Showing posts with label Commerce. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Commerce. Show all posts

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

Preparation for the compulsory questions

The question numbers 1 and 5 in every optional paper are very tricky, more so in the changed paradigm when there is no choice and UPSC shifting to 12 markers from 20 markers. In Commerce paper 2 and in Management papers 1 and 2, the general way of asking questions is to give a term and we are supposed to write a note on it.

How i prepared for this

I tried collecting all kinds of terms possible on the topic from many sources like looking at syllabus of all major universities in India, looking at indices of many books etc and then preparing a small 5-10 marker on these terms. This makes sure that you can know the exact meaning of the term and the rest can be expanded during the exam.

If you don't know what "Dominant Coalition" is ( CSE-2012, Commerce, P2, Q1(a)) or what Personnel Ratios ( CSE-2012, Commerce, P2, Q1(d)) are, you will not be able to write correctly on this. Similar examples can be seen in Management papers like "Concept of fit and stretch", Managerial Grid, Hedge accounting , Share Penetration Index in the past 3 years. These terms carrying 120 marks can have a huge impact on your score and hence can't be left to chance.

For example, some sample terms on which notes were made for Industrial relations were: 

Aggregate Unionism, Bargained Corporatism, Class Consciousness, Defocalisation of power, Industrial Jurisprudence, Iron cage of serfdom, Concession Bargaining, Codetermination, Decentralized bargaining, Deductive bargaining, Featherbedding, Good-Faith bargaining, Implicit Contract, Implied obligations doctrine, Industrial feudalism, Jawboning, Job control Unionism, Mediation-Arbitration process, Multilateral bargaining, Normative bargaining Theory, Off-Pattern settlement, Outmigration, Pattern bargaining, centralized bargaining, Reverse collective bargaining, Surface bargaining, Union avoidance, Union substitution, Union suppression,  Productivity Bargaining, Society Unionateness, Structural functionalism, Welfare unionism, Zones of bargaining

Book list for Commerce Paper 2

Organization Theory 
  • Organizational Theory, Design, and Change, Paperback, Gareth R. Jones
  • Organization theory by Daft 
Organizational Behaviour

  • Organizational Behaviour by Robbins ( base book)
  • Kavita Singh and a few other books were used to make brief notes on various terms

Human Resource Management

  • Human Resource Management- C.B.Gupta
  • Notes from various books like Aswathappa, Robbins etc for all kinds of terms that can be asked as 12/20 markers

Industrial Relations

  • Industrial Relations- T.N. Chabra & R.K.Suri
  • Brief notes on various terms from the 2nd Labour commission report of 2002 like Mafia Unionism etc


Used rankers notes available in the market to add to my coverage. Had covered the 1st 3 topics extensively from many sources during the course of my preparation in earlier attempts for Management optional. Made notes on latest examples from the corporate world on various aspects of the syllabus from business dailies like Economic Times, Business standard etc. If I get hold of my examples file, would upload it.

Book List for Commerce Paper -1

Since, i had taken Commerce optional after Prelims there was very little that could be devoted to it. So, i relied generally on 1 book per subject and strengthened some parts in which i was already comfortable because of my MBA and management optional background.

Accounting
  • Corporate Accounting – J R Monga
  • Accounting Standards- CA notes


Cost Accounting
  • Cost Accounting; Theory & Problems- Maheshwari & Mittal 

Auditing
  • Surbhi Bansal auditing notes for CA ( Primary source)
  • Students’ Guide to Auditing- Aruna Jha 

Taxation

  • Income Tax book by- Girish Ahuja
  • Service tax and VAT from CA notes
Financial Management
Did it from multiple sources as it was my strength
  • Financial Management by M Y Khan
  • Financial Management by Prasanna Chandra
  • Financial Management notes of CA by Aditya Jain
Financial Institutions and Markets
  • Made notes from the internet, used CA notes and rankers notes for this part.
You can also look at the following blog for more info: