Geography optional strategy

Geography is one of the lengthiest and trickiest optionals for this exam. I took this optional because of my earth science background and because it overlapped with parts of GS1 and GS3 papers. I didn't change my optional in any attempt because I always found it more difficult to prepare a new optional from scratch rather than improving the one already prepared. This optional unfortunately has not performed well in last few years but UPSC is unpredictable, so you have to take your own call.

From my last selection to this selection, the only addition was Himanshu Sharma's notes for human geography, especially geographical thoughts part. I didn't do his coaching but joined 8 tests test series and gave 3 tests. For rest of the tests, I just saw the solutions. I had bought his notes of human geography from the market. Rest of the approach and sources remains the same .

Geography is a lengthy optional therefore it should be prepared along with current affairs throughout the year. Paper 1 needs more investment as paper 2 is more like GS, therefore start with paper 1 first. Please solve last year question papers and identify which parts are more important than others and try covering them first. They definitely fetch more marks.

My sources and strategy for Geography -> (we did not take any coaching, the notes mentioned were brought from the market. Rest of the notes were prepared from basic books)

1. Physical Geography : 

• Sources: 
• Physical Geography by Savinder Singh, Geomorphology by Savinder Singh, Spectrum Geography for diagrams, 11th and 12th NCERTs, Soil part is nicely covered by Neetu Singh as well (I had purchased her notes from the market)
• Approach : 
• Read only those chapters which are mentioned in the syllabus, make notes only of those chapters which require multiple sources . For example: for soil formation, weathering etc I had made notes from NCERT, Spectrum and Savinder Singh.You need not make notes for oceanography and climatology as they have been comprehensively covered by Savinder Singh. 
• My sample notes for some topics can be seen in the given link..
• Answer writing: 
• Use as many diagrams as possible. This is the scientific part of the paper which requires concepts to be explained clearly, with examples and diagrams. See notes for hint of answer writing as well.

    2.    Human geography:

• Sources:
• Himanshu Sharma and Majid Hussain for geographical thoughts.
• Majid Hussain , Spectrum and Human And Economic Geography by Morgan and Leong for Population and Settlement. This may sound huge but it will hardly take one week to finish. Our notes for the same are available in the link given below.
• Himanshu Sharma and Morgan and Leong for Economic Geography
• Neetu Singh, NCERT and Spectrum for Regional Geography
• Majid Hussain Models book and Neetu singh for models part. This is more than sufficient. If you find some of the models difficult then try seeing presentations on them on slideshare. It helps sometimes especially w.r.t diagrams and examples.

• Approach:
• Again try to prepare topic wise. UPSC has been continuously asking questions from out of the syllabus in thoughts part, therefore you might have to read a bit more here. Himanshu Sharma is sufficient.
• This is more like arts paper. You have to mention the names of the geographers frequently in your answers. For example, if there is a question on determinism, you have to mention Ratzel, Semple, Huntington etc, use their important statements as it is, mention the names of their books in which they made their arguments in support of determinism. This is the minimum which you have to do.
• For population and settlement and economic geography part, use maps as much as possible. A geography person should know how to draw maps quickly, therefore practice them. Example of maps for this section can be seen in majid hussain as well as spectrum. Also, you can see United Nations Population Fund for latest maps of population distribution, migration flows, population growth rate etc. Try using names of theories here as well whenever their is a question regarding migration or population growth and mention the names of relevant geographers. (See our notes)
• For models, you have to draw diagrams, include examples of situations where those models are applicable and try including important modifications of these models . Neetu Singh has covered this beautifully for most of the parts. 
• Answer writing: Already covered in approach section.

3. Indian Geography :

• Sources:
•  NCERTs of Class XI and XII, Neetu Singh notes for Physiography, Agriculture and Industry and Khullar for every topic.
• Approach and answer writing
• I had not prepared notes for it separately. I used to read directly from Neetu Singh and Khullar and NCERTs. You don't have to read Khullar cover to cover but only the chapters mentioned in the syllabus. Refer Spectrum for maps and diagrams.
• I have continuously scored good in this paper (my marks had been same as that of topper's marks in every mains in Paper 2). The trick to score good in this paper is to do the following:
• Treat this paper like GS paper, therefore you have to link your answers to the current scenario. For eg:  for agriculture, infrastructure and industry, revise your GS 3 notes before going for this paper and include schemes, policies, the relevant statistics, examples and case studies in your answers. You can write these things down in your geography notes while preparing for GS3. This will save time later.
• Draw the relevant maps and label them properly. Minimum 1 map per answer.
• Try linking paper 1 and paper 2 . For example, in a question of agriculture mechanization or new seeds/ technology in agri etc, you should mention and draw Innovation diffusion model explaining how introducing this particular program can bring the required change.
• Map Practice: Neetu singh covers this nicely for static portion. For the current affairs, we used to keep an eyes for such locations while reading newspaper and maintained a separate google map for this purpose. While writing the  description of location, write why in news and in second line, write its geographical importance. 
• My geography paper -2  answer copy can be seen in the link below.

Link for sample notes and Answer copy for Paper 2.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1odOOVfgxTaRvmKMBPqwj_VPoU_GvM8yQ?usp=sharing

Feel free to ask doubts. I'll be more than happy to answer them. All the best :)