To crack both prelims and mains of the the UPSC..?

To crack both prelims and mains of the the UPSC Civil Services Examination 

          
    Prelims is two months away and I have hope. Ofcourse, it's enough. It's surplus ,infact. Plan your days but, more importantly execute them. There's a lot of material, lot of people saying a lot of things. Don't get lost in the sea of information.
1.Choose one website to follow. And follow that alone - 
www.mrunal.org 
www.insightsonindia.com

2.Complete all subjects NCERTs in the first 3 months-
Websites like Mrunal have mentioned what NCERTs are a must read.

3.Follow a maximum of two standard books for each subject -
Everybody suggests a lot of books and i ended up reading too many, only to realize that only one book or a maximum of two are an absolute must. Here's the list for Prelims
Polity - Laxmikanth /DD Basu
Economics - Ramesh Singh 
History- (Modern India) India 's Struggle for Independence by Bipan Chandra  (also read class XII old ncert) ; Ancient and Medieval - Old NCERT.
Environment - NIOS,Lots of online reading.
Art and Culture- CCRT
India Year Book
Geography NCERTs 

All downloads are available on Mrunal. 

4. Choose and complete option prep once before prelims-
So, once you're done with your 3 months of NCERTs, pick one subject from prelims per month and do it in alternation with your option preparation. Trust me, it'll help.

5. CSAT , Just Practice - Now that they've made it qualifying all you need is practice and you can ease through the cutoff. (70 +)

6. LAST but, Most important - Read the newspaper:
     Read The Hindu religiously everyday. Make pointers everyday. Make these notes on loose papers and compile them at the end of every month. That way,  you'll have newspaper notes for every month which you can very conveniently revise in the end. There are many videos on how to read the paper, which you can go through. Also, insights has this section called Daily Current Events which compiles the important news details of everyday. Go through it at the end of the day. Just before you sleep. It takes hardly 10 mins.

7. Write ! - I know you think mains is a long way ahead and you can think about it later but no! Start now. Everyday, take up one article from the news paper or website and read everything about it and practice writing. 
For example, if there's an article on GST, read everything about it. How it'll benefit or if it won't. What it was before, what your take on it is. Whether it is a direct or indirect tax, what are the other type of taxes, etc. 

If you plan it well and go by plan, nothing can stop you. I took a whole year to learn and figure out what works, what to follow, what to not and now I have only two months! 
Don't be obstinate and insist on learning from your own mistakes, like I did. Be smart and learn from others' experience. Save time. Time is Everything and it flies!
Bottomline : 
           It is ABSOLUTELY possible in 15 months. It'a no brainer. With the kind of time you have, just a consistent 4 hours a day,six days a week will do. Use the 7th day to completely relax and enjoy. This is no penance. It is just another exam. Dont let the pressure get to you. 
You can and you will
 All the best.

Best interview questions require presence of mind to answer them?

Interview questions require presence of mind to answer them?

QUESTION-1: 
One of the questions asked during an interview.
Interviewer : There is one scooter which has 2 tyres and one stepney/spare (meaning 3 tyres). Each tyre can run up to max 5 km. How long will the scooter run till?

Candidate: Confused, one thought struck my mind that 5 kms obviously as scooter can't run with one tyre. But if that would be the answer then the question shouldn't be asked in that way. Thought for a while, did some calculations, then gave the answer as 7.5 kms.

Interviewer : How?
Candidate:

• First run 2.5 km and change the 1st tyre with stepney. Now kms remains in 1st tyre: 2.5 km, 2nd tyre: 2.5 km, Stepney : 5 km
• Again run for 2.5 km and this time change 2nd tyre with 1st tyre: Now kms remains 1st tyre: 2.5 km, 2nd tyre :0 km ,stepney : 2.5 km.
• Now run 2.5 km with remaining 1st tyre and stepney .

Total: 2.5+2.5+2.5=7.5

QUESTION-2: 
I encountered this question at my IIM Lucknow interview at Kolkata. Fortunately I converted call and hence I am posting here.

Q: What is the equation to covert degree Celsius to degree Fahrenheit? 
Ans: Well, I don't remember the exact equation. However, I can derive right now. 

Q: How would you do that?
Ans: I know that it is a Linear Relationship. Besides, I know two points on the graph.

