Economics Optional Strategy

Initial Preparation:

I enrolled in Economics Optional Course at Next IAS by Dr. Vibhas Jha, in June 2021. This went on until October 2021. This course helped me in consolidating my notes, especially for paper 1. I must confess herein that this course did help me immensely, but disproportionately more in paper 1. Paper 2 portions were sort of rushed through, and therefore paper 2 was one paper which I mostly covered after prelims. Furthermore, I did not limit myself to just this course alone. Along with the recorded lectures (which I watched at 2x speed to save time), I read all the standard books suggested by previous toppers.

Booklist:

Paper 1:

• Microeconomics: Advanced Economic Theory by H. L. Ahuja
• Macroeconomics: Froyen and H. L. Ahuja
• International Economics: Salvatore, and some portions of Paul Krugman’s readings
• Development Theory: Debraj Ray (I did buy M. L. Jhingan, but it wasn’t very helpful)
• Public Finance: DU Readings and selected portions of H. L. Bhatia

Paper 2:

• Pre Independence: Tirthankar Roy
• Post Independence: Mishra and Puri formed the basic skeleton of notes, and this was supplemented by selective reading of Uma Kapila’s Indian Economy Performance and Policies. Above these 2 sources were Yash Jaluka Sir’s (AIR 4 UPSC CSE-2020) Notes, which became my sole go-to source for any and every form of value addition for Paper 2. Also, for some very specific topics like Capital Formation in Agriculture, I referred to IGNOU Notes as well, to understand the overarching trends in various sectors.

My focus was disproportionately more on paper 1 before prelims and hence paper 2 was covered mostly in August 2022 which was 1.5 months before mains. However, because I had already worked very hard for paper 1, this was not as daunting as it sounds.

Answer Writing:

After looking at PYQs from 2013, I realised that mastering PYQs will be much more fruitful relative to any test series. There is repetition of themes, and sometimes the whole question verbatim gets repeated (eg. question on the impact of use of debit and credit cards on money multiplier came in 2014 and was repeated in 2022). Since there is huge repetition, I wrote on average around 30-35 questions per sub-heading. This proved to be the best exercise that I did for optional paper, as the night before optional papers, I could completely revise the syllabus by going through these hand-written answers. Also, virtually 50-60% of the questions asked in 2022 were repeated in one way or another.

The only good source for PYQ solutions that I came across was Abhishek Dudhal Sir’s e-book, which had solutions to papers ranging from 1995-2020. Post prelims, I also enrolled in Mains Advanced Course at Next IAS wherein Vibhas Sir shared the structure of answers for both paper 1 and 2 and this greatly helped in realising how to write good answers. Combining these two and compounding them with repeated revisions, I was fairly confident of writing paper 1 at the very least.

Some paper specific pointers:

Paper 1:

• It is very important to directly address the demand of the question in the introduction itself. Paper 1 is fairly technical, and beating around the bush will definitely make a bad impression.
• Mentioning a few assumptions even if it isn’t explicitly asked, gives the idea that you are well versed with the model and concept.
• Drawing the correct diagram is of course very if not the most important thing in any economics answer.
• Body of the diagram is generally an elaboration of the diagram made, therefore, it is extremely important to be effective, exact, and precise while writing this.
• Concluding answers with some contemporary example or connection with the real world bridges the theory with application.

Paper 2:

• Introduction can be any data, figure, quote or example which directly meets the demand of the question.
• Body should include tables, charts, wherever necessary. Furthermore, it is very important to quote economists here, as it reflects that your opinions have some sound basis. I quoted at least 2-3 economists per answer. There is a school of thought which says that incessant quoting of economists backfires, but I think 135 is a decent enough score to repudiate that.
• Conclusion here can be some connection with an economic theory (eg. in a question about Income Distribution, discussing Kuznets Curve and Idiosyncratic Growth in India’s Perspective is a necessity).

Paper attempting strategy:

There are 2 kinds of questions in Optional Papers, compulsory 10 marks questions (Q.1 & 5), and optional questions. Usually, the optional questions follow 15-15-20 division of marks, while compulsory questions have 5 questions of 10 marks each. I strategically realised that if in any case a situation comes wherein I have to leave a question, leaving a 20 marker will be costlier compared to leaving a 10 marker, hence I decided to attempt the 10 markers later. I allotted 15 minutes for each 20 markers, 10 minutes for each 15 markers and the rest for 10 markers. Normally, it used to take me 35-40 minutes to finish each optional question, leaving around 65-70 minutes for 10 markers. I was comfortably able to complete both the optional papers well in time.

Mock Tests:

Next IAS had offered a complementary 8 test long test series with its optional course. I also enrolled in Bliss Point 12 tests long Test Series in August 2022. However, I wrote only 2 tests of each (a total of 4 tests), as I was getting demoralised by my test scores, and I also wasn’t satisfied with the quality of questions. UPSC asks questions in a very open ended manner, where there is a greater scope of representing your views, which I feel is often lacking in test series (both GS & Optional). I scored 103, 126, 132, 121 in the 4 mocks that I wrote. 

Miscellaneous Points:

• Economics is indeed a difficult subject and a hold over the models will any day triumph over verbose explanations. Therefore, it is important to get things started in the right manner with conceptual clarity.
• Additionally, it is also advisable that the syllabus should be covered before prelims, as managing optional, essay and GS is a cumbersome task. Answer writing of PYQs should at least be practiced before prelims so that it doesn't eat up a lot of time between prelims and mains.
• Finally, I scored 276 (141+135), which is decent enough, but not the highest. Yet I managed to get a good rank. Therefore, I believe that the main examination is all about balancing things right. I knew beforehand that with my level of preparation, crossing 280 will be a herculean task. Hence I accordingly laid greater emphasis on GS and Essay papers to bridge the marks deficit created by Optional.
• Optional alone does not decide your rank, the 7 papers + Personality Test decide where your name will be in the final merit list. Therefore too much time in the 2 optional papers is not advisable.
• This paper can completely be prepared by giving 2-3 hours every day during the integrated preparation (i.e., before prelims specific prep) and it also demands 50% of time between prelims and mains (4-5 hours). With this division, economics optional can be managed pretty well!