Neetu Singh Geography Notes Pdf 14
Beatris Ninh
Disclaimer : This post is to provide other students an insight into my strategy for geography optional. I would like to reiterate that these strategies worked well for me but may not be suited to someone else . I for instance have not read the book by Khullar but managed to get 138 in paper 2 so my strategy worked there . However my lack of thorough knowledge of Savindra Singh and other standard books cost me in paper 1 where I scored just 120 and I think could have performed much better had I prepared the part A from standard books . Hence make adjustments as per your own strengths , weakness and evaluation of the needs of the UPSC examination. With just 258 in optional I donot think I am the best guide for geography anyhow If my experience maybe of some help so here it is !
Apart from having scientific orientation , easy availability of coaching-materials and the perceived high success rate , some parts of the syllabus like economic , environmental and human geography greatly appealed to me . Besides being helpful in essays and other GS papers I found topics like Human Development , Agri issues , resources distribution very interesting and hence did not mind going the extra mile in these topics specially of Part B of both papers.
These perceptions about easy scoring , high scoring etc can change any year for instance the 2013 paper had certain bouncer questions . In the end your optional needs to be mastered by you if you want to tide over these bouncers and be in the top bracket in your optional. Overall for Geography I would say the syllabus is quite lengthy and needs quite a bit of effort but as said earlier if you have interest in the subject and are willing to work for it do choose it J .
Well honestly it was roll of a dice between Shabbir Sir and Madam Neetu Singh . I guess it was based on certain reviews of a just successful candidate whose blog I found online that I went for Neetu Singh(NS).
NS covers about 70% of the syllabus in her class notes . Honestly this 70% formed the core of my geography preparation . After the NCERTS and GC Leong , I went through her notes repeatedly and had them committed to memory . I stuck to this one source and kept on adding information concepts from other sources like internet , test series , reference books etc . It served me well for I did not hop from one book to other and just used my time more efficiently to plug the gaps or weakness I found after having established sound knowledge in the subject . I used to consult both the syllabus , previous years papers to look out for missed out portions and covered them accordingly .
Many people get coaching notes from various coaching institutes and in the end are confused what to read what not to . About 80% all notes are repetition of each other and you will waste a lot of time .
Overall her guidance helped me in the exam for I did not have to go through many books to get my basics and fundamentals of geography . They just served as reference books and there is hardly any 1 book in geography that I read fully apart from NCERTS. However this does not mean that coaching is compulsory for success in the exam . Many people take guidance from standard texts and ace the examination without coaching .
For instance a topic like food security . Apart from issues of lack of access to food and water , how climate change is affecting productivity of crops , how shift of cropping patterns away from pulses is affecting nutrition security , how poor and tribals are disproportionately affected in various parts of our country ( draw a map ) and solutions like biofortication , social forestry etc can be looked into .
In case of falling Child Sex Ratio apart from numbers and maps it may be linked to how regional development has led to falling numbers in Maharashtra ,, even Kerala whereas tribal regions show an uptick.
Make In India one can focus on the issues of manufacturing industries like iron and steel , aluminum ,how we lack sufficient silicon industry for electronics , transport issues due to poor regional development , spatial map of electricity shortage etc .
Newspapers are a rich source of maps and data as well . I remember an article in Express on Migration where they had given the source and destination of major migrations in the form of a map . Just cut and paste them in the notes and supplement them with any other information . For instance the civil wars in Africa and Middle east and ensuing crisis can be added as illegal migration , refugees and shown with a map incase a question on migration is asked .
These information will not be usually given in one article at one place . Hence the need to maintain topic wise notes and continuously add points to it . For instance after the Uttarakhand and Kashmir floods , I got to know about a new concept of critical power for floods mentioned in one of the magazines . It also mentioned about Ravi Chopra Committee whose recommendation I read and used in Himalayan Ecosystem fragility answer this year in Mains .
