COMBINED CIVIL SERVICES Examination - IIA (Group II-A Services)

(Preliminary Examination)

General Studies ‐ Degree standard

TOPICS FOR OBJECTIVE TYPE

UNIT – I : General science:

Physics

          1.      Universe

          2.      General Scientific laws 

          3.      Scientific instruments

          4.      Inventions and discoveries

          5.      National scientific laboratories

          6.      Science glossary

          7.      Mechanics and properties of matter

          8.      Physical quantities, standards and units
    9.   Force, motion and energy

        10.      Electricity and Magnetism

        11.      Heat, light and sound

        12.      Atomic and nuclear physics

   

Chemistry

         1.      Elements and Compounds

         2.      Acids, bases and salts

         3.      Oxidation and reduction

         4.      Chemistry of ores and metals

         5.      Carbon, nitrogen and their compounds

         6.      Fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides

Botany

         1.      Main Concepts of life science

         2.      The cell‐basic unit of life

         3.      Classification of living     

         4.      Organism
   5.   Nutrition and dietetics

         6.      Respiration

   

Zoology

         1.      Blood and blood circulation

         2.      Endocrine system

         3.      Reproductive system

         4.      Genetics the science of heredity

         5.      Environment, ecology, health and hygiene, Biodiversity and its conservation

         6.      Human diseases, prevention and remedies

         7.      Communicable diseases and Non- Communicable diseases

UNIT – II : Geography

         1.      Earth and Universe

         2.      Solar system

         3.      Atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere

         4.      Monsoon, rainfall, weather and climate

         5.      Water resources

         6.      Rivers in India

         7.      Soil, minerals & natural resources

         8.      Natural vegetation

         9.      Forest &wildlife   

       10.      Agricultural pattern, livestock & fisheries

       11.      Social geography

       12.      Population‐density and distribution

       13.      Natural calamities

       14.       Disaster management

UNIT – III : History and culture of India

         1.      South Indian history

         2.      Culture and Heritage of Tamil people

         3.      Advent of European invasion

         4.      Expansion and consolidation of British rule

         5.      Effect of British rule on socio‐economic factors

         6.      Social reforms and religious movements

         7.      India since independence 

         8.      Characteristics of Indian culture

         9.       Unity in diversity –race, colour, language, custom

       10.       India‐as secular state‐Organizations for fine arts, dance, drama, music

       11.      Growth of rationalist, Dravidian movement in TN‐Political parties and populist schemes
 12.   Prominent personalities in the various spheres – Arts, Science, literature and Philosophy
 13.       Mother Teresa, Swami Vivekananda, Pandit Ravishankar , M.S.Subbulakshmi, Rukmani Arundel and J.Krishnamoorthy etc.

UNIT – IV : INDIAN POLITY

        1.      Constitution of India

        2.      Preamble to the constitution

        3.      Salient features of constitution

        4.      Union, State and territory

        5.      Citizenship‐rights amend duties
   6.      Fundamental rights

        7.      Fundamental duties

        8.      Human rights charter

        9.      Union legislature

       10.    Parliament

       11.    State executive

       12.    State Legislature – assembly

       13.    Status of Jammu & Kashmir

       14.    Local government – panchayat raj

       15.    Tamil Nadu

       16.    Judiciary in India

       17.    Rule of law/Due process of law

       18.    Indian federalism – center – state relations

       19.    Emergency provisions

       20.    Elections ‐ Election Commission Union and State

       21.   Official language and Schedule‐VIII

       22.    Amendments to constitution

       23.    Schedules to constitution

       24.    Administrative reforms & tribunals

       25.    Corruption in public life

       26.    Anti‐corruption measures, Central Vigilance Commission, Lok‐adalats, Ombudsman, Comptroller and Auditor General of India.

       27.    Right to information ‐Central and State Commission

       28.    Empowerment of women

UNIT – V : INDIAN ECONOMY

          1.      Nature of Indian economy

          2.      Five‐year plan models‐an assessment

          3.      Land reforms & agriculture

          4.      Application of science in agriculture

          5.      Industrial growth

          6.      Capital formation and investment

          7.      Role of public sector & disinvestment

          8.      Development of infrastructure

          9.      National income 

        10.     Rural welfare oriented Programmes

        11.    Social sector problems –population, education, health, employment, poverty

        12.    HRD – sustainable economic growth

        13.    Economic trends in Tamil Nadu

        14.    Energy Different sources and development

        15.    Finance Commission

        16.    Planning Commission

        17.    National Development Council.

UNIT – VI : INDIAN NATIONAL MOVEMENT

          1.     Early uprising against British rule‐1857 Revolt

          2.      Indian National Congress

          3.      Emergence of national leaders‐ Gandhi, Nehru, Tagore, Netaji

          4.      Growth of militant movements

          5.      Communalism led to partition

          6.      Role of Tamil Nadu in freedom struggle

          7.      Rajaji, VOC, Periyar, Bharathiar & Others

          8.     Birth of political parties /political system in India since independence

UNIT ‐ VII : Current Events

                1.      History
                 1.      Latest diary of events
                 2.      National
                 3.      National symbols
                 4.      Profile of States
                 5.      Eminent persons & places in news
                 6.      Sports & games
                 7.      Books & authors
                 8.      Awards & Honours
                 9.      Cultural panorama
               10.      Latest historical events
               11.      India and its neighbours
               12.     Appointments‐who is who?

