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anthropologyUPSC › Back to mains prep 1 post by 1 author

gaurav rai

5/31/12

Dear all 

Hope you did well in pre. Some speculation about the cutoff after considering difficulty level and increased number of seats, is to be 185+/- 5. This speculation by vision IAS as they have analyze the paper question over question. Most of the ingenious people are claiming about 200 to be safe and obviously it ll be much more safe. 

So lets come to anthropology. 

During start I collected some information as pasted below, just to save time from browsing here and there.

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ANTHROPOLOGY :

ADVANTAGES - 1. Scoring subject 2. Interesting subject 3. Easy to grasp esp. for science graduates

GETTING STARTED : anthropology broadly can be divided into -PAPER I 1. PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY - prehistory-evolution of man,biological concepts of man, genetics and diseases, race 2. SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY(sociology related) - family,marriage,religion,kinsh ip etc 3. THEORIES 4. MISC - demography,research methodology etc PAPER II - 1. prehistory in india 2. INDIAN SOCIAL SYSTEM 3. INDIAN TRIBES AND THEIR PROBLEMS

PREPARATION - Its advisable to start anthro preparation as early as possible after the prelims and with focussed , systematic study one can complete the subject by end of august.USEFUL BOOKS - 1. p.nath(preferred) /das for physical anthropology.nath is very useful for MISC topics also 2. social anthropology by majumdar/madan 3. makhan jha's book of anthropology theories ( essential book as there are no good books available exclusively for theories) ALSO MAKE USE OF INTERNET AND PREPARE NOTES FOR THEORIES GIVEN IN UPSC SYLLABUS THAT ARE NOT IN MAKHAN JHA paper 2 - 1.indian anthropology by r.n. sharma 2. indian anthropology by nadeem hasnan

SOME TIPS - 1. practice diagrams for physical part, diagrams will ultimately fetch us more marks 2. DO NOT IGNORE THEORIES PART ,SELECTIVE STUDY IS ALWAYS DANGEROUS 3. ember and ember is a very good book but NOT exam oriented, please DO NOT waste time trying to mug it line by line, just have for CASUAL READING 4. when you come across a case study, note it down as use it at appropriate topics where you are expected to explain the concept 5. try to make good notes for theories and MISC part as good material is not available in market. 6. keep updating the latest trends and developments in anthropology from newspaper/magazines and internet

FOCUSSED PREPARATION WITH GOOD STRATEGY AND GUIDANCE WILL DEFINITELY SUCCEED

trends and developments are anthro related events that are in news- like new species homo gautengenesis that was discovered in may 2010, joint forest management- shift of power from forest dept to PRIs(its effect on tribals), ban on mining in tribal areas, forest dwellers act- its pros and cons etc

regd coaching material -munirathnam sir's notes will be useful but do not read it at the beginning.once you are done with the portions, just brush through it once

 

by diagrams i meant anatomical -skull,vertebra,bones,teeth diagrams when we are asked to write about prehistoric man,also a good comparative diagram with modern man also can be given(depending on question).For questions on prehistoric stages you can give good diagrams of

the tools used then, a rough picture of the habitat, some pictures of artefacts found etc.. its easier to draw diagrams and then explain.. its more catchy and provides more information,saves examiner's time also- if he finds your diagram to be very good, he'l be more inclined to like your description too.. so as far as physical anthro is concerned, neat diagrams will definitely give us an edge over others.. SO PRACTICE DIAGRAMS

Karthicks notes are very good but not sufficient.. Adv- covers all topics , Disadv- Individual topics need value addition

 

SOME THOUGHTS-disclaimer - Its completely based on my anthro strategy WHICH HELPED ME GET 375 MARKS(181 in paper 1 , 194 in paper 2) IN 1st attempt in CSE 2010, it worked wonders with me,it may or may not work with you1. diagrams are important ( for physical anthro part only) because you can draw a picture and explain things easily than writing paras and paras( saves time too). it also shows that you know the concept better. NOBODY WILL REDUCE YOUR MARKS FOR NOT DRAWING, BUT YOU ARE BOUND TO GET MORE IF U GIVE NEAT SKETCHES. so if you want really high scores then you have to pay attention to it.2. for non physical anthro part - give some pictorial additions - like a cycle(eg. bonded labour question in 2010)/ flow chart- that way we have an edge over others3.try attempting physical anthro based and theory based questions as much as possible.from what i know, socio based questions fetch lesser marks comparitively( i avoided questions like those on origin of language in the exam even though i knew it)4. ember and ember is interesting but not upsc exam oriented. just keep glancing at it when u feel bored with other stuff thats more than enough. do not waste time trying to cram it line by line.5. try to start preparation as soon as prelims are over(thats the reason for me posting now) instead of choosing it late and feeling sorry better start your preparation asap. i finished the whole thing in 4 months.

for further help, pl refer to my earlier posts, for queries mail me at kvijai007@yahoo .com

hi hemant,1. r.n.sharma is good for tribal topics, also get hold muniratnam sir's notes plus do keep updating and make notes from min. of tribal affairs websites wrt tribal legislations,schemes2. p.nath is good for the genetics /biology part3.i didnot attend any coaching,and regd coaching notes i found muniratnam sir's notes to be useful.4. sorry, im teaching only because i have some free time before training and i dont want it to be too hectic

5. ya those books should be enough.all the best !

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I am expecting some value addition from the people having feedback from coaching at Hyderabad.

Thank you