{Strategy} Website Links: Government Ministries, Departments and other Institutions

{Strategy} FAQs: How to avoid Stress during Examinations ?

The first thing to remember is that there is absolutely no substitute to consistency and regularity. You have to therefore regularly attend your classes in college/tuitions/on-line study groups. Incase you miss some session(s) please take help from your friends and update your notes.

Studying all by yourself is not recommended at the foundation building stage. Later on in life you can take specialized courses for additional knowledge and possibly do a lot of work yourself.

Be attentive in all your classes right from the beginning of the academic year and try to ask questions if any aspect is not clear, without leaving the issue unresolved. There is nothing to be gained by leaving the confusion pending as it will snowball.

No student how so ever intelligent or bright he/she may be manages to regularly do well and score high grades without regular application to studies. As the saying goes ‘it is 90 percent perspiration and only 10 percent inspiration’

Every one can therefore do the same by acknowledging this fact and taking appropriate timely action.The brighter ones manage to select the right stream suiting their talents, study regularly, harder than others and above all work smartly, thus enhancing their input-output ratio.

Never be judgmental about your teachers and understand that you have to learn from them as you are in the process of building up your future.

Moreover ‘respect begets respect’ and if you are regular, attentive and respectful, you will be able to get the best out of all your teachers, irrespective of their own style and whims.

You will need to carefully analyze your courses and segregate your strong and weak areas. In the former you can study yourself and build up a good score, while for the latter you may need some additional coaching.

If indeed you require some coaching, go to a good academy or tutor right in the beginning. Do not leave things till the end when neither the teachers have sufficient time, nor you will have the ability to cover every aspect of a seemingly difficult course in a hurry.

You should select that stream of studies in which you are comfortable and which interests you. Just because science in school will enable you for engineering entrance or commerce for chartered accountancy should not be the dominant criterion. If you are honest and logical in analyzing the reasons behind your choice, which can be your interest and passion for a profession/career or your area of strength, you are most likely to reach a good decision.

Now you can consider the recommendations of your parents and counselors and tally the same with your own decision. In cases of a match, there is no confusion. In all other cases you need to carefully explain your own reasoning to your elders and understand theirs. This process is likely to remove lot of confusion and provide clarity for your later life.

There are many other career choices available today and the same rule of good quality education applies to them also. In all cases you need to apply the same principles discussed so far.

Allocate some fixed time for studies every day and stick to the routine. You can factor-in your recreation and play timings along with the hanging-out time with friends so that there is no clash with your study timings.

If you follow this plan systematically you will have more time for everything and will neither miss out on your studies or fun and pleasure.

Some of you must be wondering that we have not discussed the ‘stress during examinations’ as yet.

That is because we have been addressing the correct ways to ‘avoid building of the stresses.’ There is no special magic to be applied at the last stage and all the necessary steps have to be taken in advance, much before the examination stage.

By the time your examinations draw near, you should have once completed your syllabi, marked the difficult areas/unresolved problems and discussed the same with your teachers. You must do the complete syllabus and never rely on guess papers.

CONCLUSION

The examination time and the intervals between papers are strictly for revision and not for attempting new chapters for the first time.

Source

{Strategy} UPSC-Toppers Voice: Venkat Raja (CSE 2011) shares his Preparation Experience

VENKAT RAJA

Rank: 878

Exam: Civil Services Examination

Year: 2011

{InfoMedia} Documentary: Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) - from preparation to prestige

{Strategy} General: Qualities of a good Administrative Officer

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan quoted Shlokas from the Gita last week to narrate the qualities a good administrative officer should possess. Chouhan addressed the annual service meet of MP IAS officers’ association which was held between December 14 and 16, 2012.

Here are the qualities of a good administrative officer, as elaborated by the CM:
a) Be impartial
b) Free from ego
c) Remain calm
d) Enthusiastic
e) Same emotions in success or failure
f) Perseverance
g) Working with zeal
h) Passionate
i) Leading with foresightedness
j)  Having judicious intellect
k) Having live contact with people and public representatives

Also, as reported in The Pioneer, CM said one should spare time for exercise, prayanam and sports to energise body and mind.

