"My strategy" by Amol Mandave (ACP / DySP), for MPSC राज्यसेवा

नुकताच लागलेला पूर्वपरीक्षेचा निकाल आणि 50 पेक्षा कमी दिवस राहिले असल्यामुळे परिक्षार्थींच्या अभ्यासाला चांगलीच गती आलेली असेल. परंतु याचवेळी काही प्रश्न आणि शंका मनात घर करून बसलेल्या असतात. त्यापैकी काही common प्रश्नांची उत्तरे जशी मला माझ्या अभ्यासाच्या प्रवासात उमगली तशी सांगायचा एक प्रयत्न.
Strategy:अभ्यासाला सुरुवात करण्यापूर्वी अभ्यासक्रम आणि मागील वर्षाच्या प्रश्नपत्रिका यांचा सखोल अभ्यास करणं अत्यावश्यक आहे. राज्यसेवची preliminary परीक्षा जेवढी unpredictable आहे तितकीच मुख्य परीक्षा predictable आहे. मागील 5 वर्षांच्या प्रश्नपत्रिका नीट अभ्यासाल्या तरी 15-20% अभ्यास पूर्ण होतो. आणि बाकीच्या अभ्यासाला दिशा मिळते ती वेगळी.

          पुण्यातील विविध classes आणि post-holders यांनी अभ्यासक्रमातील सर्व घटकांवर पुस्तके काढून sources चा प्रश्न सोडवला असला तरी एकाच विषयाची अनेक पुस्तके उपलब्ध असल्यामुळे विद्यार्थ्यांचा गोंधळ उडतो. आणि त्यांचा बराच वेळ कोणतं पुस्तक वाचावं याचा विचार करण्यातच जातो. तसेच एक पुस्तक घेतल्यावर आपण दुसरे वाचत नसल्यामुळे नुकसान तर नाही होणार ना अशी भीती कायम राहते. त्यामुळे असे आढळून येते कि विद्यार्थी एकाच विषयाचा 3-4 पुस्तकांमधून अभ्यास करतात. परंतु त्यामुळे विषयाबद्दल clarity न येता confusion जास्त होते. त्यामुळे एकाच विषयाची 3 पुस्तके ना वाचता एकच पुस्तक 3 वेळा वाचणेे जास्त फायदेशीर ठरते. Objective प्रकारचे प्रश्न असल्यामुळे कोणतेही पुस्तक घेतले तरी basic गोष्टी त्याच असतात त्यामुळे 90% content सारखाच असतो. त्यामुळे तुम्हाला वाचायला चांगले वाटेल असं एक पुस्तक घेऊन त्याच्या 3-4 revisions केल्या तरी पुरेसा आहे. अभ्यासक्रमातील एक गोष्ट एकाच source मधून वाचणं योग्य. एका source च्या 4 revision नंतर तुम्ही दुसरे पुस्तक चाळायला हरकत नाही. त्यातून काही सुटलं असेल तर ते या दुसऱ्या source मधून गोळा करतायेईल.
Booklist:
                                   
EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT STUDY

     स्वतःच्या क्षमता आणि परिक्षेची demand या गोष्टी आपल्याला नीट समजल्या असतील तर अभ्यास प्रभावी होतो. आपल्याला काही विषयात गती असते तर काही विषय अवघड जातात. जे विषय सोप्पे जातात त्यात जास्तीत जास्त गुण मिळावे असा अभ्यास करायचा. आणि अवघड विषयातील सर्वांना येतील असे सोप्पे प्रश्न तरी आपल्याला यायला पाहिजेत किमान एवढातरी अभ्यास करावा. तो विषय पूर्णपणे टाळू नये.

