geography

[Strategy] Geography Mains Booklist, Study plan, Answer-writing Tips andMaps Preparation for UPSC

Mrunal: This article is a compilation of tips given by Mr.Abhiram AIR 4/CSE 2010.

Preface1.Overview of Geography (Mains) Preparation2.Booklist for Geography Mains3.Booklist for Geography4.Paper 15.Paper 2 (Indian Geography)6.Books for Hindi Medium7.Coaching8.Review on specific books9.Indian Geography By Khullar10.Majid Hussain11.Physical Geography Savindra Singh12.Atlas13.Rupa Series14.Notes15.How to write Answers in Geography (Mains)?16.Underlines17.Headings18.Open Ended Questions19.Diagrams in the answers20.New places / Current Affairs21.Drawing the Maps22.State map23.World Map24.How to handle the maps questions?25.Guideline for Geography Map pointing Questions in Mains26.Problem with Geography27.Four important aspects28.What is required to succeed with Geography?29.How to Read Geography Books?30.

Preface

I received some emails & requests from fellow IO members asking me about the strategyI followed for geography. This short article is in response to those requests. I hope this

Mrunal » [Strategy] Geography Mains Booklist, Study plan, Answer-wri... http://mrunal.org/2012/05/strategy-geography-mains-booklist-study.html/...

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will be of at least some value to future aspirants.

Before that I’ll introduce myself – I’m Abhiram – cleared CSE 2010 in my first attempt.My rank is mainly due to my marks in geography (385 marks – 196+189 in papers 1 &2).

Overview of Geography (Mains) Preparation

1. I think it is better to read the minimum possible number of books, but it should berevised regularly. For eg: I followed only savindra singh for physical geography, and didnot buy separate books for geomorphology, climatology or oceanography. (i’ve attachedthe list of books I followed at the end).

2. I did not prepare notes from standard text books, as I felt it was redundant. Instead Iwrote tips & headings on the margins of the book for easier reference. I concentrated onmy class notes for proper structuring of answers.

3. Use diagrams, maps, flowcharts & other innovative illustrations in your answers.Diagrams simplify the detail & improve the presentation also. I followed the thumb-ruleof one diagram for a paragraph (i.e. Approx. 1 or 2 figures per page.) Even in questionswhere the need of a diagram may not be apparent, try to draw at least one. Eg: for thequestion on occidental culture realm, I just drew a rough map & marked thecorresponding area, which might have caught the examiner’s eye. Eg: for a question onworld trade pattern, I drew a world map with arrows pointing out the nature & flow ofcommodities between developed & developing nations. This, I believe, leads to a betterexpression of an idea which is either difficult or lengthy to express in words.

4. As far as mapping is concerned, try to identify places that appeared in the news forsome reason (eg: jaitapur, sanand, krishnapatanam etc.). Frankly speaking, luck was amajor factor that helped me in india map & I notched up 11 correct locations out of 15given in the question. My interest in wildlife/travel & my location in south india helpedme identify 6 locations.

5. I followed the deadline of (number of marks/2) minutes for answer completion & didnot take into account the number of words. Eg: I put aside 10 minutes for a 20 marker.Even this strategy failed me in Geo paper 1 as I was not able attempt around 15-20 marks.

6. For answering less specific questions (eg: problems & prospects of agro-basedindustries in bihar), use intelligent correlation to write comparatively good answers. Foreg: problems of agro industries are related to geomorphology, climate, transportation,quality of manpower etc. You can opt for either a bright or dull prospect, but substantiatethe stand. If you are positive, then suggest the advantages of bihar with respect to agriproduction, large pool of manpower, flat land suitable for road/rail etc. Along with theconditionality like bridges, better education & skill development of workforce etc.

7. Practice drawing of diagrams to increase speed & save time.


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8. Mock tests conducted by Shankar sir, followed by individual correction sessionsgreatly refined the quality of my answers.

9. For ‘’contemporary issues’’ topic in the syllabus, I mainly relied on my preparation forGS.

PS – I am heavily indebted to Shankar sir for motivating & training me to thinkinnovatively & answer creatively during the exam. The credit for almost all the tips thati’ve mentioned goes to him

List of major sources i followed. The list is definitely not exhaustive, but i have tried tobe just to your need.

Booklist for Geography Mains

Booklist for Geography

Physical Geography by Savindra Singh1.Certificate Physical and Human Geography by Goh Che Leong2.Ncert 11th & 12th geography textbooks (can be downloaded free online fromofficial NCERT website.)

3.

