. What do we mean by cost? Cost is the price that you pay. Price that you pay so as to get compensated, so as to get a benefit. Social cost, it is a price that a society or a community that can actually pay. So, if you look at the four options, contribution of an individual person to carbon footprint, there is no price, there is no negativity associated with option D. Efforts put in by a climate refugee to adapt to live in a new place. This is a climate refugee. Is it a single person? If it is a single person, we cannot call it as a social cost. Social cost is a larger cost faced by the community, correct? Requirement of fossil fuels for a country to provide goods and services to its citizens, based on burning of those fuels. So, what is the cost involved here? There is no cost or no mention of any penalty paid by the community or anything that is done by, there is no negative aspect brought in option B. Requirement of fossil fuels. So, that means demand of fuel. That is not the definition of the word social cost. That cannot be the definition of the word social cost. Social cost means it is a penalty. It is something that is going out of your hand. Social, it is a larger community's price that the community itself pays. So, when you look at that, you will be able to find out the correct answer.  But it is something about, there has to be some negative association associated. It could be option A. I am saying I would be using this as a logic and I can even say that even by using this logic also I can get my answer wrong. That is why I say in these kind of questions, all I need is a 75% strike rate. Every four questions I attend, three questions I must get them correct. One question, if it goes wrong, it is perfectly okay. I may use this logic and I may choose a particular option and it may even go wrong, but that is very natural. That is the way how you actually end up cracking this example. It is okay to have wrong answers, but there should be majorly right answers and minorly wrong answers. And look at question number 8, 18. Solar water pumps, consider the following statements. So, you have two, this can be rated with science and tick and the knowledge that you require, so as to get this answer right is not in-depth knowledge about solar energy or anything. You should just look at the options. See, what is a solar water pump? It is just a normal motor, a normal motor that is energized by a solar panel. Correct? That is the only point there. And you should know that a solar panel, when it provides, produces electricity, it produces a direct current. It is not alternating current. You should know about it. And you should know about the idea about how motors work. You have AC motors and DC motors. AC motors work because of alternating current. The current polarity changes with every cycle. So, there is an alternating motion that is actually produced. You should have an idea about these basics. So, look at the options now. Solar power can be used for running surface pumps and not for submersible pumps. Why should that be the case? Not at all. So, solar pumps can see a submersible pump. It can be based out of any motion. Basically, a submersible pump is an impeller pump. You have an impeller inside, which will just rotate in one direction, which will just push the water upwards. That is all. To have a rotation in one direction, a direct current itself is sufficient enough. A direct current is good enough to run the impeller in one direction. So, the first statement, it can be used for running surface pumps and not for submersible pumps. That is the wrong answer. It is a wrong statement. There is no logic or common sense involved here because as far as I know, alternating current is required. There are also DC motors also, which can run in a particular direction. When you have these kind of ideas, you will be able to get certain other questions also correct. Solar power can be used for running centrifugal pumps and not the ones with piston. You see, these are some difficult questions. The reason why I know about this is maybe because I would have studied about it, being an engineer, I could be aware about it. Maybe a law graduate might not be aware about it. So, it is okay for a law graduate to skip this question. It is not possible for you to know about this. And even if you are an engineer, if you are someone from core disciplines, like civil, mechanical or electrical, if you are from those disciplines, you will have an idea that what is a centrifugal pump and what is one with a piston. Otherwise, this is also a question that can be eliminated, that can be avoided. There is no problem in avoiding this kind of question also. So, eco-friendly agriculture, in the context of, see, this is an environmental related question. In the context of India, which of the following is considered to be practices of eco-friendly agriculture, eco-friendly. I do not really need to know what is tensiometer use. I have no idea about that, but still I can get this answer right. How? Crop eco-friendly, whatever is good for the ecosystem, whatever is good for the environment. So, crop diversification, as you all know, any student of even 10th standard level would be knowing crop diversification is very healthy for the ecosystem. It nourishes the soil again. It brings in more and more, instead of one particular nutrient alone completely sucked out from the ecosystem, which can create ecological imbalance, crop diversification helps restore the balance. So, option one must be there in the answer. Legume intensification. Of course, that is for nitrogen fixation. Why do farmers go for legume intensification? They want to add more nitrogenous content. So, you restore the nitrogenous balance to the soil. So, one and two must be there in the