        आयोग अभ्यासक्रमातील काही भागावर जास्त प्रश्न विचारतो तर काही भागांवर अगदीच नगण्य. त्यामुळे मागील प्रश्नपत्रिकांचे analysis करून कोणत्या विषयाला किती वेळ द्यायचा हे ठरवावे. उदाहरणादाखल- इतिहास आणि भूगोल यावर साधारणपणे 65 व 55 प्रश्न विचारले जातात. इतिहासाचे अनेक प्रश्न बऱ्याचदा आवाक्याबाहेरचे असतात परंतु भूगोलाचे प्रश्न मात्र ठरलेलेच येतात. अशावेळी भूगोलावर जास्त मेहेनत केलेली परवडते. तसेच मराठी आणि इंग्रजी व्याकरण यात 100 पैकी 70 मार्क्स मिळवणे शक्य आहे. त्यामुळे त्याला जास्त वेळ देणे योग्य ठरेल. बहुतेक विद्यार्थ्यांना GS-III ची भीती वाटते. परंतु हा विषय अभ्यास करण्यास सगळ्यात सोप्पा आहे कारण एकाच पुस्तकात यातील बराच अभ्यासक्रम cover होतो आणि प्रश्न विचारायचा pattern देखील ओळखता येतो. महाराष्ट्राचा सांस्कृतिक इतिहास तसेच सुदूर संवेदन या विषयांचा कितीही अभ्यास केला तरी परीक्षेत काय येईल हे सांगता येत नाही. त्यामुळे यावर गरजेपेक्षा वेळ घालवणे चुकीचे ठरेल. तसेच अगोदर वाचून notes काढल्या नसतील तर शेवटच्या 50 दिवसात yearbook वाचणे जास्त फायदेशीर ठरत नाही. तेंव्हा त्याच्या नोट्स मिळवणे योग्य ठरते. 

TIME MANAGEMENT:

         राज्यसेवा ही objective type प्रश्नांची परीक्षा असल्यामुळे खूप खोल विश्लेषण किंवा वेगवेगळी मते यांची जास्त गरज नसते. त्यामुळे factual गोष्टींवर भर देऊन वेगाने वाचत पुढे जाणे योग्य. "चांगला अभ्यास करतो", "नीट अभ्यास करतो" या नावाखाली बरेच जण वेळकाढूपणा करतात. म्हणून मग कमी वेळेत अभ्यासक्रम पूर्ण करण्याचे target ठेऊन अभ्यास केलेला बरा.

        या संकल्पनेनुसार पुढील 50 दिवसांचे नियोजन काहीसे पुढीलप्रमाणे होईल. 20 दिवसांची एक rivision, ज्यात प्रत्येकी 4 दिवस एका GS पेपर ला आणि उरलेले 4 दिवस मराठी इंग्लिश व्याकरण यासाठी. परंतु या revision मध्ये जो भाग preliminary परीक्षेला नसलेला आणि ज्याचा अगोदर खूप अभ्यास नाही केला अशा गोष्टींना जास्त वेळ द्यावा. जसे कि महाराष्ट्राचा भूगोल, मानव संसाधन इ. इथून पुढच्या 2 revisions 15-15 दिवसाच्या. म्हणजे प्रत्येक पेपर साठी 3 दिवस. 

         हा वेळ जरी कमी वाटला तरी परीक्षेची गरज पाहता पुरेसा आहे. कमी वेळेत अभ्यासाचं target ठेवले तरच आपण नेमक्या गोष्टी करू, अन्यथा अनावश्यक गोष्टी पण वाचल्या जातात आणि clarity पण कमी होते आणि confusion वाढते. ज्या परीक्षेत 150 पैकी 50 प्रश्न पक्के माहिती असणं खूप समजलं जातं तिथे clarity असणं खूप महत्वाचं ठरतं. तिथे अभ्यास नेमका आणि कमी असणे फायदेशीर ठरते. तसेच कमी वेळेत जास्त गोष्टी वाचल्यानंतर interlinkages तयार होतात ते वेगळे. म्हणून मग सगळा अभ्यासक्रम 30 दिवसात एकदा पूर्ण करण्यापेक्षा, 15 दिवसात एकदा अशा दोन revisions करणे योग्य ठरते. 

Attempt किती करायचा??