Human Geography by Majid Hussain4.Evolution Of Geographical Thought by Majid Hussain5.Indian Geography by Khullar6.Geographic theories by K.Siddartha or Majid husain7.The Orient blackswan Atlas8.Oxford atlas9.Spectrum’s geography guide for illustrations & miscellaneous topics10.Made Simple series of Rupa publication (2 books)11.Shankar sir's class notes12.

Paper 1

Geomorphology/climatolgy & oceanography – Physical geography by savindrasinghBiogeography & ecology part of environmental geography – Rupa seriesContemporary areas of bio/environmental geography – no specific preparation. Justwhat i read in magazines & newspapers


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Human geo theories – Human Geography By Majid Husain

World agriculture in economic geo – Models, theories & processes by Siddartha &Certificate Physical and Human geography by goh cheng leong

Population geo – Human Geography By Majid Husain

Settlement geo – Spectrum’s geography guide (Ed. I think author is “Rajiv Ahir”)Regional planning – mainly handouts given by shankar sir (photocopy from sometextbook)Models, theories & laws – Geographic theories by Siddartha & parts from Majidhusain

Paper 2 (Indian Geography)

Regional development & planning – mainly handouts given by shankar sir(photocopy from some textbook)Settlements – NCERT & Spectrum’s geography guidePolitical geo – no specific material, just class discussions with shankar sirContemporary issues – no specific preparation. Just what i read in magazines &newspapersFor the rest about india, ncerts & Indian Geography by Khullar is more thansufficient

Books for Hindi Medium

I do not know about Hindi medium books in geo, because i wrote the exam in English.But savindra singh's 'physical geography' is available in Hindi. You can definitely buythat. Ncert 11th & 12th geo will also be available in Hindi. As for other books, i've noidea.(Ed. Majid Hussain’s books under Tata MAcgrawhill Publication are usually available inHindi as well.)

Coaching

Missing topics can be read from spectrum's geography.It is not absolutely necessary to take coaching, but in a highly popular subject like geo, italways helps to be a few steps ahead of the crowd which is possible if you get goodguidance.Pls do not leave out any topic as a whole. Have a basic idea of everything in the syllabus.But you can be selective while studying in-depth.

Review on specific books

Indian Geography By Khullar

Khullar is mainly a reference book meant to support NCERT. You'll have to follow thewhole book, but there is no need to read line by line, or every page. Some chapters likephysical setting, soil, environment, etc. Need in-depth reading in khullar. Others like


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minerals, agri, industry, transport etc. Only need a cursory reading. But take a good lookat the maps & important places. For eg:, you must know major mines in the importantcoal belts of india, major national highways etc.

Majid Hussain

You don't need to study the whole of majid husain, but only those topics mentioned in thesyllabus.

Physical Geography Savindra Singh

Chapters in Physical Geography- Savindra Singh are divided into portions thatmirror the mains syllabus (paper 1 section A) like geomorphology, climatology,oceanography & landform development. Take the syllabus & compare the varioustopics in the former & the book. Then you'll know what to read & what not. Newereditions even have a glossary of terms at the end, which is useful for definitions.I think the new edition of phy.geo. By savindra singh has a portion on sealevelchange, law of the sea & marine pollution.For marine pollution & sea-level change you can definitely frame points out of yourGS preparation.

Atlas

You'll need Orient Blackswan Atlas also, as some features are better explained in it thanin oxford atlas. Also, i do not know about adhikari's geo thought, but i've heard it is a bittoo lengthy.

Rupa Series

Btw, i don't think i'd have said rupa series was "the best" for soils & landformdevelopment. It was the book i followed, that's all! Made simple series is veryuseful, esp. The soil geography & landform development part.Rupa's series is also really good but you'll need only some of the chapters & not all.

Notes

I have never made notes from standard textbooks at any point of preparation. I used tounderline the important points & also write hints on the margin of the textbooks.

How to write Answers in Geography (Mains)?

The intro & conclusion differ from question to question, and also based on the marksallotted. Generally there's no need for long intros for 20 markers. It is the heart of youranswer that is most important as it contains "the stuff".

Generally speaking, most candidates will answer the direct questions (like those relating


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to cyclones,earthquakes, structure of earth, tides/coral reefs, landforms, erosion etc.) Withalmost the same points, so try to maintain an edge by introducing new diagrams orpresenting your answer in a more appealing manner.

Underlines

For small questions underline just underline one or two keywords. For the long onesyou'll have to underline just the key points. Too much of it make your paper look ugly.

Headings

I used both headings (very frequently & only before starting non-intro paras) & points(occassionally, but each point consisting of minimum 2-3 lines each) in my geographyanswer paper.

Open Ended Questions

Also, be careful with the open ended questions – you have to write answers with ageographical perspective in your mind. Moreover, these answers should be as broad aspossible in the sense that it should cover a wide range of factors/issues.

