[Strategy] RAS 2013 Prelims: booklist, study material, approach, cutoffs, previous papers, syllabus ofRajasthan State & Subordinate Services Combined Competitive Exam

UPSC vs RAS

Analysis of RAS-2012 prelims

Rajasthan’s history and culture

Indian History n Culture

GeographyWorld Geography

India Geography

Geography of Rajasthan

Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)

Economy

Economy of Rajasthan

PolityRajasthan state polity/administration

Rajasthan Public Policy

Science & Technology

Current Affairs and PIN

Reasoning & Mental AbilityMental Ability

Basic Numeracy

Conclusion

Appendix: Free study material, Download linksExam related Technical details:

2012’s prelim paper

Mains papers of 2008 and 2010

Cutoffs for 2012’s Prelims

Syllabus

Notification for 2013’s Exam

Press Note regarding reforms in RAS exam

RAS Specific Study material

NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)

India yearbook

Softwares

NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)

UPSC vs RAS

first let’s see how RAS is different from UPSC preliminary exam.

Exam UPSC Rajasthan

Prelim

Two papers

1. General studies2. Aptitude

Total 4 hours and 200 questions.

Only single paper that contains both General studies + Aptitude questions.3 hours, 150 questions.

Separate essay paper No

1. Separate qualifying paper for

HOMEHOME STRATEGYSTRATEGY JUNE 26TH, 2013JUNE 26TH, 2013 72 COMMENTS72 COMMENTS

Mains

1. Separate qualifying paper forEnglish

2. Separate qualifying paperregional language

Single paper that’ll contain 120 marks worth Hindi and 80 marks worthEnglish =total 200 marks.

Four papers of General studies.4 x 250=1000 marks.

Three papers of general studies. 3 x 200=600 marks.

One optional subject (two papers) No optional subjects.

No GS(Mains) paper contains maths, reasoning and statistics in its syllabus.

Analysis of RAS-2012 prelims

Entire question paper available in a separate article click meUnlike the UPSC CSAT-2013 paper, the RAS-2012 prelims paper had following differences:

Very few Economy questions and all of them based on current affairs, number based.Very few Qs on polity and all of them centered on current affairs / Rajasthan.Environment biodiversity matter mostly GK and Rajasthan based.Science forms a major part, and mostly based on direct theory from conventional books.Current affairs form a significant part- including person in news, awards, events etc.

Although, this time RAS has changed syllabus, included aptitude within GS Prelims paper. So, it remains to be seen whether theycontinue the old ways or not. Anyways, let’s see how to approach individual topics as per the syllabus

Rajasthan’s history and culture

Start with the Social science / history textbooks of Rajasthan State education board.If you look at the syllabus of history in Rajasthan University, Jaipur:

1. BA History part 1=> paper 2 is about all History of Rajasthan (from Ancient to 1956).2. MA History paper 5: Main trends in History and Culture of Rajasthan

And as long as there are BA/MA history courses in Government colleges, there will be readymade guidebooks/digests for theindividual papers, right?

So I suggest you visit the bookstores dealing with college books, and inquire for the guidebooks for above papers- that shouldserve as your ‘base’ material.Since RAS got hundreds of vacancies this time, the unscrupulous elements will recycle the same content from such BA/MA booksand sell it as ‘study-material’ for Rs.2000/5000/7000 rupees depending on your desperation. So apply your head, always stick tostandard reference books- they’re cheaper and more reliable for competitive exams.Additional sources:

Visit the sitemap of Rajasthan Government’s tourism website. All these topics are covered in detail.(http://www.rajasthantourism.gov.in/Home/SiteMap.aspx)You’ll also find scattered information in NIOS’s culture course, NCERTs, plus in Rajasthan state education board’stextbooks.

Here is the list of syllabus topics that you need to prepare:

1. Salient features of Architecture – Forts and Monuments2. Arts, Paintings and Handicrafts.3. Fairs, Festivals, Folk Music and Folk Dances.4. Rajsathani Culture, Traditions and Heritage.5. Important Tourist Places.6. Major Landmarks in the History of Rajasthan, Major Dynasties, their Administrative and Revenue System. Socio-cultural

Issues.7. Freedom Movement , Political Awakening and Integration8. Religious Movements, Saints& Lok devtas of Rajasthan.9. Leading Personalities of Rajasthan.

10. Important Works of Rajasthani literature. Local Dilects

Indian History n Culture

This topic can be subdivided into

Ancient Harappa, Vedic age etc.

Medieval Delhi Sultanate, Mughal dynasty etc.

Modern British Raj, freedom struggle etc.