      क्लास 1 साठी 140 attepmt ला पर्याय नाही. फक्त पास व्हायचे असेल तर attempt कमी चालतो परंतु पहिल्या 30 मध्ये यायचं तर attempt जास्तच करावा लागतो. माहिती नसलेल्या प्रश्नामधील पण 4 पैकी 1 बरोबर येतोच. त्यामुळे नुकसान बहुदा होत नाहीच. त्यामुळे जास्तीत जास्त attempt करावाच.

प्रत्यक्ष परिक्षेदिवशी काय करावे-

        परिक्षेदिवाशी किंवा 1 दिवस अगोदर सगळा अभ्यासक्रम पूर्ण करणे शक्य नसते तेंव्हा तसा प्रयत्नही करू नये. खूप गोष्टी करायच्या प्रयत्नात अगोदर केलेल्या गोष्टी पण विसरण्याची शक्यता असते. डोके स्थिर असेल तर गोष्टी आठवणे सोप्पे जाते. त्यासाठी परिक्षेदिवाशी खूप ताण येणार नाही असा अभ्यास करावा. म्हणून पूर्ण अभ्यासक्रम न वाचता अगोदर काढलेल्या short notes किंवा एखादा घटक अभ्यासने उपयुक्त ठरते. 

         परीक्षेच्या काळात जास्त चर्चा करणे टाळावे. वाचायच्या राहिलेल्या गोष्टींबद्दल जास्त विचार करत बसू नये. जे राहिलाय त्यापेक्षा काय केलयं यावर जास्त लक्ष दिलेले बरे असते. 

        पेपर च्या 2 तासांचे अर्ध्या अर्ध्या तासाचे 4 भाग करून त्याप्रमाणे नियोजन करावे. प्रत्येक अर्ध्या तासात किती प्रश्न सोडवायचे याचे गणित पक्के करावे. 2 तासात 150 प्रश्न सोडवायचे असल्याने 2 वेळा सगळे प्रश्न वाचणे शक्य होत नाही. त्यामुळे पहिल्या वाचनातच शक्य तितके प्रश्न सोडवावेत. ज्या उत्तराबद्दल शंका असतील त्याही प्रश्नाचे तुम्हाला योग्य वाटते ते उत्तर प्रश्नपत्रिकेत मार्क करून ठेवा. वेळ मिळाल्यास त्याचा पुर्नविचार करा परंतु मार्क न करता पुढे जाऊ नका. मराठी इंग्रजीच्या लेखी(descriptive) पेपरला वेळेचे नियोजन अतिशय महत्वाचे आहे. कोणत्याही प्रश्नावर गरजेपेक्षा जास्त वेळ जाऊ देऊ नये अन्यथा दुसरा प्रश्न अर्धवट राहतो आणि त्याचा गुणांवर खूप फरक पडतो. लेखी पेपर पूर्ण सोडवून होणे अतिशय गरजेचे आहे.

वरील सगळ्याव्यतिरिक्त महत्वाची गोष्ट म्हणजे स्वतःवरच विश्वास आणि स्वतःच्या पद्धतीवर असलेला विश्वास. तो असेल तर सगळ्या गोष्टी जमून येतात. 
I hope all this helps. All the best.

"My strategy" by Kshitij Tawarej (Assistant Manager- NABARD), for NABARD exam

Before even beginning the Civil Services Exam journey, I had decided that if it comes to joining a lower priority service, I would choose to give one more attempt than joining the service that doesn't attract me. So when I got into Reserve List on CSE 2014, I hardly celebrated knowing that at this rank I wouldn't get any service since I did not opt some services. However, immediately after CSE 2014, I had failed in Prelims of CSE 2015. And all my self-confidence took a plunge with this. I began to doubt my own abilities. And then, failures just kept mounting on one another. I failed RBI Prelims, NHB Prelims, SIDBI Prelims. 

My frustration came to such a level that I even filled the form for SSC. Mind you, I don't want to discredit certain services and glorify the others. What I mean to portray is that I had become so desperate that, I began to want what I did not want.

After series of failures, I almost convinced myself that these Banking Exams aren't for me. And I would wait for my next CSE Attempt no matter how uncertain CSE is. That's when Notification for NABARD was out.

Reluctant as I was to face one more Banking Exam, NABARD syllabus did wonder for my confidence. Unlike other Banking Exams, the convergence with Civil Services Examination was significantly high. This is first of the three reasons why I'd recommend joining NABARD to Civil Services Aspirants. The second reason is that, unlike CSE or State Services, output to input ratio is better. I think, dedicating One Week solely for NABARD should be sufficient. If you can afford more, the better. There are limited sources which you must revise over and over. Quant and LR, the nightmares of all Banking Exams, come in their least scary form. The third reason, also the most important one, is that, pegging all you hopes on one examination is naivety. Pegging them on that exam which is known to be notorious is stupidity. My sincerest advice is to have a viable Plan B after your Second Attempt if Plan A is not materialising. 

Back then I only knew of a third reason. And so,  I started reading Socio Economics, Agriculture and Rural Development, Current Affairs with quite a zeal. I solved several mock tests, devised my strategy as to divide each section as per time instead of a number of questions to be attempted (For example - 20 minutes for Quant) which I had not done previously. The result was that my score kept improving. Yet, having learnt from my failures, I kept my expectations low, lest I might have to endure one more of it.

After clearing Prelims, Mains was to be conducted within a very short period. I just revised the same things I had studied for Prelims. I could have scored better in English had I had given more attention to it. Nonetheless, I managed to clear Mains with sufficient margin. In my opinion, the prelims is the toughest part in the whole process. In an interview, the gracious panel gave me 25/25. As soon as we got the result, within 15 days we were asked to join. And just like that, I became part of the NABARD family.

About NABARD recruitment procedure:

Direct Recruitment of Officers happens mostly in Grade A cadre and very few are directly recruited in Grade B cadre. Promotions are transparent. Grade A to B is automatic in 4 years. Grade B to Grade C and onwards is an evaluation based (internal exams and interviews). At Grade B or Grade C level, one is posted in District of one's native state as a District Development Manager to act as the interface between field and Regional Office. Top most post is Chief General Manager (Grade F) whereby you head either NABARD's Regional Office or Department at Head Office. Direct Recruits are trained for 2 weeks in NBSC (NABARD's Staff College) and there after 3 weeks of field training and 3 weeks of desk training. During the first year, Direct Recruits are also sent for Rural Immersion Programme where one is attached to an NGO for 4 weeks. Currently, I am undergoing the same. Throughout the career, there are different trainings for which one has to go to NBSC, Lucknow so as to update one's skills with changing times.

Personal work experience:

Working with NABARD is an experience of contrasting colours. While you work for the cause of Agriculture and Rural India, most of your career is spent in Capital cities of different States. While your service lies in Public sector, at many instances NABARD reflects the elements of Private Sector. Salary and perks are more than that of PSBs and at the same time, your work also does wonders in the reduction of poverty. Quarters are norm and almost all the Officers and Staff reside in the same colony. Your Boss might just be your neighbour. This creates opportunities for bonding and informal interactions that dilute the dreaded elements of hierarchy. In all this, the golden ratio of work-life balance at NABARD is what makes it Plan B+, something more than a mere Plan B.

Collectively, it means that at NABARD you will not be disappointed. You may still want to pursue different aims. One can certainly find time for preparation while serving at NABARD. And if that doesn't work out, you can always enjoy yourself working with NABARD (especially the field level posting as District Development Manager). But by being with NABARD, you will have ensured that self-doubt doesn't creep into you when you look yourself in the mirror as your attempts keep adding up. And as your friends progress in their lives, you can be happy for them without asking yourself - when will things change with me? 

P.S. - What I have tried is to give an honest picture of my personal experiences. One could argue that there are elements of self-boasting and harsh self-criticism, but without either, I can't own up to what I write. 

Sources referred:

  1. Economic Survey and Budget

  2. India Year Book - Relevant Chapters

  3. Agriculture section on vikaspedia.in

  4. Census and Socio-Economic Caste Census

  5. Capsules of Bankersadda for GK and Computer

  6. (Briefly) Annual Reports of Rural Development Ministry and Agri. Ministry

Important elements in strategy:

  1. Quant and Logical Reasoning is for clearing sectional cut-offs and not scoring marks.

  2. Every other section is for scoring marks.

  3. For Agri-Rural, Socio-Economics, GK and Computer an aspirant who is preparing for less than week or two should attempt up to 90% of the questions at the pace of 3 to 4 questions per minute.

  4. Time-wise slots for each section. 

    a. Agri-Rural + Socio-Economics 25 Mins

    b. GK and Computer 15 mins, 

    c. English 30 (+10) mins, 

    d. LR 25 (-5) mins, 

    e. Quant 25 (-5) mins.

  5. Solve as many mocks as possible.

 6. For mains, apply the same strategy with even less variables :P

"My strategy" by Shweta Chauhan (AIR - 8, CSE 2016), for Geography optional

Name:	Shweta Chauhan
Rank in CSE-2016	8
Roll No.	0559310
Age	25
Total attempts in CSE	3
Optional Subject	Geography
Medium chosen for Mains answers	English
Schooling medium	English
College medium	English
Home town	Ghaziabad
Work-ex	IRTS, CSE-2013
	IRS (C&CE), CSE-2015

The article specially focussed on Geography optional.

I don’t intend to promote any coaching nor any book, it's just about the sources I have referred. I had four years of preparation for geography so I have basically gone through all material available and I would be happy to share what was more relevant. Hope this article be of use to some of you and you don’t have to waste much time in searching for the sources.

General overview of Geography preparation

•   Read the syllabus thoroughly, nothing would be asked beyond the syllabus.
• Try to read topics common to Paper I and Paper II together. Like, if you are reading a topic of population Geography in Paper I, then the Indian population can be read together.
•   After completing a topic, I would try to answer the question paper of last 10 years related to that topic. Eg.  If I have completed Geomorphology, I would write questions on that topic before moving to another topic. This increases the confidence and fills the gap in preparation.
• I had diagrams for almost every topic and practiced them regularly.
• I prepared notes for the topics which were not given directly in the standard books, otherwise, I would underline them in the books itself. And revise from the books number of times possible.
• For map practice, I first tried to mark all the places asked in last 20 years. This helped as a number of places are repeated. Then I tried to practice at least two places daily from the newspaper.
• Indian Geography is more related to GS, thus while preparing current affairs, Geography Paper II should also be kept in mind.
• Revision is most important to get used to with geographical terms. This is possible only if you have limited sources and notes prepared.

Booklist 

Paper I

Physical Geography:

Geomorphology:  Geomorphology by Savinder Singh

Climatology, Oceanography: Physical Geography by Savinder Singh

Biogeography and Environmental Geography: Physical Geography by Savinder Singh, Rupa made simple book on the environment, Current events from Shankar  IAS notes, Down to Earth magazine and newspaper.

Human Geography: 

Thoughts: Majid Husain Geographical thoughts, RD Dikshit, Shabbir Sir notes

Economic Geography: Rupa series on economic geography

Population and Settlement Geography: Human Geography by Majid Husain

Regional Geography: Shabbir sir notes

Paper II (Indian Geography)

The static portion from D R Khullar, rest is mostly related to current issues and can be prepared along with GS.

Along with the sources, I have also subscribed to ExamRace channel on Youtube. Videos are available on almost all the topics of the syllabus and are also very simple to understand. I would suggest visiting the channel.

Another thing is that answer writing practice is a must for Geography. I took test series from Shabbir Sir this year. In 2013, I was able to score 66+121 and in 2015 the score was 106+117, and this year it was 171+155.