answer. And let me say, I do not know about other options. So, one and two, where is it present? It is present in option A, it is present in option D. So, automatically, I know tensiometer uses a part of the answer. Now, I look at vertical farming. I know how vertical farming is done. I know that in vertical farming, you arrange layers over layers. You require less amount of soil. You require less amount of water. So, I can understand that these natural resources will not be unnecessarily depleted, no excess water usage. So, there could be a potential benefit associated with vertical farming and eco-friendly agriculture. There can be a relationship. So, with that logic, see, even here, I am only certain about two options. Option A, I am very certain. Option D, I am very certain. But with the logic that vertical farming would not be very resource intensive. It will not be too much of sucking out from the ecosystem. With that, as a logic, I am going with one, two, three, four as the correct option. And this is quite simple. Which are the following protected areas? See, this is also factual question, but I wouldn't say this is a question where aspirants will not know the answer. Whereas if a question is asked about where is Indian swamp deer found, four options, possible. You may not know the answer for that. But this is a question where you should use a logic. What logic? Kaveri basin. If you know the course of Kaveri river, you will know what are the riparian states. You will also know that Andhra Pradesh is not a riparian state. There is nothing to do with Andhra Pradesh and Kaveri basin. If that is the case, then why would Papikonda National Park, why would that be a part of Kaveri basin? It should not be a part of the Kaveri basin. Whereas Nagarhole, it is in Karnataka, Sathya Mangalam, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Vayanad, Kerala, all these are Kaveri basin areas. So you would know one, three, four must be there, two must not be there. Two will not be there. At least that you will be for sure. So eliminate those options where two is there. A is eliminated, D is eliminated, you are left with B and you are left with C. And then Nagarhole, Karnataka, there is a high association of Karnataka and Kaveri basin. Even if you do not know where Nagarhole was located, even then, I mean you should at least know that it is there in Karnataka. Whether it is exactly there in Kaveri basin or not, you may not know exactly about it. But if you know that Nagarhole is in Karnataka, then you can make an association, okay, Kaveri flows through Karnataka, possibly it could be there. This is what is using a logic to get an answer correct. So and look at this question, another interesting question. You cannot go and memorize all the countries in G20, you cannot do that. But all you know is G20 is a group of countries which are the largest economies, which are the largest economies, growing economies, those should be the part of G20. And now you look at the groupings, they are asking which of the groupings have all the members as a part of G20. Definitely nobody can go and memorize each and every country. But what I know for sure is I don't know about option A and when I look into option B, I'm looking at New Zealand.  So how can that be one among the G20 countries? How can that be one among the top 20 economies? It cannot be, that is the logic that I'm using. The same kind of logic you can use for Iran, for Vietnam and for Singapore. Singapore also such a small country, it can definitely not be, you need to have sizable population to be in the top 20 consuming nations or producing nations or anything. You need to be a large country, so that large country logic, if you are able to think, Singapore can be eliminated, New Zealand can be eliminated, Iran can be eliminated, Vietnam can be eliminated. So then the most appropriate grouping looks like Argentina, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey, all large countries, big economies, they're all a part of G20. This is the way you can get a question like this, correct. It is not by memorizing and getting them correct. You cannot do that. And look at this, with reference to India's biodiversity, and you have Silo and Frogmouth, Copper, Smith, Barbet, Gray, Chin, Dminiwet, White, Throated, Redstart, who knows what these are? Okay, and there are four options given, not possible to memorize and get them correct. I don't even know whether they are found in India or they are found in somewhere else in the world, no idea about it. You cannot go and start memorizing the list of birds or anything like that. But what you know is reptiles, turtles, tortoise, and crocodiles, all these, you will not find much of color differentiation. They're all of the same color, amphibians, mostly they're all of the same colors. And you don't find much of differences, diversity in them. But you look at birds, so much of variety, so much of colors, so much of shape differences, you will have one with a long beak, you'll have one with a long neck. It is all because birds live in different climatic zones. Birds have to survive and adapt to different climatic zones because of which nature has made birds so colorful, vivid, and different. So their natural anatomic anatomical features might also be different. You cannot expect the same kind of differences in amphibian in a turtle or a tortoise or a crocodile. You will not be able to find such kind of distinguishable, look at this frog mouth. So it should have something like a frog, correct copper smith bar, but it may be, it might have a color, a resembling copper, gray chinned mini-wet, white-throated red-start. So white-throat, it must have, a throat alone could be white. You will not find, you would never have come across a