1. LONG-TERM PREPARATION
2. SHORT-TERM PREPARATION
I will first write about long-term preparation. It can be done by those
aspirants who have 1 yr or 2 yr or 3 years in their hands i.e. before
Mains exam …
1. LONG-TERM PREPARATION
(The Path Less Trodden):-
• These things should be done when you are doing your GRADUATION these
days or u have enough time say 10 months at least to go for
Extra-Curricular reading :-
• For long-term preparation be regular with any two national newspapers. I
would recommend THE HINDU & THE TIMES OF INDIA. The Hindu gives you simple
& effective writing style while TOI gives u stylish English & increases
your vocabulary. Both are needed to write a good Essay.
• Read 2-3 hours everyday. Specially focus on the Editorials & other
Analytical & Critical articles. Say in Hindu focus on Magazine, Book
Review, Literary Review, Business Review, Open Page, 2 page OP-ED Page etc
& in The Times of India focus on its Editorial Page. Whenever you
encounter a DIFFICULT PHRASE, EDIOM, PART OF SPEECH etc just see the
Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary or Chambers Dictionary & in a Diary
note down that word, its meaning, its usage in sentence etc. This MUST be
done within 1-2 minutes. Don't keep it pending.
• Or else one word is lost from your vocabulary. By doing this your
VOCABULARY will increase & you will know HOW TO USE THAT WORD IN A
DIFFERENT CONTEXT. This is a gradual & continuous process and it will take
12-18 months to make your vocabulary very strong & have command over the
language & expressive power.
• In addition to newspapers read as many articles from GOOD MAGAZINES as
possible. The following magazines can be referred to.
a. FRONTLINE ( Must )
b. THE ECONOMIC & POLITICAL WEEKLY ( Must )
c. MAINSTREAM (Optional)
d. WORLD FOCUS (Optional)
e. THE ECONOMIST (Optional)
f. TIME or LIFE ( If you have access to a good library)
• I am not saying that you should try to finish all these magazines in one
month. But try to read as many HIGH QUALITY ARTICLES as possible. This
will increase the RANGE & VARIETY of your thinking & will make you
knowledgeable about the happenings around the world & different streams of
thought. (For Example: - What is "Stream of Consciousness"? What is
"Theatre of Absurd"? What is "Objective Correlative" in T S Eliot's poems?
What is The Revival Movement? Etc)
• Jot down POWERFUL & EFFECTIVE sentences that you come across in a Diary.
Any Quotations or Important Sentences said by Intellectuals like Amartya
Sen, Manmohan Singh, Noam Chomsky, Edward Said, Bertrand Russell,
Arundhati Roy etc should be noted down.
• Revise your Diary in free time many times so that you can remember these
quotations, important words, sentences etc & use them at relevant places
in your Essay in Mains Exam.
• Apart from these things read a lot of NOVELS, POEMS, PLAYS, SHORT
STORIES etc
• I am giving a list of some of the books that I read. You can pick up
some of them …
1. R K NARAYAN'S NOVELS (SWAMI & FRIENDS,THE ENGLISH TEACHER,THE GUIDE,THE
DARK ROOM,THE BACHELOR OF ARTS,WAITING FOR MAHATMA,THE PAINTER OF SIGNS
etc)
2. WAITING FOR GODOT ----- by SAMUEL BECKETT
3. T S ELIOT ----- SELECTED POEMS
4. THE GOLDEN TREASURY
5. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ( MACBETH,KING LEAR,TEMPEST … ETC)
6. ENGLISH AUGUST ------ by UPAMANYU CHATTERJEE
7. GEORGE ORWELL ----- THE ANIMAL FARM,1984
8. BERTRAND RUSSELL ----- SCEPTICAL ESSAYS, PHILOSOPHICAL ESSAYS, HIS
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
9. THE DISCOVERY OF INDIA --- JAWAHARLAL NEHRU
10. THE GOD OF SMALL THINGS ---- ARUNDHATI ROY
11. MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN ---- SALMAN RUSHDIE
12. PLAYS OF HAROLD PINTER or at least know about his works.
13. ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF SOLITUDE ---- by GABRIEL GARCIA MARQUEZ
14. NOVELS OF CHARLES DICKENS like GREAT EXPECTATIONS, A TALE OF TWO
CITIES, HARD TIMES etc
15. Search TOP 100 NOVELS OF ALL TIME in Google & read some 5-10 novels of
any author "WHOM YOU LIKE" …
The basic idea is to make yourself "well-read" & with a COMMAND over
ENGLISH … For this READ SOME GOOD QUALITY novels or poems mentioned above
or after searching Google (For ex. Best 100 Poems of Twentieth Century,
Best 100 Plays of All Time etc. )
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