How to prepare for Art and Culture Section for IAS prelims

The art and culture questions in IAS prelims exam pose maximum difficulty before students. This is the section where students have no idea regarding books and study material. Though the market is flooded with study materials no such book is there that gives a vivid idea about the topics to be read to tackle art and culture related questions. The dynamic nature of questions every year has continuously puzzled the civil services aspirants in IAS Prelims Exam. Problem gets more complicated as there is not set text book from where the students can prepare themselves regarding this portion of prelims paper. Through this article we are going to deal with the questions like what to read and how to read art and culture.

The Art and culture of India have linkage to Ancient and Medieval history of India. As per the emerging trend, questions asked in UPSC CSE exam has been linked to the ancient, medieval history of India and current affairs. It is imperative for students to have a basic knowledge about UPSC syllabus for Prelims as well as Mains exam. By understanding the syllabus completely the students can have an idea about study material for art and culture.

Short listing of study material is also very important pertaining to the diverse nature of the subject and abundance of study material in the market. Seeing this IAS aspirant selection of the right kind of study material also becomes very important. There are certain books and reference material that can be followed regarding preparation of this particular section.

Resources for art and culture for UPSC IAS Exam

• Class XIIth NCERT- An Introduction to Indian Art
• Class XI NCERT- Ancient India by R.S Sharma
• Class XII- Medieval India by Satish Chandra
• CCRT website
• NIOS materials
• GS Score PT Sampoorn Art and Culture

After having an idea about study material let’s have a look at the sections needed to target upon:

• Indian Architecture
• Indian Music
• Indian sculpture
• Indian Painting
• Indian Handicrafts
• Heritage sites in India
• Performing art
• Indian Dance forms
• Indian languages
• Religions in India
• Indian literature
• Schools of Philosophy
• Awards and honours
• Martial arts
• Cultural institutions
• Different movements

After targeting these sections the most important thing that one must keep in mind that the static portion should be completely interlinked with the dynamic section i.e current affairs related to art and culture. The dynamic portion can be covered with the help of important newspapers like The Hindu, Indian Express, PIB etc. In fact the entire strategy should revolve around the sections that have been in news recently. The previous year questions of UPSC asked from Art and Culture section reflect the trend that is being followed by UPSC for the selection of questions in Art and Culture. For example the question asked in the year 2019 about Kanaganahalli in Karnataka was in news recently.  Similarly if we go through other art and culture questions asked in previous years of IAS prelims exam we will find that all these questions would have been in the news. So it is advisable to prepare art and culture in a way that it covers major current issues related to art and culture. This task seems time consuming and tiresome. However one can go for GS Score Prelims Sampoorn Art and Culture which has been designed in such a way that it covers the art and culture section in a holistic manner. GS Score Prelims Sampoorn has been designed in such a way that it covers both the conventional and dynamic portion simultaneously.