Selfstudyhistory.com’s Interview of Dharani M [Rank 250, CSE- 2023, History Optional]

Profile of the Candidate

Introduction

Tell us something about yourself. 

• Hi, I am Dr.Dharani I am a dentist by profession and did my schooling from little flower convent tiruppur and BVB school erode. After doing dentistry I worked for 6 months and then pursued my dream of becoming an IAS officer

Questions Related to History Optional

Why did you choose history as your optional subject?

• History is something I enjoyed reading and I felt in this profession of civil services history would make me more empathetic and mindful of what is happening around so I would be able to make proper decisions in administrative field
• History also teaches on so many lessons which can also be replicated in the present

Kindly mention positive and negative about the History Optional for those who what to take history optional.

• Positive –
  • the joy of reading history is one big positives one can read it like a novel and there is good quality content from selfstudyhistory which is my ultimate source
  • And 90 % of questions get repeated in history
  • Maps are also one positive which breaks the monotony in studying and gives a space to relax and study at the same time, I found maps very interesting.
• Negatives –
  • the myth surrounding history that it should be written in para , we should not draw any diagrams that’s not true
  • Vastness of the syllabus is one another negative
  • Another one negative is people tend to read also the books and are not able to replicate much in answers

Kindly mention booklist and sources which you followed for History Optional.

• selfstudyhistory notes compelety for all ancient, medieval, modern and world history
• Ashutosh Kulkarni sir’s notes
• Shruthi sharma maam’s notes
• All the basic books like upindersingh , shekar bandopadhyay, Sumit sarkar, norman Lowe and Satish Chandra I read it multiple times without making notes since I referred to selfstudyhistory  notes of these books
• NCERT of all host books

In Paper I and II, you answered 3 questions from Part A or Part B?

• In paper 1 I chose ancient and in paper 2 I chose world history

How did you prepare for Map Portion?

• From self study history map portion and Ranjan sir’s map book

How much time per day you used to give the history optional during your preparation (both before and after prelims)?

• Before prelims I read all standard books like a novel it took around 2 months to finish two readings of all those books, and after prelims I completely devoted 2 months only to optional

Did you do answer writing regularly? If yes, what amount of time you devoted to it and how did it help you?

• I dint have much time since my portion was not completed so I wrote some of the selfstudyhistory tests and while I’m free I will brainstorm answers for questions and I will try to recall all the answers given in previous year booklet

Did you join any test series? If yes, kindly name it? How did it benefit you?

• Yes selfstudyhistory test series some unique questions and answers were given and it served as a platform to analyse myself

Did you maintain self-notes? If yes, how did it help you?

• No I didn’t prepare my notes

Have you solved previous years papers of history optional? Did it help you in the examination?

• Yes since 90% of questions topics get repeated I focus more on the previous year questions only

In your views, how the nature of questions asked in history optional changed in recent years?

• The core has not changed but it has become more analytical and one should focus more on structuring and indepth analysis

Were you asked questions related to History in interview? If yes, kindly mention those.

• Nil

How did selfstudyhistory.com benefitted you in your History Optional Preparation?

• It has been the sole thing to improve marks from 230 in 2022 attempt to 279 in 2023 attempt

Any specific thing you want to share about history optional?

• There is a wrong perception about taking history as an optional but I am one prime example to show one can finish history in just two months that too from home and many aspirants are not taking history even though they love history this has to change.
• Since this platform (selfstudyhistory) is incomparable in providing quality content

Click here for Answer Sheets of Dharani M [Rank 250, CSE- 2023, History Optional]