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UPSC National Defence Academy

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Paper II · General Ability Test (600 marks, 2.5 hrs, objective)

7 topics · 2 sections — from the official UPSC syllabus. Study material lands topic by topic.

Part A · English (200 marks)

  1. 1
    English (200 marks) — grammar, vocabulary, comprehension and cohesion, skill-based

Part B · General Knowledge (400 marks, six sections)

  1. 1
    Section A · Physics (25% weightage) — properties and states of matter, mechanics (motion, Newton's laws, force and momentum, gravitation, work/power/energy), heat, sound, light and optics, magnetism, electricity, general working principles of common devices (pendulum, pulleys, siphon, levers, pressure cooker, telescope, etc.)
  2. 2
    Section B · Chemistry (15% weightage) — physical and chemical changes, elements/mixtures/compounds, chemical equations, properties of air and water, preparation of hydrogen/oxygen/nitrogen/carbon dioxide, oxidation and reduction, acids/bases/salts, forms of carbon, fertilizers, materials (soap, glass, ink, paper, cement), elementary atomic structure, valency
  3. 3
    Section C · General Science (10% weightage) — living vs non-living, cells and protoplasm and tissues, growth and reproduction, elementary human body knowledge, epidemics and their prevention, food and nutrition, the solar system, eminent scientists and their discoveries
  4. 4
    Section D · History, Freedom Movement etc. (20% weightage) — broad survey of Indian history with emphasis on culture and civilisation, the freedom movement, the Indian Constitution and administration, the Five Year Plans, Panchayati Raj/cooperatives/community development, Bhoodan/Sarvodaya/national integration/Gandhi's teachings, forces shaping world history (Renaissance, and the American/French/Russian/Industrial revolutions), the UN/Panchsheel/democracy/socialism/communism, India's role in the contemporary world
    1. 1.Decline of the Mughal Empire24 min min
    2. 2.Rise of Regional States14 min
    3. 3.Advent of Europeans in India — From Vasco da Gama to British Supremacy28 min
    4. 4.British Conquest of Bengal17 min
    5. 5.Anglo-Mysore Wars (1767-1799)14 min
    6. 6.Anglo-Maratha Wars (1775-1818)8 min
    + 60 more chapters
    1. 7.Subsidiary Alliance, Doctrine of Lapse & the Anglo-Sikh Wars23 min
    2. 8.Drain of Wealth, Deindustrialisation, and Land Revenue Systems14 min
    3. 9.Civil Rebellions and Tribal Uprisings Before 185717 min
    4. 10.The Revolt of 185765 min
    5. 11.Post-1857 Administration and Crown Rule (1858-1900)17 min
    6. 12.Socio-Religious Reform Movements of 19th Century India15 min
    7. 13.Early Nationalism and the Formation of the Indian National Congress (1858-1905)11 min
    8. 14.Partition of Bengal and the Swadeshi Movement (1905-1911)16 min min
    9. 15.The Three Infrastructures of Nationalism: Press, Education and the Peasant Movements (1780-1947)24 min
    10. 16.World War I, Ghadar, Home Rule and the Lucknow Pact (1914-1918)18 min
    11. 17.Gandhi's Emergence: From the South African Laboratory to Jallianwala Bagh (1915-1920)18 min
    12. 18.Non-Cooperation Movement and Khilafat Aandolan (1920-1922)26 min min
    13. 19.The Years of Stagnation: Swarajists, the New Forces and the Revolutionaries (1922-1931)19 min
    14. 20.The Gathering Storm: Simon Commission, the Nehru Report and Purna Swaraj (1927-1930)20 min
    15. 21.Civil Disobedience Movement and Round Table Conferences (1930-34)16 min
    16. 22.The Constitution They Despised and the Office They Took: GoI Act 1935, Congress Ministries and the Rise of the Left (1935-1939)32 min
    17. 23.The Inclined Plane: Communalism from Syed Ahmad Khan to the Two-Nation Theory (1880s-1947)34 min
    18. 24.Wartime Politics: From the Crisis at Tripuri to the Cripps Mission (1939-1942)26 min
    19. 25.The Two Frontiers: Princely India and the Indian Capitalists in the Freedom Struggle (1920s-1947)36 min
    20. 26.Quit India Movement and the INA (1942-1945)10 min
    21. 27.Post-War National Scenario and the Transfer of Power (1945–47)9 min
    22. 28.Independence with Partition — the Freedom and the Fracture9 min
    23. 29.Post-Independence Consolidation (1947-1964)26 min
    24. 30.Making of the Constitution — The Constituent Assembly and the Birth of the Republic15 min
    25. 31.Salient Features of the Constitution — The Design Choices That Define India's Founding Charter15 min
    26. 32.The Preamble — Identity, Authority and the Conscience of the Constitution14 min
    27. 33.Union and its Territory — The Indestructible Union and the Reorganisation of States16 min
    28. 34.Citizenship — Membership, the Single-Citizenship Design and the Democratic Project14 min
    29. 35.Fundamental Rights — The Magna Carta of India15 min
    30. 36.Directive Principles of State Policy — The Conscience of the Constitution15 min
    31. 37.Fundamental Duties — The Code the Constitution Forgot and the Courts Revived15 min
    32. 38.Basic Structure Doctrine — The Unamendable Core of the Constitution16 min
    33. 39.Amendment of the Constitution — The Power to Mend, Not to Destroy20 min
