[296 Marks]History Optional Strategy by Maurvie Tiwari, AIR 90

So some folks were asking about History Optional Strategy. Copy pasting verbatim the note shared by Ms Maurvie Tiwari with a 296 score in History Optional

1. I scored 296, wasn’t able to write an entire 10-marker. Here’s my 2 cents —

2. No need for coaching classes in history unless you don’t know the subject at all. Vikas Ahlawat sir’s classes are the only decent ones.

3. Proper note making is essential - getting a history pyq booklet (1980-2026) and completing each topic such that each and every question can be answered

4. For Ancient - base is Upinder Singh and addition from BA Ignou notes, Self Study History or Ahlawat sir’s material (but addition ONLY not substitution)

- Medieval : Satish Chandra + BA Ignou + Academia papers/Jstor for some obscure topics

- Modern : Shekhar Bandopadhyay’s Plassey to Partition (base source and it’s outstanding) + B.L Grover for the initial parts of the syllabus + BA Ignou notes for obscure topics

- World : for this topic, I kept Ahlawat sir’s notes + Self study history as the main source but added EXTENSIVELY from chatgpt pro

5. Across all topics, I relied on the following quite a bit -

- Chatgpt pro : I created separate chats for each subject and gave proper directions like add historiography for each topic etc (added a strong edge to answers)
- ⁠Shruti Sharma ma’am and Chandrajyoti ma’am’s notes which are available online (quite helpful to fill gaps)


6. Test series from self study history

7. I made maps wherever possible. For example, in the actual exam for an ancient history question on chalcolithic period, I made a map and showed all the sites on map and added pointers under the sites (slightly unconventional but it fetched marks)

8. I liked quoting scholars wherever possible, historiography basically. In world history, I added quotations also, added a nice touch to answers.

Broadly this was it. I had 4 copies, one for each subject. Slightly bulky but I don’t think there’s another way to do history, it is a heavy subject content wise

==

Maurvie, AIR 90, CSE 2025