IRMA - response to Neha

Please buy Malayalam Manorama Yearbook or the UPSC books, if downloading is time consuming and you prefer reading from books. However, the NET gives you a more detailed analysis of certain institutions that you cannot get from any one book.

As for the IMS GK book - you will notice it does not focus as much on Rural and Agri section. Not that it is not useful, you should be able to attempt quite a few Qs based on the study material.
However, you need more comprehensive knowhow in the social awareness sector to attempt the IRMA paper confidently. Malayalam Manorama Yearbook is far more comprehensive in this regard.

Understand what your paper is about - It is about Rural and Agricultural sector - deals with education, health, economy, policies, schemes, NGOs, govt. organisations, international organisations, philanthropists etc. that are involved in these sectors. It also targets a few social awareness questions on the budget etc.

Look through sample Question papers and previous years' Q papers. These will give you the guidelines to study for this paper. A few links are provided on this blog as well through the Pagalguy guidelinks post.

You should aim to at least score a 20 in the social awareness section of IRMA to clear the cut off. Which means your accuracy has to be very high if your attempts are few. This is the ideal strategy to employ. You also save time this way. Ideal time limit to attempt this section should be around 20 minutes. A few could even attempt it within 15 minutes. Please do understand that cut offs are subjective. Always aim for the higher side.

You will need to brush up quite a bit for the paper. It is the least that the institute expects of its prospective students. The section is an indication of the dedication and aptitude that you have in this field.

A common sensical approach to prepare for this section of the paper goes a long way.

BEST of LUCK