Whether to take up a Science optional or not ?Well the choice is on the individual to decide...but one thing is clear that a science optional is much more demanding than an arts or humanity optional....So the most important factor regarding choosing a science optional should be the shear interest (not the highest score) because every year some body or other will get very high marks in almost all the optional... In science optional even though very people appear but still the competition is very tough because in Physics, Chemistry, Maths or Engineering subjects one has to compete with people from IITs....One should be very clear regarding the requirement of a science optional vis-a vis an arts optional.....Also it takes at least two years of hard work to prepare a science optional so one should keep this in mind also....
Please go through what Mr. Supreet Singh Gulati , IAS Rank-2, 2008 had said (on choosing the Science optional)...click on the link to open
Whether to take up both Science subjects or not?
This is a difficult question to answer because one should take up both the science subject or one science and one engineering subject only when he is confident enough of handling both of them...to prepare two science subjects becomes a really difficult task, given the vastness of the subjects....that is why it takes lot to time for people with both the science subjects to clear the Civil Services Examination....One-two exceptions will always be there who might have got into IAS in first or second attempt with both the science subjects....but they are really intelligent people (generally IIT JEE top -100 rankers) so One should realize his/her capacity and decide accordingly....
But one thing is clear that if you are taking both the science subjects then you must have lot of perseverance as it generally takes 3-4 attempts to clear the Civil services Examination...Science subjects should not be taken as a stop-gap measure...
Whether I should take a coaching for Science optional or not?
It is not important that u take coaching or not..what is most important is that whether u have command over the subject or not....If u can master the whole syllabus by your own then there is no need for any coaching.....Coaching is just to facilitate the process and to inculcate a discipline.....
Whether coaching is necessary to clear Civil Service Examination ?
Not at all...even people who prepare by their own also clear the examination...
Which is the best coaching for Physics and Chemistry?
It is very difficult to talk about best when there is hardly any coaching institute for Science subjects...I had joined DIAS at Jia Sarai (near IIT Delhi) for Physics (in 2005) and Chemistry (in 2006) ..here is the link for DIAS
http://www.diasindia.com/The benefit that i got here was that almost all the sincere students of science subjects come here for coaching or test series @ DIAS...so it keeps you on tows regarding the preparation....I do not know any other coaching even worth mentioning, forget about joining them...so please be careful before joining any coaching, attend at least 15 days of classes before paying them any money....because there are lot of fraud coaching institutes which hardly teach any thing....just do not go by ADs... inquire properly before joining them...
Whether i need to go through all the books mentioned in your blog? What are the basic books for the Physics and Chemistry?
Well the choice is yours, that whether you want to go through or not...but the fact that in UPSC, a science optionals can not be prepared from 3-4 books...syllabus is so scattered &vast that one requires at least 3-4 books for each of the topic...had there been 1-2 books even i would have read and passed the examination rather than taking so much pain of going through all the books mentioned in my blog....
There more number of books you will cover, better and comprehensive preparation your preparation will be (well it depends on the time available also!!).... There is always a room for improvement in the quality of answers that comes from reading more no of books, rather than going through one book many times... The strategy of preparing an arts optional is much different than a science optional....another factor is that there is hardly any good coaching institute available for science and engineering optional so one has to take more pain and prepare the whole syllabus by its own....
Another factor is that in a competitive exam like UPSC if one thinks that he has got command over the syllabus by reading 1-2 book on every topic, then you will always find some other candidate who might have read more no of books than you & will have a more comprehensive idea over the subject....
Another factor is that to prepare 70 % of syllabus takes 50-55 % of time whereas to prepare grey area of 30 % it takes 45- 50% of our time....
Another factor is that is science optional, you can not write answers on ur intuition as the questions are more of derivations, problem solving or theory of a phenomenon......if you do not know any question then you can not write even a single word on that....so this demands more comprehensive preparation to attempt the whole paper....
What is the scaling formula in Science optional ?
Please do not waste your time on discussing this as this is of no use because no body knows the UPSC's scaling formula....one should rather focus on preparing the subject well than thinking on there issues...because i could never guess how scaling is being done...
In Civil Services Examination, 2006 i had only 200 marks correct in Physics paper-1 and i got 179 marks, then in 2007 exam, i had more than 240 correct then i got only 165 marks...and in 2009 examination i had 220 marks correct and i got 174 marks...so can any body correlate...
From where One can get previous years' solved papers of Physics and Chemistry for Civil Services Mains Examination?
Some of the solved papers f physics and chemistry may be available at Bharat Book Depot at Ber Sarai , near IIT Delhi...
Regarding the unsolved papers of Science subjects, one can get it from UPSC website ( for year 2008, 2009 and 2010) but not for earlier years...here is the link for papers
Otherwise one may get unsolved papers of any subject at Jawahar Book Depot at Ber Sarai, near IIT Delhi...
You will not find the papers on internet so please do not waste your time on internet...
Whether My hand written notes of Physics and Chemistry are sufficient or not?
It is not for me to decide about what is sufficient for you...you people are better judge for yourselves...what is sufficient or not ,depends on ur level of preparation, ur strategy and ur comfort level on the subject matter...as far as i am concerned, i used to read from these notes only,and after that i never used to get read the books....if u ask me these notes are too much, from the current level of UPSC...If you master them then i think you may get very high marks....
Regarding Chemistry paper-2, i would like to say that i used to refer a lot of books apart from the notes....
From where will i get the notes of Mr. R.K.Singh's notes of Chemistry that i have mentioned in my blog?
Well i do not have idea about it because that person no longer teaches any where...but you may find his notes in Jia Sarai, near IIT Delhi...I have incorporated almost all the things that were there in his notes so one can download my notes and utilize them.....
Where can i get the performance of science subjects in last few years?
refer to an earlier post in my blog with title " Performance of science subjects"
For other optional subjects one may refer to the annual reports of UPSC to know about their performance....here is the link:
Where will i get mark sheet of candidates who appeared with science subjects?
well this is not available for current year i.e. 2010 Civil Services Examination but you may get mark sheets of previous years (2007, 2008 exam) in some of the social networking sites or in internet...