crocodile or a tortoise with a white throat or anything, right? With that kind of a logic, you can go and choose birds as the correct answer. This is how these 46 questions have to be handled. That is the truth of this exam. You cannot mug up, memorize all these lists and get these answers correct. But these answers can be got correct if you approach with an open mind, approach with a method, approach with some logic. This is what I call as a logic. I cannot mug up, I will not mug up for this exam. But using a logic that I don't find much differences in amphibians in reptiles, lizards, all the lizards almost look the same. They don't have, maybe chameleon is a class of lizard that has a different color. Apart from that, the physical features are all same, right? You don't find one lizard with a long neck. You don't find another lizard with a big head. You don't find all these kinds of differences amongst mammals or reptiles or amphibians. But with birds, yes, you yourself would have seen in various documentaries and videos, so many varieties of birds. With that association, I can go and choose birds is the correct answer. Okay. So similarly, we have all these and look at this question. This is about environment and science and tech. You can, I don't know what is a copper slag. I don't know what is geotextiles. But the question is, in rural road construction, the use of which of the following is preferred for ensuring environmental sustainability or to reduce carbon footprint. Okay. All I know is these two methods, four and five. Hot mix asphalt technology. What is this? It's a very complex word, right? Hot mix asphalt technology. But what is that? Whatever you see in the normal road making process, people will be burning tar. Loads and loads, gallons of tar will be burnt. They will pour it outside. Tar burning causes a lot of toxic substances being emitted, a lot of pollution. Hot mix asphalt is what is called as hot mix asphalt.  That is a very polluting process. Okay. It's called as a different name. So I know four is definitely polluting. What is Portland cement? It is basically cement manufacturing. Portland cement is a cement that you use for constructing your house. And you know that cement manufacturing is such a pollution inducing activity. I know that four and five are pollution causing activities. Maybe they should not come in the answer. Okay. So D is eliminated. C is eliminated. D is also eliminated. I can get this answer correct by knowing what is this? So this is not very tough. You don't have to actually know if copper slag is used for environmental protection or not. Whether copper slag, if it is used for road construction, can it reduce pollution? I have no idea about that. But all I know is the normal process, the bitumen laying process is very, very polluting. That is something that I know. And Portland cement, these are just technical terms to confuse aspirin. So let us assume you don't know what Portland cement means. You only know hot mix asphalt technology. If you know that, you will be able to eliminate option D is not the correct answer. Option C is not the correct answer. Now we are left with one, two, three, one and five. Okay. Hot mix asphalt, you know that it is because of burning pollution is caused. So the opposite logic is cold mix asphalt. So it should be a technology to reduce the emissions because you don't involve burning in that. So that could be a correct answer. So the correct answer must have option two as one of the options. So now you look at the options. It is only option A that has one, two and three as the answer. So even if you don't know Portland cement, if you know only hot mix asphalt technology, you can get it right. I'm not saying you should know the exact process that is involved in hot mix asphalt technology. You should be conscious enough to know that the normal bitumen laying process is very pollution inducing. You should just be able to know that that process is what is called as hot mix asphalt. With these kind of knowledge, you can get this answer correct. There is a good amount of logic involved in this. Okay. And okay, let me say I don't know anything about any of these things. All I know is the word geotextile, sir. The word geotextile seems to be a correct option, sir. Even with that also, you can still get this answer right. So you are assuming that option three must be there in the answer. One, two, three is there and then two, three, four is there. Okay. One, two, three, two, three, four. So two and three is automatically there in the answers. Okay. Whether it is four or whether it is one. So one and four, now you make some kind of an intelligent guesswork. I'm saying even there also, you don't make a blind answer. If you find any intelligent guesswork which can work and which can help you there, you make a guess. Otherwise, just leave this question. If you don't know what is hot mix asphalt, what does it even mean? If you don't know what is Portland cement basically cement that is cement manufacturing. All of you, if the word would have been cement manufacturing, then you would have got this answer correct. Okay. Because you know that cement manufacturing is pollution induced. So that is the way how you have all these. Yes. Look at this question also environment related. Look at the three options. Coal fired power plants release sulfur dioxide and okay. First option I have no idea about whether coal ash contains lead mercury arsenic. I'm not very clear about it. I know coal ash is dangerous to health, but I'm not clear about the first option. Look at the second coal fired power plants release sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen. That is something I know for sure. Yes, SOX, NOX emissions, COX, all that accompanies a coal fired