Strategy For Zoology Paper 2

Strategy For zoology paper 2

Download e-books for Zoology for UPSC Mains examination

Hello!

I am sharing my strategy for zoology paper 2, I am emphasizing on ‘my’ word because this strategy need not to be foolproof and universal. I should better use the word ‘jugaad’, this jugaad worked for me and so I hope this may help you in creating your own customized jugaad.

Why optional papers are so important? Because they are going to stay for IFS exam irrespective of any change going to be introduced in civil services exams.

Let’s have a look on the detailed syllabus first:

PAPER-II

Section-A

I. Cell Biology :

•  Structure and function of cell and ganelles(nucleus, plasma membrane, mitochondria, Golgibodies, endoplasmic reticulum,ribosomes and Iysosomes),
•  celldivision (mitosis and meiosis),mitotic spindle and mitotic apparatus,chromosome movement.
• Watson-Crick model of DNA,
•  replicationof DNA, 
• protein synthesis,
• transcription and transcription factors.

II. Genetics

•  Gene structure and functions; 
• genetic code.
•  Sex chromosomes and sex determinationin Drosophilla, nematodes and man.
•  Mendel's laws of inheritance
• ,recombination, linkage, linkagemaps,
• multiple alleles, cistronconcept;
•  genetics of blood groups.
•  Mutations and mutagenesis : radiationand chemical.
•  Cloning technology, plasmids andcosmids as vectors, transgenics, transposons,
•  DNA sequencecloning and whole animal cloning (Principles and methodology).
•  Regulation and gene expressionin pro-and eukaryotes.
•  Signal transduction; pedigreeanalysis; congenital diseases inman.
•  Human genome mapping; DNAfinger-printing. 

III. Evolution

•  Origin of life
•  Natural selection, role of mutationin evolution,
•  mimicry, variation, isolation, speciation.
• Fossils and fossilization;
•  evolutionof horse, elephant and man.
•  Hardy-Weinberg Law, causes of change in gene frequency.
• Continental drift and distribution ofanimals.

IV. Systematics

•  Zoological nomenclature;
•  internationalcode;
•  cladistics.

Section-B

I. Biochemistry

•  Structure and role of carbohydrates,fats, lipids, proteins,amino acids, nucleic acids; saturatedand unsaturated fatty acids,cholesterol.
•  Glycolysis and Krebs cycle, oxidationand reduction, oxidative phosphorylation; energy conservationand release, ATP, cyclicAMP-its structure and role.
• Hormone classification (steroidand peptide hormones), biosynthesis and function.
•  Enzymes : types and mechanismsof action;
•  immunoglobulinand immunity; 
• vitamins and coenzymes.
•  Bioenergetics.

II Physiology (with special reference
to mammals)

1. Circulatory system

•  Composition and constituents ofblood;
•  blood groups and Rh factorin man; 
• coagulation, factors and mechanism of coagulation;
•  acidbase  balance, thermo regulation.

2. Respiratory System

• Oxygen and carbon dioxide transport; 
• haemoglobin : constituents nd role in regulation.

3. Nutrition and digestion

• Nutritive Requirements
•  role ofsalivary glands, liver, pancreas and intestinal glands in digestion and absorption.

4.Excretion and osmoregulation

•  Excretory products;
•  nephron andregulation of urine formation;
• osmoregulation.

5. Muscular system

•  Types of muscles,
•  mechanism ofcontraction of skeletal muscles.

6. Control and coordination  (source- Tortora)

•  Neuron, nerve impulse-its conduction
•  synaptic transmission;
• neurotransmitters.
•  Vision, hearing and olfaction in man. (Source-Guyton)
•  Mechanism of hormone action.

7. Reproduction

•  Physiology of reproduction, (Source- Guyton)
•  roleof hormones and phermones.

III. Developmental Biology

•  Differentiation from gamete to neurula stage; (source: Tortora's)
•  dedifferentiation; metaplasia, induction,
•  morphogenesis and morphogen; (source: Gilbert's Dev bio)
• fate maps of gastrulae in frog and chick; (source: kotpal's vertebrates)
• organogenesis of eye and heart, placenation in mammals. (source: kotpal's vertebrate)
•  Role of cytoplasm in and genetic control of development;
•  cell lineage;
• causation of metamorphosis n frog and insects; (Source- kotpal's vertebrates and anthropoda)
• paedogenesia  and neoteny; ( source- kotpal's vertebrates)
•  growth, degrowth and cell death; ageing;  (Source: cell biology book)
• Blastogenesis; regeneration; teratogenesis;neoplasia.
• Invasiveness of placenta;
•  in vitrofertilization; embryo transfer,cloning. ( source: wikipedia)
•  Baer's law; evo-devo concept. (source: wikipedia)

·    

This paper has very diverse topics. And the topics like cell biology, physiology etc are such that we start studying these in school in class 8^th-10^th itself and so we are very familiar with these topics. It is the same golgi bodies or ATP or mitosis and meiosis that we studied in class 9^th is asked in the UPSC mains exam. So, the major problem we face is that we don’t know what should be the level of the answer. How much should our answer differ from answer writing a board exam or college examination when question like structure of DNA is asked?This is where we are trapped.

The solution is answer should be very simple like a that of student writing board exam but it should also cover almost everything (as it is expected in general studies)- This can be done using flow charts and diagrams(colored if one can manage).

For example: in one of the mock test in Evolution institute question was asked write a short note of Genetics of blood group. And this is the image of my answer copy.

TIPS AND TRICKS

FOR CELL BIOLOGY: 

The syllabus is divided into two parts:

1)      cell and its organelles that can be easily covered even from a book meant for PMT (Albert’s is just too vast). I have my handwritten notes of this portion written in less than 20 pages. I will be sharing them in the upcoming articles.

2)      Cell division and chromosome movements, DNA motifs, DNA structure, replication etc can be covered from books of genetics and biochemistry like lehningers, Griffiths etc ( I am sharing the ebooks, scroll down) and will also share my notes in upcoming articles.

FOR GENETICS:

 It is very broad topic, there is not one single book covering all of it. Find the link to the folder ‘genetics’, it has several chapters individually covering topics like mutagenesis, mendel’s laws etc and this can be supplemented with Griffiths( too good for pedigree analysis, sex determination. This topic needs a separate article as it is very interesting, scoring but tricky.

FOR ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF LIFE:

I tried to keep it very simple using side books used for 11-12^th class and Booklet of BN Pandey(This booklet came as a life saver at the time of revision).

FOR BIOCHEMISTRY

Structure of carbohydrates (left entirely as couldn’t mug up that much and was lucky that no question was there from this portion), structure of lipids, proteins and nucleic acid (satyanarayan’s book along with lehninger’s as lehninger’s have more beautiful diagrams). No I didn’t try to remember structure of every amino acids.

Covered rest of the topics from satyanarayan and Lehningers. Could able to cover less than 50% of the entire biochem topics. Cycles are important (no need to remember the structures of the intermediates), no need to study whole kuby for immunology even satyanarayan has one chapter on it. I have made a few notes from selected topics (will share them along with article on biochemistry)

FOR PHYSIOLOGY

I love this topic, because I love making diagrams and I think this topic also fetch marks. Tortora is  really a good book (ebook can be downloaded, scroll down for the link). My notes will be also be uploaded soon.

FOR DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY:

Completely jugaad, mainly relied on internet. Made a very few short notes for few topics. Can be covered using Gilbert’s. And topics like spermatogenesis can be covered using tortora, fate maps and placenta in from kotpal’s vertebrates.

BNPandey booklet was also used for last minute rescue.

POST SCRIPT:

Again the trick was to focus more on one section, I am more comfortable with section A, so my ‘jugaad’ permitted me to skip major portion of developmetal biology which I don’t like.

People having Zoology as the second optional : You may first cover the topics from any side book meant for PMT exams along with NCERT of class 11-12th if you are running short of time.

Source for the ebooks:

Click on the links to download ebooks

Cell biology

Genetics

Biochemistry

Physiology

Developmental Biology

For Strategy for zoology paper 1 Click here

Strategy for Zoology paper 1

Download e-books for Zoology

There are two papers in Zoology optional in IFS Mains exam.
Each paper is of 200 marks.
There are two sections in each paper:
Section A- Question no.1,2,3,4
Section B- Question no. 5,6,7,8

Where question numbers 1 and 5 are compulsory. And then one need to attempt 3 more questions (but not all these 3 questions should be from the same section, this means that one can't attempt question number 2,3,4 together or question number 6,7,8 together)

Syllabus for paper 1

1. Non-chordata and chordata :

(a) Classfication and relationship of varous phyla upto sub-classes;

• Acoelomata and Coelomata;
• Protostomes and Deuterostomes,
• Bilateralia and Radiata; 
• Status of Protista, Parazoa, Onychophora and Hemichordata; 
• Symmetry.

(b) Protozoa : 

• Locomotion,
•  nutrition
• ,reproduction; 
• evolution of sex 
• General features and life history of Paramaecium, Monocystis, Plasmodium, and Leishmania.

(c) Porifera : 

• Skeleton, 
• canal system and 
• reproduction.

(d) Coelenterata : 

• Polymorphism, 
• defensive structures and their mechanism; 
• coral reefs and theirformation;
•  metagenesis; 'general features and life history of Obelia and Aurelia

(e) Platyhelminthes : 

• Parasitic adaptation; 
• general features and lifehistory of Fasciola and Taenia andtheir relation to man.

(f) Nemathelminthes :

•  General features,
• life history and parasitic adaptation of Ascaris; nemathelminthsin relation to man.

