Pub ad When did I start my preparation for Pub Ad? May 2010. Is coaching required for Pub Ad?

Depends totally on you. I did not join any coaching as I felt that this subject could be studied on one's own. I came to this decision after reading Pub Ad for about 2 months between May and June 2010. So it was totally a personal decision and may not be generalized for everyone. My advice: Do your own analysis and decide if you need a coaching or not. Strategy for Paper 1 Books referred: Administrative Thinkers - Prasad & Prasad Public Administration - Polinaidu (quite a good book) Public Administration - Mohit Bhattacharya (must read) Public Administration - Maheshwari (didnt like this book) Nicholas Henry (for certain topics) Notes from Vajiram and Synergy Strategy: I finished paper 1 once by October 2010. Thereafter I focused revising and understanding it better. After UPSC Preliminary Examination, another friend and I used to have discussion sessions on each of the topics. This way we finished discussing the entire paper. The discussions were very useful. It is a good way of testing whether one understands the topic as well as getting new inputs on the topic. We also took previous years' question papers and discussed how we would approach those questions. During discussions I realized that there were certain topics that I had not studied in depth. So I took note of those topics and tried to understand them better. It was a constant process of improvisation. At no stage I felt that I am adequately prepared or in command of the entire paper. Answer writing: I had joined test series at Vajiram. So, my entire writing practice consisted only of writing their tests. Didn't do any any extra writing practice. A lot of people kept saying that one should draw a lot of diagrams in paper. I never thought that was absolutely necessary. In my CSE paper, I drew diagrams only in a couple of questions where I thought a diagram could convey my thoughts better than mere words. For rest, I stuck to using logical and coherent arguments through words.

Strategy for Paper 2

Books referred Frankly, there arnt good books available in the market for paper 2. Arora and Goyal is decent but it is quite outdated. I referred the following text for paper 2: Indian Administration - Arora and Goyal Reports of the 2nd Administrative Reforms Commission Some relevant IGNOU material Notes of Vajiram and Synergy Here, I must stress the fact that ARC reports form the backbone of your paper 2 prep. Take that out and your paper 2 prep will collapse. It is also useful for citing examples in paper 1 answers.

Strategy: I finished the syllabus from the traditionally recommended books and internet sources by December 2010. Retrospectively, I can say that I didnt really learn much in paper 2 during that time. Almost all my learning of paper 2 happened after UPSC Preliminary Examination when I started reading the ARC reports. Those reports are absolutely fantastic and are a high quality preparation source for Pub Ad students. The rest of the strategy was similar to paper 1. After I finished a report, I and my friend used to discuss that report in depth. Very helpful discussions. Answer writing: Joined the Vajiram test series. The test series wasnt great but I kept taking the tests because that was the only way I got myself to revise syllabus on time and get some answer writing practice. Wrote simple, to the point answers in the CSE paper.

My Pub Ad marks in CSE 2011: Paper 1 - 184 Paper 2 - 167 Total - 351

Chapters in paper 2 and the corresponding ARC reports to be read.

Chap 4 - Report 13 Chap 6 & 7 - Report 15 Chap 8 - Report 10 Chap 9 - Report 14 Chap 10 - no specific ARC. But once you have read the other reports you will be able to answer questions from this chapter. Chap 11 & 12 - Report 6 chap 13 - report 5 Chap 14 - Report 3 & 4

I read the whole reports that I have mentioned above. Very high quality material.