Political Science and International Relations is the most productive subject for UPSC – Civil Services Examination with respect to today’s pattern. The biggest advantage of PSIR is its overlap of syllabus with that of Preliminary examination and Mains examination. Hence, your preparation of PSIR will not drain your valuable time out of either your Prelims preparation or out of your Mains preparation. Another biggest advantage of PSIR is that once you systematically understand the concepts behind International Relations and Foreign Policy, your understanding capacity of current affairs, especially foreign relations, defense cooperations, etc., improves. Hence, preparing for PSIR in a more strategic way will not just give you more marks in your optional paper but will also improve the probability of getting more marks in General Studies Preliminary and General Studies Mains examination.
The very heart of PSIR paper is its Political Theory section. The Political Theory section comes in Paper-I, Section A of your syllabus. Any student of PSIR must try to understand the portions of Political Theory first, if not master it. There are many standard books (including that of PSIR ONLINE; see the booklist section for standard books titles) available in the market. Understanding the concepts of Political Theory first will enhance your capability to understand the other sections of PSIR in a nuanced way. Always remember, the key to success in mastering PSIR optional subject lies in mastering the Political Theory section of PSIR optional subject.
Why am I saying so? Because,
Hence, the first step of PSIR optional student is to master Political Theory section.
The first and foremost thing you have to do is that you have to analyse the Previous Year Questions on Political Theory yourself. You must yourself analyse at least the question papers of the last 5 years to grasp the mindset of UPSC. In PSIR ONLINE website, this analysis is available. But, as I said in overall strategy, analysing everything yourself (such analysis needs just a basic understanding of topics, which you would have gained in your schools and undergraduation) will feed your subconscious mind with definitive patterns which will be a real key to your success.
Then, purchase ‘political theory module’ from PSIR ONLINE App. We also provide you with specially curated notes which helps you to master the section.
In our module, the total Political Theory section is divided into multiple small topics based on the syllabus. The students are advised to see each topic separately and after listening to the lecture of that particular topic, immediately take PSIR ONLINE notes and read them. It becomes the most effective strategy as you can listen and read the subject almost at the same time. The lectures of PSIR will be very lucid in such a way that you understand the notes and hence the subject, very easily.
Taking notes while listening to my lectures in app and then comparing with PSIR ONLINE study material is also a good strategy. If you need more clarification, you can also use standard books (as I said earlier) related to the topic. But, I strongly suggest using PSIR ONLINE study materials as they are more comprehensive and exam-oriented than standard books, which are primarily written for undergraduates and scholars of the subject.
Once you have completed reading the topic, immediately take a note book and write the definitions of all the technical terms that is there in that particular topic. My PSIR lectures will always have definitions for all such technical terms; you can also rely on my definitions given through YouTube, Instagram, or Facebook videos.
But, it is a MUST for all the students to write the definitions of all the technical terms in a separate notebook. After visiting PSIR ONLINE study materials and other standard books, you can also use AI like ChatGPT, Perplexity, or Google to devise your own lucid definition for the technical terms. But remember not to deviate a lot from my definitions as our definitions are tailor-made for PSIR exam.
Once the definitions are done, you have to search and write quotes of famous thinkers and personalities relevant to the particular topic you are reading in a separate notebook! (NOTE! You should maintain 2 notebooks, one for definitions and other for quotes. You can also maintain another notebook for general PSIR notes, but that will not be needed as our PSIR ONLINE study material itself will be very comprehensive. If needed, write the extra points in the vacant spaces of PSIR ONLINE study material. This technique will be less time-consuming and will be very useful for revision.)
Once you are done with the topic, you can go to the next topic and repeat the same steps. Some students might find it difficult to comprehend the topics and the concept inside the topics in the first trial itself. For such students, taking notes in the very first trial and writing definitions etc. will be very tough. Such students can see all my lectures at a stretch and not take notes in the first instance. After understanding the whole Political Theory in a nutshell, then you can again start watching topic-by-topic and take notes as I mentioned. Both techniques are successful techniques only.
Some of you might be curious to ask which order of study you have to follow, whether you have to follow the order mentioned in the syllabus or the order of my lectures? My lectures will have Introduction to Political Theory first and then I will go to Political Ideologies and then I will come to Political Concepts and then finally I will go to Western and Indian Political Thought.
I think this is the more logical way of understanding the subject than it is there in the syllabus. Hence, I will suggest the students to follow the order of my lectures to prepare for Political Theory Subject.
Don’t go beyond the syllabus for no reason. Remember, you are not studying to become a scholar, you are only preparing to crack UPSC Civil Service Examination!
Try to read PSIR optional subject before your intense UPSC preparation starts. If you can’t do it... I would suggest at least for Political Theory section give one month at a stretch with full concentration. During that time avoid reading any other GS subject or any other section of PSIR itself.
Other sections of PSIR can be read along with other GS subjects or other PSIR sections and topics. For example, every day you can allocate 4 hours for PSIR and remaining hours of your study time could be allocated for GS (both Prelims and Mains). But, this section, I repeat, demands your complete attention and concentration at a stretch to master!
