Strictly Prelims 2022 - The Random Repository
If there is one thing that I have understood after reading hundreds of reviews over the net after the prelims in the past days, it is that "prelims 2021 was not difficult, but random and being random is worse than being difficult" [ quoting someone on the forum, Idk who that someone is, 'someone' if you know who you are DM for credits :p]
I am starting this thread to beat that randomness, to what level will I be successful only time will tell!
So, here's the Idea:
1. "Humans are meaning making machines, seeking order in chaos" ~ Edward Snowden
How much ever random the paper might appear, it is gonna be in someway linked to something that we know.
For example: I read someone on the forum telling they could answer the lemon grass being a mosquito repellent question because their dad planted a lemon grass plant in their house
So on this thread, let us all share what we learn in our everyday lives, don't worry about it being irrelevant, just share. For all I understand, everything is relevant in prelims in someway or the other.
2. If we can keep our reading wide, reading all angles of a certain news item, we can cover a lot of surface area.
Example for keeping the reading wide: SC and the firecrackers manufacturers case
what case: Arjungopal Vs UoI
what's banned: Fire crackers with harmful chemicals [Lithium, arsenic, barium, lead] - what's allowed:Green crackers- who researched on green crackers:CSIR-NEERI- who certifies green crackers -PESO[under DPIIT - also gave guidelines for O2 cylinders transport in 2nd wave] - how are green crackers different: theyhave additivestheysuppress the dusthence less emission [Green crackers also called SWAS, STAR, SAFAL crackers]
why are those chemicals used in the firecrackers:Barium saltsare used to givegreen colorto the crackers [Metal salts give colors to the crackers] - Do we havebarium reservesin India: It naturally occurs in the mineral form ofBarium sulphate[Barytes] -Mangamapet in cuddapah, AP is the singlelargest barytes deposit in the world[ AP accounts for 94% of country's baryte reserves and India is one of largest producer and exporter of barytes ] - Source: Indian Minerals Yearbook, 2015
This is what I mean by covering a lot of surface area through one news item.
This sure is gonna take a lot of time for a single person to do it. But imagine what will the result be if 10's of aspirants combine their knowledge!
3. Let this thread become a repository of all things prelims 2022!
Request:Please strictly stick to talking about your everyday learnings and findings only on this thread, so that by the time we write prelims it becomes easy for us to revise from this thread
"Chance is hugely significant in biology. In fact, the presence of apparent randomness in so many aspects of biology - from mutations in DNA to the chance involved in that one sperm reaching that one egg that became you - suggests that randomness is useful, even necessary, in very many cases" ~ Alice Roberts
- Black rhinoscan live to be 35 – 40 years in the wild.
- Gestation lasts approximately 15 – 16 months, and mothers give birth to one calf every 2.5 – 3 years.
- Females and sub-adults generally are social, but bulls are typically solitary.
- https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/rhino-species/black-rhino/
I believe this is the wrong approach going after the gestation period of animals. Last year, the Elephant question was in the paper because in Kerala a pregnant elephant died after eating crackers. It is not all completely random.
We need to go into the reason for the question to better understand the pattern.
Kumki Elephants (or koomkie) : Trained captiveAsian elephantsused for trapping or rescuing mostly wild elephants or sometimes other wild animal [ Recently used in search operation of T23 Tiger inMudumalai Tiger Reserve (MTR) ] - Kumki's are mostly trained atTheppakadu Elephant Campat MTR
Asian Elephant: Only living species of genusElephas- Distributed throughout Indian subcontinent and southeast asia [ India, Nepal, Sumatra and Borneo being the boundaries] ; IUCN: Endangered
Mudumalai Tiger Reserve : Part of Nilgiri Biosphere reserve [1st Biosphere reserve of India] at trijunction of TN, KA, KL - mudumalai hill range is as old as western ghats (65mn yrs)
- Black rhinoscan live to be 35 – 40 years in the wild.
