VTS - GEOGRAPHY OPTIONAL DAILY ANSWER WRITING WITH MAINS TEST SERIES PROGRAM FOR 2024 MAINS – DELHI & CHENNAI

Features

• Duration: 6 Months
• No of tests: 16 total tests comprising 12 sectional tests and 04 full length tests
• Questions: based on UPSC CSE pattern for full test and curated by highly qualified and experienced faculty
• Evaluation:

         Evaluation process focuses on assessing the    answers on three dimensions.

                                Conceptual clarity

                                Structure and presentation

                                Geographical inputs (maps, E.g., etc)

• Mode: both online and offline modes will be available
• Exam will be held on Wednesdays.
• An extensive model answer Key document will be provided for each test.
• Test Discussion by geography optional faculty as recorded videos
• Students can write the exam up to one week from the scheduled date.
• Answer paper feedback will be provided within the timeline of maximum of 10 days from the date of your submission.

Daily Answer Writing practice

• The mains test schedule is conducted at an interval of 14 days.
• Daily answer writing practice will be held in-between the mains tests.
• Syllabus/topic for daily mains answer writing schedule will be provided which go hand in hand with test syllabus.
• The daily answer writing practice is for structuring optional answer to cater to the needs of UPSC.
• Every day 02 or 03 questions of UPSC PYQ and potential questions will be shared to the students.
• Mode: online
• Test discussion: Online Live discussion the next day at 10.30 am. (recorded videos on unforeseen situations)

Date of commencement

Daily answer writing – 3^rd of July, 2023

Test - 12^th of July, 2023

Fee structure

13000 + (GST@18%)

S. no

Date

Syllabus / Topic

01

12-07-23

Climatology: Temperature and pressure belts of the world; Heat budget of the earth; Atmospheric circulation; atmospheric stability and instability. Planetary and local winds; Monsoons and jet streams; Air masses and frontogenesis, Temperate and tropical cyclones; Types and distribution of precipitation; Weather and Climate; Koppen’s, Thornthwaite’s and Trewartha’s classification of world climates; Hydrological cycle, Global climatic change and role and response of man in climatic changes, Applied climatology and Urban climate.

Mechanism of Indian monsoons and rainfall patterns, Tropical cyclones and western disturbances; Climatic regions;

02

26-07-23

Geomorphology: Factors controlling landform development; endogenetic and exogenetic forces; Origin and evolution of the earth’s crust; Fundamentals of geomagnetism; Physical conditions of the earth’s interior; Geosynclines; Continental drift; Isostasy; Plate tectonics; Recent views on mountain building; Vulcanicity; Earthquakes and Tsunamis; Concepts of geomorphic cycles and Landscape development ; Denudation chronology; Channel morphology; Erosion surfaces; Slope development ; Applied Geomorphology : Geohydrology, economic geology and environment

03

09-08-23

Physical Setting: Space relationship of India with neighboring countries; Structure and relief; Drainage system and watersheds; Physiographic regions;

Contemporary Issues: Environmental hazards: landslides, earthquakes, Tsunamis, floods and droughts, epidemics;

Oceanography: Bottom topography of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans; Temperature and salinity of the oceans; Heat and salt budgets, Ocean deposits; Waves, currents and tides; Coral reefs, coral bleaching; sea-level changes and marine pollution, Marine resources: biotic, mineral and energy resources; law of the sea

04

23-08-23

Biogeography: Genesis of soils; Classification and distribution of soils; Soil profile; Soil erosion, Degradation and conservation; Factors influencing world distribution of plants and animals; Problems of deforestation and conservation measures; Social forestry; agroforestry; Wild life; Major gene pool centres.

Environmental Geography: Principle of ecology; Human ecological adaptations; Influence of man on ecology and environment; Global and regional ecological changes and imbalances; Ecosystem their management and conservation; Environmental degradation, management and conservation; Biodiversity and sustainable development; Environmental policy; Environmental hazards and remedial measures; Environmental education and legislation

Resources: biotic and marine resources; Forest and wild life resources and their conservation;

Physical Setting: Natural vegetation; Soil types and their distributions.