For example: In geo mains 2010 paper 2 we had to write a short note on "ethnicdiversity of north-east tribes". Instead of just describing the north-eastern tribes of indiastraightaway, i took course to the following format.

Answer to above question as written by me:

small intro – drew map of NE showing the strongholds of various tribes (bodo,apatani, naga, garo, khasi etc.) description of the ethnic diversity – description of how geography created &re-inforced this diversity and divided the people into island-like communities witheach evolving its own distinct culture, all of which contributed to NE becoming aethnic diversity hotspot(several mountain ranges like dafla/abor/mishmi/garo/khasi, perennial & swiftflowing rivers like subansiri/dihang/lohit/kameng, mountain gaps connectingTibet/myanmar/bhutan/chittagong with NE paved the way for intrusion ofmongolian races/languages, thick & impenetrable forests etc.)small map of NE showing the above-mentioned geographic factors – conclusion(just a single line – NE is a fine proof of how geography & ethnic diversity gotogether)

Diagrams in the answers

Most of the diagrams were from the textbooks i followed, but sometimes i had toinnovate, as in the question regarding WTO…it is not necessary that there be one diagrmper para, but try to include atleast one per page to break the monotny & improve


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presentation.

New places / Current Affairs

Q. F i get any new island name in news paper or any place of dispute should i locate inthe map?

Ans. YES. You have to do that. Also note the sea/ocean, rival claimants' names &presence of natural resources (oil/gas/fish)

Drawing the Maps

I donot use any specific Technic for drawing India's outlines ( boundaries). Just practicedfree-hand drawing and made sure that my drawing looked 'similar' to the actual stateinterms of shape. That's all!

State map

Q. If in any question i have to prsent map of any state for example orissa..should i drawthe map of india and inside it should i show orissa or only i draw map of orissaindependently…if so..then remembring independent maps of every state is going to bevery difficult.

Ans. It depends on the nature of question asked. If it specifically pertains to orisse, thenyou'll have to draw a rough map of orissa. It is not at all difficult if you can remmebersomething general regarding a state's outline – kerala (like a bitter gourd), tamil nadu(triangle), andhra (rectangle with one long arm), square (sikkim, nagaland, haryana,punjab, HP, uttarakhand), rectangle (UP, bihar), amoeboid (chattisgarh, MP) etc.

World Map

Q. How to practices world map..for example i have to show any country of middle eastlike libya which is in news..how should i show…should i draw the map of middle eastand then i should show libya inside or independent.

In world map, normally they provide the maps & you're supposed to mark the place/detailasked. They've not asked for maps of other countries till now in my knowledge.

Suggestion (for world map) – go from macro to micro. Start from the continent levellandforms & boundaries. Then move onto major countries. Then to any specific countryin news (eg: an oil producing town of libya can be asked!)

How to handle the maps questions?

You may face 4 situations in a map:

1. You know both the location & the description. (best case scenario)


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2. You don’t know the exact location on the map but you know about the place – thenmark the spot where you think the place might be (let it go wrong, no problem), but writethe exact description. You’ll definitely get marks.

3. You know the broad region in which the place is located, but not the exact uniquedetail – here you can go for intelligent correlation. I’ll give an eg: suppose kudremukh isasked & you know it’s somewhere in the western ghats of Karnataka but nothing specialabout it. First mark it on the map. For the description, you can safely write anything that’scommon to the hills of w.ghats here & it will surely be passable for an answer. Say, youcan use points like – one of the high peaks of ghats, orogenic monsoonal rainfall, tropicalevergreen forests, biodiversity hotspot, non-perennial streams, potential for tourism/smallhydro etc.

Here the trick is to write a word or two about each topic in the syllabus (ie whichever isapplicable) linking it with the place asked – ie. Importance/speciality of the place fromthe point of view of geomorph/climatology, oceano/biogeography, settlement, trade, agri,industry, transport etc. This will give you enough material & may even exceed 30 words.This method will not fetch you full marks, but its better than a zero.

4. You neither know the place nor the description. (May God can help you!) – Performsome guess work, which may range from logical to ridiculous. If luck’s on your side,you’ll get it. I got the entry for phalgu river (geo-2 2010) correct in this fashion. It seemedlike a Hindi name to me & so I marked it in bihar, and wrote a description common to allrivers of indo-gangetic plain – meanders, floodplains, sandbars, alluvium etc. I camehome, checked wikipedia & found to my pleasant surprise that I guessed it right. But 4other guesses went wrong.

yes, i used at least one diagram per page. That surely breaks the monotony of theexaminer. You can use maps or other figures as you feel fit…

Guideline for Geography Map pointing Questions in Mains

Remaining part is copy pasted from MG Kumar Rao’s thread on Indian Officer.comhttp://www.indianofficer.com/forums/8018-guideline-geography-map-pointing-questions-mains.html

One of the reason for Geography have been popular in mains ,for map pointing in boththe papers. Since 2007 Union Public Service Commission has been doing variousexperiments in map pointing to reduce its popularity mainly to reduce the impact ofcoaching institutes.

