E-LEARNING

Group 1 & Civils Mains Strategy

Civil Services & Group 1 aspirants who are fresh from college would like to join some famous coaching centres in Delhi or nearby cities such as Hyderabad or Bangalore. They go to these institutes in the same manner as they attended their colleges. One fact that we all need to take into account is less than 1% of these students clears Civils or Group 1.

Coaching institutes don't orient student for mains. They just dump some information on the student in a broadcasting model where class strength is around 300 in all reputed institutes. This puts students in a disadvantage to handle mains questions. For example...

• In the coaching centres they explain Gandhara Style as well as Madhura Style, but in the exam question will be about the comparison of these styles.

• In the class, lecturer handles what Gandhi and Ambedkar did for the downtrodden, but in the exam question will be about the difference in the approaches of Gandhi and Ambedkar to uplift the downtrodden though both of them are committed to the same cause

• In the class, Ashoka's foreign policies are covered but in the exam, the question will be about the relevance of Ashoka's foreign policies in the present day world. Same can happen with the preachings of Mahavira or Budha or Mahatma Gandhi. How are they relevant today? These are not generally handled in the classroom.

• Questions are not just descriptive type any more. They are more analytical in nature. Rather than what happened in history, we need to understand why it happened and how it is relevant today? We need to understand the cause & effect relationship and critically evaluate whatever we study.

For more understanding on how to understand a mains question and how to answer click: https://vimeo.com/298292648#t=17m30s

Most importantly student should understand the demands of the question and stick to the boundaries while answering the questions. Answer writing practice is very important. There should be a personal mentor who guides students. Though Arjuna won the war, we all know how important Krishna's guidance was. Mentorship improves the chances of success.

Student succeeds if he or she get grip on the subject. It is not rocket science. Everybody can learn just by reading relevant books and material. There is absolutely no need to attend the 'classes' in any 'famous institute'. What is required is more prep time and practice hours rather than listening hours. What is required is frequent assessment of what is learnt using chapter tests.

One more important aspect is the need for the combined study. Exchange of notes and ideas will increase the chances of the students to succeed.

So, to succeed in Civils & Group 1, the student needs..

1. Consistent effort

2. Regular tracking of progress and personal mentorship

3. Working in teams

Based on the above approach we have devised a program for Group 1 (Mains) -2019 as well as Civil Services – 2020. Here are the details on the program.

Scope Definition:

1. MICRO-TOPICS: As a first step we define the scope for prelims as well as mains by arriving at sub-topics for each item mentioned in the syllabus

2. IMPORTANT SUB-TOPICS: Based on the questions asked in previous exams and based on the trends, important topics are identified. Students will be given this list along with the micro-topics list

Books and Materials:

3. REFERENCES: Reference will be given at micro-topic level. Each sub-topic will be referenced to a standard book with chapter name and page numbers

4. MATERIAL: For all the important topics material will be prepared. Also, we encourage 'team share' approach for continuous development of dynamic content.

Baseline Test & Preparation Plan:

5. SWOT TEST: At the time of induction every student will be required to do the baseline test. Through this test, the student will be knowing his or her strengths and weakness in each topic/sub-topic, concepts vs facts, straight questions vs statement questions, static vs dynamic questions at various difficulty levels. It is a CT Scan of sorts for Civils.

6. ROUTE MAP & MILE STOPES (Milestones): A customised route map is designed for each student and milestones are set so that they follow this route map and achieve their goal.

Progress Tracker:

7. PLAN & PROGRESS: For every week and every day, the student is required to give the plan for the day. At the end of the day progress need to be reported. Plan will be quantified and progress evaluated as a percentage of the planned quantity.

8. DAILY TESTS: There will be around 200 mini-tests for prelims for all the topics in the scope for Prelims. It works out to be around a test a day.

9. ANSWER WRITING PRACTICE: Student will be made to write an answer for one question every day.

Team Share Concept:

10. TEAMWORK:

Preparation will be a team effort. It is not possible to prepare thoroughly for all the topics for a single individual. But if each person starts sharing the work with others, it is possible to complete the syllabus.

The team will have our website in addition to document sharing, video conferencing, recording and accessing framework for this collaborative effort.