Contemporary Issues: Ecological issues; Issues relating to environmental pollution; Principles of environmental impact assessment and environmental management; Environmental degradation; Deforestation, desertification and soil erosion; Environmental awareness;

05

06-09-23

Perspectives in Human Geography: Areal differentiation; regional synthesis; Dichotomy and dualism; Environmentalism; Quantitative revolution and locational analysis; radical, behavioural, human and welfare approaches; Languages, religions and secularisation; Cultural regions of the world; Human development index

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Systems analysis in Human geography

Resources: Land, surface and ground water,

Floods and droughts;

Contemporary Issues: Changes in patterns of land use; Linkage of rivers;

06

20-09-23

Economic Geography: World agriculture: typology of agricultural regions; agricultural inputs and productivity; Food and nutrition problems; Food security; famine: causes, effects and remedies;

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Von Thunen’s model of agricultural location;

Agriculture: Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power; Institutional factors: land holdings, land tenure and land reforms; Cropping pattern, agricultural productivity, agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability; Agro and social-forestry; Green revolution and its socio- economic and ecological implications; Significance of dry farming; Livestock resources and white revolution; aqua - culture; sericulture, apiculture and poultry; agricultural regionalisation; agro-climatic zones; agro- ecological regions

Contemporary Issues: Population explosion and food security; Problems of agrarian unrest;

07

04-10-23

Economic Geography: World economic development: measurement and problems; World resources and their distribution; World industries: locational patterns and problems;

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Weber’s model of industrial location;

Industry: Evolution of industries; Locational factors of cotton, jute, textile, iron and steel, aluminium, fertilizer, paper, chemical and pharmaceutical, automobile, cottage and agro - based industries; Industrial houses and complexes including public sector undertakings; Industrial regionalisation; New industrial policies; Multinationals and liberalization; Special Economic Zones; Tourism including eco -tourism.

Contemporary Issues: Globalisation and Indian economy

08

18-10-23

Economic Geography: Energy crisis; the limits to growth; patterns of world trade.

Resources: energy, minerals, biotic and marine resources; Energy crisis.

Transport, Communication and Trade: Road, railway, waterway, airway and pipeline networks and their complementary roles in regional development; Growing importance of ports on national and foreign trade; Trade balance; Trade Policy; Export processing zones; Developments in communication and information technology and their impacts on economy and society; Indian space programme.

Contemporary Issues: Globalisation and Indian economy

09

01-11-23

Population Geography: Growth and distribution of world population; demographic attributes; Causes and consequences of migration; concepts of over-under and optimum population; Population theories, world population problems and policies, Social well-being and quality of life; Population as social capital.

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Malthusian, Marxian and demographic transition models;

Cultural Setting: Historical Perspective of Indian Society: Racial, linguistic and ethnic diversities; religious minorities; major tribes, tribal areas and their problems; cultural regions; Growth, distribution and density of population; Demographic attributes: sexratio, age structure, literacy rate, work-force, dependency ratio, longevity; migration (inter- regional, intra- regional and international) and associated problems; Population problems and policies; Health indicators.

Contemporary Issues: Population explosion and food security;

10

15-11-23

Settlement Geography: Types and patterns of rural settlements: Environmental issues in rural settlements; Hierarchy of urban settlements; Urban morphology: Concepts of primate city and rank size rule; Functional classification of towns; Sphere of urban influence; Rural - urban fringe; Satellite towns; Problems and remedies of urbanization; Sustainable development of cities

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Central Place theories of Christaller and Losch.

Settlements: Types, patterns and morphology of rural settlements; Urban developments; Morphology of Indian cities; Functional classification of Indian cities; Conurbations and metropolitan regions; urban sprawl; Slums and associated problems; town planning; Problems of urbanization and remedies.

11

29-11-23

Regional Planning: Concept of a region; Types of regions and methods of regionalisation; Growth centres and growth poles; Regional imbalances; regional development strategies; environmental issues in regional planning; Planning for sustainable development.

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Theories of Perroux and Boudeville;

Regional Development and Planning: Experience of regional planning in India; Five Year Plans; Integrated rural development programmes; Panchayati Raj and decentralised planning; Command area development; Watershed management; Planning for backward area, desert, drought prone, hill, tribal area development; multi-level planning; Regional planning and development of island territories

Contemporary Issues: Regional disparities in economic development; Concept of sustainable growth and development;

12

13-12-23

Models, Theories and Laws in Human Geography: Heartland and Rimland theories; Laws of international boundaries and frontiers. Rostov’s model of stages of growth.

Political Aspects: Geographical basis of Indian federalism; State reorganisation; Emergence of new states; Regional consciousness and inter state issues; international boundary of India and related issues; Cross border terrorism; India’s role in world affairs; Geopolitics of South Asia and Indian Ocean realm.

13

27-12-23

Forenoon

Paper – I Full length test

14

27-12-23

Afternoon

Paper – II Full length test

15

10-01-24

Forenoon

Paper – I Full length test

16

10-01-24

Afternoon

Paper – II Full length test

Date

Syllabus / Topic for Daily Answer Writing

3-07-23

Temperature and pressure belts of the world; Heat budget of the earth;

4-07-23

Atmospheric circulation; atmospheric stability and instability.

