Significance of History Keywords in UPSC Prelims exam

The Civil Services Exam conducted by UPSC tests an aspirant on various grounds. As an administrator is supposed to make policies in diverse areas, a civil services aspirant should be well versed in almost all subjects. It is important for a civil servant to have knowledge in subjects like history, geography, sociology, polity etc. The Civil Services Exam is designed in such a manner that it maintains a fine balance in all these areas. Indian History has an important role to play among these subjects. Indian history and Indian National Movement has a significance in both the Prelims and Mains exam. The vastness of syllabus and plethora of study materials in the market makes this subject forgiving for aspirants during exam if they go unprepared. However if one has solid knowledge of subject and had undergone through strategic preparation he/she can easily sail through prelims exam.

A significant number of questions are asked from Indian History in Civil Services Prelims Exam every year. Very often the questions are based on keywords related to ancient, medieval and Modern history. It becomes quite important to understand and mug up these keywords while going through the preparation of prelims exam as each keyword is a vast syllabus in itself. The major problem that aspirants face is finding a suitable source for such keywords. By going through the previous year papers of UPSC Prelims,one can have a rough idea of keywords in history. The changing nature of civil services exam has led to the change in strategy of preparation of exam. The examination has turned out to be an amalgamation of static and dynamic portion of Indian history.

The NCERT Books are a good source for the static keywords, while for dynamic keywords daily newspapers and websites could be a good source. Interlinking of both static and dynamic portion is also necessary. Both parts have been covered in GS Score Fact file on History Keywords. This fact file has been designed by experts who have vast experience designing study materials related to civil services. This fact file consists of very important keywords of history that have huge potential from exam point of view. This fact file saves a huge amount of time and hard work of civil service aspirants.

It is highly recommended to have a basic idea about nature of questions that are being asked in civil services exam while preparing for key words. Previous Year Question Papers of UPSC CSE prelims could be a good source in this regard. A good mock test series and constant revision could also help in fetching good marks in Indian history. GS Score Integrated Test Series can be your one stop solution in this regard. One needs to be alert while preparing notes of Indian History. Point wise notes and only salient information should be included so that revision could be done without any extra effort. For remembering events in chronological order, a table with dates and significance of the event is recommended.

Time bound and strategic manner of preparation should be the mantra of every civil services aspirant. Guided and distraction-free is the way to go into preparation. The study material followed should not be used for knowledge enhancement or research purpose but should only be intended for knowledge purpose that could be useful in exam.

UPSC needs an aspirant to be jack of all and master of none.