Polticial science Optional Group Study For UPSC-2015

Emprica

Here's my tentative plan:

1. NCERTs (Nov)
2. Laxmikanth/O P Gauba (Dec)
3. Modern Indian History/B L Fadia/Oxford Companion to Indian Politics (Jan)
4. Western Political Thought, C L Wayper /India Political Thought, V R Mehta (Feb)
5. Baylis and Smith (Feb/March)
6. Rajeev Sikri/David Malone/Sumit Ganguly (throughout/whenever I have spare time)

nsa_93

@Emprica @gitesh

I'm opting for PSIR, too. Taking from your suggestions and adding mine:

- Discussing booklists/material topic-wise as done on mrunal and insights for GS papers
- Deciding publications/YT channel that each member will follow and daily posting relevant summary notes of important articles/videos.
- Practicing writing answers from previous year papers/other sources (2-3 answers a week) and reviewing each others answers.
- Providing inputs and guidance on concepts of special importance/difficulty
- Formulating a preparation schedule, if possible (depending on everyone's stage of preparation)

Please give your inputs. I would like to be a part of this group.

Emprica

@nsa_93

That sounds good but I don't know how far it can be implementable.
Daily basis may not be practical.

In any case, I'm in. (Y)

UMI

Hey guys ..."ENOUGH OF TALK.:-@ ..ITS TIME FOR ACTION NOW".. :!!

I am forming a group for group study (Pol.Sci.) . Those who wanna join it (only serious candidates for 2015) kindly text your email id in my INBOX.
I will ping you asap with the invitation. We will discuss the strategy as well as the study plan there till November ends & start accordingly with DEC 2014 .
Once the November month is over I will stop adding members there.. So text your email id asap.. :-w

UMI

@umi, I guess that's what forumias for ,dunno why people like to form groups rather than study .it's a great tool here ,just discuss, strategize ,implement and recheck.

@devilanuj17
Thanks for reminding me bro...
but I use to spend my maximum time in the forum & refresh it due to huge notifications...& most of the time the notifications are normal...like either those are regarding any planning or very basic info...
No such detailed topics (regarding POl.Sci questions & answers), current affairs & magazine related discussion have been done till now, So simply I am taking an initiative rather than commenting...or discussing what to do.. :-B

P.S. :This invitation is open to all PSIR optional buddies...those who want to join that group are free to send their email id or otherwise they are free to discuss here in the forum also.. I don't have any issues at all...
Regards... >-

john_wick

Hello @all,
Friends, I am working in ONGC, gujarat as a mech. engg and I live in patna.I hv decided to take POL.Sc as optional for UPSC@2015. I have to juggle b/w my profession and my studies. Kindly help me out with dis optional be it whatsapp or FB. my mail id --- alokpratap2009@gmail.com

Emprica

I would suggest we use this thread itself.

I already posted my tentative plan.

I have read (not studied) NCERT books Political Theory and Constitution at Work so far.

I plan to complete Politics in India (NCERT-12) by next week.

My suggestions:

1. Take your time with the first reading. Read slowly if you don't understand a concept.
There are many videos on Youtube available. Refer to them in need. Don't waste too much time searching.
The first reading is important because you will know the skeleton of the topic through it.
For example, if we take Secularism, the skeleton that comes to my mind is
--it's definition,
-- the meaning of Inter-religious and intra-religous dominations,
--Western and Indian model of secularism,
--criticism on Indian model of secularism.
That's the framework.
Additional readings would add to this basic framework and enhance your comprehension.
Any reading without analyzing is mostly useless.
Always keep asking the question--What/Why/How-->these are very important, additionally Where/Who/When can also be helpful.
By this you would have a thorough understanding of a topic. It can be a bit time consuming. It's worth the effort.