- Gestation lasts approximately 15 – 16 months, and mothers give birth to one calf every 2.5 – 3 years.
- Females and sub-adults generally are social, but bulls are typically solitary.
- https://rhinos.org/about-rhinos/rhino-species/black-rhino/
I believe this is the wrong approach going after the gestation period of animals. Last year, the Elephant question was in the paper because in Kerala a pregnant elephant died after eating crackers. It is not all completely random.
We need to go into the reason for the question to better understand the pattern.
That is what I was thinking, conquering randomness of any government exam seems a very hard approach. I think maybe focus on basic books, NCERT's and any one CA magazine should be the approach. We just can't read and remember 'any thing and everything under the sun'.
Edit : If ever we would want to be its a repository of random things, then best way to be go about collection around some themes. Like say diseases at one place, missions at one place like that.
I both agree and disagree with y'all! I agree we cannot remember everything under the sun! And maybe UPSC will not repeat it's own patterns, but we have seen UPSC verbatim repeating it's PYQ in prelims this year! So, maybe if someone finds something similar to PYQ's in current news, I don't think there's any harm in noting it down!
The idea behind making this repository was to cover a broad surface area! Also as far as I understand the forum we can't make parallel threads here yet like discord, so in that case it will be very difficult to run theme wise in a single thread and if we divide threads as per themes then there will be proliferation of threads.
As this is still the beginning, we still cannot understand the intersectionality between the themes. I feel it is better to have a single thread, so at one point we can link between things which becomes extremely important in CSE!
Request: Kindly if anyone wants to discuss further on how we can make this better productive and worthwhile, kindly DM me! Also, if any of you have any opinion on certain user's post kindly DM them or maybe we can take it up on some other thread. The only reason being, in the run to prelims I hope to see a lot of info on this thread [ Hopeful thinking or wishful should I say :p] so, let us please avoid discussing here. I apologize if I am being very regulatory :D
Capsaicin [Belongs tovanilloid type of components] - Active component in all chili peppers (genus: capsicum) [News: Nobel prize for physiology/medicine 2021] - glows in dark - Used in pepper spray
Capsaicin binds to TRPV1 receptor [Central nervous system receptors - also ion-channel type receptors] - due to which you get a burning sensation when you eat a chilli - These receptors help regulate body's ability to regulate temperature and acidity levels [ Disclaimer: I didn't mention this here because they asked about ACE2 in this year's prelims :p , I mentioned it because TRPV1 receptor discovery is precisely what got them Nobel prize ]
The spiciness of chilies is measured in SHU - Scoville Heat Units [ Pure capsaicin is 16mn SHUs] - Higher the SHU, hotter the pepper
Naga chili or Raja Mircha or Ghost pepper [ GI tag - Nagaland ] - Has 1mn SHU - One of the top 5 hottest chili's in the world - Generally the seeds attached to placenta of the chili have capsaicin but even the flesh of naga chili has capsaicin.
In 2016, Committee headed by D.S Hooda looked into the alternative of replacing 'pellet guns' with 'Ghost pepper' powdered "Chili grenades"
Prickly Pear Cactus [Opuntia] : Native to South and North America - Mainly found in Mexico and caribbean
Uses: 1. Biodegradable plastic [can be used for packaging - alternative to single use plastics] 2. Medicine - Type 2 diabetes, high cholestrol, obesity,colitis(Shinzo abe suffered from this, hence he resigned) [Inflammation of inner lining of colon] 3. Food - candies and Jellies
Malaria is caused by aparasite calledPlasmodium.
There are 4 types of plasmodium parasites - Plasomidum. falciparum (causes cerebral malaria - fatal) , P.vivax (benign malaria) , P.ovale (tertian malaria - fever every 48hrs) , P.malariae (quartant malaria - fever every 72hrs).
P. falciparum and P.vivax are the most common in India.
Malaria is anIntermittent fever, meaning fever only comes once in 24(quotidien), 48(tertian) or 72(quartan) hours.