Culture Jainism, buddism, culture, literature, panting, dance, music etc.

If you look at the old papers of RAS, the Indian history related MCQs are mostly “General knowledge” type.For example who defeated whom and when?So, in that regard NCERTs (under new syllabus) won’t be of much help. Because they don’t dwell much into such GK.(Although there is no harm in reading them, but on has to consider the time constrain).Besides, you’ve to Rajasthan state education board’s textbooks for social science /history for preparing Rajasthan’s historyand culture anyways. And even in those Rajasthan state board textbook, India’s history will be covered. If you need

additional reference, consult General studies manual, otherwise just leave it there.for Indian culture, use NIOS course material.For modern history, go for “A brief History of Modern India” by spectrum publication. It’ll also help for the mains as well.same book available in Hindi medium under title “Adhunik Bharat Ka Etihas, Spectrum”Bipin Chandra is also good, if you’ve the time and mood.

Geography

As per upsc syllabus As per RAS syllabus

1. Physical2. Indian3. World

1. World Geography2. Indian Geography3. Geography of Rajasthan

World Geography

Syllabus Reference

Broad Physical featuresNCERT Class 6: chapter 2 to 6NCERT Class 11: 3 to 7

Environmental and Ecological Issues. Separate strategy given under the heading “Environment and Biodiversity”.

Environmental and Ecological Issues. Separate strategy given under the heading “Environment and Biodiversity”.

International WaterwaysNCERT Class 11, Chapter 13 and 14.Class 12 (Fundamentals of Human Geography) Chapter 8.

Major Industrial Regions Class 12 (Fundamentals of Human Geography) Chapter 6.

India Geography

Syllabus Reference

1. Broad physical features and Majorphysiographic divisions.

NCERT Class 6, Ch.7NCERT Class 9, Ch.1, 2 and 4NCERT Class 11, Ch.1, 2

2. Agriculture and Agro based Activities.

For this, you should refer following chapters from NCERT Geographyand Science textbooks.

NCERT Geography Class 8 Ch.4NCERT Geography Class 10 Ch.4NCERT Geography Class 11 Ch.6NCERT Geography Class 12 (Funda. in Human geography) ch.5NCERT Geography Class 12 (India people & Economy) ch.5NCERT Science Class 7, ch.3 and 9NCERT Science Class 8, ch.1

NCERT Science Class 9, ch.15

3. Minerals – Iron, Manganese, Coal, Oil & Gas,Atomic minerals.

NCERT Geography Class 10, ch.5NCERT Geography Class 12 (India people & Economy) ch.7

4. Major Industries and Industrial development. NCERT Class 10 ch. 6 and 8

5. Transportation– major transport corridors.NCERT Class 10 Ch.7NCERT Class 12 (India people & Economy) Ch.10

6. Natural Resources. NCERT Class 10 Ch.1

7. Environmental Problems and Ecological Issues.Separate strategy given under the heading “Environment andBiodiversity”.

Geography of Rajasthan

In the NCERTs chapters under “Indian geography”, you’ll find scattered information about Rajasthan. Note it downseparately.India Yearbook: refer to chapter 30: State and union territories =>Rajasthan. You’ll find overview of Rajasthan’s geography,irrigation etc. But for MCQs, that information alone will not suffice.Therefore, Use Rajasthan State education board textbooks (preferably from Class 7 to 12) related to Social science andgeography subjects and prepare the following topics.

1. Broad physical features and Major physiographic divisions.2. Natural Resource of Rajasthan-3. Climate, Natural Vegetation, Forests, Wildlife and Bio-diversity4. Major irrigation projects.5. Mines and Minerals.6. Population.7. Major Industries and Potential for Industrial Development.

Additional preparation for Rajasthan geography:

1. Major irrigation projects. Chapter 15 Rajasthan State Five year plan.

2. Mines and Minerals.

Raj. Mineral department’s official websitehttp://www.dmg-raj.org/On the left hand side, there is a menu title “mineral information”, read the articlesposted under it.Also prepare the overview/salient features of Rajasthan’s Mineral Developmentpolicy.

policy.

3. Population.

Prepare the Rajasthan related statistics from Census 2011. available herehttp://www.rajcensus.gov.in/Pe_DATA.htmlalso prepare Rajasthan vs. states (for example literacy, sex ratio) from Census2011, with the help of internet.

4. Major Industries and Potential forIndustrial Development.

Use google to dig out SEZs and towns of export excellence in Rajasthan.

