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How to read NCERT Books for UPSC/GPSC

Read NCERTs in 3 passes.

1st pass 

• Read the textbook with pencil in your hand.

• Underline what you think is important.

• Don't try to remember anything , just read it like a novel. 

• Try to understand what the author is trying to convey. 

• If you don't understand then use Google , YouTube, Quora, Wikipedia etc.

NOW read the previous years question papers or go through a test series.

2nd pass 

• Read the textbook with an eraser in hand.

• Erase/rub out the lines that you feel you unnecessarily marked the first time.

• Try to revise the concepts you read the first time. 

• Interconnect - While reading about history try to remember the social and economic condition of that period. Try to recollect the geography of that particular place. Try to       associate if that place is in news in recent time or does it have a biosphere reserve.   In       short play around. You get the idea.

• The above step is not necessary if you are short on time.

NOW read the previous years question papers or go through a test series again.

3rd pass 

• This is the revision pass. Sit with a highlighter / pen. 

• Swim through the pages and HIGHLIGHT the things or concepts or definitions that you CANNOT RECALL. 

• After one chapter is over , summarize the content of the whole chapter in no more than 50-100 words. 

• Done. Go and give your exam. Don't forget to rock it.

- If you successfully summarize the chapter , you are prepared for mains. 

- If you successfully find out concepts you aren't clear with or can't remember , you are      prepared for prelims!

IF YOU DON'T HAVE TIME

Again we do it in three passes.

1st pass Read the previous year question papers.

2nd pass Read the textbooks.

3rd pass Give tests or attempt previous year question papers.

Revision Come back to textbooks only to read the concepts or things you got wrong. Also read the related things.

old ncerts , Geo and history of 11th and 12th comes highly recommended.

Follow top-bottom approach. Read NCERTs of higher classes first and then read lower classes' NCERTs.

(Higher NCERTs gives you a broad framework. Lower NCERTs fill in the minute details)

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IIM Ahmedabad Admission Criteria 2016-18

With the advent of the application procedure for CAT 2015, the IIMs have started announcing the admission criteria. IIM Ahmedabad, the conducting body for CAT 2015 has announced the shortlist and selection procedure for the PGP batch of 2016-18.

The admission criteria for IIM Ahmedabad consist of 2 steps. In the first step, candidates are short-listed for Academic Writing Test (AWT) and Personal Interview (PI) from among the candidates who have taken CAT 2015, fulfilled the eligibility criteria and have applied to the programme.

Preliminary Screening

The following table brings to you the CAT 2015 sectional and category wise cutoffs.

Category	Verbal and Reading Comprehension percentile rank (PVRC)	Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning Percentile (PDIILR)	Quantitative Aptitude Percentile Rank (PQA)	Overall percentile rank (PT)
General	80	80	80	90
NC-OBC-cum transgender	75	75	75	85
SC	70	70	70	80
ST	60	60	60	70
DA	70	70	70	80

At different stages of the selection process ‘Application Rating’ (AR) score of an applicant will be used. An applicant’s AR score is the sum of the rating scores ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ based on her/his percentage of marks obtained in 10th standard, 12th standard (depending upon the stream, viz., ‘Science’, ‘Commerce’ ‘Arts & Humanities’) and bachelor’s degree examinations (depending upon the discipline) respectively.

The following table brings to you the Application Rating Scores for Class Xth, XIIth and Bachelor’s Degree marks.

Rating Scores for 10th Std. Exam (Rating Score A)

Percent Score in Xth Std. Exam	Rating Score A
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=70	3
>70 and <=80	5
>80 and <=90	8
>90	10

Rating Scores for 12th Std. Exam (Rating Score B)

Science Stream
Percent Score in XIIth Std. Exam	Rating Score B
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=70	3
>70 and <=80	5
>80 and <=90	8
>90	10

Commerce Stream
Percent Score in XIIth Std. Exam	Rating Score B
<=50	1
>50 and <=55	2
>55 and <=65	3
>65 and <=75	5
>75 and <=90	8
>90	10

Arts Stream
Percent Score in XIIth Std. Exam	Rating Score B
<=45	1
>45 and <=50	2
>50 and <=60	3
>60 and <=70	5
>70 and <=85	8
>85	10

Rating Scores for bachelor’s degree Exam (Rating Score C)

AC -1, AC – 3 & AC - 5
Percent Score in Bachelor’s Degree	Rating Score C
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=65	3
>65 and <=70	4
>70 and <=80	7
>80	10