1) -40 degreeC =-40 degree F ( I could recollect this interesting  fact)
2) 37 degreeC =98.6 degree F (Body Temperature)

So from the above mentioned points, I can derive the equation.

The interviewer seemed to be satisfied with the answer. 

Moral of the story: It is not important that you 'Remember' everything. Sometimes it is more important how quickly you find any alternative solution.

After a good telephonic interview for a summer internship, I faced this as a closing aptitude test:-

 QUESTION-3: 

Interviewer: Okay Mayank! It was nice talking to you. Now I am putting a hypothetical situation in front of you, let's see how you tackle.

Me: Sure ma'am!

Interviewer: You are an astronaut and right now at an arbitrary planet. You are in a room with 10 glasses of samples of milk with poison dissolved in one of them and nothing else. You have one rat to test the sample. If the rat drinks the poisonous sample at a given time, it dies 10 hours later. You have 24 hours to find out, which sample is poisonous. How would you do that? And yeah, the gravity there is 1.5 times the gravity of earth.

The question seemed easy, but I was not able to relate the role of gravity to inspect the presence of poison in milk. So I decided to just ignore the parts of the question which were related to the astronomical contexts. So then , I was a someone with 10 samples and a rat. With a complete silence of 10 seconds, the idea clicked in my mind.

Me: Ma'am, I would let the rat drink each sample of milk at an interval of 1 hour for consecutive 10 hours. Later I will check the time it dies. The sample corresponding to the time 10 hours before the death would be the right sample. And as I would be hungry enough waiting for the whole day, I would drink the other non poisonous milk samples. :-D

She laughed and finally she asked,

Interviewer: Seems most of your stipend would go to fill your stomach :-P

The best thing I liked about the question was the astronomical part which was just given to confuse the person for the in prompt attempt.

Astronaut :-P Really?

This happened with my elder brother in campus interview.

QUESTION-4:
HR: Your resume states that you play chess.

He: Yes sir.

HR: How far you have gone in tournaments?

He: State level.

HR: Ok. Imagine you're playing with Vishwanathan Anand. He plays the soldier in front of the Queen 2 blocks forward. What will be your 5th move?

He: Sir, I won't have to think about my 5th move at all.

HR: Why?

He: Vishwanathan Anand would have defeated me in the fourth move itself!

RESULT : SELECTED.

Edit - A few people have pointed out that defeating a state level player within 4 moves is impossible. Yes, it is. But you can't even predict your 5th move on the basis of your opponent's first. And that's where presence of mind was expected.

QUESTION-5:

Which way is the bus going?
Answer:
This picture of a bus is missing its door, and therefore the bus must be going left, because the door is on the right side of the bus and there's no door visible on the side that's facing you in the picture.

Of course, depending on which country you're in, the bus could be driving on either side of the road. If you're in Britain or some of the Commonwealth countries, then the bus must be going right, because the door is on the leftside of the bus.

QUESTION-6

I had read this article in a magazine.And might be some of you already aware of this interview answer which highly requires presence of mind. 

1. Interviewer: So, can you sell this pen to me?
       Candidate: If I have impressed you so, does it mean you will select me definitely?
     Interviewer: I can give it to you in written.
        Candidate: That is why you need this pen to write it down.

2-  Interviewer: Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?
        Candidate:  Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.

3. Interviewer: Your mother and wife both are sinking in a river. Whom you save first?
     Candidate : To whom I can reach first.

Why should I hire you..?

 Why should I hire you?

       This question is a great opportunity to sell yourself and your accomplishments. The answer varies if you're a fresh graduate as opposed to a senior professional. Regardless you should include

1. How you have the required skills/experience: Read the job description twice. I've seen numerous candidates who have no idea about the skills required. Good job descriptions usually add the exact role you'll be doing at the company. Show that you have the required experience/skill-set to do the job. Use evidence to back-up your claim. Ex. If you're applying for a position as a data-scientist, give an example of how you tried to solve the amazon movie recommendation problem, the problems you faced etc. 

2. Why you're a good fit: Employers like to know that you've taken the time to understand their space, product/team. So take this time to co-relate things you've done in the past with the things the company is trying to achieve. Also relate on a personal level, after-all we're all human beings. Do you believe in the values of the company etc.