Environment and Biodiversity (EnB)

Unlike UPSC, the RAS doesn’t contain separate topic of Environment and Biodiversity, but it is listed as a sub-topic, underWorld, Indian and Rajasthan’s geography.However, it should be separately prepared because

Even in RAS-prelims-2012, there were quite a few questions from Rajasthan related environment related topics.it comes again in the mains syllabus and in past mains exams, they’ve asked direct questions such as Explainenvironmental benefits of organic farming, Explain Eutrophication and so on.

The foundation material for Environment biodiversity is NIOS (National institute for open schooling.)Also refer to following chapters of NCERT textbooks.

NCERT Geography textbooks NCERT Other subject Textbooks

Geography Class6 Ch8Geography Class7 Ch1 to 6Geography Class8 Ch 2 and 5Geography Class9 Ch5Geography Class10 Ch2Geography Class11 Ch4 and 5Geography Class11 Ch 15 and 16

Science Class7 Ch7, 16,17 and 18Science Class8 Ch7 and 18Science Class9 Ch14Science Class10 Ch. 14 to 16Biology Class12, Ch. 13 to 16Chemistry class11, Ch.14Economy Class11, Ch.9

Additionally prepare the objective/targets/salient features of following policies:

What? From where?

Rajasthan State Environment Policy 2010Rajasthan State Forest Policy 2010

http://rajasthan.gov.in

Rajasthan Solar energy policy http://www.rrecl.com/Solar1.aspx

Also visit Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation’s website (rrecl.com) and make the list of projects and schemes.for wildlife sanctuaries, national parks list, visit Rajasthan forest Department’s page: http://rajforest.nic.in/?q=national-parks-

and-sanctuaries-in-rajasthanfor information on wildlife in individual national parks: http://www.rajasthanwildlife.in/

Economy

For let me list the unconventional topics from the RAS syllabus (free downloads @bottom)

Accounting

Concept,Tools and Uses in Administration

NIOS Accountancy, chapter 1 to 3IGNOU BA Public Administration chapter on Accountancy in government.

e-Commerce IGNOU MA Public Administration chapter on E-commerce.

Now coming to the conventional topics of economy: For RAS prelims, Economy is subdivided into three parts

1. Basic concepts2. Indian Economy3. Rajasthan’s Economy

For topic #1 and #2, the sources are

1. NCERT Class 11, 12 (free download links @bottom).2. Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (TMH Publication). Same Book in Hindi under title “Bhartiya Arthvyavastha, Ramesh

Singh”3. Mrunal.org/economy4. newspaper, magazines.

Prelim topic Subtopics as per official syllabus How to prepare?

Basic Concepts ofEconomics16

1. Basic Knowledge of Budgeting,Public Finance, Fiscal policy

NCERT Class 12 Macroeconomics, Chapter 5Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh, Chapter onpublic finance

2. Banking, Monetary PoliciesRamesh Singh, chapter on BankingCRR, SLR, NBFC and related current affairshave been explained in Mrunal.org/economy

3. National Income, Growth andDevelopment

NCERT Class 12 Macroeconomics, Chapter 2Ramesh Singh, Chapter 2

4. Stock Exchange and Share Market Ramesh Singh chapter 2, 12, 13, 14 and 16.

5. Subsidies, Public Distribution SystemRamesh Singh Chapter 21Mrunal’s summary of Economic Survey Ch8,subtopic food Management.

6. Inflation- Concept, Impact andControl Mechanism

Ramesh Singh Chapter 7

Indian EconomicDevelopment &

Planning

1. 5 Year Plans – Objectives, Strategiesand Achievements.

1. Ramesh Singh ch.52. Also chapter 2 of Rajasthan state’s Five year

plan.

3. Major Sectors of Economy-Agriculture, Industry, Service andTrade- Current Status.

Ramesh Singh ch9 and 10Mrunal’s summary of Economic survey chapter8, 9 and 10.

4. Major Economic Problems andGovernment Initiatives.

Contains scattered topics for example inflation, rupeedepreciation, Foreign investment, IIP etc. so gothrough:

1. Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh2. Mrunal.org/economy3. keep an eye on newspapers

5. Economic Reforms and Liberalization NCERT Class 11 Indian Economic Development.

Human Resourceand EconomicDevelopment

1. Human Development IndexCovered under my summary of Economic Surveych13. available on Mrunal.org/economy

2. Poverty and unemployment: Concept,Types, Causes, Remedies

Ramesh Singh chapter 22Mrunal’s summary of Economic survey ch.13.

3. (Poverty removal) Flagship Schemes.4. Social Justice and Empowerment5. Provisions for Weaker Sections.

Covered under Mrunal’s summary of EconomicSurvey ch13.

