1)Read minimum books and use ur General Studies knowledge in pub ad. It is not possible to knw each and everything on a given topic…u can only remember limited number of facts and events…
so it is better to focus on a few things and go thru them thoroughly and change the wordings/ presentation acc to the Q but state the facts that u knw…
2)I always wrote introduction and conclusion in para form and the body in points.
3) u have to link both paper 1 and 2. Also while preparing u can try to relate the topics beforehand…there r many topics such as financial admin which r in paper 1 as well as paper 2. u have to include facts abt india always in both paper 1 and 2 answers.
4) answer-writing is very imp for pub ad…and good answers r possible only after u practice again and again…
Source.
1) Prasad and Prasad -all the 18 thinkers…except for marx
2) public policy models described in nicholas henry( and i had made notes for evolution of PA frm this book also i guess... )
3) i went only thru arc 2 reports(recommendations summary) - 30 points for every report .
4) Earlier we cud have safely depended on books…but now, the kind of Qs being asked…esp in pub ad makes it absolutely necessary to go thru other sources like newspapers, internet, etc
most of the content in the 2011 exam pub ad was frm newspapers and current events rather than the books…eg lokpal, community policing etc...so the actual working, examples, etc need to b taken frm the newspapers and the theoretical base frm books… internet is certainly the best source for paper 2..esp Wikipedia,ministry websites..eg. for city mgmt- min of urban dev website
5) Polity – Lakshmikanth cover to cover.. covers theoretical base of paper 2..also u can quote articles here and there
6) Good classnotes- to cover rest of d topics like central secretariat,admin law,boards etc
How much should u write..? it depends upon the quality of ur answers and not quantity... attempting less marks with quality answers( for eg., 280 marks on 300) is much better than attempting all with avg ones... but there is a threshold level for leaving marks too. u cant leave above 30-40 marks in a optional paper..
Also there is no fixed strategy as such.. it may work or it may not..Pub ad is more abt luck i guess..In Union Public Service Commission, there is a very fine line between underestimating and overestimating ourselves!!!
