UPSC CSE Topper by Vikas Dhayal

Polity- Note Taking Guide

Most important themes for which notes have to made(3-4 Pager notes):

1. Separation of power(all articles must be written in your notes)

2. Issues related to Federal structure (center state and state-state issues, recent cases)

3. Dilution of power to local bodies(economic and political decentralisation, empowerment-of local bodies, women and backward classes), relevant articles

4. Representation of People’s Act(notes from Laxmikant’s Chapter)

5. 1935 Act as the basis of Constitution.

6. Role of Pressure groups in Polity(have examples of different kinds of pressure groups)

Topics of importance(2 pager notes):

1. Basic Structure Doctrine(Include Court cases etc)

2. Article 21 and expansion of its ambit over the years(in detail along with case laws)

3. Directive Principle of State Policies( Make a list of them in your notes and write down a basic commentary on their implementation through various policies)

4. Preamble(relevance, basic tenets enshrined, importance, case laws)

5. Role of Speaker(case laws)

6. Role of Governer(Case Laws)

7. Election Commission(Case laws)

8. Rajya Sabha’s role

9. Judicial pendency of cases

10. Issues of low inefficiency of Indian Parliament.

11. Administrative Tribunals.

12. Parliamentary Privileges.

13. Indian and Western Secularism

14. Indian constitutional scheme vs American(similarities and differences)

15. Indian Constitutional scheme and the British Scheme

16. Article 19 and its expansion over the years

17. Right to Equality in Indian Constitutional scheme

18. Methods of Amendment of the constitution.

19. President’s rule(case laws)


Small topics of importance( Upto 1 pages of notes)

1. NJAC Judgement and Collegium system.

2. 101st CAA

3. 102nd CAA

4. 103rd CAA

5. 104th CAA

6. 105th CAA

7. 106th CAA

8. 42nd CAA

9. 44th CAA

10. 73rd and 74th CAA

11. 86th CAA

12. 69th CAA

13. 1st CAA

14. Electoral Reforms(recommendations from Law commission, eminent people etc)

15. Model Code of Conduct

16. President(Powers, responsibilities, limitations, articles)

17. Vice President

18. Council of Ministers

19. Prime Minister, CM

20. CAG

21. Finance Commission

22. PILs

23. Original and Appellate Jurisdiction of High Court and Supreme Court

24. Reforms in Judiciary

25. Relevance and limitations of Parliamentary Committees.

26. Corruption in Politics

27. Parliamentary Privileges and reforms needed.

28. 1919 Act

29. Lok Adalats, Gram Nyayalayas.

30. NHRC

31. NCSC/ST/OBC(relevant Articles and jurisdiction.

32. NGT

33. National Commission of Women

34. Attorney General

35. Tribunals

If you are done with notes on these themes 80% of questions in Mains will be taken care of.

20% will be covered from Daily Newspaper notes.

Keep writing answers to enrich your prep. and

Keep referring to Topper Copies to get usable points for your answers.

Using the Marks Accelerator Compilations we have made it easy for you. You avoid reading topper copies as these contain the best of the points from more than 800 topper copies of the previous years including the 2023 ones.

Pro Tip for Note Taking for Mains:

No readymade notes can beat the effectiveness of self made notes.

The problem arises when you are not able to decide what to do and what to leave.

For being pin pointed one must start with making notes for all the Often repeated themes(which will be important for almost every question of a particular GS subject)

Sharing below the themes on which you must make 1 pager, 2 pager and 3-4 pager notes to be done with polity.

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Update on CSE Mains results:

5th and 6th December are the new tentative dates.

As copy checking will continue till 28th November.

Will be sharing here if anything new comes up.

Update on UPSC Mains Results:

This year you can expect the results on similar dates. As things stand today it is likely to be announced on 10th or 11th December.

In 2022 the result was out on 6th December, in 2023, it was out on 8th December.

Will update if any relevant info is received.

✨Interesting insights from the data provided by UPSC:

1. Out of the people who appeared in the interview last year, most number of people were of 25 years of age(215 of them). 210 people were 26, 190 were 27, 169 were 28 and 125 were 29 when they sat in Prelims.

2. There were only 47 people appearing in the interview who were 21 or 22 in 2023.

3. 201 people out of them were 30, 31 and 32 when they appeared in Prelims 2023.

4. 55 people out of these were above 32 and appeared for the interview.

5. The average age of interview appearing candidates was 26.

Get some motivation from this data. There is always light and there is more light when you are in the sweet spot of 24-29.

@csetopper
@csetopperessay

Using Model Answers for GS Mains:

In the past, several toppers have relied solely on model answers from 2-3 institutions as a final strategy before Mains. Surprisingly, this has proven to be an effective way to cover the entire syllabus, offering consolidated content for each paper.

Many candidates turn to this approach when other options have been exhausted, particularly if they lack comprehensive notes for GS Mains. It is especially useful for those who have already taken a couple of Mains exams.

With this in mind, in our Ethics MIG-25, we are introducing two sets of model answers for each question, prepared by separate teams, all with scores of 125+.

The first set will be in traditional text format, and the second will be presented in a discussion format by our Ethics expert, who scored 131 in the Ethics paper of CSE 2023.

Typically, post-test discussions merely involve reading out model answers, which can be monotonous and add limited value to preparation. We’re changing this by providing varied perspectives on 119 questions and case studies, ensuring comprehensive syllabus coverage.

Starts tomorrow at 5 PM.

Text @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrollment.

Vijay Raghav scored 117 in Ethics, was part of our MIG and various other programs.

Got AIR 229, getting him into IPS.

One of our most consistent students, who could have gotten a single digit rank on another day.

Check out his detailed interview here
👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽
https://youtu.be/pF7URocilYk?si=Rgw2V73CxDMsrhL0

✅Ethics MIG-25 starts on 7th November at 5 PM.

Discounted price on offer extended till 5 PM today.

Text at @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrolment.

Ethics MIG-25, the program that helped 51 toppers of CSE 2023, will be available at discount till tonight.

Starting on 7th November.

Text at @csetopper_helpline for queries and enrolment.

Consistency eats intelligence for breakfast in UPSC Prep.

#diwalibreak

Pro Tip for Mains

GS-4 is a paper where marks ranged from 70 to 143 last year among those who reached the interview stage.

What is the difference in people who get below 110(or below 100) in GS-4?

One key reason for scoring low in GS-4 is not completing the paper and another is not having readymade structures in mind for different kinds of questions, leading to wastage of time in the paper.

Despite being a common sense based paper, where you don’t have to mugg up a lot of theory, people don’t score upto the mark because they don’t practice enough.

If you practice about a 100 questions of different types of GS-4 and do analyse and compare your answers with peers, model answers and discuss with experts, you are good to go. This is the least you should be doing to be Mains Ready before Prelims.

You should either make a peer group of hard working people to do that practice or you should take a test module which provides so to you.

⛳️We are doing so with 119 questions in MIG-25. You can text at @csetopper_helpline to inquire and enrol at early bird offer for the program starting on 7th November.