Answer writing in Exam:

There are two types of questions asked in the exam:

Direct: These questions require direct knowledge of geography. So they cannot be answered without revision or without using geographical terms. Edge over others can only be taken if the language is more similar to the geographical language and has more number of a relevant diagram.

Open Ended: These questions can be answered mostly based on having more number of dimensions. For example, dimensions can be increased by including a theoretical portion of Paper I in Indian Geography. Then using current examples can increase the dimensions.

It is important to distinguish between geography answer writing and GS answer writing. Geography’s answer cannot be similar though the questions may seem so. Answer’s in geography according to me should have relevant diagrams, maps, examples to support from world and India, use of thoughts of philosophers, and geographical terminology.

This all things can only become part of the answer only by reading, revising and practicing answer writing.

Map Questions: Map questions not only requires pointing out places in the map but also few words on those places. To write those words, few things can be applied like the economic, social, environmental or historical importance of that place. It is not necessary that every place is known to everyone but few words can always be written about that place if one has an even bleak idea about it. I may not know where Kudankulum is but if I have read it in a newspaper I can write few words on it.  So the point is that when you read about a place in newspaper try to remember it from Geography’s perspective too.

These were the few things I wanted to share. If anything is left and I am capable of answering, I would surely like to help. Please post your queries in the comments below.

Thank you,

Shweta Chauhan

"My strategy" by Swarn Prabhat (AIR - 105, CSE 2016)

Swarn Prabhat 
(AIR - 105 in CSE 2016 )

Education: B Tech(H) in Computer Science from IIT Kharagpur (2013 Batch)

Work Experience: 1.5 years in Microsoft

State: Bihar
Attempt: 2nd












References and Booklists :

• Ancient India: Old NCERT (R.S. Sharma)
• Medieval India: Old NCERT (Satish Chandra)
• Modern India : Spectrum (Rajiv Ahir), Bipan Chandra (for mains )
• Art and Culture : Introduction to Fine Arts (NCERT), Nitin Sangwan (AIR-28 CSE 2015) notes
• Post Independence : Vision booklet
• World History : Vision booklet
• Science and Technology : NCERTs(6th to 10th ), Current affairs
• Geography : Oxford Atlas , NCERTs(11th , 12th), G C Leong, My optional
• Environment : Shankar IAS
• Polity : M Laxmikanth
• Economics : Sriram economics booklets, Economic survey summary (must)
• Internal Security : Vision booklet, relevant articles from IDSA
• Ethics : Lexicon, Subba Rao (selectively), 2nd ARC (must)
• Current affairs : Vision booklets, Insights into editorial and their RSTV summaries

Prelims Strategy :
Firstly, make sure you are absolutely good with basic books before jumping into mastering current affairs.
Don’t just cram facts, try to understand and link things. It's not necessary to find logic in everything but do that wherever you can.
Revise, Revise and Revise . Solve Test Papers (Insights/Vision etc.).

Tips:
Using Option elimination technique and making Intelligent Guesses are necessary as you will not be sure about around 30-40 questions.
For ex, options with words like 'only' , 'any', ' enormously' , ' drastically' are likely to be eliminated.

GS Mains Strategy :
I believe writing tests is very crucial and important for SCORING good marks in Mains.
Essay (1st attempt : 90, 2nd attempt : 148)
I joined Vikash Ranjan sir's classes after prelims last year. I wrote all the tests and got them evaluated.