AC - 2
Percent Score in Bachelor’s Degree	Rating Score C
<=50	1
>50 and <=55	2
>55 and <=60	3
>60 and <=65	4
>65 and <=75	7
>75	10

AC - 4
Percent Score in Bachelor’s Degree	Rating Score C
<=60	1
>60 and <=65	2
>65 and <=70	3
>70 and <=75	4
>75 and <=85	7
>85	10

AC - 6
Percent Score in Bachelor’s Degree	Rating Score C
<=55	1
>55 and <=60	2
>60 and <=62	3
>62 and <=65	4
>65 and <=70	7
>70	10

AC - 7
Percent Score in Bachelor’s Degree	Rating Score C
<=50	1
>50 and <=53	2
>53 and <=55	3
>55 and <=57	4
>57 and <=63	7
>63	10

AC – Academic Discipline

Application Rating Score: AR= (A+B+C)

Short Listing for Academic Writing Test (AWT) & Personal Interview (PI)

Shortlisting process comprises of 2 stages.

Stage 1: (From the Applicants’ pool: Selection of exceptional performers across different disciplines)

IIM Ahmedabad mentions, “To recognize exceptional performers in terms of previous academic records as well as in CAT across diverse academic backgrounds, from each of the seven academic disciplines, top 100 candidates or top 1% of the number of applicants to IIM Ahmedabad -- whichever is less -- will be shortlisted for AWT & PI on the basis of the composite score ‘CS’ subject to their fulfilling criteria C1-C3.”

Criteria: C1-C3:

C1. PT ≥ 90, PQA ≥ 80, PDILR ≥ 80 and PVRC ≥ 80

C2. P≥ 80 (Science), 77 (Commerce), 75 (Arts/Humanities)

Where P is the average of the percentages of marks scored in 10th and 12th std. exams.

C3. (Percentage of marks in the bachelor’s examination) ≥ Minimum cut-off percentage

The following table brings to you the cutoff percentage in Bachelor’s Degree Exam for different disciplines.

Discipline	AC – 1	AC – 2	AC -3	AC – 4	AC – 5	AC – 6	AC – 7
Cutoff Percentage	74	68	71	78	73	66	59

CS (Composite Score) = 0.3 (Normalized AR score) + 0.7 (Normalized overall score in CAT-2015)

Stage 2 – Category wise selection

After removing the applicants selected in stage 1 from each category (General, NC-OBC, SC, ST, DA) the additional number of applicants to be shortlisted for AWT & PI will be selected following the same procedure as in Stage 1 except that the criteria C1-C3 are now category specific.

Criteria: C1-C3

C1: PT, PQA, PDILR and PVRC ≥ Respective minimum cut-off

C2: P≥ Minimum cut-offs

The following table gives you the minimum cut-off for P across different disciplines and different categories

Stream in 12thstd.	General Category	NCOBC Category	SC Category	ST Category	DA Category
Science	80	75	70	65	70
Commerce	77	72	67	62	67
Arts & Humanities	75	70	64	59	64

Percentage of marks in the bachelor’s degree examination) ≥ Minimum cut-off

Discipline	Cut-off Percentage
	General Category	NC-OBC Category	SC Category	ST Category	DA Category
AC – 1	74	69	64	59	64
AC – 2	68	63	58	53	58
AC- 3	71	66	61	56	61
AC – 4	78	73	68	63	68
AC – 5	73	68	63	58	63
AC – 6	66	61	56	50	56
AC – 7	59	54	50	50	50

Final Selection

The final selection will take place on the basis of the Final Composite Score (FCS) which will be computed on the basis of the formula given below:

FCS = 0.40 (Normalized PI Score) + 0.10 (Normalized AWT Score) + 0.5 (CS).

The normalized PI and AWT scores of a candidate are equal to his/her PI and AWT scores divided by the average of the top 1% scores in PI and AWT respectively.

Annexure

Academic Disciplines

AC - 1

1. Agriculture [Agronomy, Soil Science, Agricultural Biochemistry, Agricultural Economics, Agricultural Extension, Plant Breeding and Genetics, Entomology, Plant Pathology etc.]