You’ll have to again face these topics as GS Mains paper 1 under “Economic Concepts and IndianEconomy”. Although in mains some new topics will also come for example Issue of NPA, FinancialInclusion, Tax Reforms in India, concept of Money supply. But pretty much all of them covered in thecombination of: NCERT, Ramesh singh, Mrunal.org/economy

Economy of Rajasthan

For this, primary reference sources are

1. Budget speech of CM2. Rajasthan’s Five year plan documents.3. Newspaper.

Additionally prepare the salient features of following:

1. Rajasthan Industrial and Investment Policy2. Policy for the Registration and Protection of Geographical Indications of Goods in Rajasthan3. Rajasthan’s Mineral Development policy

While you read these topics, do make notes because same content is repeated in the syllabus of GS (Mains) paper 1 and 3.

Prelim topics How to prepare?

Macro overview ofEconomy.

Goto Rajasthan Government ‘s finance department website and Read following PDFs from Budget2013-14:

1. Budget at a glance2. Budget speech of CM

Also Chapter 1 of Rajasthan state five year plan.

Major Agricultural,Industrial andService SectorIssues.

Chapter 10,11 and 15-18 of Rajasthan’s Five year plan.

Growth,Development andPlanning.

Chapter 2,3 and 4 of Rajasthan state five year plan.

Infrastructure &Resources.

10, 16, 17, 18

Major DevelopmentProjects.

Chapter 7 and 8 of Rajasthan state five year plan.

Programmes andSchemes-

this topic also re-appears in GS Mains paper 3 under the title “Current sensitive issues”.This includes Government Welfare Schemes for SC/ST/Backward Class/Minorities/DisabledPersons, Destitute, Women, Children, Old Age People, Farmers & Labourers.Refer to chapter 14, 20-28 of Rajasthan state five year plan, and prepare micro-notes or mindmapscontaining following details about every scheme: 1)which department/ministry implements it? 2)who is the target beneficiary 3) salient features/benefits offered.State government would publish big colourful ads in the newspapers (usually before any elections),showing their achievements and schemes. do note down the information from there too.

Polity

As per the RAS prelims syllabus, polity can be further classified into

1. Indian Constitution related conventional topics e.g. Government of India Acts: 1919 and 1935, Nature of Indian Constitution;Preamble, Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State, Fundamental Duties, Federal Structure, ConstitutionalAmendments, etc.

Amendments, etc.2. Indian Political System and Governance e.g. CVC, NHRC etc.3. Rajasthan state related polity e.g. CM, state assembly, HC etc.

For topic #1 and 2 listed above, read Indian polity by M.Laxmikanth. For Hindi medium, the same book isavailable under the title “Bharat ki Rajyavyavstha, M.Laxmikanth”.

How to efficiently read M.Laxmikanth?

1. First you read the chapter on President, Vice President and immediately move to the chapter on governor.Then read on Emergency provisions.

2. Read chapter on PM and cabinet, then move to CM and state council of Ministers.3. Chapter on “Parliamentary system” and then directly to parliament, but after budget topic is done pause this

chapter and move to on CAG. Then come back and resume the chapter on parliament.4. Once parliament is finished, move to State legislative assembly.5. Supreme Court and then High court, tribunals.6. Attorney Gen =>Advocate General7. UPSC =>State PSC

8. Finance Commission =>Planning Commission=>National Development council9. Now Centre State relation and Interstate relations.

10. Election Commission=> chapter on election, Anti-defection11. All the National Commissions on Women, SC, ST,OBC, CVC, Lokpal and so on.

Once t̂his is done. Move to

1. Citizenship, Fundamental rights, DPSP, duties.2. Amendment of Constitution=> preamble3. Jammu Kashmir => Scheduled and Tribal Areas.4. UT, Panchayati Raj, municipalities

After t̂his is done. Read whatever chapters are remaining. Ultimately

Appendix for union-state-concurrent list, table of precedence etc.the mock MCQ questions given in Laxmikant.

Rajasthan state polity/administration

It includes

1. Governor2. Chief

Minister3. State

Assembly4. High Court5. Rajasthan

PublicServiceCommission

6. State HumanRightsCommission

7. StateElectionCommission

8. StateInformationCommission

The basic theory regarding power, function, appointment etc. remain one and same for all states, sorefer to the relevant chapters in Indian polity by M.Laxmikanth.Also go through the Rajasthan state education board’s social science / civics textbooks and preparethe relevant chapters.Sometimes the state PCS exams ask GK type questions from these topics also. For example who isthe current State election Commissioner or How many judges are there in Rajasthan High Court etc.For such GK/current affairs, visit the official websites of those bodies and click on “About us”. butdo that exercise, after you’ve finish the basic syllabus for the preliminary exam.

Prepare the basic concepts, prepare chapter 15 to 18 from IGNOU BA Public Administration course code:BPAE-102. Because the same concent will also re-appear under GS Mains paper 1, subtopic“Administrative System of Rajasthan”.Also using internet find following:

DistrictAdministration

Also using internet find following:

Find the total no. of districts in Rajasthan.

recently created/merged/renamed districts

5th Schedule areas in Rajasthan.Cities of Rajasthan under Police Commissioner system.

After independence, many parts were merged in Rajasthan state during 48-56.RAS-prelims-2012, also contained question about it. So, prepare that list from:http://rajforest.nic.in/?q=formation-of-rajasthan

Rajasthan Public Policy

For preliminary exam, public policy is a very vague topic for framing MCQs, unless they enter in GK type question forexample: Rajasthan Forest policy was enacted in which year?or they might ask you MCQs from salient features of various policy but then there are so many polices, it starts becomesvery time consuming to finish the syllabus.However, keeping the other topics from prelims and mains in mind, I would suggest you atleast prepare the salient features ofpolicies given below.

Economy related

1. Rajasthan Industrial and Investment Policy2. Policy for the Registration and Protection of Geographical Indications of Goods in Rajasthan3. Mineral Development policy

Environment related

1. Rajasthan State Environment Policy 20102. Rajasthan State Forest Policy 20103. Policy for providing generation of Electricity from Biomass

Agriculture/ rural Development related:

1. State Water Policy2. State Livestock Development Policy3. Policy for Promotion of Agro-Processing and Agri-Business, 20104. Sector Policy for Rural Drinking Water and Sanitation

Sci-tech related

1. Rajasthan’s Biotech Policy2. Rajasthan’s IT Policy

you can download policy documents from www.rajasthan.gov.in/rajgovt/actnpolicies/actnpolicies.htmlYou don’t have to read the entire policy documents, just concentrate on the overview/salient-features/objectives of saidpolicy and prepare notes out of it, for quick revision during Mains preparation.

Let’s move to next subtopic under polity:

Rajasthan Citizen charter and Legal rights

For Legal Rights, Prepare the salient features/overview/objectives of following:

1. Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act, 20112. The Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act, 2012

For Citizen Charterbasics explained herehttp://mrunal.org/2013/03/polity-citizens-charter-bill-2011-salient-features-issues-criticism-explained.htmlAnd for Rajasthan so far 32 departments have already issued such charters. And Divisional Commissioner is empowered totransfer an employee, if he/she is found negligent in implementation of citizen charters. (Although it’d be waste of time to prepare32 department’s citizen charters for prelims, so better just ignore or may be prepare a few big ones example state department foragriculture, social-justice, tourism etc. keeping the mains syllabus in mind.)

Science & Technology

The science technology (including environment-biodiversity), forms a significant part of Prelims as well as mains.

The science technology (including environment-biodiversity), forms a significant part of Prelims as well as mains.In the RAS mains exam syllabus, GS Paper II worth 200 marks revolves around just two topics 1) Aptitude 2) Science-Tech.anyways, for the moment let’s just concentrate on the topics to be prepared for prelims:

Sources

1. NCERT Class 7 to 10 science textbooks2. Mrunal.org/snt3. relevant chapters in Rajasthan’s five year plan and policies.4. (optional) Spectrum’s book on Science and Technology. Also available in Hindi medium under the title Vigyan Evum

Prodhyogiki, Spectrum Editorial board

Official syllabus topic How to prepare?

Basics of EverydayScience.

For this refer to NCERT science textbooks class 7 to 10For more reference, you may refer to NIOS course material for Science.

Electronics, Computers,Information andCommunicationTechnology (ICT).

Lot of stuff related to e-governance and ICT projects has been covered in my economy surveychapter 10 (part 3 of 5) article. available on mrunal.org/economy.for Rajasthan State government’s e-governance projects e.g. E-SANCHAR, Aarogya Onlineetc. refer to Chapter 27 of Rajasthan state’s five year plan and simultaneously prepare notes onit because they’ll be extremely useful for the mains.for more reference: chapter 9 and 10 for Spectrum’s book on Science and Technology.

Space Technologyincluding Satellites.

Space-tech related Current affairs compilation from 2012 to March 2013, already given in

mrunal.org/sntCopy paste its content in MS word file. Then whatever new thing happens, you update it inyour word file.