All this happens under the supervision of Team Coordinators appointed by Precision. These coordinators will be working under the guidance of the director and the director himself will be very actively involved in this teamwork.

11. MENTORSHIP: Every student will be closely monitored and guided. Those who do not meet the expectations will be specially focused and finally be brought on to track.

Here are the details regarding our APPSC mains approach. (The same approach we use for TSPSC Group 1 as well as for Civil Services )

What to cover for APPSC Group 1(Mains) ?: Syllabus to be covered is given below:

PAPER-I - GENERAL ESSAY (150 M)

PAPER — II: HISTORY, CULTURE AND GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA AND ANDHRA PRADESH (150 M)

PAPER III - POLITY, CONSTITUTION, GOVERNANCE, LAW AND ETHICS (150 M)

Paper — IV — ECONOMY AND DEVELOPMENT OF INDIA AND ANDHRA PRADESH (150 M)

Paper –V - SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (150 M)

How much time we have? : Approximately 3 and a half months. We need to complete the syllabus in 3 months and revise it in the final half month. So, we have 12 weeks to complete the 5 subjects. That means, we have 2 to 3 weeks to complete a subject.

GS Papers:

For the General Studies papers there we will be following the approach given below -

Weekly Schedule

Week 1: Indian Geography

Week 2: AP Geography

Week 3: Indian History

Week 4: AP History

Week 5: Indian Polity & Constitution

Week 6: Public Administration & Governance

Week 7: Law & Ethics

Week 8: Indian Economy - 1

Week 9: Indian Economy - 2

Week 10: AP Economy

Week 11: Science & Technology – 1

Week 12: Science & Technology – 2

Week 13: Environment & Ecology

Weekly Exam:

Every Saturday there will be an exam on the subject covered in that week. After writing the answers, the student is expected to do self-review the answer based on the suggested answer circulated to them after the exam. The suggested answer will also be explained online with the help of a video conference. The self-evaluated answer sheets will be reviewed by the mentor and his team and relevant suggestions given to the student.

Daily Routine:

There are around 125 topics in each paper. So, there are around 500 topics in all the four papers. Everyone who joins this program will be a member of a team. Each team should arrive at the notes for a topic and come with suggested answer for a mains question in that topic. At 6:00 PM every team should explain about the topic and also present the suggested answer – all in 15minutes. And in the same manner, every team will give a presentation in the video conference.

This way we will have 6 topics covered in a day and notes/references will be ready. In 3 months 6x90 = 540 topics will be covered with answers for that many numbers of mains questions.

PAPER 1 - General Essay: We will allocate 7 days for ‘General Essay’. We will have a 4-day workshop at the beginning of the preparation and after completing other subjects 3 more days will be spent on it. Here is what we do in the workshop.

DAY 1:

1. Start with a test on essays to be written by everybody (2 Hrs)

2. Explaining the basic structure of essay & skeleton preparation (2 Hrs)

3. Opinions/tips of IAS toppers on essay writing (1 Hr)

4. Assessment criteria of an essay (1 Hr)

5. Self Assessment of the essay (30 Min)

6. Peer review of the essay based on assessment criteria ( 30 Min)

7. Expert Review ( will be communicated to the aspirant after the review)

DAY 2:

1. One essay - multiple toppers answers (study multiple answers on various parameters - 2 Hrs)

2. Skeleton Preparation for 6 essays ( 30 minutes for preparation and 30 minutes for discussion for each essay. Total 6 hours)

DAY 3:

1. Write 4 essays ( 4 Hrs)

2. Have self-review (1 hr)

3. Have peer review (1 hr)

4. Have expert review ( will be communicated to the aspirant after the review)

DAY 4:

1. Grammar - MCQs , Proverbs & Quotes - Open Test (1 Hr)

2. Grammar Class ( 4 hours)

3. Practice Proverbs & Quotes Learning ( 2 hrs)

4. Grammar - MCQs , Proverbs & Quotes - Open Test (1 Hr)

For any doubts or feedback, you may call our senior academic councillors at 8101010140/50/60 or call to the director at 8101010185 directly.

For A.P.Group IV Test Series and Guidance Contact @ 8101010185 in WhatsApp (no phone calls please) ..!