Dear Aspirants,
Those who have joined us today for the MOCK tests will be getting their log in credentials by tonight.
Also , for all the registered user either ESSAY or PRELIMS or MOCK Program – A new section of STUDY MATERIAL is added in your student zone which can help you in PRELIMS.The STUDY MATERIAL section is a work in progress and we will be keep adding items that are important from prelims point of view.
Currently the study material section has few exclusive notes on Environment and CCRT notes on Culture.
Also we are compiling current events for the whole year ( More than 250 items are already with us and we are giving it a final editorial oversight – you will have this list by tomorrow.) – Go through this daily and we believe it can help you in real time.
Prelims is around the corner and we have been working relentlessly to give a last push for the test series takers.
Recently , we have got requests from many of you with regards to Mock Tests and many have shown their interest to take the MOCK tests.
We did not have any plan for separate MOCK tests when we launched the program, however after hearing from many of you , it only seems rational to open the Mock tests for all to join.
In this regard, after much contemplation , we though the MOCK TESTS could help you.Few have asked for specific sets on ENVIRONMENT and CULTURE as well.
Hence, we are launching 2 programs in this regard:-
- 5 MOCK Tests only
- 5 MOCK Tests+ 1 Environment+ 1 Culture (Total 7 sets)
MOCK Test Schedule:-
| 3-Jul-16 | PM1 | Full length mock |
| 10-Jul-16 | PM2 | Full length mock |
| 17-Jul-16 | PM3 | Full length mock |
| 24-Jul-16 | PM4 | Full length mock |
| 31-Jul-16 | PM5 | Full length mock |
Environment and Culture sets will be given starting form 1st July itself.
Principle of question framing:-
- The questions will be framed from each and every chapter of syllabus and each mock will have the following features:-
- Equal emphasis is given to both STATIC and DYNAMIC/Current Affairs
- For STATIC part, we will pick the most important questions from each and every chapter.And for DYNAMIC part questions will asked from current affairs.Questions will be framed from below mentioned books:-
- History:-
- Ancient- Old NCERT,New NCERT,Selective questions from Upinder Singh(Optional Book)
- Medieval – Old NCERT, New NCERT, Selective questions from Salma Ahmed Farooqi(Optional Book)
- Modern – Older NCERT, New NCERT,Spectrum,Selective questions from Sekhar Bandopadhya(Optional Book)
- Geography:-
- NCERT, Goh Cheng Leong,Selective questions from Savindra Singh(Optional Book) and National Geographic Answer book on Fast Facts.
- Environment:-
- NCERT (All classes),Erach Barucha , Current Affairs, International Treaties and Organizations,Climate funds,Ministry of Environment report and Recent Trend.Major Sites of tiger reserves , national park,bio-sphere,wetlands,rivers,lakes and any particular details of the sites that are important will be asked.
- Questions on tribes and their location or any other major trend will be asked.
- Endangered species and any other species that were in news and their status (eg- Mahseer,Amur falcon etc)
- Culture:-
- NCERT books, CCRT material,Current events related to Culture (Such as – Folk dance, Handicraft , Painting ,Arts and heritage or any major concepts that were in news – eg -Sallekhana or Jallikattu etc)
- International and Indian Organizations and Funds for culture and important sites.
- Mapping:-
- The questions on mapping on both world and India will be asked from the major trends and patterns as UPSC asks (Eg- Countries surrounding Mediterranean Sea or river passing twice through equator). Also any major towns or heritage villages of importance either form cultural or environmental perspective.
- Polity:-
- Laximikant, Current events related to polity , Panchayat Raj and Public institutions of importance(Eg- Lokayut, CVC,CIC etc),RTI related questions will be asked as well.
- Schemes:-
- Recent schemes of Government and details as required will be asked.
- Reports:-
- Major reports and who publishes it.Trends in the report and India’s rank in those reports.
- The reports will be both published by Indian agencies and world agencies( Biodiversity report, MOEF report,UN reports,IPCC report,Literacy report,Census report etc)
- Science and Tech:-
- NCERT for fundamentals (biology,chemistry,physics) for fundamentals
- Organizations and recent developments (eg- LIGO,Project Loon,Aerosol etc)
- Questions will be asked related to major diseases and vaccines, Indian public health troubles and programs (eg- Indradhanush , rotavirus,Zika etc)
- Defense related questions and Organizations (Missile tech,Satellites ,NSG,MTCR,ISRO,DRDO etc)
- Economy:-
- Major concepts,Questions form economic survey and budget,Global engagements and treaties.
- Specific questions on FTA,MFN,Customs Union,Common Market,Employment and demography etc will be asked.
- Policies and Schemes related to economy will be asked.
- Awards :-
- Both World and Indian – (Gandhi Peace award, Noble awards and works etc)
- Miscellaneous:-
- Questions of importance related to Internet and cyber security will be asked
- Any other questions that has significant bearing on agriculture or society as a whole will be asked (Such as GM crops,recent Irrigation and farming techniques,Disaster Management-organization and funds,NGOS of importance and their scope of work,Governmental and Intergovernmental engagements and organizations etc)
- History:-
5 MOCK Tests+ 1 Environment+ 1 Culture (Total 7 sets)
This will include above 5 Mock tests and two exclusive sets of environment and culture. Environment and culture being very vast it is important to cover all important aspects and hence exclusive sets for these two as request by many.