Defense Technology

Defense related Current affairs compilation from 2012 to March 2013, already given inmrunal.org/sntCopy paste its content in MS word file. Then whatever new thing happens, you update it inyour word file.

Nanotechnology

Topic available in General studies manual And or chapter 9 and 10 for Spectrum’s book onScience and Technology.OR just google it. All you need is definition, principle and applications.Lot of Nano-tech applications already given under my Hindu-science tech summary articles,available on mrunal.org/snt

Human body, Food andNutrition, Health care

This already covered under NCERT science textbooks from class 7 to 10.Union governments’ schemes related to public health, already covered under three part articleseries in Mrunal.org/sntfor Rajasthan governments’ schemes on public health (e.g. Mukhya Mantri Nishulk DavaYojana, Mukhya Mantri Balika Sambal Yojana etc.) refer to Chapter 21 and 26 of Rajasthanstate’s five year plan and simultaneously prepare notes on it because they’ll be extremely usefulfor the mains.

Environmental andEcologicalChanges and itsImpacts.Biodiversity

Strategy already given under the topic title “environment and biodiversity”. Foundation fromNCERT+NIOS.Koyoto and various summits covered under mrunal.org/enbChapter 12 of Rajasthan state’s five year plan and simultaneously prepare notes on it becausethey’ll be extremely useful for the mains.

Biotechnology andGenetic Engineering

NCERT Botany class 12Chapter 17 of Spectrum’s book on Science and Technology.

Agriculture,Horticulture,ForestryAnimal Husbandrywith special

Overlaps with Geography chapters that I suggested earlier.Chapter 10, 11 and 12 of Rajasthan state’s five year plan and simultaneously prepare notes on itbecause they’ll be extremely useful for the mains.

with specialreference toRajasthan.

because they’ll be extremely useful for the mains.For additional reference: Chapter 5 of Spectrum’s book on Science and Technology.

Development of Scienceand Technology inRajasthan.

Chapter 19 Rajasthan state’s five year planKeep an eye on newspapers.Also the Rajsthan Sci-tech department’s website http://dst.rajasthan.gov.in/

Also prepare salient-features/objectives of following policies

3. Rajasthan’s Biotech Policy4. Rajasthan’s IT Policy

Current Affairs and PIN

Official syllabus mentions following:

1. Major Current Events and Issues of State(Rajasthan), National and International2. Persons and Places in recent news3. Games and Sports related Activities

In 2012’s RAS prelims paper, we can see lot of current affairs questions were asked.

How to prepare national/international current affairs?

Goto library, read whatever competitive magazine you get (CST, Pratiyoigta, Chronicle, Wizard) and note down importantthings in loose pages then file them under separate categories (person in news, books-authors, sports, international summitetc.).I’ve already published compilation for important persons in news, books-authors and sport from 2012 upto March 2013.

http://mrunal.org/2013/02/misc-gk-persons-in-news-2012-13-sports-books-awards-for-ssc-cgl-sbi-po-upsc-csat.htmlcopy paste it in MS Word file and keep editing, updating as new developments take place.

Current Affairs Rajasthan

for this, you should follow a local daily newspaper.but in such newspapers, usually they tend to focus on masala and gossip news, cricket,Bollywood,local politics etc. but fromexam point of view such things are not very important.from the newspaper, keep a habit of noting down following things in a separate file:

Government related

1. Creation/merger of departments/ministries/government organizations.2. New policies, schemes for agriculture, weaker section, education etc.3. Allocation by planning Commission.4. Any landmark judgments of the high court.5. any new bill/act in the state legislative assembly

Economy

1. New government initiatives to bring more investment and boost economy, tourism.2. Signing of MoUs,3. New oil/gas plants or pipelines etc.4. SEZ allocation, building of new national highway/expressway etc.

Environment/sciencerelated

1. News related to wildlife, seasonal migration of birds etc.2. news related to launching of projects for renewable energy, soil conservation, combating

desertification etc.

Persons/places in news

1. Any athlete from the state, participating in an international level sporting event.2. Any author/artist/sportsman from the state, getting state, national or international level

award.3. Death of any important person. (Business tycoon, author, dancer, writer etc.)4. Location of any city where international or national level conference/event is being held.5. Location of any place where military exercise is taking place.

Reasoning & Mental Ability

Reasoning & Mental Ability

For reasoning, the book remains same as usual:

A modern Approach to Verbal and Non-verbal reasoning by Dr. RS Aggarwal (S.Chand Publication).

First finish the topics listed in the official syllabus:

Logical Reasoning (Deductive, Inductive, Abductive)

Topics as per official syllabus. Approach

1. Statement and Assumptions,

RS Aggarwal’s book: Section II (Logical deduction), chapter No. 2 to 8.

