Rank 1 IAS 2016 Tina Dabi - Detailed strategy to crack UPSC CSE Prelims Video Lecture | UPSC Preparation Strategy and Tips by Toppers

hi I'm Tina Dobby a ir1 I did my BA
Honours political science from Lady Shri
Ram College Delhi University I have a
range of interests the serious ones
being painting debating some amount of
Social Work non serious one I think
which Oliver share hanging out watching
movies shopping etc ah when we talk of
trillions I wouldn't say that there are
you know one particular book for every
subject in every topic because for
different topics different books cater
better so if we talk about ancient
history I only did it from the class
12th in CRT if you talk about medieval
history as well ah the same source ncert
class 12th history when it pertains to
the freedom struggle in modern Indian
history I somewhat did it from beepin
Chandra history of modern India and
parts of it from spectrum spectrum is
also good for another reason it gives
you more information and at the end of
each chapter
they've summarized the whole chapter in
to revision points so you know if you
know because we all know there there are
time constraints so if you can't read
the whole chapter from spectrum you
could always go through the revision
points at the end of the chapter if we
talk about art and culture I think you
know that's one thing with scares
everybody because there's no one source
and the only good thing is that nobody
is well-versed in art in culture so like
we're all at the same level so what I
did for art in culture at wadi rum some
class notes were given they are easily
available in the market so you could
consult that vajira has also come out
with a booklet on art in culture and the
first hundred pages are good for
reference but if you really want to do
quickly the whole topic of art in
I could recommend the vision is a
booklet on art and culture it's around
50 pages very concise to the point also
has pictures so I think that's another
great source if we talk about quality
I think Lakshmi Kant is the Bible of
quality and I did Lakshmi Khan's for
prints as well as means but yes Lakshmi
Khan's has a drawback that it's often
too factual but whatever new is
happening currently we have really good
sources from the current affairs
booklets published by penny coaching
Institute's and I believe our European
vision is has really really good Current
Affair booklets so whatever current is
happening in polity the good part in
both of these booklets is that they not
only talk about the factual part of it
for instance if you talk about
President's rule so they'll not only
tell you about Article 356 but also give
you its analysis its past experiences
what has the supreme court said so it's
a wholesome thing so I believe along
with Lakshmi camp these could prove as a
good supplement if we talk about economy
I really did not consult any book on
economy I completely followed Wadi Rum
class notes and I think they are
excellent and they are easily available
in the market so you could do that along
with that even the economy the Indian
economy in world economy changes every
day there are new things happening so
again we need to consult the current
affairs booklets and vigy roms booklets
or vision ISS booklets they're very
wholesome because they not only give you
the facts they give you the analysis and
they even predict that you know what
could happen
they even quote good scholars so you
know you really don't need you know
because we don't have time so you really
don't need to read update the saying or
Nandan Nilekani what you could probably
do is go through these booklets and you
will automatically get their viewpoints
so that's you know like a good shortcut
it will save you time and headaches if
we talk about science like I was really
poor at sides you know being a humanity
student so you know probably I'm not the
right person to guide you all for
science so
I had very limited sources I just did
the class notes of Vegeta and since I
was not very comfortable with sides what
I did at what I could advise other
students like me is that I completely
focused on current affairs you know
related to science like oh are they some
new developing developments happening on
the space front like we had the
mangalyaan
we had the Mars mom Mars orbiting
mission so probably you know you could
focus on what's happening in luckily
like that's what I found
even in prisons and means they were only
interested in the current developments
so that's really good for students like
me who have non science backgrounds
environment if we talk about environment
and ecology I think that's a really hot
topic like your by your the number of
questions are increasing and it's really
unfortunate that students really don't
pay attention to it they somewhat ignore
it I would highly recommend not to
ignore this topic because it is core
your brownie points since the others are
ignoring it
so where they will not score you will
score for environment I think Shanker
Academy has bring has brought out this
very good green book so I consulted that
and I found it trittye sufficient apart
from that even environment in ecology
things change everyday some some for one
fine day the art and art of living
culture festival happens and they
destroy the Yamuna floodplains then saw
us on the other day the red book data
comes out so you know things keep
happening so it's very important that
you have a current affairs orientation
in believe me in trilliums and means
nearly 80 percent questions are current
affairs based current affairs has to be
extremely strong if we talk about
geography if we talk about physical
geography I think a physical geography
is very theoretical and conceptual and
it takes time to build on the concepts I
believe to the class 11th in CRT which I
believe is named of a fundamentals of
physical geography is very very
sufficient and has explained everything
very nicely in detail with diagrams it's
a so I think that's a very good
source if you talk about India's
geography I think last 10th in CRT is a
very very good geography of the world no
one source but a wizard publication has
given everything in a very concise form
in tabular formats so that may help as
well if you talk about national and
international current affairs
I think current affairs booklets of
vajira main vision ideas are sufficient
and you wouldn't need anything more than
that schemes policies I think of anybody
who reads the newspaper religiously
every day will be fine with it
I see sad well CSAT is again very tricky
in and I'm not sure if I'm the right
person it's all about maths and logical
reasoning and I come from a non-match
background so I took coaching in vajira
for three months and I used to
constantly practice the coaching
material they gave so the blue booklets
of vajira my thing they are wonderful
they have ample practice questions and
they have even explained all topics very
well if you talk about compulsory
language papers of me I think since
English is compulsory if you read in
English daily every day I think it's
more than sufficient and you really do
not need to prepare so much for it it
was a very easy paper and anybody even
if they're from non-english background
if you are in touch with English like if
you read books in English or you're
reading the newspaper I think it's very
well sufficient as far as the other
language paper is concerned
I had opted for Hindi and I started
reading a Hindi newspaper just 15 days
before the exam and it proved adequate
si o si is a very very tricky area also
the most neglected area but believe
beads it's like a big big rowdy point
paper like your score marks in this and
it doesn't really require much effort
all it really needs is that you practice
one essay every 15 days when you start
preparing for means and that is going to
be fine and since you know I'm not a
very philosophical person like I'm aware
normal person who just read the
newspapers and just did GS and my
optional so I always took topics which
were more current affairs based because
you know that was one area where I was
knowledgeable I was aware so for normal
people like be alert to philosophical in
their orientation I think this is a very
good thing that you could always choose
topics that are current affairs oriented
means so general studies paper one males
again for culture I consulted the same
source as prelims which is vajira class
notes and the widget I use booklet or
not in culture which is around fifty
pages and is very concise it's a good
source you you must do it indeed history
again class twelth NCERT or the Bipin
Chandra Book for world history I think
world history syllabus is so so vast so
so large that I believed it was almost a
graduation onto itself so probably I I
just consulted Oh JA source thoughts of
vajira they are easily available in the
pocket and I think they are very very
good they're to the point and that is