5-07-23

Air masses and fronto genesis, jet streams,

6-07-23

Monsoons, Types and distribution of precipitation;  Mechanism of Indian monsoons and rainfall patterns

7-07-23

Temperate and tropical cyclones; Tropical cyclones and western disturbances; Planetary and local winds;

8-07-23

Weather and Climate; Koppen’s, Thornthwaite’s and Trewartha’s classification of world climates; Climatic regions;

9-07-23

Sunday

10-07-23

Hydrological cycle, Global climatic change and role and response of man in climatic changes, Applied climatology and Urban climate.

11-07-23

Study Break

12-07-23

Test no - 01

13-07-23

Origin and evolution of the earth’s crust; Fundamentals of geomagnetism;

14-07-23

Physical conditions of the earth’s interior; Geosynclines;

15-07-23

Continental drift; Isostasy;

16-07-23

Sunday

17-07-23

Plate tectonics; Recent views on mountain building;

18-07-23

Vulcanicity; Earthquakes and Tsunamis;

19-07-23

Study Break

20-07-23

Study Break

21-07-23

Concepts of geomorphic cycles and Landscape development

22-07-23

Denudation chronology; Channel morphology;

23-07-23

Erosion surfaces; Slope development

24-07-23

Applied Geomorphology: Geohydrology, economic geology and environment

25-07-23

Study Break

26-07-23

Test no - 02

27-07-23

Structure and relief of India, Physiographic regions;  Drainage system and watersheds;

28-07-23

Muharram

29-07-23

Environmental hazards: landslides, earthquakes, Tsunamis, floods and droughts, epidemics;

30-07-23

Sunday

31-07-23

Bottom topography of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans;

1-08-23

Temperature and salinity of the oceans; Heat and salt budgets,

2-08-23

Waves, currents and tides;

3-08-23

Study break

4-08-23

Coral reefs, coral bleaching; sea-level changes and marine pollution,

5-08-23

Marine resources: biotic, mineral and energy resources;

6-08-23

Sunday

7-08-23

Ocean deposits; law of the sea

8-08-23

Study break

9-08-23

Test no - 3

10-08-23

Genesis of soils; Classification and distribution of soils; Soil profile; Natural vegetation; Soil types and their distributions.

11-08-23

Soil erosion, Degradation and conservation; soil erosion Social forestry; agroforestry;

12-08-23

Factors influencing world distribution of plants and animals; Major gene pool centres, biotic and marine resources;

13-08-23

Sunday

14-08-23

Wild life; Problems of deforestation and conservation measures; Deforestation, desertification; Forest and wild life resources and their conservation;

15-08-23

Independence day

16-08-23

Principle of ecology; Human ecological adaptations; Influence of man on ecology and environment;

17-08-23

Study break

18-08-23

Global and regional ecological changes and imbalances;

19-08-23

Environmental degradation, Environmental hazards and remedial measures; Environmental degradation; Ecological issues; Issues relating to environmental pollution;

20-08-23

Sunday

21-08-23

Ecosystem their management and conservation; Environmental management and conservation; Biodiversity and sustainable development; Environmental policy; Environmental education and legislation. Principles of environmental impact assessment and environmental management; Environmental awareness;

22-08-23

Study Break

23-08-23

Test no - 4

24-08-23

Study break

25-08-23

Areal differentiation; regional synthesis;

26-08-23

Quantitative revolution and locational analysis; Systems analysis in Human geography

27-08-23

Sunday

28-08-23

Radical and welfare approaches;

29-08-23

Behavioural, and human approaches;

30-08-23

Study break

31-08-23

Environmentalism; possibilism and determinism, Dichotomy and dualism; (and other syllabus related topics)

1-09-23

Languages, religions and secularisation;

2-09-23

Cultural regions of the world; Human development index

3-09-23

Sunday

4-09-23

Land, surface and ground water, Changes in patterns of land use; Floods and droughts; Linkage of rivers

5-09-23

Study break

6-09-23

Test no - 5

7-09-23

Janmashtami

8-09-23

World agriculture: typology of agricultural regions; Von Thunen’s model of agricultural location;

9-09-23

agricultural inputs and productivity; Food and nutrition problems;

10-09-23

Sunday

11-09-23

Food security; famine: causes, effects and remedies; Population explosion and food security;

12-09-23

Infrastructure: irrigation, seeds, fertilizers, power;

13-09-23

Institutional factors: land holdings, land tenure and land reforms;

14-09-23

Cropping pattern, agricultural productivity, agricultural intensity, crop combination, land capability;

15-09-23

Green revolution and its socio- economic and ecological implications; Livestock resources and white revolution;

16-09-23

Significance of dry farming; aqua - culture; sericulture, apiculture and poultry; Agro and social-forestry;

17-09-23

Sunday

18-09-23

Agricultural regionalisation; agro-climatic zones; agro- ecological regions, Problems of agrarian unrest;

19-09-23

Study break

20-09-23

Test no - 6

21-09-23

World economic development: measurement and problems; World resources and their distribution;

22-09-23

World industries: locational patterns and problems;

