Srishti Singh

  "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.” ―  Aristotle      While preparing for the optional paper, one might face a plethora of questions. This blog aims to answer them and help you conquer the subject. This is the third part of the Optional Blog series and specifically deals with Paper 2 strategy of Anthropology paper. My story:      The real struggle with Paper 2 of Anthropology laid in creating a distinction between a GS answer and an Optional answer. Like most humanities subject, Paper 2 dealt with the Indian perspective and hence had tribal problems and administration as a course matter. But since the optional subject requires a more academic outlook, it became vital to supplement my knowledge with  deeper intellectual understanding  .     After going through my Coaching classes in Sosin Anthropology, I began thorough reading of Advanced books(mentioned later). I saw various documentar...

" Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ― Winston S. Churchill Once you delve into your optional, the prime challenge comprises of comprehensively covering the 2 papers, which have a wide array of syllabus. In this blog, we'd be looking at how Paper 1 could be effectively dealt within a stipulated time frame and explore the nitty gritty of course management. My story :       Before prelims -The syllabus of anthropology formed the stepping stone to my preparation. Once I got the primary understanding of my subject from my classes, I divided it according to the syllabus to individually prepare chapters through advanced books and internet surfing. By the end of February, I was thorough with the smaller topics left in coaching classes, written with the scope of further addition with improvement in the knowledge bank.      After prelims -The challenge after prelims was to arrange my pre acquired knowledge in...

  “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” ―  Robert F. Kennedy      While commencing UPSC preparations, one of the first question which comes up is the choice of the optional subject. Here is the story of how I picked my optional and the experience I wish to share with you.       This would be a 3 part series on Optional Preparation, Part 1 dealing with the general elements regarding the subject and more personal anecdotes. Part 2 and 3 would specifically deal with the two papers. My story :     I began preparing for UPSC on 25th July 2019, 2 months after finishing my B.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering. Coming from a family with no background of Civil Services, I lacked the fundamental awareness towards the preparation in my initial days. For the first month, I wasn't even aware of the different subjects available as optionals in UPSC!       In the beginning of September 2...