power plant. Too much of sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide emissions happen. That almost everybody who prepares for UPSC will be knowing about it. High ash content is observed in Indian coal. You also know that that is the reason why our coal companies are importing coal from abroad. So two and three is something that you will be probably be aware of. Let's search for the options. Two and three is there. One, two and three is there. I know coal ash. I've read the newspapers that coal ash is very dangerous for human beings. Coal ash inhalation causes a lot of problems for fetuses. All these kind of issues you would have also read in the newspapers. Only that much I know. I don't know whether it has arsenic, lead and mercury, but I know coal ash has a lot of health disadvantages. So since this is also one among the statement, I would now take a logical guess that probably it might have these negative elements. That is why it is harmful to my health. I know lead poisoning happens. I know arsenic poisoning is damaging, mercury poisoning. All these can affect my central nervous system. So I know about the problems associated with this poisoning. I know coal ash is also dangerous for human beings. Now I try to make an association between the two and I'm going to choose the first option as correct. This is how I would manage the option number one. So you go through these kind of questions except for those 26 questions. All these other kinds of questions, there will be a logic in finding out an answer for these questions. And I'm giving you a very, very safe margin here. All you need to do is only get 75% questions correct in these category of questions. And you would still be able to crack problems very easily. So focus on this, strengthen your basics. Basics will never let you down. These 30% of the questions are only from standard textbooks. Keep working, reworking. When you attempt your weekly tests, think about using a logic to arrive at an answer. Don't arrive at an answer blindly. Let's say an aspirant, who will not clear this exam, what will he do? He will look at question number seven, famous place, present state. He only knows Girnar as the answer. Now we have two options, one and three. You have two and three. Don't make a blind answer here. Okay. Don't just, I don't know Bilsa. I don't know Dwarasamudra. Dwarasamudra. Dwarasamudra. I don't know where it is. So let me just choose one answer. No, because previous history questions I have chosen C as the answer. Let me choose A. Even if it gets correct, even if it goes correct, that is not your mark. Okay. Because you will not get that mark in the real examination. But if you use this kind of a logic, Bils, I have read, I have heard about the tribes in the central Indian state somewhere. You use that kind of a logic. Okay. I'm very certain most of these questions, you will have a logical backing, a logical way of approaching and getting the answers. Correct. So your duty when you write your test series is finding out a logic, finding out a pattern by means of which you will be able to figure out these kinds of questions. Correct. Okay. So that's all for the session. And I think the chat can be enabled now so that the aspirants can start asking their questions. All right. So yes, I think we can stop sharing. So my endpoint is don't compel yourself to attempt 95 questions. Don't compel yourself to attend 85 questions. Have a method. Go by the method. You take the question paper and you start solving it first. Even if you get only 50 to 55 questions correct, that's perfectly okay. The next round, you can probably attempt another 15 to 20 questions. And in that 15 to 20 questions, even if you get five questions right, 10 questions wrong, it is still at to your advantage. Okay. Then looking at the answer paper, thinking I have attempted only 75 questions, but all my friends in the test series, they used to attempt 95 questions. Even I also used to have the 95 questions in the test series. So let me start attempting all the other 25 also blindly. Never fall into that trap. Okay. Be very cautious. At the same time, be very cool and use a logic in getting an answer. Any logic is fine than a blind attempt. Okay. I think we can stop sharing this and I can take your questions. Yes, please. Can you please enable the chat so that the students can ask a question? Okay. Please suggest standard books. Please suggest standard books for science and tech, economics, history and culture. Right. Standard books for science and tech. Only your school books, your biology. See, even if you don't read that also, it is perfectly okay. You should only know about the recent developments in science and tech. For example, you look at these questions. I have not shared them with you. All blockchain related questions, all artificial intelligence related questions, the drone technology, these are all questions which I have kept in one among those 46 questions that you can attend with a logic. Science and tech questions are those questions which you can actually attend with some kind of a logic. Okay. You cannot. So let me ask you a question. What if I suggest you this book, go to the 10th standard and 9th standard school textbooks, read your NCRTs. If I suggest it, if you read it, what is the benefit? Only one question. The difference between plant cell and animal cell. That is the only question that you could have got it right by putting in so much of extra effort and going through different NCRTs. And that too, if you remember what is a vacool, if you remember what is a plasma membrane, if at all you are able to remember, you can get that right. I would say the cost-benefit ratio is very, very high. I mean, the benefit is low. Cost is high by spending time with the