2. Statement and Argument,

3. Statements and Conclusion,

4. Courses of Action.

5. Analytical Reasoning.

If the time permits, also go through the first chapter (logic/syllogism)If you’ve already MK Pandey’s Book (analytical reasoning) as part of your SBI PO preparation, then first understand the

theory from part I of his book and then use RS Aggarwal as practice work.For additional practice, you may also use previous years IBPS/Bank PO papers.

Mental Ability

Topics as per official syllabus. Approach (RS Aggarwal’s book)

1. Number series 1, 16

2. Letter series 10

3. Odd man out Chapter 3

4. Coding-Decoding Chapter 4

5. Problems relating to Relations Chapter 5 and 6

6. Shapes and their sub sections. Non-verbal reasoning section: chapter 4,7,14.

In above topics, there is hardly any theory or formulas. The only way to attain speed and accuracy is through practice. So doall the sums from those chapters of his book.Once this is done, also get an overview of other chapters of his book as well.

Reasoning For GS Mains!

Curiously, RAS even has reasoning topic in its GS (Mains) Paper 2 syllabus.It contains all of the topics mentioned above + Venn Diagrams.For Venn Diagrams, do following Chapter #9 of RS Agarwal. But it only deals with Logical venn diagram and not mathsbased venn diagrams (e.g. in a society 30 people drink coffee and 40 drink tea then..) so for that type maths based Venndiagrams, either refer NCERT maths class 11 chapter 1 or go through your quantitative aptitude book.

Basic Numeracy

The syllabus mentions very basic level topics.Use whatever book you’ve for quantitative aptitude (RS Aggarwal, Tyra, Sarvesh Kumar anything is fine) and prepare topiclisted in the official syllabus viz.

Official syllabus What to prepare?

Elementary knowledge ofPractice BODMAS, surds-indices related questions

Elementary knowledge ofMathematical analysis.

Practice BODMAS, surds-indices related questions

Statistical AnalysisAverages. + Basic formulas for mean, median and mode and definition based question. For thisrefer NCERT Class 11 Statistics, Chapter 1 to 4.

Number System HCF, LCM, remainders.

Order of Magnitude Comparison of fraction. NCERT Class 7 Chap 2, 9.

Ratio and Proportion NCERT Class 8 Chap 13. then practice sums from your quantitative aptitude book.

Percentage, Simple andCompound Interest

All these can be easily solved once your basic concepts of % is clear. go throughMrunal.org/aptitude

Data Analysis (Tables,Bar diagram, Line graph,Pie-chart).

This portion doesn’t have much theory or formulas. (Except for the pie-charts).Hence the only way to improve speed and accuracy is through practice.So, Practice the Data interpretation (DI) cases from previous years’ SSC CGL and BankPOquestion papers. The DI questions BankPO require very lengthy calculations, but I don’t thinkthat’ll be the case with RAS.

Do not just stop ^here. Because the RAS Mains GS paper II also has maths topics in its syllabus- Including Time and Work,Time, Speed and Distance, area-volume-perimeter! So while you’re in the momentum, try to finish them as well.Don’t just read the sums, solve them on your own. Otherwise in the exam, you’ll make silly mistakes while plugging thevalues in the equations and silly mistakes in calculations.do maintain a diary: whatever formulas, shortcut techniques, special type of questions you come across, note them here.Even note down whatever mistakes you make while solving sums- to prevent them from happening in future.

Conclusion

1. Good or bad, whatever was your experience with UPSC CSAT 2013, leave it there and start preparation with a fresh mind.2. Don’t be in overconfidence that just because I’ve cracked xyz exam earlier so this is a pappu exam for me. Competition is

merciless, reading-revision is necessary.3. If you’ve applied for this exam, then focus on your studies only. Don’t waste time in day-dreaming, facebook, orkut, random

net surfing, chatting, TV, cricket, weddings of distant relatives etc. Time-pass activities will always be there, but once youcross the age-limit, there is no restart button. (This rule applies to all competitive exams.)

4. When you get bored reading General studies, then solve maths / reasoning questions. when you get bored with maths /reasoning, then resume your General studies preparation.

5. I can’t do maths or I can’t do science, yeh mujse nahi hoga, woh mujse nahi hoga= these are all losers’ excuses. I’m notfrom a good college/ I’m not from English medium =these are all inferiority complexes. Success in Government recruitmentexams only depends on your score in written exam and interview. So, avoid losers’ excuses and inferiority complexes andcommit yourself to the hardwork and leave rest in the hands of God.