Last Year map in both the papers is direct evidence for it.

First of all map needs rigorous practice, There is no doubt in it.But what kind of points to be practiced and how to write info for the corresponding entryin various angles like physical,human,economic,cultural,environmental etc is one of the


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major challenging issue for all the serious aspirants.

I have done 10 and 13 entries in paper 1&2 respectively in all aspects the question beingasked including GMT.

I can give guidelines, I would be happy if it works for any of the aspirants.

Do all the entries in NCERT Books[6,7,8 class text book Land and people,11th and1.

12th class india and world]2.Take a series of empty maps and try to locate all physical features at on place and soon for various features.

3.

Follow the hindu News Paper, Particularly for Indian Places.4.This Year almost 4 difficult entries were in News.5.Try to assosiate on map with another map6.For Eg:After completion on Physical India, impose the map on political,Theneconomic , transport etc

7.

If you dont know the info for any place try to associate with the syllabus.

For ex: To write 40 words on Ken river.A seasonal dendritic river of Bhundelkhand and tributary of Chambal originating at foothills of Vindhya. It is the part of Indias first river linking project. Provides irrigation,drinking water, electricity to this region. Famous for highly eroded landforms Ravines.

This particular info on Ken coverd in all angles asked by Union Public ServiceCommission.

Political————Bundelkhand1.River charcters—-sasonal and Dendritic2.Economic———–Irrigation,electricity3.Environmaent——Ravines4.Other—————River linking5.

I think this particular description will get 80% marks

When you are doing map point kindly respect the rules of map pointing.

Corresponding symbols1.Lettering(writing name)2.Direction3.Scale4.

Some more Gems by M G Kumar Rao

Problem with Geography

It is very much true that geography one of the most popular optional in Union PublicService Commission both in UPSC Preliminary Examination as well as in mains. This


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can be directly infer from the selection list of each and every year. One major advantageand limitations of geography availability of plenty of material from various coachinginstitutes ,text books and guides in the market. often they have been misguiding studentsthose who are not having any strategy or planning. Therefore one must take care of theseguidelines

Four important aspects

One important aspect in civils service is , person must know what to read and whatnot to read.This looks very simple but most of the people do mistake at this, andoften do mistakes.

1.

second aspect in what way the material are to be studied and how to balance bothoptional and gs.

2.

how to prepare notes and and how much time is required to allot for revisions3.above all, the most important thing is how to write the exam; Because i believemost of the people are failed to clear exam even after well preparation.

4.

What is required to succeed with Geography?

One must have complete grip on syllabus: the topics which were given in syllabusof Union Public Service Commission preliminary. I suggest at least read oncesyllabus every day and try to digest each and every sub heading.One must look into old question papers in order to understand the nature ofquestions and to know the pulse of Union Public Service Commission for whatexactly they are demanding form student .One advantage with geography is it requires both analitical study and factual study(route memorization);There fore this optional eqully easy/difficult for arts andscience background people.Accuracy can come only with revision for atlast 5-6 times and reading with analysisand reasoning.

How to Read Geography Books?

While reading these books one must take care of syllabus and nature of questions.One must follow the map while reading these text books, Because it develops youranalytical ability.Use Penguin dictionary where ever you’re not comfortable with terminology ofgeography.

I think you may or may n't get the subject in ur first reading; but don't stop reading.I suggest you go through at least twice these books so that you will come to knowvarious links associated between topics. There is no need for you to read each andevery text book from 1st page to last page. I suggest you strictly bound to syllabus.

In your 3rd and 4th reading one must prepare notes from these books. By this timeyou will come to know pulse of Union Public Service Commission.I strongly believe one who follows sincerely these things at a time of 4-5Hrs per


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day for geography, i think for all the 4 revisions including notes preparation maytake 85-100 days.Understanding each and every word of syllabusMinimum of 150 word notes on each and every sub topic of syllabusConnectivity, application and analysisDiagrams, pictures and graphsBooks are necessary but not sufficient. Because mains doesnot demand bookishknowledge alone. You need to develop skill of linking, writing and application. Itwill not come in a day but Keep on practicing the old question papers- it is the onlyway to come out from this.

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