2. Read newspaper EVERYDAY. And make NOTES.
This is very important. Reading newspaper everyday will give you a comprehensive understanding of what's happening. (which reading just important articles may not provide)
If you read newspaper everyday, it enhances your comprehension and improves your analyzing and critical thinking. You don't get totally new news everyday. Themes recur.
Eg. IPR issues (it's in the news frequently these days)
i) recurring means it might be important
ii) reading the same theme frequently is revision
-->helpful in longer retention and useful for analyzing other related topics.
More fodder for the initial framework.

It's again important to analyze underlying concepts.
For example, there was this article on The Hindu yesterday about Bihar CM seeking Central help.
On the whole, it's just another article saying what the CM wants, blah blah blah.
But then these keywords appear--special status for Bihar, MGNREGS, Indira Awas Yojana.
Like a detective, you should hunt for these. And then analyze them like clues,
--Why is a special status required for a state?
--Which states have special statuses?
--What are the prerequisites?
--How does it impact the state and the country as a whole?
and similarly for the other two keywords.
Doing this exercise you will interconnect many themes. (also helps in Revision of Polity and Current Affairs)
This is very useful for Political Science Paper-1, Part-B and Paper-2 (in case you are reading international news).

In general Newspaper reading and note-taking will be useful for Prelims/Mains--Essay/GS/Optional. The cost benefit clearly is very high.

This is my view.

Hope it helps.

BoldChallenge

I would suggest we use this thread itself.

I already posted my tentative plan.

I have read (not studied) NCERT books Political Theory and Constitution at Work so far.

I plan to complete Politics in India (NCERT-12) by next week.

My suggestions:

1. Take your time with the first reading. Read slowly if you don't understand a concept.
There are many videos on Youtube available. Refer to them in need. Don't waste too much time searching.
The first reading is important because you will know the skeleton of the topic through it.
For example, if we take Secularism, the skeleton that comes to my mind is
--it's definition,
-- the meaning of Inter-religious and intra-religous dominations,
--Western and Indian model of secularism,
--criticism on Indian model of secularism.
That's the framework.
Additional readings would add to this basic framework and enhance your comprehension.
Any reading without analyzing is mostly useless.
Always keep asking the question--What/Why/How-->these are very important, additionally Where/Who/When can also be helpful.
By this you would have a thorough understanding of a topic. It can be a bit time consuming. It's worth the effort.

2. Read newspaper EVERYDAY. And make NOTES.
This is very important. Reading newspaper everyday will give you a comprehensive understanding of what's happening. (which reading just important articles may not provide)
If you read newspaper everyday, it enhances your comprehension and improves your analyzing and critical thinking. You don't get totally new news everyday. Themes recur.
Eg. IPR issues (it's in the news frequently these days)
i) recurring means it might be important
ii) reading the same theme frequently is revision
-->helpful in longer retention and useful for analyzing other related topics.
More fodder for the initial framework.

It's again important to analyze underlying concepts.
For example, there was this article on The Hindu yesterday about Bihar CM seeking Central help.
On the whole, it's just another article saying what the CM wants, blah blah blah.
But then these keywords appear--special status for Bihar, MGNREGS, Indira Awas Yojana.
Like a detective, you should hunt for these. And then analyze them like clues,
--Why is a special status required for a state?
--Which states have special statuses?
--What are the prerequisites?
--How does it impact the state and the country as a whole?
and similarly for the other two keywords.
Doing this exercise you will interconnect many themes. (also helps in Revision of Polity and Current Affairs)
This is very useful for Political Science Paper-1, Part-B and Paper-2 (in case you are reading international news).

In general Newspaper reading and note-taking will be useful for Prelims/Mains--Essay/GS/Optional. The cost benefit clearly is very high.

This is my view.

Hope it helps.

Hey Bro, You are Brilliant. ^:)^

Emprica

@BoldChallenge

For the sake of semantics, it's Sis. But thanks yo. ^_^

BoldChallenge

@BoldChallenge

For the sake of semantics, it's Sis. But thanks yo. ^_^

:P Oh!! The first Sis for me ForumIAS. Cool.

Any how!!
sis,
How is PSIR progress.

I feel that Western Thinkers part is difficult in Part A - Paper 1