Free study material, Download links

RAS Exam related Technical details:

courtesy: Mr.csl80 for these details.

2012’s prelim paper click me

Mains papers of 2008 and 2010 https://files.secureserver.net/0sU4TvbvGiB72C

Cutoffs for 2012’s Prelims

Go to this link and download whatever PDFs you require:https://files.secureserver.net/0fHXKGPK4piZyE

Syllabus

Notification for 2013’s Exam

Press Note regarding reforms in RAS exam

RAS Specific Study material

1.Rajasthan’s Five year plan document

2.Rajasthan’s Budget

https://files.secureserver.net/0sTWYRF8vkNc6J

3.Accountancy and related materialhttps://files.secureserver.net/0s15UHzeMgVVFs

3.Accountancy and related material

4.District Administration

https://files.secureserver.net/0s15UHzeMgVVFs

NCERT and NIOS (Essential/Core)

Go to following link: https://files.secureserver.net/0fHCh0CLd6Az63You’ll find the material organized in various folders. Click on individual folder and download zip files. Here is the descriptionabout the contents of individual folder:

Folder Comment

HistoryContains NCERT history chapters from class 7 to 12, in three zip files: ancient, medieval and Modern+NIOS Culture material

Science

Contains class 7 to 10 NCERT Science in three zips: physics, chemistry, biology.+NIOS Science material. (although there will be lot of overlapping)Class 11, 12 Science books given in the peripheral section below.

EnB

Contains selective chapters from class 6 to 12 from science and geography textbooks that are relevantfor Environment and biodiversity.+NIOS material for environment and biodiversity EnB.

Economy

Contains NCERT class 11 + NCERT 12 Macro economics+NIOS economy material.

Class 12 Micro-economics not included because not worth the time for CDS. Although download linkin the peripheral section below.

GeographyContains NCERT class 6 to 12 in five zip folders: physical, India, World, Agro and glossary.+NIOS material on geography (although lot of overlapping)

India yearbook

Earlier government used to upload free PDF files for India yearbook (e.g. India 2010, India 2011 etc.)But for the RAS prelims, you should prepare a few static topics for it, from MCQ point of view. so, just download the India2011 edition click me

And read chapter following chapters

1.Land and the People2.National Symbols3.The Polity (for polity)20 Justice and Law (for polity segment)30. State and UT (for geography related questions, also give specification attention to Rajasthan topic under it.)

Softwares

1. Majority of these PDF files provides direct copying of text. => That means you can use Mrunal’s autonotemaker to quicklymake notes and mindmaps out of it, just use mouse cursor to highlight a particular line /phrase and my software will copy itstext in a separate file. for more instructions click me

2. Foxit PDF reader. (necessary prerequisite for using Mrunal’s autonotemaker) click me

NCERT and NIOS (Peripheral)

Read these if depending on your time and mood.

NIOSSingle folder contains many courses from NIOS: sociology, political science etc. download as per yourtime, mood and requirement.

Download

NCERTs

Biology 12 Biology Download

Chemistry 12 Chemistry 1 Download

Chemistry 12 Chemistry 2 Download

Subscribe (free!)

Print || PDF (Need Chrome)!

Chemistry 12 Chemistry 2 Download

Economics 12 Introductory Microeconomics Download

Economics 10 Understanding Economic Development Class X Social Science Download

Economics 9 Economics for Class 9 Download

Physics 12 Physics 1 Download

Physics 12 Physics 2 Download

Political Science 12 Contemporary World Politics Political Science Class 12 Download

Political Science 12 Political Science 2 for Class 12 Download

Political Science 11 Political Theory Political Science Class 11 Download

Political Science 11 Indian Constitution at Work Political Science Class 11 Download

Political Science 7 Social and Political Life Part 2 – Class 7 Download

Political Science 8 Social and Political Life – Class 8 Download

Social sci. 10 Democratic Politics Part 2 for Class X Social Science Download

Sociology 12 Sociology Indian Society Download

Sociology 12 Sociology Social Change and Development in India for Download

Sociology 11 Introducing Sociology Class 11 Download

Sociology 11 Understanding Society Sociology Class 11 Download

World history 9 India and Contemporary World 1 for Class 9 Download

World history 10 India and the Contemporary World 2 Class X Social Science Download

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72 comments to [Strategy] RAS 2013 Prelims: booklist, study material, approach, cutoffs, previouspapers, syllabus of Rajasthan State & Subordinate Services Combined Competitive Exam

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SiddharthReply to this comment

thank you in advance for your much awaited article on UPSC mains

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