ias prep strategy by shubhra-saxena

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an extract from the site.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Making notes
This is a very important process. You have millions of books and they seem intimidating at times.
It's always a good idea to make notes.


First, do not ever make notes in your first reading. I would go for notes maybe in 2nd or better in 3rd read.

There are many kind of notes that you can make.

1) If you select certain most important topics in your optionals, eg distt administration, RTI in pub ad, then select the best books for that topic and write all of that on A4 sized sheets. select such 50 60 topics from your optionals by looking at the pattern of paper and make the best notes possible. Initially it seems like a lot of hard work. But it really helps. I made such notes for about 80-90 topics in Pub ad. Remember, you can not afford to leave the rest of the syllabus. because even in the best case scenaro you might get questions outside this list.
So finish your syllabus thoroughly and these notes will work as add ons.

2) Chapter-wise notes- I did this in both psychology and Pub ad.
take an A4 sheet and fold it in between so that it has 2 parts. write synoptical notes just the gist that is relevant to you. write it in condensed form so that it doesnt take much space. Also, use highlighters and red/pink/green pens to highlight imp stuff.

You must be wondering why I a stressing on A4 sheets. They are easy to handle and you can classify the notes whenever you want. You don't have to carry a big notebook at the time of exam.

3) Post-it notes-
Suppose you have GS notes from a coaching class. They are good. But they are huge. Also, you have already spent enough time on optionals notes. So there's a short cut for these notes. Buy Post-it notes, the yellow coloured stickies. When you have studied a topic, just write the +ves, -ves, anything on that post it and stick it onto that page. When you are revising the stuff, just look at the post-its. That will save your time and stick better in head.


Just before the exam, you can just glance at these notes for the last time. Remember you should have done this many times before. But the last revision is the most crucial. Psychology students would understand why. When you write your paper this year, you would understand the significance of this last look you gave your notes.

Also understand that the note making exercise is a tedious one and you might think you are wasting a lot of time. rather you could study from books. but for a single topic you will have to open 4 5 books at a time. That's even more tedious. Plus it will be difficult to retrieve the stuff. Get it all in one place and you are all set.
Posted by Shubhra at 12:05 PM
69 comments:

Tanuja said...

Ma'am a request, can we get your notes ?
That would also save lot of time for us and as we know they are the best ones and far better than any coaching notes . I am not doing any coachings so it would be a great help for me and those who can't afford a coaching . Thanks

tanujakumari100@gmail.com
July 15, 2009 2:21 PM
Shubhra said...

No, my notes can not help you as they might not be relevant for you. you will have to do the requisite hard work for thus exam. Do not shy away from hard work if you wanna clear this exam.
July 15, 2009 2:29 PM
Shubhra said...

I did it all on my own. I didn't have even this guidance that you have in the form of this blog. So go ahead and work hard. there's no short cut to success.
July 15, 2009 2:31 PM
Nuke said...

thanks a lot mam this was enlightng just hope i get the schedule frm you ..i am sorry mam i might seem kinda freaked out but to be frank i am nt a very good planner so if you could just give me a skeleton i would work on it and improvise ..looking for the guidance
July 15, 2009 9:47 PM
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