How to prepare Environment for UPSC – Only 2 Steps – Best & Easy Beginners Guide

1. Preparing the environment for UPSC CSE is a 2 step process

1. Syllabus: The first step is to memorise the syllabus for the environment section.
   • Prelims – General issues on Environmental Ecology, Biodiversity and Climate Change – that do not require subject specialisation
   • Mains – (Technology, Economic Development, Bio-diversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management)
     • Conservation, Environmental Pollution and Degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment.
     • Disaster and Disaster Management.
2. Previous year’s papers: This is the gold standard for preparation. Analyzing all the previous year’s question papers can give you a good idea of the topics to be covered and not to be covered in the environment section. Here are the topics that have to be covered.

2. Topics to be covered in Environment

1. Keywords from the Syllabus – Environment, ecology, biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Pollution & degradation, Environmental Impact Assessment
2. Keywords from previous year’s questions

3. Recommended Readings

• Study Material: Don’t study the above topics from several sources. Limited sources give the most results – 80/20 Pareto principle
  • NCERT textbooks (Class 11 and 12) on Biology and Environmental Science
  • Shankar IAS Academy Environment book
  • Oxford School Atlas