NCRT books on science and tech. Instead, focus on the latest technology. Get to know more about them. Get to know what is a carbon nanotube? Why is carbon nanotube in use? What is graphene? Is it a conductor or not a conductor? Where is it all used? By having an idea about the latest trends in technology, latest inventions that are happening, you will be able to get those science and tech questions correct. The effort that you put in mastering your NCRTs and lower standard school books is not going to pay you that great a dividend. But instead, focus on your NCRTs for quality, history, economy and some geography parts. There you can reap a lot of benefits by focusing on standard textbooks. So when can we stop current affairs for problems? Well, even though I say that current affairs, you do not have to be too obsessed with it. What I am referring to is, you do not have to be obsessed to the extent of daily reading two-two compilations for current affairs. That is not something that you need to do. But my opinion is, you should keep on reading newspaper even on the day before the exam. Keep reading newspapers. It will take you hardly one-and-a-half hours. But there are a lot of things that will keep on getting revised. You will also be revised when you keep following your Hindu newspaper. What you read three months back might have been forgotten. But when you read it just one week before the exam, it will be once again refreshed. So keep reading newspapers. When I said do not be obsessed with current affairs, all I meant was do not be obsessed with following more and more compilations in a mad attempt or I can say in an unnecessary fear of losing out marks from what is happening in the world. That is not the focus of UPS. So do not focus current affairs from compilations, but keep reading a newspaper a regular habit. Do not lose touch with reading newspapers. Whether mains-based problems preparation is good, it is the best strategy because many questions, let us say last year there was a question on difference between Marxism and Gandhi when it comes to their opinion, when it comes to their perspectives on what state means. That is a question which you could have actually got it right if you would have prepared your main topics on local self-government. If you would have understood Gandhi's distaste with a centralized model, why Gandhi was preferring a decentralized model, if you know the understanding behind that, you would know Gandhi's opinion on government, on state. With that you will be able to make an association and get that answer correct. So preparing for mains will definitely be helpful in coming up with this logic that is required to handle this 46 questions, the third category of questions. The logic that you require will be obtained if you prepare for mains also. So your mains preparation must parallelly go along with your problems preparation. Sir, such as good books or material for C-set? Well, there are, see come out of the books, come out of your text books, the only textbooks that you should be referring is with respect to your four subjects, history, geography, polity and economy. Apart from that, nothing doing with the textbooks, come out, solve tests, solve questions, find out a strategy that helps you in getting an answer correct with the help of some logical thought. Okay, master that strategy, master that method of scoring questions which are outside your standard textbooks, that is more important. If that is the case, I would never suggest you books for any other subjects beyond these four subjects. It is more to do with approaching questions. Do I need to read old or new NCRT for history? Both. History, non-negotiable. Okay, so history is completely non-negotiable. Old NCRT, new NCRT, all that must be read. Three NCRTs, old NCRT, three new NCRTs must be compulsorily read for handling history questions. Okay, so tips for agriculture. Yeah, what I can say as tips. Okay, before that, somebody has asked me about my service, I got one rank in exam, why didn't you took the service? I was in the service, but now I am not in the service, I had resigned and now I am also with the Shankar Academy. I was already in the service for some time, so that's a very different topic. But anyway, tips for agricultural sector. What I would say is, when it comes to agriculture, focus on cropping patterns, focus on understanding how each and every crop is cultivated in India, at least the major crops like rice, wheat, sugarcane, maize, pulses, what is the climatic conditions they require for their growth, what technique is followed for cultivating them. These are the kind of areas that you should be focusing when it comes to agriculture. Agriculture doesn't mean that you start focusing on something else, okay, from any books or something. But you should be focused on cropping patterns, cropping techniques. What is system of rice intensification? What does it actually mean? What is the difference between that system and the normal broadcasting method? Broadcasting is you just take rice seeds and you throw it here on the field. What is the advantage in that? Again, let me tell you, there is a question in 2020 prelims, which talks about a tissue culture method of cultivating sugarcane. It is there on among those 46 questions, okay? It is about a method of cultivating sugarcane, a tissue based method, tissue culture based method. How could you have got that answer correct? If you would have known what is the system of rice intensification, if you would have known about the system of rice intensification, you would know system of rice intensification as first you sow the rice seeds, seedlings, you sow in a separate nursery, you cultivate it in the nursery, then you transplant it from the nursery and then on to