3. You get things done: This is the most important ability an employer is looking for. The ability to get things done, no matter the obstacles. Give some examples from the past. 

The syllabus to prepare for the UPSC?

           The syllabus to prepare for the UPSC CSE...!

          
             I am uploading here the plan for Prelims 2016. The idea is to study each of the mentioned books in the list 5-6 times(atleast) before August 2016. It comprises of 25 books and if one remembers these 25 books by heart, imprinting all the information easily into their head, one could easily crack prelims+Mains based on this. The idea here is to cover the traditional part rigorously. 15 out of 25 books are NCERT which are easier to read, while the rest are 1 extra source book apart from NCERT to keep on track with the topic. The idea here is smart revision not magnitude of revision. Hence, we need to read thorougly through first reading. And then read through the underlined part/side notes/notes in the next few. Only the Geography books of NCERT are required to be memorised by heart while the rest, one should have a thorough understanding and could easily recollect a piece of information as and when required.

        Follow these books only and listen to nobody else and dont be influenced by what someone else is reading. We need to have faith in one set of books and bring up our expertise with respect to one book only instead of sticking to two or more. Prelims is mostly basics, so we need to build up the basics through these and later on in mains, focus at the same at deeper levels to improvise on the subjects.

         The key here is to follow only 11, 12 NCERT as the rest is a waste of time and to build up our fundamental doubts using the outside books. These books are guide books and are easy to understand. The books are available for free download are the cheapest of all.

First sitting should take 2 months. Thereafter each revision should take a month. So the list of books could be completed in 6 months(1 book a day) keeping rest for revision through other mediums. 6-8 hours of study would suffice. NCERTs could be completed within a day while the only big volume books are Laxmikanth & Ramesh Singh. One can avoid Ramesh Singh by going through Mrunal videos but it is still advised to follow this. Roman Saini's videos are 20-30 minutes each while Ramesh Singh's around 45 minutes. So instead of watching it, one can use the youtube mp3 converter to convert these videos into audio files and listen to them as podcast while travelling/sleeping.

Follow the routine and prelims is guaranteed. If one gives 6 hours a day*6 months

P.S: Missed out on Yojana articles & Hindu/Indian Express Editorials(A religious must)...For International Relation related world organisations India being part of, follow India 2016

For India 2016, only important parts are Economic Survey, first 5-6 Chapters, names of schemes, and an overlook on the working of key ministries like Agriculture, Watershed, Education etc.

Also, planning to launch a comprehensive new material outlook, whereby would be posting more on day to day articles from Hindu & Indian Express so that one doesnt need to waste time on reading everything from every where in newspapers(this would be similar to the article synopsis I have been posting, but in a more comprehensive manner). Also, would be included the weekly questionnaire of current affairs from mains point of view and a bi-weekly Prelims oriented MCQ Questionaire. 

IAS: Is it possible to prepare for UPSC exams while I am in job? 

1. Optimize your time 
You need to optimize your time to maximum extent as your 40-45% of time goes with your job.

• Stay very nearer to office to minimize your travel time. ( I stay very nearer to office. Now I leave exactly at 8.47 AM and reach my office by 8.59 AM +/- 1 minute with 4 sigma confidence level :p)

• Cut-down all the unnecessary time wastages :You have to cut-down the time for social network, chatting etc.

• Find-out unaccounted time and minimize that:
  Take sheet and make calculation like this
  
  Total hours 24
  Work+ travelling: 11 hours
  Sleep : 6 hours
  Misc. work : 2 hours
  Yes, you'll get 5 more hours to study !! That's good amount of time. But many days, misc. work will go beyond your 2 hours. You should always try to keep it within the limit of your plan !!

• You can also find the ways like: Get mobile app of Hindu and read it during your lunch time or while having a cup of coffee at office etc.

• Maximize your productivity during weekends.

2. Plan Execute Evaluate 

i. Plan 

You should have your study plan.
I do something like this.
a. Get a big picture : It is very important to have a big picture of what and all you have to study with deadline.
To get such picture, I use mind mapping software called X mind. My mind map will be something like this ( Please look at the structure and don't get into the details written). Where I mention what are the things I have to study and deadline for that.
b. Weekly plan to detailed picture: 
Based on the bigger picture, you have to breakdown it and make detailed plans of what you need to study in a week or so.

