Geography :

 Geography as a subject, especially for UPSC examination, requires you to have a slightly scientific bent of mind. Science geography is a subject of locations, it is important to have an aptitude for understanding locations understanding maps, processes and theories. Choosing this subject without linking it for the sake of scoring in the exam may prove costly.

First paper deals with world geography and the second paper deals with geography of India. While paper first deals with processes and Theories, paper second deals with applications of paper first purely from Indian perspective. For both paper, NCERT books of class XI and Class XII form the basic foundation. Also refer to NCERT books from Class VI - X  If you feel need 

The syllabus is vast and requires you to know the concept in depth. One book to suggest is spectrum Geography by Rajiv Ahir IPS for some selected topics and diagrams 

PAPER I: 

Coverage of syllabus: The structure of the paper has changed over the time. So the demand is that candidate is required to cover the the entire syllabus, short notes have became compulsory too. So it is always advisable to know something about everything rather than everything about something. if somebody knows 2/3rd points about a topic, it is good enough to write a 12 marker short note. So don’t leave any chapter or topic. At least have some basic knowledge about all the subtopic written in the syllabus.

Paper II is totally based on India and the question are generally open ended. Hardly any question would be direct. There is no single material, which can be referred to as source. Since they are application Oriented,Understanding of concepts is most important. Reading extensively will help. Everybody will know the answer to theses questions but do keep mind that to make any answer geographical drawings maps, diagrams and referring to locations is important. Yojana and Kurukshetra may help. that will make the difference between a normal answer and a geography answer.

The most important approach to studying geography is through maps.You may study weather, rainfall, soil, vegetation, and agriculture . Draw them with another pen than that you used for writing your answer and use free hand as much as possible while drawing to save time. Make sure you study them and understand them through maps.try to overlap them and understand how they are all related. Put up huge maps in your room and whatever you study, mark them on it