Friends, I do not claim to be an authority on Civil Services preparation methodology. So please use your own brains before following or believing me. This has helped me a lot. I made three attempts (CSE 2011, 2012 and 2014) for this holy grail and i succeeded in my second (AIR 546) and third (AIR 140). In CSE 2011 and 2012 i took History and Geography as optional and in CSE 2014 i took History. In History i scored 327 marks in CSE 2011, 274 in CSE 2012 and 271 in CSE 2014. I am sorry if i am sounding like a braggadocio.
Why History as an optional?
History is the most important subject for Civil Services Examination. It helps in scoring good marks in General Studies Papers, Essay and in holistic understanding of our country. No one can ignore this subject. So its better to make it as one of our strongest weapons than to neglect it and thus turning it into our own Achilles heal but it should also be understood that it takes perhaps longest period of time to master this subject. Once it is mastered, good marks are guaranteed without any risk.
Which books to study?
History syllabus is very vast so it requires a large number of books to study. Its close to impossible to get good marks in History without studying good number of quality books. Try to cover each and every word mentioned in the UPSC History syllabus. The following books are bedrock:
Base
1. NCERT (from class 6th to class 12th)
Ancient History
2. Romilla Thapar's Ancient India
Its a leftist interpretation of Indian history and it should be read multiple times with the Map. Practice all the places mentioned in the book on a map.
3. A L Basham "The Wonder that was India"
Bit outdated but should be read excluding the fall of IVC.
4. A L Basham "A cultural heritage of India"
Its a must read book and perhaps the best available book that covers culture in great detail, bit outdated though
5. R C Majumdar "An advanced History of India"
Ancient geography and history of Aryans
6. IGNOU History
It should be used as a reference book, for reading odd topics mentioned in the syllabus.
Medieval India
7. Satish Chandra volume 1 and 2
Very easy read and should be read with the map
8. Neelkanth Shastri "History of South India"
A must read as it covers South Indian history in great detail
9. R C Majumdar "An advanced History of India"
Coming of Europeans
British India (1600 to 1947)
10. Shekhar Bandhopadhyay "From Plassey to Partition"
A must read book. It is much better than the Bipin Chandra's India's struggle for Independence
11. R C Majumdar "An advanced History of India"
Indian Renaissance and social-educational-cultural movements
12. Bipin Chandra "India's struggle for Independence"
Can be ignored if "From Plassey to Partition" is read
13. Maulana Azad "India wins freedom"
Very important book.
Free India
14. V P Menon "A story of integration of princely states"
Kashmir, Junagadh, Bhopal, Hyderabad should be read along with the context of the formation of States Department.
15. Bipin Chandra "India after Independence"
Should be read but not to be taken too seriously. Last few chapters are too partisan and bogus.
16. Ramachandra Guha "India after Gandhi"
Only if you need some trivia
World History
17. Jain and Mathur "World History"
Very important book
Read all important events from Internet and some random books.
Map Question
This 50 marker question can break or make your chances in this exam. The best way to answer this question is to read History books along with the Indian map. Try to mark new found place in your memory with certain unique points about it be it Muziris or Kanchipuram or Eran etc.
Have faith in yourselves; don't dare to doubt even if the entire world around is doubting you; Good luck.
5 comments:
Thanks for the much awaited article.
Another post about the order in which one should read them(as per your experience) will be very helpful for many aspirants. I myself got bored reading ncert books to the extent that i started losing interest in history. That is when some good books came my way, which I found very much interesting.
Some time also please write a post about your journey to upsc :)
Thanks buddy :), NCERT books will help in Prelims and to a certain extent in Map work.. They are also good for World History and modern India... I will try for another article.. I think you should read the books in chronological order only.. Ancient NCERT followed by ancient Indian history books and so on..
Thank you very much sir , congrats .
this is my first mains and i performed very badly in history optional ,got 210 marks.
sir, if possible in your next article kindly discuss strategy for map pointing and i want to know whether notes making for history optional is useful considering the vast syllabus . lastly how to write good answers ,your approach ,what should be the order of priority of points while framing the answers . thank you in advance .
Thanks Shashank
1. There is only one strategy to solve map question - Read the books along with the map of India. Note down all the places you read and write 5 unique points about that place. This is the only way to break this guardian knot.
2. Good answers follow from understanding the semantics of the question. Give 1 or 2 minute to 15 marker (or more) to frame the body of the answer. Don't write in hurry. Prepare the outline (in mind only) and then write. 10 or less than 10 marks question are generally on one topic or such.. you can answer them without forming the body etc. You can write answer to those questions in bullet forms as well.
3. Please make your own notes and never read from someone else's notes.
sir,can you please post some sample answers?
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