         2.      Political Science
                 1.      Problems in conduct of public elections
                 2.      Political parties and political system in India
                 3.      Public awareness & General administration
                 4.      Role of Voluntary organizations & Govt.,
                 5.      Welfare oriented govt. schemes, their utility.
        
         3.      Geography
                 1.      Geographical landmarks
                 2.      Policy on environment and ecology

         4.      Economics
                1.      Current socio‐economic problems
                2.      New economic policy & govt. sector

          5.      Science
                1.      Latest inventions on science & technology
                2.      Latest discoveries in Health Science
                3.      Mass media & communication.

UNIT –VIII : APTITUDE & MENTAL ABILITY TEST

          1.      Conversion of information to data
    2.      Collection, compilation and presentation of data, tables, graphs, diagrams

          3.      Parametric representation of data‐Analytical interpretation of data

          4.      Simplification

          5.      Percentage

          6.      Highest Common Factor (HCF)

          7.      Lowest Common Multiple (LCM)

          8.      Ratio and Proportion

          9.     Simple interest

        10.     Compound interest

        11.     Area‐Volume

        12.     Time and Work

        13.     Decision making and problem solving.

Logical Reasoning

    1.      Puzzles

    2.      Dice

    3.      Visual Reasoning

    4.      Alpha numeric Reasoning

    5.      Number Series
     6.      Logical Number/Alphabetical/Diagrammatic Sequences.

SYLLABUS – GENERAL ENGLISH

S.S.L.C. Standard (Objective Type) Grammar

PART A

1. Match the following words and Phrases given in Column A with their meanings in Column B.

2. Choose the correct ‘Synonyms’ for the underlined word from the options given

3. Choose the correct ‘Antonyms’ for the underlined word from the options given

4. Select the correct word (Prefix, Suffix)

5. Fill in the blanks with suitable Article

6. Fill in the blanks with suitable Preposition

7. Select the correct Question Tag

8. Select the correct Tense

9. Select the correct Voice

10. Fill in the blanks (Infinitive, Gerund, and Participle)

11. Identify the sentence pattern of the following sentence (Subject, Verb, Object….) Blanks with correct ‘Homophones’

12. Find out the Error (Articles, Prepositions, Noun, Verb, Adjective, and Adverb)

13. Comprehension 14. Select the correct sentence

15. Find out the odd words (Verb, Noun, Adjective, and Adverb)

16. Select the correct Plural forms

17. Identify the sentence (Simple, Compound, Complex Sentence)

18. Identify the correct Degree.

19. Form a new word by blending the words.

20. Form compound words (Eg: Noun+Verb, Gerund+Noun)

Part-B Literature

1. Figures of speech observed in the following Poems:

Alliteration – Allusion – Simile – Metaphor – Personification – Oxymoron – Onomatopoeia – Anaphora – Ellipsis - Rhyme Scheme - Rhyming Words – Repetition – Apostrophe

A Psalm of Life - Women’s Rights - The Nation United - English words – Snake – The Man He Killed - Off to outer space tomorrow morning - Sonnet No.116 - The Solitary Reaper - Be the Best - O Captain My Captain - Laugh and Be Merry – Earth - Don’t quit - The Apology - Be Glad your Nose is on your face - A sonnet for my Incomparable Mother - The Flying Wonder - To a Millionaire - The Piano – Manliness - Going for water - The cry of the Children - Migrant Bird - Shilpi.

2. Appreciation Questions from Poetry

A Psalm of Life - Women’s Rights - The Nation United - English words – Snake – The Man He Killed - Off to outer space tomorrow morning – Sonnet No.116 - The Solitary Reaper - Be the Best - O Captain My Captain - Laugh and Be Merry – Earth - Don’t quit - The Apology - Be Glad your - Nose is on your face - A sonnet for my Incomparable Mother - The Flying Wondr - To a Millionaire - The Piano – Manliness - Going for water - The cry of the Children - Migrant Bird - Shilpi.

3. Important lines from Poems.

Where the mind is without fear - The Solitary Reaper - Going for water - A Psalm of Life - Be the Best - Sonnet No.116

4. Questions on the Biography of

Mahatma Gandhi - Jawaharlal Nehru - Subash Chandra Bose - Helen Keller Kalpana Chawala - Dr.Salim Ali - Rani of Jhansi - Nelson Mandela – Abraham Lincoln

5. Questions on Shakespeare’s

Merchant of Venice (Act IV Court Scene) - Julius Ceasar (Act III Scene 2) - Sonnet 116