a larger field, okay? What is the benefit associated with that? If you know the answer correctly for that, you would be able to get this sugarcane-related question correctly. You would be able to associate it, okay? That is the reason. So basically transplanting it from a nursery and on to a field is actually beneficial for the growth. You have understood that logic if you know about system of rice intensification. This is how your agricultural preparation must be based upon. It should be based upon understanding of different crops and cropping patterns, which areas it has grown, why is the crop growing better in a particular area compared to the other area, what climatic conditions is required, what is the irrigation duration that is required for a particular crop and what tests and what diseases can affect those crops. These are the angles from which you should actually prepare for agriculture-led questions. Can you please give us some suggestions on how to deal with reports and indices? Forget them. Forget them completely. Not a single question has been asked from any of these report and indices in last year's problems. Waste of time, don't be stressed about all those kind of things, okay? Maybe you might get one question and for that one question, do you have to go and start reading all these reports and indices? Forget them. Please, just must read NCRTs. Okay. Six NCRTs for history. Four NCRTs for geography. Two NCRTs for quality. I am limiting my suggestions to 11th and 12th standard NCRTs alone. At least these you must be... And two NCRTs for economy. These are some 11th, 12th NCRTs of all these subjects. For history alone, you should read both old NCRTs as well as new NCRTs. Teams in history, part one, part two, part three. All these also you must read, okay? When it comes to economics, two NCRTs of 11th and 12th, you must read them. You must master them. And it would be better if you have also read economic survey also. Economic survey can help you give a good idea about at least economic survey volume two you must read. External sector, trade and agriculture industry, very, very poorly related to your syllabus for UPSC. At least second volume of economic survey if you read, it will be much better for your examination. Is it necessary to read magazines with the UPSC like Yojana, etc.? Don't read any of them. That's why I keep on repeating. Focus, strengthen your standard textbook subjects. You have a high probability of bringing everything under your control. The other fortress questions, you cannot attempt them by reading Kurukshetra, Yojana, this compilation, that compilation. Nothing is going to work. But what is going to work is having a logic and approaching in getting it right. Some inclination or some interest in latest technology, some interest in knowing about the science behind certain things. It is that curious attitude which can help you get the science and take questions correct. Science and take questions cannot be got correct by reading from any textbooks. Note making strategy. Note making is done for your mains preparation. It's not done for your problems preparation. Main preparation when you do it, when you know the entire concept, let's say federalism is a concept. When you know about the entire concept underlying federalism from various NCRTs, from various textbooks, from reading from internet, after that you have a very good understanding of federalism. If at all any Hindu editorial talks about federalism, conflict in federalism, then what would you do? You would take some points out of those articles and you will make a note of that. So your first basic requirement to make notes is you must complete your mains preparation. Or at least you must be, you must at least have a fair idea of the various subtopics and topics in mains. It's after that you should start into the activity of taking notes for this exam. Because all these, and let me tell you friends, don't, when I say, ignore those compilations, why I say this is they have so many facts. Adding to that fact, why do you have to, you also have to take notes out of newspapers and build on, keep on adding facts. Do you think you'll be able to remember all that on the day of the exam? You cannot. So don't be worried about taking notes. So how to prepare for mains side by side? Yes, it is a must do activity. You must prepare for mains side by side, at least GS paper two, paper three, whatever topics are related to your problems, at least those papers you must be preparing side by side. So for example, let's say there are some 15 topics in GS paper two that is relevant for your problems also. In GS paper two, mains, you have at least 15 topics which will be relevant for your problems. So make a timetable. You have four more months to go. So basically you have 15 weeks, correct? You have 16 weeks. So what you can do is you can allot one complete week for one topic of your mains syllabus sheet. Let's say salient features of representation of people that is a topic in GS paper two. So what you can do is, first you make a base preparation, read from the internet, read from various documents which I have suggested in the various classes also, right? So read from those sources, find out base material on salient features of representation of people's act. Let it be a two hour process. Daily you do spend some two hours or three hours for that preparation. At the same time, also watch out for the previous year's mains question paper also. So look what kind of questions are asked from the salient features of representation of people's act in previous mains. Now try to think whether the content that you are reading will be suitable to write an answer for the previous year's questions, okay? So you are spending two to three hours on a particular topic in your GS syllabus sheet for mains preparation. When you do that, also solve previous year's problems questions on this topic. So you already have a lot of tests that you would have attempted elsewhere at your own academies. Whatever it is, keep solving various other questions also related to that particular topic. I'm sure there will be websites which can support you with a list of questions relating to this particular topic, elections related questions for polity. You might have an entire list somewhere.  