Believe me, it may look difficult to make such practices, but it helps a lot in later stages !!

My weekly plan will be something like this: ( Please don't give attention to details just look at the structure)

ii. Execute 

Stick yourself to plan and try to finish it as per the plan.

I usually update  study status on my weekly plan sheet. It helps me to really look at how much I have done and how much I have to do. 

iii. Evaluate : 

Evaluate yourself in specific span of time by taking tests. Based on the feedback read more on specific topic.

3. Also get few friends who are dedicated and keep discussing with them. It really helps you to updated. Also you will come to know about new information, study material etc. 

At-last,It's not just how much time you get, it's how efficiently you can utilize matters a lot.( Of course you need to invest considerable time)    

Hope it is useful. Please forgive me for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Remember you are competing with the aspirants who are preparing 24X7. As time is the only constraint you have, here are some tips,

1. Skip reading newspaper. Better follow websites like http://www.insightsonindia.com They provide daily questions on important newspapers articles (The Hindu + Indian Express + Business Standard). Just read the best answers written by fellow aspirants.

2. Skip magazines. No much need to read Yojana, Kurukshetra etc.

3. Dont waste time on just reading from internet. There are good articles on sites like Mrunal - Competitive exams Preparation. Make notes from these articles. These notes will come very handy in future.

4. Skip NCERTs. For subjects like History, Polity, Economics go to bigger books directly. They are not as difficult as they seem. (Try reading Indian Polity by M. Laxmikant, India's struggle for independence by Bipinchandra)

5. Organize your notes. Make separate notebooks for subjects. Jot down everything related to the subject at one place.

6. Plan leaves. Prepare your notes while you are working. Plan your leaves before exams. Read and revise these notes during this leave period.

Bill Gates world's richest, Mukesh Ambani richest in India 2016..!

Bill Gates world's richest, Mukesh Ambani richest in India

 Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates continued his reign as the world's richest person with a net worth of $75 billion (roughly Rs. 5,07,071 crores), according to Forbes' annual ranking of billionaires, with Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani leading the pack of 84 Indian billionaires in 2016.

Forbes' 2016 list of the World's Billionaires includes 1,810 billionaires, down from a record 1,826 a year ago.

Their aggregate net worth is $6.5 billion (roughly Rs. 43,946 crores), $570 million (roughly Rs. 3,853 crores) less than last year.

Gates remains the richest person in the world with a net worth of $75 billion, despite being $4.2 billion (roughly Rs. 28,395 crores) poorer than a year ago. He has been number one for 3 years in a row and topped the list 17 out of 22 years.

Forbes said Ambani, 58, has retained his position as India's richest person despite shares of his oil and gas giant Reliance Industries taking a hit due to lower oil prices.

He is ranked 36th on the list with a net worth of $20.6 billion (roughly Rs. 1,39,275 crores), the magazine said, adding that "the $62.2 billion (roughly Rs. 4,20,531 crores) (revenues) firm is likely to resume buying crude oil from Iran after the lifting of sanctions."

Occupying the second spot on the list is Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega, founder of closing retail giant Zara and the richest man in Europe.

On the third spot is billionaire philanthropist and Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helu (4) and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (5).

Ambani leads a pack of 84 billionaires from India, with pharma magnate Dilip Shanghvi (rank 44 and $16.7 billion (roughly Rs. 1,12,907 crores) networth), Wipro Chairman Azim Premji (55 with $15 billion (roughly Rs. 1,01,414 crores) networth) and HCL co-founder Shiv Nadar (88 and $11.1 billion (roughly Rs. 75,046 crores) networth) coming in among the top 100 billionaires.

Other prominent Indian billionaires include ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal (135), Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal (219), Ports and power magnate Gautam Adani (453), matriarch Savitri Jindal (453), Bajaj Group's Rahul Bajaj (722), Infosys chairman emeritus N R Narayana Murthy (959) and Mahindra Group's Chief Anand Mahindra (1577).

Also making to the list is investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala on the 1011 rank, Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani (1121), Former Amazon executive and Flipkart founder Sachin Bansal (1476) and pharma company Wockhardt chairman Habil Khorakiwala (1694).

