Some Tips for Philosophy Optional + Best Wishes!

Neyawn

This one if for those of you writing the Philosophy Paper. here are some Pointers. Since yours truly has scored the highest ever marks in Philosophy Paper - 201 marks in Paper 2, and I have old timers reaching out to me, here is my opinion on this.

Also, I have worked with some students in the past, briefly including Juhi who is kind of Topper from Philo last year, , here it is

For Paper 2

Here we have two parts - One is Socio Political Philosophy and the other is Philosophy of Religion.

In Socio Political Philosophy, earlier people used to write from Patanjali and Mitra Notes. I strongly believe that while they are good, and meet the requirement - content differentiation is what fetched you marks here.

For that I would like to say that if you pick up each topic and create some pointers that are exclusive , and not given in coaching notes , you can score really well.

For example on democracy, there is invariably a question every alternate year . Since the topics are limited, you are likely to have question on the same set of topics every year - may be asking a different dimension.

Here if you search Democracy + pdf and get some new documents , that will be very good to add to your content. Also, wikipedia becomes very important because it is updated with content all the time. You can take a close look at the footnotes, which will take you to different sources,


Secondly, you can refer to Youtube videos - small 3-7 minutes explainers on the topics , such as Rawls' theory of justice etc , which are likely to stick to your mind , instead of infinitely reading the same thing again. Anyway you have enough time , like old times .:D

For Philosophy of Religion.

Here , In my opinion, coaching notes help a lot. However there have to be a few cautions.

First, most questions are open ended - Like Does God Exist? or Why does evil exist?

In such questions, candidates generally have an opinion of their own. Here in Philosophy of Religion, generally directly the thinker is not asked, but we have to mention thinkers and answers should be well formed. Own opinion, in philosophy of religion generally does not help much.

Also, if it is you are a senior player, and you have done all studying, and there is nothing left to read, I suggest you make diagrams in every question / as many questions as possible.

There are many people I have come across , who have resorted to making diagrams / flowcharts in Paper 2.

The good part is that if you spend 2-3 hours on flowcharts / diagrams right now, you will have enough flowcharts which will actually be used in the exam - because the topics are limited, and questions invariably come from those topics.

Again, other candidates can share their views.

P.S. I am attaching an old file on Strawson. It comprehensively covers Strawson incuding comparison with Descartes






.

swatantra_pathik

This one if for those of you writing the Philosophy Paper. here are some Pointers. Since yours truly has scored the highest ever marks in Philosophy Paper - 201 marks in Paper 2, and I have old timers reaching out to me, here is my opinion on this.

Also, I have worked with some students in the past, briefly including Juhi who is kind of Topper from Philo last year, , here it is

For Paper 2

Here we have two parts - One is Socio Political Philosophy and the other is Philosophy of Religion.

In Socio Political Philosophy, earlier people used to write from Patanjali and Mitra Notes. I strongly believe that while they are good, and meet the requirement - content differentiation is what fetched you marks here.

For that I would like to say that if you pick up each topic and create some pointers that are exclusive , and not given in coaching notes , you can score really well.

For example on democracy, there is invariably a question every alternate year . Since the topics are limited, you are likely to have question on the same set of topics every year - may be asking a different dimension.

Here if you search Democracy + pdf and get some new documents , that will be very good to add to your content. Also, wikipedia becomes very important because it is updated with content all the time. You can take a close look at the footnotes, which will take you to different sources,


Secondly, you can refer to Youtube videos - small 3-7 minutes explainers on the topics , such as Rawls' theory of justice etc , which are likely to stick to your mind , instead of infinitely reading the same thing again. Anyway you have enough time , like old times .:D

For Philosophy of Religion.

Here , In my opinion, coaching notes help a lot. However there have to be a few cautions.

First, most questions are open ended - Like Does God Exist? or Why does evil exist?

In such questions, candidates generally have an opinion of their own. Here in Philosophy of Religion, generally directly the thinker is not asked, but we have to mention thinkers and answers should be well formed. Own opinion, in philosophy of religion generally does not help much.

