Which Areas of UPSC CSE Syllabus should We Work on Before the Prelims? Which Can be Left for the mains?

UPSC conducts the civil services examination to recruit IAS, IPS, IFS, and other allied services. Lakhs of students prepare for the UPSC (CSE) exam and apply for the same every year, yet only a few can qualify for it.

The question here arises: how are those aspirants able to clear the exam? What approach do they follow? What exactly do they prepare for the different stages of the exam? Which UPSC CSE syllabus area should be completed before the prelims? What areas of the syllabus should we leave for after the prelims? How exactly can UPSC preparation be done?

Most aspirants wonder about such questions and stay in a dilemma regarding how the preparation can be done. Let’s see what UPSC Pathshala recommends.

Let’s Start from the Beginning

To answer all these questions, we should first know the different stages of the exam. The UPSC CSE exam has three stages, i.e., the prelims, the mains, and the interview. The first stage is the prelims; aspirants who clear the first stage appearance for the second stage, i.e., the mains, and the aspirants who clear the second stage to appear for the third stage, i.e., interview.

This exam pattern clearly shows that although the prelims score is not counted in the merit list, it is as important as other stages, because the ones who clear this stage will go to further stages. Therefore, let’s first understand the UPSC CSE prelims preparation strategy, and which UPSC CSE syllabus area should be completed before the prelims?

UPSC Prelims

UPSC civil services examination the prelims consist of two exams, i.e., General Studies and CSAT. CSAT is of qualifying nature. You need to score only 33% or 66 marks in the CSAT paper. Although the prelims is of qualifying nature, the General Studies paper determines whether or not you qualify for the cut off of the prelims exam.

The General Studies paper of the prelims is a little complex and is considered the trickiest to crack. It is also said that the UPSC prelims cut-off is based on the score in the general studies paper; therefore, it is an extremely important paper.

Now, let’s have a look at the topics which shall be covered in the prelims.

Which UPSC CSE Syllabus Should be Completed Before the Prelims?

As we have seen above, the prelims consist of two papers, General Studies, and CSAT. But from these two papers, CSAT is of qualifying nature and is not part of the mains, which means the syllabus of the paper is limited to the prelims only. Therefore, we can say that CSAT has to be prepared for the prelims only. Now, let’s have a glance at the subjects of the General Studies exam. These are as follows:

#. Current events of national and international importance.

#. History of India and Indian National Movement.

#. Indian and World Geography- Physical, Social and Economic Geography of India and the World.

#. Indian polity and governance – Constitution, Panchayati raj, political system, etc.

#. General issues of environmental ecology, Climate Change (no subject specialisation, only general science), and biodiversity.

#. Economic and Social Development- Poverty, Inclusion, Sustainable Development, etc.

These are the subjects that have to be covered for the prelims exam in UPSC preparation. But there is something that every aspirant needs to know: there are some topics and subjects that have to be covered for the mains only, which means we can ease our preparation and focus on subjects required for the prelims preparation.

Which Areas we can Leave for the Mains?

As we know, the prelims is the first stage and is objective in nature, whereas the mains is the second stage and is subjective in nature. In the mains, answers should be handwritten in a question-cum-answer booklet.

So, if you are sure that you know the right answer, only then mark the answer in the prelims exam, but in the mains exam, the approach will be different because of the nature of the exam.

Identifying the topics or subjects which have to be covered for different stages in UPSC preparation can definitely ease your preemption and boost your confidence. Read along to know what UPSC Pathshala has to recommend. Some recommendations are as follows:

#1. The second stage, i.e., the mains exam has a paper named Essay and Ethics, which has nothing in common with the prelims exam, but has a value of 500 marks in the mains exam. Also, this is a scoring subject.

#2. Although the prelims syllabus cover lot of topics, some topics are contained in the mains syllabus only; they are as follows:

#. India since Independence

#. World history

#. Indian Society

#. Foreign Relations

#. International Affairs

#. Internal security

#. Disaster management

Just like the Essay and Ethics paper, this is another set of papers that has nothing to do with the prelims exam syllabus.

#3. Other than this set of papers, there is one paper for which we choose the subject according to our own choice, which is the optional paper. In addition to choosing the subject for the paper, it is limited to the second stage only, i.e., for the mains. It has nothing to do with the prelims, as there is no optional paper. Therefore, there is no need to focus on the optional subject during the prelims preparation.

Though in the points mentioned above, we have seen areas that can be left for the mains preparation. However, subjects like History, Art and culture, and Geography have to be prepared from the perspective of both the prelims and the mains. If you prepare these subjects with the prelims’ perspective, you will be back to square zero, and you have to reread it from scratch after the prelims.

Shall We Prepare for the Prelims First or Mains?

After knowing which topic has to be prepared, the question arises, shall we prepare for the prelims first or main first? Read along to know the answer to this.

Well, some aspirants prepare for the prelims first, whereas some prepare for the mains first. But UPSC Pathshala recommends integrated preparation for both the prelims and the mains. Although the mains have some papers that have nothing to do with the prelims exam, we can still say that the prelims and the mains are overlapping topics.

Other than topics which are mentioned above in the section “Which Areas we can Leave for the mains?” has to be covered in an integrated way; we can say that the prelims and the mains are not separate. The only difference here is our approach in both stages, i.e., analytical thinking and writing skills are required for the mains, whereas for the prelims, MCQ solving techniques are required.

There is one additional factor to all the above factors, which is time! UPSC preparation depends a lot on the time we are left with before the exam. If you have less than six months for the prelims, then focus more on the topics related to UPSC the prelims. However, suppose you have started early and have ten to twelve months for preparation before the exam.

In that case, you can also devote your time to cover the topics mentioned in the mains syllabus, i.e., Essay and Ethics, Internal security, etc., along with your UPSC CSE prelims preparation. But the recommendation is to take the prelims and the mains preparation together whenever possible.

Conclusion

UPSC Pathshala has tried to explain the topic in a comprehensive way so that it becomes easy for every UPSC aspirant to understand what to prepare and how to prepare. You can read more UPSC Pathshala blogs and articles to gain a clear perspective on the topic. Additionally, UPSC Pathshala’s experienced personal mentors will help you to achieve your UPSC goal. Attend the free demo class, and don’t miss your chance to experience the teaching methodology of UPSC Pathshala. To know more, visit the UPSC Pathshala website now!