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 you
1. 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 others
3.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,schemes
2. p.nath is good for the genetics /biology part
3.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