{Strategy} PSU-PSEB: CEO of a top private sector company apply for the post of Member, PESB

• Will CEO of a top private sector company apply for the post of Member, Public Enterprises Selection Board (PESB), a body responsible for selection of PSUs’ top management?
• The government, while looking for a new Member who enjoys the same salary of a Union government secretary, says in its circular dated December 5, 2012: “A distinguished serving or former chief executive of a public sector or private sector or joint sector enterprise” can apply for the post.
• Though the government allows private sector CEOs to apply for some key sarkari positions, the reality is very few do apply, and the man who ultimately gets selected turns out to be an ex-government official.
• After PJ Thomas’ appointment as Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC) was stricken down, the Supreme Court last year allowed “eminent private sector person” to apply for the post of CVC. It’s another matter that none of the private individuals applied for the post could make into the coveted position.
• Similarly, the government this year for the first time allowed private sector CEOs to apply for the post of chairman, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). It is widely believed that a section in the Planning Commission lobbied hard for a private sector CEO grabbing NHAI’s top job. But ultimately, a former bureaucrat and ex-DIPP secretary RP Singh finally made into the position.
• PESB’s Member gets a fixed term of three years or 65 years of age whichever earlier. The minimum age to apply for the post is 55 years.

{Startegy} General: Dos and don’ts of behaviour for Chinese bureaucrats

The Western media has highlighted dos and don’ts of behaviour for Chinese bureaucrats which were recently framed by China’s new regime under new leader Xi Jinping. 

Don’ts
•    Participating in a large number of ribbon-cutting ceremonies
•    Massive entourages during foreign trips
•    Traveling in oversize motorcades
•    Organizing brigades of flag-waving students to greet them arriving at airports.
•    Self-indulgent speech

Dos
•    Raise effectiveness of meetings
•    Organize short meetings
•    Give short speeches
•    Avoid empty talk
•    Avoid niceties

Note: I think this article is also important for the interview as we can compare our bureaucratic behavior to the Chinese one (one of the most successful bureaucracy in the world) 

{Strategy} UPSC-CDS: Combined Defense Service Exam (CDS) Cutoffs 2011

There is no provision for reservation (categorywise) in CDS examination however, course-wise cut-off marks of written examination are as under

Name	IMA	AFA	INA	OTA
CDSE(I)-2011	90	111	45	72
CDSE(II)-2011	93	126	78	68

Source: 

1. Scanned copy of R.T.I application filed by Mr.Vinay Krisha (click me)
2. Scanned copy of R.T.I reply given by UPSC (click me)

{Strategy} UPSC-CPF: Central Police Forces Exam (CPF) cutoffs in 2009, 2010

UPSC has refused to provide cut off marks of CPF 2011 citing the (cliched) excuse that recruitment process is not yet complete. 

However, cut-off marks for 2009 and 2010 have been provided as:

Year	Gen	OBC	SC	ST
2009	136	128	105	115
2010	126	121	111	116

Source: 

1. Scanned copy of R.T.I application filed by Mr.Vinay Krisha (click me)
2. Scanned copy of R.T.I reply given by UPSC (click me)

{Strategy} General: Indian Job Analysis 2012

{Strategy} UPSC-CSE: RTI reply - Optional subject removal, Nigavekar Committee

RTI Query: Please furnish information on the status of the Nigavekar Committee appointed by the UPSC, including the copy of the mandate setting up the committee, and the copies of mandates giving extensions to the said committee, if any. However, if the Committee has submitted its report, please give a copy of the report. Has UPSC given any deadline/ time limit to that committee to frame its report?

Reply: It is informed that Prof. Nigavekar Committee Report has been received by the Commission on 30.8.2012 and the recommendations of the Committee, after due consideration of the Commission have been forwarded to Govt. of India on 31.10.2012 and their response is awaited. It is further informed that the copy of the report/recommendations have not been made available to Public Information Officer by the Public Authority. Thus, Seaion 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, 2005 is invoked, Public Authority being affected third Party. It is further informed that the copy of the report/recommendations have not been made available to Public Information Officer by the Public Authority. Thus, Seaion 8(1)(d) of the RTI Act, 2005 is invoked, Public Authority being affected third Party.

Comment: It Seems UPSC is going to do everything to protect the Top Secret information related to optional subject removal, disregarding the fact that many candidates are in limbo and coaching factories are making a killing due to this uncertainty.