Also, if it is you are a senior player, and you have done all studying, and there is nothing left to read, I suggest you make diagrams in every question / as many questions as possible.

There are many people I have come across , who have resorted to making diagrams / flowcharts in Paper 2.

The good part is that if you spend 2-3 hours on flowcharts / diagrams right now, you will have enough flowcharts which will actually be used in the exam - because the topics are limited, and questions invariably come from those topics.

Again, other candidates can share their views.

P.S. I am attaching an old file on Strawson. It comprehensively covers Strawson incuding comparison with Descartes






.

@Neyawn sir thanku so much.sir please share some strategy regarding gs paper specially gs 1.. syllabus is bulky. How can we concise it ? Any preferable notes for reference (some of the static parts) ..
Thanku sir.

Quixote

This one if for those of you writing the Philosophy Paper. here are some Pointers. Since yours truly has scored the highest ever marks in Philosophy Paper - 201 marks in Paper 2, and I have old timers reaching out to me, here is my opinion on this.

Also, I have worked with some students in the past, briefly including Juhi who is kind of Topper from Philo last year, , here it is

For Paper 2

Here we have two parts - One is Socio Political Philosophy and the other is Philosophy of Religion.

In Socio Political Philosophy, earlier people used to write from Patanjali and Mitra Notes. I strongly believe that while they are good, and meet the requirement - content differentiation is what fetched you marks here.

For that I would like to say that if you pick up each topic and create some pointers that are exclusive , and not given in coaching notes , you can score really well.

For example on democracy, there is invariably a question every alternate year . Since the topics are limited, you are likely to have question on the same set of topics every year - may be asking a different dimension.

Here if you search Democracy + pdf and get some new documents , that will be very good to add to your content. Also, wikipedia becomes very important because it is updated with content all the time. You can take a close look at the footnotes, which will take you to different sources,


Secondly, you can refer to Youtube videos - small 3-7 minutes explainers on the topics , such as Rawls' theory of justice etc , which are likely to stick to your mind , instead of infinitely reading the same thing again. Anyway you have enough time , like old times .:D

For Philosophy of Religion.

Here , In my opinion, coaching notes help a lot. However there have to be a few cautions.

First, most questions are open ended - Like Does God Exist? or Why does evil exist?

In such questions, candidates generally have an opinion of their own. Here in Philosophy of Religion, generally directly the thinker is not asked, but we have to mention thinkers and answers should be well formed. Own opinion, in philosophy of religion generally does not help much.

Also, if it is you are a senior player, and you have done all studying, and there is nothing left to read, I suggest you make diagrams in every question / as many questions as possible.

There are many people I have come across , who have resorted to making diagrams / flowcharts in Paper 2.

The good part is that if you spend 2-3 hours on flowcharts / diagrams right now, you will have enough flowcharts which will actually be used in the exam - because the topics are limited, and questions invariably come from those topics.

Again, other candidates can share their views.

P.S. I am attaching an old file on Strawson. It comprehensively covers Strawson incuding comparison with Descartes






.

Great! Can u plz give example of some diagrams?

Adineha

Thanks a lot provide some samples

Neyawn

@LeoMessi10 Leave me a thank you note. I am doing this for you ;-)

Neyawn

Thanks a lot provide some samples

Hang on, will have to spend a day and come up with some.

देवसेनाजी

Thanks a lot @Neyawn sir..!!

Pranjali

Thank you sir. keep posting. We need help regarding preparation.

देवसेनाजी

शायद इस बार..

इसमें कुछ बेहतर perform कर सकूँ..

Hoping For The Best..!!

Gestaltist

@Neyawn thanks sirji for your inputs....in her article on mitraias juhi jalota is advocating use of own stuff for paper2 while you are advising to use thinkers instead of own stuff in religion(which fetched less marks to her in previous attempts) so what can be consensus here?

Astronaut_84

@Neyawn thanks sirji for your inputs....in her article on mitraias juhi jalota is advocating use of own stuff for paper2 while you are advising to use thinkers instead of own stuff in religion(which fetched less marks to her in previous attempts) so what can be consensus here?

No one knows nothing. The year you are destined to become you will become.