Next, section of PSIR Optional is Section B of Paper I, which in turn has three modules, namely, Indian Nationalism, Indian Polity and Governance, and Indian Politics.
The section of Indian Nationalism is best read with modern India of your GS preparation. In fact, India’s struggle for independence book by Bipan Chandra has more explanation to the topics than most other PSIR books. Our notes for this module is also excellent.
The students are advised to download the app and purchase ‘Indian Nationalism’ module from the app and follow the steps as mentioned in previous Political Theory section. You can use the same notebook of definitions and quotes that you used for Political Theory. If you find some extra points other than what is mentioned in our study material, write them in the vacant spaces of the study material provided. Use the same study material and your note book(if any) for revision before your exams.
The most standard books for Indian Polity are Laxmikanth, DD Basu and PM Bakshi. Here, PM Bakshi (the latest edition) is a must reference book along with our PSIR ONLINE study material. PM Bakshi has numerous notes related to every article; the case laws related to them will be very useful for writing the answer with clarity.
For preparation, follow the similar steps used for previous sections. Along with that, you have to do one extra exercise to master Indian Polity: memorise and write all the Parts and Schedules of Indian Constitution in the same order as an assignment. Once you are done with memorising, then write the Preamble of Constitution as an assignment. Do this every month of your preparation. Doing this will internalize the ethos and structure of Indian Constitution with ease.
Also, read the relevant section of current affairs from PSIR ONLINE website. As you would have analyzed the previous year question papers, you would have understood that UPSC selects the questions for Indian Polity based on current affairs also. For example, if the President, during her speech in any important day like a Republic Day or so, have mentioned about ‘Parliamentary Supremacy’, then that topic becomes a potential UPSC topic and becomes a potential question in PSIR or GS-2 (Mains) or GS – Preliminary examination. Hence, reading current affairs of PSIR ONLINE regularly will enhance the possibility of getting good marks in Civil Service Examination in general and PSIR Optional in particular.
Indian Politics is a more dynamic subject. But, our syllabus of Indian Politics is relatively static and narrow. Hence, I would advise students not to go beyond the syllabus and read daily newspapers articles on Indian Politics and waste time. Our current affairs sessions are specially curated for that, and any important happening in Indian Politics will be compiled and will be updated in the relevant section of www.PSIRONLINE.com. Hence, students can use that for additional knowledge.
For traditional understanding of Indian Politics, the students are advised to download our app and purchase Indian Politics module and repeat the same steps you did for previous sections.
With this Paper I of PSIR optional paper is done.
I would suggest students to master Paper I completely before they go to Paper 2. But, if it cannot be done (because of GS-oriented study plan or so), I would suggest at least to finish Paper I, Section A completely (Political Theory) before you go to Paper 2.
Paper 2, especially Section B is heavily based on current affairs. Even in Paper 2, Section A, the International Relations segment is partially based on current affairs only.
Hence, the preparation of Paper 2 should be more dynamic. But, those dynamic portions of the syllabus cannot be mastered if you have not understood the static portions of the syllabus.
As I said earlier, the Section A- Paper 2 of PSIR optional is segregated into 2 modules, namely, Comparative Politics and International Relations.
The segment of Comparative Politics is a logical extension of Political Theory section. In fact, the concepts that you have read in Political Theory like liberty, equality etc. and the movements that you have read in Political Theory like feminism, Marxism will be used here to compare nations and their politics. This is the reason why some would prefer to master Comparative Politics immediately after they finish Political Theory subject. If you do that, that is also an excellent approach.
The syllabus of Comparative Politics for us is more static. Hence, I would suggest the students to download our app and purchase the Comparative Politics module and repeat the steps you did for previous sections. That will be enough for mastering the subject. If any new material is required, that will be updated in PSIRONLINE website from time to time.
This segment is the foundation for India's foreign policy. This segment deals with International Relations in both theory and practice. In our general studies, the questions from foreign policy come a lot, but questions from direct international relations is not frequent.
But mastering International Relations concepts and ideas before preparing for foreign policy in your GS or foreign policy of PSIR is extremely essential. Download the PSIRONLINE app and purchase International Relations module and repeat the steps that you did for previous segments. Also, read the current affairs from PSIRONLINE regularly for staying in the current.
I like to repeat a point here. Prepare as many quotes as possible by great scholars, foreign ministers, famous presidents and prime ministers of countries like US, UK, India, China, USSR (Russia) etc. Try to gather as many famous quotes as possible. It will definitely improve your chances of getting good marks.
It is the most dynamic segment in the total PSIR syllabus. Along with Indian Polity, this segment almost completely overlaps with your GS syllabus.
To master this segment, you have to follow a two-pronged approach. First, you have to master the static features of the segment. Download PSIR Online app and purchase the particular segment and repeat the steps you did for previous segments.
After that, you have to prepare the current affairs related to the topics extensively. For that, you can rely on current affairs section (check relevant section in website) of our website and on the 'Indian Foreign Policy - current affairs' video module updated in our app. As I said for previous segment, quotes by famous personalities will increase your chances to get good marks.
OK students. I think, by now, you would have understood how to prepare for PSIR optional subject. Apart from this, you must also follow certain rules for better marks.
