How to Prepare UPSC Botany Optional subject 2024 – IAS Mains

Prepare UPSC Botany: Check out How to Prepare UPSC Botany Optional subject 2024 – Study Strategy. UPSC Mains Botany Optional subject Preparation Tips are provided here. UPSC Notification 2022 has released. Today we’ve provided a Preparation strategy for UPSC Botany optional Paper. UPSC has already announced IAS / Civil Services Exam Dates (UPSC वनस्पति विज्ञान वैकल्पिक विषय). Before going to start the preparation strategy for UPSC, know UPSC Mains Syllabus. You can check Suggested Strategy for Botany optional for the UPSC IAS mains exam.

How to Prepare UPSC Botany Optional Subject 2024

Botany is highly scoring optional subjects in the UPSC IAS Mains Exam. This is one of the optional subjects that the UPSC offers candidates in the mains exam. Not many candidates opt for it as it is a specialized subject. This article talks about Botany as an optional for the IAS mains exam and gives a few tips to prepare for this optional. It will be difficult for any aspirants who do not have prior knowledge of Botany and Agriculture.

• know your UPSC Civil Services Exam syllabus
• Select Best Reference Books
• Prepare a Study plan
• Prepare own Preparation Notes
• Practice Previous Question Papers
• Practice few Mock Test Papers

Why Botany optional?

Candidates who have taken Botany or Biology as their graduation major and are in touch with this subject can take this optional. Candidates who have lost touch but still like the subject or enjoy reading about it can select this subject. Also, aspirants with a background in biotechnology can also opt for this optional subject.

UPSC Preparation Tips

UPSC Aspirants should follow exam tips to write the exam. Preparation tips are needed for any exam. UPSC exam should be conducted once in every year. Planning and hard work are very important to face any competitive exam. Below are some of the tips for preparation. The Paper I of Botany is which is like General studies and on diagrams more in this paper. But Paper-II of Botany optional deals with technical concepts such as cell biology, genetics, evolution and molecular biology.

Step 1: Know UPSC Botany syllabus

In the previous article, we’ve provided UPSC Mains Botany Syllabus. You can check and find what are the applicable topics and chapter for UPSC IAS Mains Exam.

Check– UPSC Botany Syllabus 2024 – IAS Mains Optional Subjects

Step 2: Select Best Reference Books for UPSC Botany

To prepare UPSC Botany Optional Subject, UPSC aspirants should prepare some reference books. We’ve already provided UPSC Reference Books for All optional papers. You can check our best-recommended books for the IAS exam at the given link below. The suggested books are included in optional and language Subjects.

Check – UPSC Mains Botany Reference Books

Recommended books for Botany:

• Cell Biology- De Robertis & Ambrose and Easy or Powar
• Botany for Degree Students; Pteridophyta (Vascular Cryptogams) – P.C. Vashishta
• Cryptograms – B.R. Vasista
• Ecology, Microbiology, Animal Behaviour, Pollution and Toxicology For B. Sc. Part III, Paper III- Dr. Veer Bala Rastogi
• Genetics – Strickberger
• Embryology Of Angiosperms- S P Bhatnagar
• Economic botany in the tropics- S. L. Kochhar
• Microbiology- Powar
• Genetics – Dr. Veer Bala Rastogi
• Physiology and Biochemistry – Salisbury and Ross or Fritz and Noggle
• Plant Anatomy – Esau
• Taxonomy – R Nair; Datta
• Plant Anatomy – B.P. Pandey

Step 3: Prepare a Study Plan

The study plan is very important for every exam preparation. It plays a key role in the success of getting a good score in the UPSC exam.  Prepare a study plan for the UPSC exam. Make a monthly plan, weekly plan and daily schedule to prepare UPSC Botany Optional Paper. Allot the time for exam preparation and set the time for playing, eating, watching TV, and studying.

Daily prepare a few hours and spend at least 8 hours for IAS exam preparation.

UPSC Botany Preparation Plan for 3 months

If you have 3 months of preparation time for the UPSC Mains exam, you can prepare 8-9 hours per day.

Step 4: Prepare UPSC Botany Important Topics

Botany Paper I Important Topics

• Focus on diagrams more in this paper.
• Give Indian examples also of species.
• The microbiology section is most important for the 200 words short notes.
• The key areas in Phanerogams are:

1. Gymnosperms: focus on fossil types
2. Angiosperms: prepare floral diagrams and formulas.
3. Embryology: don’t ignore diagrams on this topic.

Botany Paper-II Important Topics

• Under cell biology, the molecular aspect should be given importance.
• Genetics, evolution and molecular biology are important areas with high scoring potential.
• Candidates should write answers giving prominence to applications in agriculture and human welfare.
• In the Physiology and Biochemistry sections, biochemical physiology is very important. In topics like flowering, seed germination, and fruit ripening, aspirants need to cover hormones and developmental physiology.

Final Step: Prepare UPSC Botany Previous Question Papers & Practice papers

Download UPSC Mains Botany Question Papers. We’ve provided UPSC mains Botany Previous Question papers for download in PDF format.

Click Here: UPSC Mains Botany Question Papers Download in pdf

Who should opt for Botany?

Being a science subject, it can be scoring. Nothing is left to interpretation and the examiner’s personal views do not play any part in marking. The portions are pretty much static. Candidates need only to have their foundation clear and have conceptual clarity to write good answers. You can score through diagrams in this subject. The questions in this subject are direct and fundamental. He/She may score well in Paper I which is like general studies but Paper-II becomes the eliminating factor if it is not covered exhaustively.

How much time does it take to prepare?

4-5 months, if you study Botany 12-15 hours per week. This should be enough. Also, it depends on how much can you recall your graduation concepts.

Ideally, aspirants need 4-5 months to complete the optional subject solely. Here we are giving the best suitable strategies for Botany optional for the UPSC IAS Mains Exam.

• Aspirants should have an exhaustive knowledge about the syllabus of Botany optional.
• Candidates should know the basic concept of Botany to tackle Paper-II.
• Make short notes, flowchart and diagram will preparing. These short notes will help in revision time.
• Aspirants should guarantee that they are emphasizing on sustainability and economic dimensions also.
• Aspirants opting Botany as their option should update the up-to-date data taken from Government reports annual report regarding Botany and Biology.
• The essential part of UPSC IAS Exam preparation is solving the previous year’s UPSC Mains questions papers. For Botany also aspirants should go through the Previous year question paper to extract an idea about exam patterns, trends, etc.

This article titled “How to Prepare UPSC Botany Optional subject 2024 – Study Strategy – Suggested by Toppers ” gives the detailed information about the tips for the preparation of the UPSC exam for all optional papers. Additional information like Reference books for UPSC Mains UPSC वनस्पति विज्ञान विषय, IAS Previous question papers are also given above. Students should follow those tips and prepare well for the exam and download the links for more information about UPSC.