    34. 40.Federal System — 'Union of States', the Quasi-Federal Debate, and Cooperative Federalism16 min
    35. 41.Centre-State Relations — The Three-Dimensional Machinery of Divided Power18 min
    36. 42.Inter-State Relations — The Horizontal Machinery of a Single Nation14 min
    37. 43.Emergency Provisions — A Constitution That Can Suspend Itself17 min
    38. 44.Panchayati Raj — From Article 40 to the 73rd Amendment and PESA24 min
    39. 45.Municipalities — Urban Local Self-Government Under the 74th Amendment20 min
    40. 46.Union Territories — A Deliberate Unitary Exception in a Federal Constitution22 min
    41. 47.Parliament — The Union Legislature and the Heart of Indian Democracy22 min
    42. 48.State Legislature -- Organisation, Composition and Legislative Procedure of the Vidhan Sabha and Vidhan Parishad16 min
    43. 49.The President — Head of the Indian State and Nominal Executive of the Union23 min
    44. 50.The Vice-President — India's Second-Highest Office and the Guarantee of Continuity13 min
    45. 51.The Prime Minister and Council of Ministers — India's Real Executive18 min
    46. 52.The Governor — Nominal Head of the State Executive and the Centre's Constitutional Link17 min
    47. 53.Chief Minister and State Council of Ministers — The Real Executive Behind the Governor15 min
    48. 54.The Supreme Court of India — Composition, Independence and Jurisdiction23 min
    49. 55.High Court and Subordinate Courts — The State Judiciary Beneath the Supreme Court21 min
    50. 56.The Attorney-General of India — Chief Law Officer Held at the President's Pleasure8 min
    51. 57.Advocate General of the State — The Governor's Law Officer, Not the State's5 min
    52. 58.The Election Commission — Guardian of Free and Fair Elections Under Article 32417 min
    53. 59.The Union Public Service Commission — Recruiting the Civil Services Under Articles 315-32314 min
    54. 60.The State Public Service Commission — A Calibrated Mirror of the UPSC Under Articles 315-32315 min
    55. 61.The Finance Commission — Article 280 and the Balancing Wheel of Fiscal Federalism14 min
    56. 62.The Comptroller and Auditor-General — Guardian of the Public Purse Under Articles 148-15115 min
    57. 63.The National Commission for Scheduled Castes — A Constitutional Template Extended Three Times11 min
    58. 64.The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes — A Constitutional Safeguard Born of Bifurcation9 min
    59. 65.The National Commission for Backward Classes — Completing a Constitutional Template14 min
    60. 66.The Special Officer for Linguistic Minorities — the Half of Part XVII That Protects, Not Promotes13 min
  5. 5
    Section E · Geography (20% weightage) — the Earth's shape and size, latitudes and longitudes, time and the international date line, the Earth's movements, origin of the Earth, rocks and weathering, earthquakes and volcanoes, ocean currents and tides, atmosphere and its composition, regional geography of India (climate, natural vegetation, minerals, location of agricultural and industrial activity), India's seaports and trade routes and imports/exports
    1. 1.Geomorphology — The Two Forces That Build the Land and Wear It Down92 min
    2. 2.World Regional Physiography — Where the Earth's Relief Actually Is90 min
    3. 3.Climatology — What the Air Does, and Why Water Is the Reason103 min
    4. 4.World Climatic Regions — The Types, and Two Ways of Sorting Them78 min
    5. 5.Oceanography — The Relief, the Salt, the Heat and the Currents of the Water Half of the Earth113 min
    6. 6.Biogeography and the Natural Vegetation of the World — How an Ecosystem Works, and Why the Living Cover of the Earth Lies in Belts109 min
    + 12 more chapters
    1. 7.India: Physiography — A Shield, a Rising Wall, a Filled Trough, and Two Kinds of Island96 min
    2. 8.Drainage Systems of India — How the Rivers Are Arranged, and Why They Behave As They Do67 min
    3. 9.India: Climate and the Monsoon — One Rhythm, and the Variety Inside It49 min
    4. 10.Soils of India — Formation, the Profile, the Groups, and the Erosion That Takes Them68 min
    5. 11.India's Natural Vegetation and Wildlife — The Forest Types, the Belts Up the Himalaya, and What Has Been Done to Them64 min
    6. 12.Water Resources of India — Four Per Cent of the World's Water for Seventeen Per Cent of Its People42 min
    7. 13.World Resources and Industry — Where the Minerals Lie and Where the Factories Went97 min
    8. 14.Minerals and Energy Resources of India — What the Rock Decides, and How Old Every Number Here Is79 min
    9. 15.Industries of India — Why a Factory Stands Where It Does, and Which of These Sentences Has Expired69 min
    10. 16.Economic Geography and Human Activities — Why an Activity Is Where It Is127 min
    11. 17.India's Agriculture — Where the Crops Are, in Which Season, and Why the Yields Divide101 min
    12. 18.Transport, Communication and Trade in India — The Network That Carries the Economy, and the Date on Every Number79 min
  6. 6
    Section F · Current Events (10% weightage) — important events in India and the world, prominent personalities including those in cultural activities and sports

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