2. Animal Husbandry

3. Dairy Science/Technology

4. Fisheries

5. Forestry

6. Food Technology

7. Horticulture

8. Dentistry

9. Pharmacology/Pharmacy

10. Science [Biology, Biochemistry, Bio-technology, Botany, Life Science, Zoology]

11. Science [Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Statistics]

12. Science (Others): Home Science, Nursing and all other branches of Science not explicitly mentioned elsewhere in this list]

13. Veterinary Science

AC – 2

1. Arts/Humanities [Archaeology, Education, Fine Arts (Dance, Music, Painting), Geography, History, Journalism, Languages, Library Science, Literature, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Social Work/Welfare, Sociology, etc.]
2. Law
3. Education (including Physical Education and Sports)
4. Rural Studies/Rural Sociology/Rural Cooperatives/Rural Banking

AC – 3

1. Commerce/Economics [Accountancy, Auditing, Banking, Business Mathematics, Business Organisation, Economics, Economic Development and Planning, Public Administration, Public Finance, Secretarial Practices etc.]

2. Hotel & Tourism Management

3. Management [Business Administration, Business Management, Business Studies, Management Studies]                                     

AC - 4

1. Agricultural Engineering

2. Architecture

3. Engineering/Technology [B.E., B.Sc. (Engg.), B.Tech. in all engineering subjects including Computer Engineering, Computer Science, IT, other than Agricultural Engineering and Dairy Technology]

AC-5

Any other discipline not mentioned in AC-1 to AC-7

AC – 6

Medicine

AC – 7

1. Chartered Accountancy (CA)

2. Cost and Works Accountancy (ICWA)

3. Company Secretaryship (CS)

Stay tuned to fadoonotes for more news on IIM Admission Criteria 2016-18 

*Ref. : Career360

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CAT 2015 Exam Pattern

CAT 2015 Exam Pattern: 

CAT or Common Admission Test 2015 will be conducted in one day in two sessions (forenoon and afternoon) on Sunday November 29, 2015. This year IIM Ahmedabad is the conducting body for CAT. As per IIM Ahmedabad, the CAT 2015 exam pattern has been changed entirely. We bring to you theCAT 2015 Exam Pattern as announced by the officials in a notification on Sunday, July 26, 2015.

Compared to last year, where the total duration of the exam was 170 minutes and the candidates were allowed to switch among the two sections. This year the pattern has been changed entirely. As per the new CAT Exam Pattern 2015, the total duration of the exam has been increased to 180 minutes or three hours, with total 100 questions to be answered. Below are the changes that have been done in the Exam Pattern of CAT 2015,

• CAT is a computer based objective type test with multiple choice questions. 

• The total duration of the exam is 180 minutes with exact 60 minutes to answer each section. CAT 2015 will have sectional time limit of 60 minutes, meaning that a candidate have to attempt one section in exact 60 minutes. The total number of questions is 100, divided into three sections. The exam will be divided into three sections namely, Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VRC). Candidates will not be allowed to switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section.

• QA and VRC will have 34 questions each, and DILR will have 32 questions. Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type, instead, candidate have to type direct answers on the screen.

• One of the major changes, and also first time in the history of CAT, candidates will be allowed to use basic on-screen calculator for calculation. The tutorial, explaining the CAT 015 Exam Pattern will be launched on October 15, 2015, for the candidates to have a better understanding of the changed pattern, and the procedures to be followed at the time of CAT 2015 exam. 

The following table will give you the CAT Exam Pattern of last year.

Duration	Number of Questions	Sections
170 minutes or 2 hours 50 minutes	50	Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation
	50	Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning

Now we will discuss in detail about the individual aspects of CAT 2015 Exam Pattern.

Duration – 60 minutes for each section

The duration of CAT 2015 will be 180 minutes or three hours. Unlike the previous year, the sections were not time bound and the candidates could select any section to attempt first. The exam was divided into two sections, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. This year, there are three sections to attempt. Candidates will not be allowed to switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section. They will be given exact 60 minutes to attempt each section. Unlike previous year, the liberty to attempt any section in any order or switch between the sections has been scrapped.

Sections

One of the major change in the CAT 2015 Exam Pattern is an addition of one more section. This year the exam will have three sections, namely, Quantitative Aptitude (QA), Data Interpretation & Logical Reasoning (DILR) and Verbal and Reading Comprehension (VRC). QA and VRC will have 34 questions each, and DILR will have 32 questions. Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type, instead, candidate have to type direct answers on the screen.

Last year, the number of sections in the exam were 2, Quantitative Ability & Data Interpretation and Verbal Ability & Logical Reasoning. As mentioned before, there are no sectional time limits and each section consists of 30 questions. 

Scoring Process

Till last year, each question had 3 marks. For each wrong answer, there was a penalty of 1 mark. No marks were awarded or deducted on unattempted questions. This year the scoring process has not be defined yet.