{Strategy} UPSC-CSE: Marks scored by candidates in CSE (Preliminary) 2011

{Strategy} UPSC-CSE: The pattern of the Civil Services examination makes a mockery of the UPSC’s demand for ‘depth of understanding’ from candidates

• The Union Public Service Commission’s Civil Services (Main) Examination, 2012, just got over. The results for this phase of the multi-tiered examination will be declared around March/April, 2013. Based on the marks scored in this examination, candidates will be shortlisted for the Personality Test, also known as interview, to be conducted around April/May, 2013. Based on their performance in the main examination and the interview, candidates will be recommended for All-India and Central government services.
• The Constitution has tasked the UPSC with preserving the merit system in the country. The merit system, as opposed to the spoils system, may be defined as one in which recruitments are made on the basis of objective evaluation of skills and knowledge through open examinations. 
• The ‘merits’ that UPSC looks for in the candidates are mentioned in its Notification for the examination, where it is emphasised that no marks will be allotted for superficial knowledge, and that credit will be given for orderly, effective and exact expressions. 
• The main examination intends to assess, according to the UPSC, “the overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding of the candidates rather than merely the range of their information and memory.”
• Even a brief analysis of the huge number of questions asked, length of answers stipulated and the three-hour time limit raises doubts about whether it is possible to find a candidate’s “overall intellectual traits and depth of understanding” through this type of examination. In fact, it seems the examination system and the stated desired outcome are quite incompatible.
• For instance, the General Studies papers are common for all candidates. This year’s GS Paper I contained 33 questions requiring answers ranging from 250 to 10 words. In other words, candidates are expected to write a total of around 3,000 words within three hours to answer 33 questions.
• How realistic is that? A normal student may struggle to put together 3,750 words, legibly written, on a pre-selected subject within three hours. It should be noted here that these 3,750 words are to be expended not on one question, but on 20 very different questions with no time given to think through them. It is unrealistic to expect candidates to show their true intellectual traits and depth of understanding in the answers they write in the short time given, on so many tricky questions. 
• In GS I, a 250-word question asks for a “critical examination of the issues involved in the context of the growing demands for the ban of Endosulfan in the country. What, in your view, should be done in the matter?” Another question asking for a 150-word answer is: “There is an urgent need for the Planning Commission to revise the chapter on health in the 12th Plan document. Comment.” As should be evident, these are not very easy questions. Good answers to these questions require nuance and complex arguments, which in turn require thinking and time, even for someone well-versed with the subject. Framed with more time at hand, the answers to these questions may indeed help analyse a candidate’s intellectual traits and depth of understanding. But the problem is that the three-hour time limit does not allow for thinking, or even for basic organisation of thought. In the Civil Services (Main) examination, time is such that if you start thinking, you are in trouble.
• How do candidates cope? Given the severely limited time given, one often has no choice but to cram and mug up so that you have as much information as you can on your fingertips. You practise writing continuously for speed and flow. You make notes and diagrams, or buy material from coaching centres. 
• Weighted down by the clock, candidates usually write whatever comes to their mind. Some say that they gave opinions in their answers that on second thought, they would have reversed. That means the candidate’s answers often do not reflect his or her considered opinion.
• Hence, while the questions may be good, the circumstances, especially the severely limited time relative to the number of words required, do not allow for proper answers to be given. The answers, written in a hurry, often give a misleading and deceptive account of the candidate’s ‘intellectual traits’. Add to this the requirement of mastering not one but two subjects, as part of two optional papers. 
• All this load of work makes a mockery of the Commission’s pious demands for ‘depth of understanding’ from candidates. It all boils down to hard work, perseverance, tenacity, consistency, good memory, and good coaching notes.
• As in previous years, around 1,000 candidates will eventually make the cut in this year’s examination cycle, counted from the highest mark until the vacancies are filled. They will be put through a gruelling training regimen and inducted into service. Some will shine. Others will be just mediocre, jack of all trade-types, good for gruelling routine, file-shuffling work. As for the deep-going, analysing, intellectual types that the UPSC professes to want, they would be lost in the rush. 

Source

{Strategy} UPSC-CSE: Cut-off marks for UPSC CSE 2011

Cat.	Marks of last candidate selected in Prelims Exam 2011 Out of 400 marks	Marks of last candidate in Mains exam Out of 2000 marks	Total marks of last candidate selected in Final merit list of CSE-2011 Out of 2300 marks
General	198	842	1090
OBC	175	822	1059
SC	165	807	1023
ST	161	798	1009
PH-1	135	767	1008
PH-2	124	767	1047
PH-3	096	663	0911