Moreover I used to be a regular reader of Insights Secure Mains which covered newspapers like Business Standard , Live Mint , NYT etc. At times they take out very relevant articles for geography optional like recently livemint had an article series on water crisis of India which I found very useful . SO keep your eyes and ears open at all times !
In my first attempt I was just reliant of coaching notes for I hardly had time apart from coaching between May 2013 when I passed out and December 2013 when I first appeared . I just drew 2-3 diagrams in both papers . This time around it increased to about 25-30 diagrams in total .
I maintained a separate notebook for Maps . I drew the diagram on the right side and left side was used for practice later . Often we read books , or see a good diagram but fail to catalogue it properly . GC leong , NCERTs have some excellent diagrams and since we donot revise them before exams we tend to forget them .
Hence whenever I saw a good diagram , a map , I used to cut and paste or draw then and there . Even from the reference books like Majid Hussain I remember drawing world diagrams on urbanization , forest degradation and distribution , land degradation etc.
During answer writing you would always feel that there is no time / need to make a diagram for you have said it all in the answer or draw a sketch at the end of the answer . That is a very bad strategy . Infact try and make one diagram per question and at the appropriate place for a picture speaks a thousand words . For instance coal issues make a map of distribution of coal resource and in your answer link how people in Jharkhand suffer from lung disease due to it . Always have a link to the question .
In my first attempt I did my test series with NS as it was part of my coaching and had too less a knowledge to properly evaluate myself . However I found her questions a good mix of static and dynamic and her model answers gave a very comprehensive picture . However her feedback and discussion sessions were not very helpful as she seemed in a hurry always then .
For my second attempt I took ALS test series . Let me warn you at first that it shall not be taken by Shashank Atom Sir . I find it wrong for them to give this advertisement with him as Course Director for that gave a wrong impression including to me that he will take the test series . It will be taken by Sachin Sir or someone else , so be warned .
Unprofessional at times for we were not given model answers for as many as 3-4 tests conducted out of a total 8 ! Moreover feedback especially in the full tests is so important , but sadly we never ever received the last 3 papers despite repeated attempts which was a huge letdown for me in the end .This attitude was both unhelpful and unexpected right at the crunch time in end November .
Brilliant focus on answer writing , discussion and concept clarity . He provides a question sheet , discusses the answers and asks you to submit written answers for evaluation before he conducts the test on the specific topic .His dedication towards students and inspiring words are noteworthy . He goes to great lengths to research articles , material on important topics which saves a lot of time one would ordinarily waste surfing online . Besides I used his class notes extensively for filling gaps in my preparation as specified .
Sir goes overboard at times . I felt he covered 130% of the syllabus and the information overload at times got me all confused at times . He emphasizes case studies etc which is all good but I usually found his notes lacking in spatial examples in many topics .
Overall Part A of both Papers are straight forward and can be prepared from standard texts , coaching notes and with help and guidance from someone for conceptual clarity at certain points . As stated earlier part A was not my forte and I used to attempt 3/5 questions from Part B which I prepared well from the sources listed above with a lot of focus on current affairs .
Questions like Food Security Problems in developing countries were handled by me as I had a knowledge about the Global Hunger Index 2014 in news then . I drew a map regarding the same , used my knowledge of cropping patters , land degradation , climate change to frame the core of the answer . Similarly in 2014 Government of India took out a new Agro forestry policy and in the newspaper article it covered points as to why we failed earlier and what changes have been made . So my love affair with newspapers and current affairs did prove to be a boon .
In conclusion cover the syllabus , use limited books again and again , catalogue your resources for quick revision , practice practice practice and most importantly have interest in your optional for you need to spend a lot of quality time in it !
Hi..congrats..i have not not taken any coaching for gs..but finding geography bit boring..i am bad in geography feom my school days..i wanted to know whether neetu singh mam is good for gs geography module or not..pls review her as a teacher..i hears that she only dictates in classes..and no concept building is done..
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