Additions in the Mode of Exam

CAT is a computer based multiple choice objective type exam. This will be the first time in the history of CAT that the candidates will be allowed to use basic on-scree calculator for calculations. Candidates will not be allowed to switch from one section to another while answering questions in a section. Some questions in each section may not be of multiple choice type, instead, candidate have to type direct answers on the screen.

Last year onwards, Tata Consultancy Services is conducting the computer based CAT as Prometric, the erstwhile agency completed the 5 year contract. The application process will start from August 6 and will continue till September 20. This year the exam will be conducted in one two in two sessions on Nov 29, across 136 Cities comprising of 650 Test Sites.
*Ref. : Career360

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IIM Lucknow Admission Criteria 2016-18 - GD scrapped, no weight for Class X marks

IIM Lucknow has declared the admission criteria for the PGP batch of 2016. There will be a 2 step process for shortlisting and selecting the students. According to the IIM Lucknow admission criteria, this year the Group Discussion (GD) round will not be held. The shortlisted candidates will have to appear for Written Ability Test (WAT) and Personal Interview (PI) rounds. Till last year, the institute conducted, GD, WAT and PI rounds.

Let us have a look at the shortlist and selection procedure for the PGP, PGP ABM and PGP SM at IIM Lucknow.

CAT 2015 Cutoff at IIM Lucknow

The following table brings to you the CAT 2015 cutoffs.

	PGP				PGP-ABM				PGP-SM
Category	QA	DI & LR	VRC	Total	QA	DI & LR	VRC	Total	QA	DI & LR	VRC	Total
General	85	85	85	90	75	75	75	80	80	80	80	86
NC-OBC	77	77	77	82	68	68	68	72	72	72	72	77
SC	55	55	55	75	50	50	50	70	50	50	50	70
ST	50	50	50	70	45	45	45	65	45	45	45	65
PWD	55	55	55	75	50	50	50	70	50	50	50	70

After shortlisting the candidates on the basis of the cutoff, a merit list will be generated based on the weights and factors given in the following table.

Components	Weights (PGP)	Weights (PGP-ABM)	Weights (PGPSM)	Method of scoring
CAT Score (CS)	38	30	38	CS = (Candidates CAT Score/Highest CAT Score of 2015)*38 If Prog = PGP or prog = PGPSM then X=38 Else if prog = PGPABM then X=30
Class XII Marks (12M)	2	2	2	Candidates’ Class 12 Percentage in respective Board Percentage       12M 95.01-100          2.0 90.01-95          1.5 85.01-90          1. 0 80.01-85          0.5 <=80                 0
Graduation Marks	3	3	3	To be normalized as per academic discipline (i) Engineering (ii) Science (iii) Commerce (iv) Arts (v) Others, using the formula below GM = (((Candidates Graduation % - Mean/Standard Deviation of each discipline)*(30/3))+30)*3/100
Work Experience	2	0	2	IF (Prog. = PGP) WE = (x)*0.1, Where x>6; Maximum (WE) = 2 ELSE (Prog. = PGP-ABM) WE = 0 ELSE (Prog. = PGPSM) WE = (x-24)*0.1, Where x>24; Maximum WE = 2 x =  Number of months of work experience as on 31st August 2014 (Indicate only paid and full time work experience, acquired after completing the Bachelor’s Degree, Apprenticeship, Articleship, Internship etc. which form an integral part of course of study, should not be treated as work experience)
Diversity Factor: Academic Discipline (DFa)	3	13	3	IF (Prog. = PGP/PGPSM and Academic programmes are listed by the institute) DFa = 3 ELSE IF (Prog. = PGP-ABM and Academic Disciplines listed by the institute) DFa = 13 Else DFa = 0
Diversity Factor: Gender (DFb)	2	2	2	IF (Prog. = PGP/PGP-ABMPGPSM and Gender = Female) DFb = 2 ELSE DFb = 0
Shortlist Total	50	50	50

Unlike last year, Class X scores are not considered for preparing the merit list of shortlisted candidates. Instead, the Class XII weight has been doubled compared to that of last year. The weight of the Diversity factor under the PGP ABM programme has been increased from 5 to 13.

Final Selection Criteria

The following weights will be assigned to be various components during the WAT-PI rounds.

Components	Weights
Written Ability Test (WAT)	10
Personal Interview (PI)	40
Total	50

Candidates participating in WAT-PI rounds should obtain minimum score of 12 out of 40 in PI rounds in order to pass.

Formula to generate final admission list for PGP, PGP (ABM) and PGP SM.

Grand Total (C) = Shortlist Total (A) + WAT-PI Total (B). The Grand Total (C) will be used to rank the candidates according to their merit.
*Ref. : Career360