Civil Services Exam Requires Thorough Preparation of Optional Subjects

Faraz Ahmad Qureshi, who successfully cracked Civil Services examination 2009, talks to jagranjosh.com about the correct approach to optional subjects

Jagran Josh: History is often regarded as a very vast and difficult to score in. What strategy did you adopt during your preparation to overcome this problem?
FA Qureshi: I never studied the whole syllabus of History. By analyzing past 15 years’ question papers, important areas/sections could be identified. I was very selective while studying History. Moreover, I never tried to mug-up small facts and dates. I always tried to understand events in right chronological order.

Jagran Josh: How should one prepare with Pub Ad for Civil Services? Knowledge of Current Government decisions or schemes which is related to Current Affairs section plays a major role to score well in this paper. Do you think Web Portals can help you in this area?
FA Qureshi: As I am University Gold-medalist in Public Administration, I did not have any difficulty in this subject. Nevertheless, I had to change my answer writing style as per the needs of civil service exam. Of course, web portals are helpful when it comes to current affairs.

Jagran Josh: What methodology did you adopt during your preparation for making notes and revision of G.S. and optional subjects? Do you think it was time consuming? Can it be made more effective and less time consuming with the help of Web Portals?
FA Qureshi: Making note and then revisiting them before exam is much time consuming. I never made bulky notes, instead of I underlined my books, so I cannot say anything about Internet in this respect.