When you prepare for salient features of representation of people's act, now try to solve these questions and get them get the answers correct, okay? That is the way how you can link problems and mains preparation together, all right? Is it necessary to read Laxmika and Thalong with Bayarak book of Bakshi? Because last year problems questions were asked like constitution defines or like according to the constitution. No, not necessary. I think I understand the question that you ask. But to handle those questions asked in problems in polity, only Laxmika and the NCRTs are good enough. You don't have to go and read Bayarak. Especially at this point of time, no new reading must be done. It should only be from previous reading. General doubt in 2015, I had pancreatitis operation, okay, okay, type on diabetes now, whether I am eligible to appear UPSC. Yes, you are completely eligible. There is no problem. Even if you have diabetes, there is no problem. You are eligible. You can even get into polar service also. Just that your diabetes must not produce any other consequences like neuropathy, retinopathy. That should not be the case. If that is not the case, if you're just generally diabetic, there is no problem. You can appear in the exam. History optional tips. Well, you, I'm sure you would have, you would already have your list of books available on the internet. Your faculty would have also suggested it. The only tips that I would give for history is build your perspectives, build your opinions. Consider various historians' opinions on a particular time frame. The same Aryan invasion is both a reality as well as a myth. So why would historians have different perspectives and opinions on this based on certain evidences that they have found out? So try to understand how historians view the course of history. That is what is the preparation for history. It is not the stories that you listen or stories that you read in the textbooks. That is immaterial for history. But make a note of, keep an eye on the different changes that you find over a period of time. I think we can conclude here. Please provide tips for essay. Well, there is already a video which I have made for Shankar Academy. It's available on the internet. Shankar IA's Academy essay preparation. Just type it like that. You will get my entire tips for essay preparation. All right. So is there negative marks and problems first paper? Well, too late to ask this question. You should have asked this question by the time you start the preparation. I'm assuming you are starting your preparation just now. Yes, there are negative marks and problems first paper. All right. Sir, I'm 30 years old. I'm starting my preparation. Where should I start for initial preparation? Well, it's a big topic in itself. I don't know how to start and where to conclude it because our focus of this discussion, something else, maybe you can watch, you can go through the beginners column of Shankar Academy. Shankar IA's Academy, we have this beginners column. Just go through it once. You will get a right area to start your preparation from. Okay. Friends, we will conclude. And if you have any questions, maybe just drop a mail to the Shankar Academy and we will take up your queries and we will reply back to you. Okay. It's already the time has exceeded. So I think it's time we have to conclude this session. So thank you. And for all those who are attempting this year's exam, I wish you all the best. I'm sure you will all crack. Make sure you just have a method. Method is important. Okay. Don't depend on luck. Luck will not be always on your side. Okay. Thank you. I think we can conclude. Yes.


Hi, I'm Anthony Robinson. I direct online geospatial education programs, and I'm an associate professor of geography here at Penn State. I'm a cartographer, and my work tries to take complicated spatial information and make it more useful for folks. I've worked with people in epidemiology, education, and ecology domains to try to make visualizations that help them make better decisions. I like working with students on the really tricky design problems where we have to take something complicated that's spatial data and try to make it actionable and visual. My students have done some really amazing work to do things like build tactile maps to support flood mitigation work, and to experiment with color schemes to figure out how people react emotionally to what they see. So outside of work I play guitar and drums, and I try to fish as often as possible in nearby rivers. I spend a lot of time scouring maps to find new places to go do that. And in the winter months I've passed the time by building fishing rods. My work takes me all around the world, and I've had occasion now to go to more than 40 countries, and I'm always trying to add to that list. I've been to places like Easter Island, Tasmania, and Chernobyl, but I've only spent like a few hours in New York City, so I'm actually not trying to avoid it. I just haven't done it yet. No matter where I go though, one thing that's clear to me is that everything is tied together by the work we do as geographers. It's a really exciting time to be working in geospatial technology and methods, and I'm looking forward to having you in class soon.