Plasmodium falciparum is the most deadly malaria [The recent world's 1st anti-malarial vaccine (RTS,S or Mosquirix) approved by WHO targets only this particular parasite]
Kath-Kuni Architecture
- ‘Kath-Kuni’ is a popular type of natural building which uses locally available wood and stone as prime materials for construction. These humble-looking abodes made of stone, mud and wood were popular in Himachal Pradesh and parts of Uttarakhand.
- At the time of anearthquake, a Kath-Kuni structure might shake, but is less likely to collapse. Winters in Himachal are harsh and unforgiving. During this time, concrete houses become extremely cold and need expensive heating arrangements.
- But Kath-Kuni houses provide excellent heat insulation. Their thick double walls help to retain heat and mud plaster allows free movement of air.
- Kath-Kuni is structurally different from conventional building methods. Instead of vertical columns, it is built on horizontal beams. Through ‘criss cross’ bracings, an entire wooden structure is constructed.
- Even the joineries are made of wood. The weight of tightly packed stones provides stability to the structure while the wooden beams provide flexibility. Slate tiles are used to lay the roof, their weight presses the entire structure downwards and adds further to its stability.
- Kath-Kuni structures are slowly vanishing in Himachal Pradesh. This is due to the rapid urbanisation of the Himalayan region and easy availability of cheap alternative materials like concrete.
I both agree and disagree with y'all! I agree we cannot remember everything under the sun! And maybe UPSC will not repeat it's own patterns, but we have seen UPSC verbatim repeating it's PYQ in prelims this year! So, maybe if someone finds something similar to PYQ's in current news, I don't think there's any harm in noting it down!
The idea behind making this repository was to cover a broad surface area! Also as far as I understand the forum we can't make parallel threads here yet like discord, so in that case it will be very difficult to run theme wise in a single thread and if we divide threads as per themes then there will be proliferation of threads.
As this is still the beginning, we still cannot understand the intersectionality between the themes. I feel it is better to have a single thread, so at one point we can link between things which becomes extremely important in CSE!
Request: Kindly if anyone wants to discuss further on how we can make this better productive and worthwhile, kindly DM me! Also, if any of you have any opinion on certain user's post kindly DM them or maybe we can take it up on some other thread. The only reason being, in the run to prelims I hope to see a lot of info on this thread [ Hopeful thinking or wishful should I say :p] so, let us please avoid discussing here. I apologize if I am being very regulatory :D
Ok , one last unrelated comment.
Whatonly, Is that you?
I both agree and disagree with y'all! I agree we cannot remember everything under the sun! And maybe UPSC will not repeat it's own patterns, but we have seen UPSC verbatim repeating it's PYQ in prelims this year! So, maybe if someone finds something similar to PYQ's in current news, I don't think there's any harm in noting it down!
The idea behind making this repository was to cover a broad surface area! Also as far as I understand the forum we can't make parallel threads here yet like discord, so in that case it will be very difficult to run theme wise in a single thread and if we divide threads as per themes then there will be proliferation of threads.
As this is still the beginning, we still cannot understand the intersectionality between the themes. I feel it is better to have a single thread, so at one point we can link between things which becomes extremely important in CSE!
Request: Kindly if anyone wants to discuss further on how we can make this better productive and worthwhile, kindly DM me! Also, if any of you have any opinion on certain user's post kindly DM them or maybe we can take it up on some other thread. The only reason being, in the run to prelims I hope to see a lot of info on this thread [ Hopeful thinking or wishful should I say :p] so, let us please avoid discussing here. I apologize if I am being very regulatory :D
Ok , one last unrelated comment.
Whatonly, Is that you?
LOLOL! XDDD
I was just going to ask the same question. Is that you@whatonly ?
Tina1997,THE_MECHANIC
I hadnt even read this comment and I told her how she is so much like @whatonly.
Tina1997,THE_MECHANIC
nerdslayer,Caffeinity
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