Forbes' 221 people fell off the list, while 198 newcomers joined the ranks of billionaires in 2016.

Apart from Gates, Buffett held steady in the top 20.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had the best year of all billionaires. The 31-year-old added $11.2 billion (roughly Rs. 75,722 crores) to his fortune and moved up to No. 6 from 16. He and Amazon's Jeff Bezos both make their first appearance in the top ten of Forbes' annual ranking of the world's wealthiest.

In another first, billionaire from China's mainland, Wang Jianlin, whose company owns AMC Theaters climbed into the top 20.

Among the most notable newcomers are Cameron Mackintosh, the first theater producer to make the billionaire ranks; WeWork's Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey and Pinterest's Ben Silbermann and Evan Sharp.

Neumann, Silbermann and Sharp are three of a record 66 billionaires under the age of 40.

The youngest billionaire in the world is a 19-year-old Norwegain heiress, Alexandra Andresen, who has a 42 per cent stake in her family's business.

Her sister Katharina is second youngest, just 20. Forbes said another new entrant worth mentioning is Zhou Qunfei, whose $5.9 billion (roughly Rs. 39,889 crores) fortune from smartphone screens is enough to make her the richest self-made woman in the world.

She is one of 190 women in the list, down from 197 last year.

The US has 540 billionaires, more than any other country in the world, followed by mainland China with 251 (Hong Kong has another 69) and Germany with 120. Russia has 77, ten-figure fortunes, 11 fewer than last year, while Brazil is down 23 to 31.

Best way to know yourself..?

This is the best way to know yourself

Travelling alone.

This, according to me would be the best way to know the real you. And why would that be?

• Helps you realise your emotions. Remember, when you are travelling, you carry your heart with you. You carry your feelings. And not that of your roommate's, your parents', or that of your lover. When I travelled all by myself the first time, I knew how 'I' was feeling. How 'my' emotions were at that moment. It makes you aware of 'your' emotions.
• It brings out the whole purpose of your existence. Why have you been here all this while? What are you supposed to do? Why are you doing what you are doing and not doing what you ought to do? I remember the time of my life when I was stuck in a rut and did not know how to get out of the labyrinth. Travelling made me more sure of what I am doing right now.
• It makes you realise about the smallest of the small details about of your own self. It makes you aware of your likes and dislikes which you would have failed to recognise otherwise. In my part, It made me realise, both critical and silly stuff thaf I liked. Like, How I always have liked gypsies, the art and culture they carry along and how I always want to live like one. Like the romani tribes. And how I hate vanilla ice creams with chocolate nuts over them and will never, by all honesty eat the same.

- It makes you realise your potential. It makes you realise about how self reliant you can be. It makes you come in terms with things that demand perspective, which in turn help you become aware of your own.

Plus, writing down about yourself or noting them down in a piece of paper is only going to end up in the dustbin. If you are strong enough to work on it might help, but, try finding something concrete to discover yourself. 

Some ways to start a business?

Some ways to start a business?

Have an idea :
            Have a solid idea, an idea that hasn't been in existence before. Or perhaps something that exists now but is very lousily implemented.
 Make a plan :  
             Once you have an idea in place, break it down to smaller pieces. 
             Refine each piece and chalk out a working plan.

Have a co-founder :
            Approach one of your closest buddies with the idea.
            Having a co - founder will be of immense support and also two brains is better than one.
 Execute : 
         Now this is the most vital process of all. Execution has to be near perfect and no room for error should be overlooked. 

                                                    Worth  of idea.                 Worth of Execution

Very bad.                                          0.                                          -10
Bad.                                                    1.                                          -1
Moderate.                                         5.                                           1
Good.                                               10.                                           10
Very Good.                                      50.                                           100
Excellent.                                         1000.                                      10000

And the total worth of your work would be : (worth of idea * worth of execution)
So be very thorough and good with execution. It will either make or break your idea.
Create a brand image :
           Make sure your company has a name that'd catch on. An appealing design. Print business cards and distribute those. Make people aware of your business. Also the best form of publicity is "the word of mouth". To do that make sure you provide top notch quality in the price range. 

All the very best.