Tricks To Study Geography for UPSC Prelims Exam

Geography as a subject, is considered as an inevitable portion of UPSC Civil Services Exam. After digging into the strategy for preparation of various subjects of UPSC Syllabus, today we are going to discuss the planning and strategy of the most salient and fundamental pillar of UPSC Civil Services Prelims Exam i.e. Geography. The fact that in the marking scheme of prelims exam a decent score has been given to this subject shows the relevance and importance of geography. The trends, after assessing the Previous Year Paper,reveals that number of questions keep on varying every year related to this subject. However this trend is not subjected to Geography only but also for other subjects too. The weightage of particular subject is never constant is this exam and UPSC keeps on surprising aspirants in this area. Keeping this surprise in mind an aspirant needs to be careful regarding his preparation strategy and planning. As Geography is a fundamental pillar subjects, it should be more focus oriented and should not be ignored or left behind at any cost.

There are two define practical and parallel boundary lines within which an aspirant’s preparation should lie.

These are: the syllabus set by UPSC and the previous year prelims questions.

You’ll find only nine words in the syllabus of Geography for the UPSC Preliminary Examination -‘Physical, Social, Economic Geography of India and the World’. The syllabus might seem quite short but it actually have many dimensions embedded in it. Each of the 9 words are a syllabus in itself which makes the subjects quite wider and elaborative. If unplanned, one can exhaust himself by referring to different books for different fields. Most suited approach here will be a consolidated and to the point approach that can make your preparation easier and collaborative.

If an aspirant is motivated to qualify the civil services exam, then his/her focus should be on integrated study rather than individual study. For prelims and mains, the consolidated approach would be fruitful in this regard.

In the prelims, there will be of two types asked. The first one will check an aspirant’s basic knowledge of the fundamental issues of geography. This is more or less static in nature. On the fundamentals or issues related to the core topics of the subject, you won’t find any straight questions in the prelims. The questions formed by UPSC are in a way to test ones basic understanding of the subject. Hence, mugging the topics will not help. The concepts needs to be understood and have a practical approach towards it.

The second type will be on contemporary events which forms the dynamic nature (or current affairs) of questions. Two kinds of questions are generally asked related to current affairs in geography. Either it’ll be related to a place or a natural calamity. The questions from the place (location) areas might be slightly difficult, but there is only a minute difference between each set of question. Referring to a good atlas can help you get through the exam easily. Keeping pace with the news is fairly important to have a thorough knowledge of the important locations. It will be a cake walk for you if you have been reading newspapers well and watching news channels like RSTV.

However by following GS Score compilation on Geography, the entire exercise could become easier. Prelims Sampoorna Yearly Current Affairs Compilation Of Geography helps you to consolidate static as well as dynamic portion in one go and you need not to go through multiple books and resources for the same. This compilation will not only save your time but it will help you to assimilate all the relevant content related to geography in single go.