Tips:
I wrote essay in chronological order. See this link to understand this approach. Link : IAS Topper 2016 Siddharth Jain Rank 13 gave deep insight on IAS Essay writing
Content for essay : Pick from your GS knowledge and try to make the essay as contemporary as possible. Substantiation of your arguments is important and this can be done through examples. Quote events, facts, schemes etc from newspapers. Underline important keywords.
GS : (1st attempt : 365, 2nd attempt : 418)
Joined Vision test series after prelims in first attempt. Vajiram for 2nd attempt. Both are good.
I scheduled my preparation (studying and revision) according to my test schedule so that I could read and revise before appearing in tests.
Wrote tests on time and within time limit (no compromise on this please) since first test itself.
Discussion after test with friends and post evaluation is important. Try to avoid previous mistakes and keep monitoring your performance.
Conclusion in GS answers is important and do underline important keywords. Prefer writing in bullet points or small paragraphs . Practice underlining important keywords.
Try to join test series with friends and write together. It helps in maintaining discipline and you can feel a bit competitive, can use the group to gauge relative performance etc. It is important to understand where we stand and gain confidence from these mock tests.
Writing tests is very draining and can make you exhausted. Make sure you sleep and eat well and treat yourself to well deserved breaks after the tests or whenever you genuinely feel necessary. Out mind is very good conscience keeper :)

Current Affairs :
Vision Current affair booklets are a must.
Insights into editorial and Insights RSTV summary articles (presented in lucid manner) - and this is something which should not be avoided.
I followed both Insights secure and IASBaba TLP just to ensure nothing important is getting missed out.
I believe reading Hindu daily for 1-2 hours is not required given the low cost-benefit ratio. Instead you can go and read articles from ForumIAS/Insights must read articles where articles from multiple newspapers are given. At end of the day you should be aware of important issues/articles.
I kept all important articles and summaries (Insights editorial/RSTV) in Onenote (Microsoft software similar to Evernote).
Suggestion:
Don’t burden too much with current news. Keep them manageable as multiple revisions are required and you will write only those things is exam which are at your fingertips. Try to link current affairs news.

Optional (Geography) :
I got 170 in first attempt and 302 this year.
Optional is your choice , try to make it your strength.
Joined Neetu singh classes for first attempt (honestly I don’t recommend this).
2nd attempt:
Read Shabbir Sir notes many times and Alok ranjan's to supplement it (very selectively)
Read recommended books (listed below) religiously.
Joined Majid Hussain and ALS test series. Wrote all tests and got them evaluated.
Geography syllabus is big and it will take time to master it. 3-4 months is needed to do it well.

References :
Notes : Shabbir Sir's notes , Selectively Alok Ranjan Sir's
Physical geography : Savinder Singh (highly recommended)
Models : Majid Hussain
Thoughts : Majid Hussain
Human geography : Majid hussain selectively though Shabbir Sir's notes are enough
Indian Geography : Khullar (highly recommended)
Atlas : Oxford (for Indian), Orient (world)

Tips:
Thoughts and Models in Paper I is getting important every year and I believe attempting Thoughts questions well in the exam can fetch good marks. Read Shabbir Sir notes many many times to understand it. Read Majid sir books to get clarity. Try to get hold on Thoughts and models.
Writing tests helped me a lot. I drew a lot of RELEVANT diagrams/maps in both papers (around 18 in first paper 30 in second paper). Try to draw at least one RELEVANT diagram/map per question.
Take diagrams and maps from standard textbooks mentioned above. Practice them at home in free time.
Read your notes and books many times. Revision is the key to success in this exam.

Interview:
My Interview was on 5th April (Saxena Board). I got 168 marks.
Joined mocks(Samkalp and Vajiram) and did group mocks with friends.
Calm , Composure and Confidence are what that matters apart from your BALANCED reply.
Post Script:
Last but not the least, group study is important. Try to make a group of serious candidates and try not to study in isolation for academic and moral support.

Few prerequisites needed for this MAHASANGRAM:
Self-belief (you know why)
Patience and Perseverance ( because of the unpredictability of UPSC, peer pressure, financial problems and lot of random health problems you get esp. in Delhi) ; Don’t lose tempo and keep your aggression above average.
Hard work (Do revise and write with full vigor)
Smart work (you MUST know what not to read)
Consistency : Be consistent at least 6 months (2month before pre till mains) . This phase is crucial and this is the time when life might throw you lot of challenges apart from UPSC. But, Never Retreat.
All the Best !
Thank you!
Swarn Prabhat