23-09-23

Weber’s model of industrial location;

24-09-23

Sunday

25-09-23

Evolution of industries; Locational factors of cotton, jute, textile, cottage and agro - based industries;

26-09-23

Evolution of industries; Locational factors of Iron and steel, aluminium, automobile, etc

27-09-23

Evolution of industries; Locational factors of fertilizer, paper, chemical and pharmaceutical, etc

28-09-23

Milad-un-Nabi

29-09-23

Industrial houses and complexes including public sector undertakings; Industrial regionalisation; New industrial policies;

30-09-23

Multinationals and liberalization; Special Economic Zones; Tourism including eco -tourism. Problems of industrial unrest;

1-10-23

Sunday

2-10-23

Gandhi Jayanthi

3-10-23

Study break

4-10-23

Test no - 7

5-10-23

Energy, Energy crisis

6-10-23

Minerals, biotic and marine resources;

7-10-23

Road, railway, waterway, and their complementary roles in regional development;

8-10-23

Sunday

9-10-23

Airway and pipeline networks and their complementary roles in regional development;

10-10-23

Patterns of world trade, Trade balance; Trade Policy;

11-10-23

Study break

12-10-23

Growing importance of ports on national and foreign trade; Export processing zones;

13-10-23

Developments in communication and information technology and their impacts on economy and society;

14-10-23

Developments in Indian space programme and their impacts. Globalisation and Indian economy

15-10-23

Sunday

16-10-23

Study break

17-10-23

Study break

18-10-23

Test no - 8

19-10-23

Population theories, Malthusian, Marxian and demographic transition models;

20-10-23

World population problems and policies, concepts of over-under and optimum population; Population problems and policies; Health indicators.

21-10-23

Growth and distribution of world population; Growth, distribution and density of population; Population explosion

22-10-23

Sunday

23-10-23

Demographic attributes; Demographic attributes: sex ratio, age structure, literacy rate.

24-10-23

Dussehra

25-10-23

Demographic attributes; Demographic attributes: work-force, dependency ratio, longevity;

26-10-23

Social well-being and quality of life; Population as social capital.

27-10-23

Racial, linguistic and ethnic diversities; religious minorities;

28-10-23

Major tribes, tribal areas and their problems; cultural regions;

29-10-23

Sunday

30-10-23

Causes and consequences of migration; migration (inter- regional, intra- regional and international) and associated problems;

31-10-23

Study break

1-11-23

Test no - 9

2-11-23

Types and patterns of rural settlements: Environmental issues in rural settlements; Types, patterns and morphology of rural settlements;

3-11-23

Hierarchy of urban settlements; Functional classification of towns; Urban developments; Morphology of Indian cities; Functional classification of Indian cities;

4-11-23

Study break

5-11-23

Sunday

6-11-23

Sphere of urban influence; Rural - urban fringe; Satellite towns; Conurbations and metropolitan regions;

7-11-23

Problems and remedies of urbanization; Slums and associated problems; Problems of urbanization and remedies.

8-11-23

Study break

9-11-23

Sustainable development of cities, town planning; urban sprawl;

10-11-23

Central Place theories of Christaller and Losch.

11-11-23

Urban morphology: Concepts of primate city and rank size rule;

12-11-23

Deepavali

13-11-23

Study break

14-11-23

Study break

15-11-23

Test no - 10

16-11-23

Concept of a region; Types of regions and methods of regionalisation;

17-11-23

Growth centres and growth poles; Theories of Perroux and Boudeville;

18-11-23

Regional imbalances; regional development strategies;

19-11-23

Sunday

20-11-23

Integrated rural development programmes; Panchayati Raj and decentralised planning;

21-11-23

Command area development; Watershed management; Planning for backward area, desert, drought prone,

22-11-23

Study break

23-11-23

Planning for hill, tribal area development; multi-level planning; Regional planning and development of island territories

24-11-23

Environmental issues in regional planning; Planning for sustainable development.

25-11-23

Regional disparities in economic development; Concept of sustainable growth and development;

26-11-23

Sunday

27-11-23

Guru Nanak’s birthday

28-11-23

Study break

29-11-23

Test no - 11

30-11-23

Heartland and Rimland theories;

1-12-23

Laws of international boundaries and frontiers.

2-12-23

Rostov’s model of stages of growth.

3-12-23

Sunday

4-12-23

Geographical basis of Indian federalism; State reorganisation; Emergence of new states;

5-12-23

Regional consciousness and inter state issues;

6-12-23

Study break

7-12-23

Study break

8-12-23

Space relationship of India with neighboring countries; international boundary of India and related issues;

9-12-23

Geopolitics of South Asia and Indian Ocean realm.

10-12-23

Sunday

11-12-23

Cross border terrorism; India’s role in world affairs;

12-12-23

Study break

13-12-23

Test 12