6. Questions from Oscar Wilde’s

The Model Millionaire - The Selfish Giant 

7. Dr.Karl Paulnack Music-The Hope Raiser

8. Comprehension Questions from the following Motivational Essays:

Gopala Krishna Gokhale’s Speech on 25th July in Mumbai in response to The address presented to him by students- Dale Carnegie’s ‘The Road to success- Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam’s ‘Vision for the Nation’(from‘India 2020’) - Ruskin Bond’s ‘Our Local Team’ - Hope Spencer’s ‘Keep your spirits high’ - Deepa Agarwal’s ‘After the storm’ - Brian patten’s ‘You can’t be that no you can’t be that’

9. Comprehension Questions from the following description of Places

Ahtushi Deshpande’s ‘To the land of snow’ - Manohar Devadoss – Yaanai Malai - Brihadeesvarar Temple

10. British English – American English

Part-C

Authors and their Literary Works

1. Match the Poems with the Poets

A psalm of Life - Be the Best - The cry of the children - The Piano – Manliness Going for water – Earth -The Apology - Be Glad your Nose is on your face - The Flying Wonder -Is Life But a Dream - Be the Best - O captain My Captain - Snake - Punishment in Kindergarten -Where the Mind is Without fear - The Man He Killed - Nine Gold Medals

2. Which Nationality the story belongs to?

The selfish Giant - The Lottery Ticket - The Last Leaf - How the Camel got its Hump - Two Friends – Refugee - The Open Window

3. Identify the Author with the short story

The selfish Giant - The Lottery Ticket - The Last Leaf - How the Camel got its Hump - Two Friends – Refugee - The Open Window - A Man who Had no Eyes - The Tears of the Desert – Sam The Piano - The face of Judas Iscariot - Swept Away - A close encounter - Caught Sneezing - The Wooden Bowl - Swami and the sum 4.Whose Auto biography / Biography is this?

5. Which Nationality the Poet belongs to ?

Robert Frost - Archibald Lampman - D.H. Lawrence - Rudyard Kipling Kamala Das - Elizabeth Barrett Browning - Famida Y. Basheer - Thomas Hardy - Khalil Gibran - Edgar A. Guest - Ralph Waldo Emerson - Jack Prelutsky - F. Joanna - Stephen Vincent Benet - William Shakespeare - William Wordsworth - H.W. Long Fellow - Annie Louisa walker - Walt Whitman - V.K. Gokak

6. Characters, Quotes, Important Lines from the following works of Indian Authors:

Sahitya Akademi Award winner: Thakazhi Sivasankaran Pillai – ‘Farmer’ Kamala Das – 1. Punishment in Kindergarten 2. My Grandmother’s House R.K. Narayan - Swami and the sum - Rabindranath Tagore - Where the mind is without fear - Dhan Gopal Mukherji - Kari, The Elephant - Deepa Agarwal - After the Storm - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam - Vision for the Nation Indra Anantha Krishna- The Neem Tree - Lakshmi Mukuntan- The Ant Eater and the Dassie - Dr. Neeraja Raghavan - The Sun Beam

7. Drama Famous lines, characters, quotes from

Julius Caesar - The Merchant of Venice

8. Match the Places, Poet, Dramatist, Painter with suitable option

9. Match the following Folk Arts with the Indian State / Country

10. Match the Author with the Relevant Title/Character

11. Match the Characters with Relevant Story Title

The Selfish Giant - How the camel got its hump - The Lottery ticket - The Last Leaf - Two friends – Refugee - Open window – Reflowering - The Necklace Holiday

 12. About the Poets

Rabindranath Tagore - Henry Wordsworth Longfellow - Anne Louisa Walker -V K Gokak - Walt Whitman - Douglas Malloch

13. About the Dramatists

William Shakespeare - Thomas Hardy

14. Mention the Poem in which these lines occur

Granny, Granny, please comb My Hair - With a friend - To cook and Eat - To India – My Native Land - A tiger in the Zoo - No men are foreign – Laugh and be Merry – The Apology - The Flying Wonder

15. Various works of the following Authors

Rabindranath Tagore – Shakespeare - William Wordsworth - H.W. Longfellow – Anne Louisa Walker - Oscar Wilde - Pearl S. Buck

16. What is the theme observed in the Literary works?

Snake - The Mark of Vishnu - Greedy Govind - Our Local Team – Where the mind is without fear - Keep your spirits high - Be the best – Bat – The Piano – The Model Millionaire - The Cry of the Children – Migrant bird – Shilpi

17. Famous Quotes – Who said this?

18. To Which period the Poets belong

William Shakespeare - Walt Whitman - William Wordsworth - H.W. Longfellow Annie Louisa Walker - D.H. Lawrence

19. Matching the Poets and Poems

Discovery – Biking – Inclusion - Granny, Granny, please comb My Hair – With a Friend - To cook and Eat – Bat - To India – My Native Land - A tiger in the Zoo - No men are foreign - Laugh and be Merry – Earth – The Apology - The Flying Wonder - Off to outer space tomorrow morning - Be the best - Is life, but a dream - Women’s rights - The Nation united - English words – Snake – The man he killed

20. Nature centered Literary works and Global issue Environment and Conservation

Flying with moon on their wings - Migrant bird - Will Thirst Become - Unquenchable? - Going for Water - Swept away - Gaia tells her