Once you Join:-
- You will be given access to student portal, where you can have access to study materials (Environment, Culture etc) related to prelims
- Before every test – you will be provided with a link and password to take the test in your mail.
- Each test will be active for at least 10 days, you will also get 2 PDFS for each test – one with only questions and another with questions and explanations.
- Once you join , kindly send the PDF of receipt to upsctree@upsctree.com , upon receipt we will set the login credentials at the earliest.
There is at least a month to go, and much can be accomplished in this one month, with that in view mock tests can help you regain your focus and get you ready for the PRELIMS.
Click Here to Join the 5 Mock Tests Only
Click here to Join the 5 Mock Test + 1 Environment + 1 Culture
Feel Free to contact us in case of any queries.
Thank You
UPSCTREE Team
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Steve Ovett, the famous British middle-distance athlete, won the 800-metres gold medal at the Moscow Olympics of 1980. Just a few days later, he was about to win a 5,000-metres race at London’s Crystal Palace. Known for his burst of acceleration on the home stretch, he had supreme confidence in his ability to out-sprint rivals. With the final 100 metres remaining,
[wptelegram-join-channel link=”https://t.me/s/upsctree” text=”Join @upsctree on Telegram”]Ovett waved to the crowd and raised a hand in triumph. But he had celebrated a bit too early. At the finishing line, Ireland’s John Treacy edged past Ovett. For those few moments, Ovett had lost his sense of reality and ignored the possibility of a negative event.
This analogy works well for the India story and our policy failures , including during the ongoing covid pandemic. While we have never been as well prepared or had significant successes in terms of growth stability as Ovett did in his illustrious running career, we tend to celebrate too early. Indeed, we have done so many times before.
It is as if we’re convinced that India is destined for greater heights, come what may, and so we never run through the finish line. Do we and our policymakers suffer from a collective optimism bias, which, as the Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman once wrote, “may well be the most significant of the cognitive biases”? The optimism bias arises from mistaken beliefs which form expectations that are better than the reality. It makes us underestimate chances of a negative outcome and ignore warnings repeatedly.
The Indian economy had a dream run for five years from 2003-04 to 2007-08, with an average annual growth rate of around 9%. Many believed that India was on its way to clocking consistent double-digit growth and comparisons with China were rife. It was conveniently overlooked that this output expansion had come mainly came from a few sectors: automobiles, telecom and business services.
Indians were made to believe that we could sprint without high-quality education, healthcare, infrastructure or banking sectors, which form the backbone of any stable economy. The plan was to build them as we went along, but then in the euphoria of short-term success, it got lost.
India’s exports of goods grew from $20 billion in 1990-91 to over $310 billion in 2019-20. Looking at these absolute figures it would seem as if India has arrived on the world stage. However, India’s share of global trade has moved up only marginally. Even now, the country accounts for less than 2% of the world’s goods exports.
More importantly, hidden behind this performance was the role played by one sector that should have never made it to India’s list of exports—refined petroleum. The share of refined petroleum exports in India’s goods exports increased from 1.4% in 1996-97 to over 18% in 2011-12.
An import-intensive sector with low labour intensity, exports of refined petroleum zoomed because of the then policy regime of a retail price ceiling on petroleum products in the domestic market. While we have done well in the export of services, our share is still less than 4% of world exports.
India seemed to emerge from the 2008 global financial crisis relatively unscathed. But, a temporary demand push had played a role in the revival—the incomes of many households, both rural and urban, had shot up. Fiscal stimulus to the rural economy and implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission scales had led to the salaries of around 20% of organized-sector employees jumping up. We celebrated, but once again, neither did we resolve the crisis brewing elsewhere in India’s banking sector, nor did we improve our capacity for healthcare or quality education.
Employment saw little economy-wide growth in our boom years. Manufacturing jobs, if anything, shrank. But we continued to celebrate. Youth flocked to low-productivity service-sector jobs, such as those in hotels and restaurants, security and other services. The dependence on such jobs on one hand and high-skilled services on the other was bound to make Indian society more unequal.
And then, there is agriculture, an elephant in the room. If and when farm-sector reforms get implemented, celebrations would once again be premature. The vast majority of India’s farmers have small plots of land, and though these farms are at least as productive as larger ones, net absolute incomes from small plots can only be meagre.
A further rise in farm productivity and consequent increase in supply, if not matched by a demand rise, especially with access to export markets, would result in downward pressure on market prices for farm produce and a further decline in the net incomes of small farmers.
We should learn from what John Treacy did right. He didn’t give up, and pushed for the finish line like it was his only chance at winning. Treacy had years of long-distance practice. The same goes for our economy. A long grind is required to build up its base before we can win and celebrate. And Ovett did not blame anyone for his loss. We play the blame game. Everyone else, right from China and the US to ‘greedy corporates’, seems to be responsible for our failures.
We have lowered absolute poverty levels and had technology-based successes like Aadhaar and digital access to public services. But there are no short cuts to good quality and adequate healthcare and education services. We must remain optimistic but stay firmly away from the optimism bias.
In the end, it is not about how we start, but how we finish. The disastrous second wave of covid and our inability to manage it is a ghastly reminder of this fact.