(g) Annelida :

•  Coelom and
• metamerism; 
• modes of life in polychaetes;
• general features and lifehistory of nereis (Neanthes),earthworm (Pheretima) and leach(Hirudinaria).

(h) Arthropoda : 

• Larval forms and parasitismin Crustacea; 
• vision and respiration in anthropods (prawn,cockroach and scorpion); 
• modificationof mouth parts in insects(cockroach, mosquito, housefly,honey bee and butterfly); 
• metamorphosisin insects and its hormonalregulation; 
• social organization in nsects (termites and honey bees).

(i) Mollusca : 

• Feeding,
•  respiration,
• locomotion, 
• shell diversiy; 
• general eatures and life history ofLamellidens, Pila and Sepia, 
• torsion nd detorsion in gastropods.

(j) Echinodermata : 

• Feeding,
•  respiration,
• locomotion larval forms;
•  general features and life history of Asterias 

(k) Protochordata : 

• Origin of chordates;
• general features and life history of Branchiostoma and Herdamania.

(l) Pisces : 

• Scales, 
• respiration,
•  locomotion,
• migration.

(m) Amphibia : 

• Origin of tetrapods;
• parental care, 
• paedomorphosis.

(n) Reptilia : 

• Origin of reptiles;
•  skull types; 
• status of Sphenodon and crocidiles.

(o) Aves : 

• Origin of birds; 
• flight adaptation,
• migration.

(p) Mammalia : 

• Origin of mammals; 
• dentition; 
• general features of egglaying mammals, pouched-mammals,aquatic mammals and primates;
• endocrine glands and other hormone producing structures (pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, adrenal, pancreas, gonads) and their interrelationships.

(q) Comparative functional anatomy of various systems of vertebrates

• integument and its derivatives,
• endoskeleton,
•  locomotory organs,
• digestive system, 
• respiratory system,
• circulatory system including heart and aortic arches; 
• urinogenital system, 
• brain and sense organs (eye and ear).

Section- B

1. Ecology :

(a) Biosphere: Biogeochemical cycles, green-houses effect, ozone layer and its impact; ecological
succession, biomes and ecotones.
(b) Population, characteristics, population dynamics, population stabilization. (c) Conservation of natural resources- mineral mining, fisheries, aquaculture; forestry; grassland;wildlife (Project Tiger); sustainable production in agriculture integrated pest management.
(d) Environmental biodegradation; pollution and its impact on biosphere and its prevention.

II. Ethology :

(a) Behaviour : Sensory filtering, responsiveness, sign stimuli, learning, instinct, habituation,conditioning, imprinting.
(b) Role of hormones in drive; role of pheromones in alarm spreading; crypsis, predator detection, predator tactics, social behaviour in insects and primates; courtship(Drosophila, 3-spine stickleback
and birds).
(c) Orientation, navigation, homing;biological rhythms; biological clock, tidal, seasonal and circadian
rhythms.
(d) Methods of studying animal behaviour.

III. Economic Zoology :

(a) Apiculture, sericulture, lac culture, carp culture, pearl culture, prawn culture.
(b) Major infectious and communicable diseases (small pox, plague, malaria, tuberculosis, cholera and AIDS) their vectors, pathogens and prevention.
(c) Cattle and livestock diseases,their pathogens (helminthes) and vectors (ticks, mites,Tabanus,
Stomoxys)
(d) Pests of sugar cane (Pyrilla perpusiella), oil seed (Achaea janata) and rice (Sitophilus oryzae).

IV. Biostatistics :

 Designing of experiments; null hypothesis; correlation, regression, distribution and measure of central tendency, chi square, student t-test, F-test (oneway & two-way F-test).

V. Instrumental methods :

(a) Spectrophotometry, flame photometry, Geiger-Muller counter, scintillation counting.
(b) Electron microscopy (TEM, SEM).



Tips: There are minor differences in syllabus for civil services and forest services. To maintain a proper balance it is good to first cover the topics common for both.
There arefew topics like courtship behaviour in birds, flame photometry that are not in civil services syllabus- However I will be soon sharing my own handwritten concise notes on such topics.)

Trick: Biostatistics, instrumentation methods, ethology are very scoring topics
So if one is not very comfortable with taxonomy there is no need to worry. In that case s/he has an option to attempt more questions from this section.
NOTE: It is the quailty of the answer that matters not the quantity. My attempt in this paper was around 160 and I scored 100+ so there is no need to stress too much even if 60% of the syllabus is completed. Remember it is a science subject, revision is the key.

Source:
The detailed book list is mentioned in this article- Click here


For taxonomy- The small booklets for each phylum is worth reading. they are handy, concisely written and just enough for the exam. One may contact Rastogi publications to get the Kotpal series books.

For ecology Ignou notes are good enough

I will soon share my handwritten notes covering major portion of ethology, economic zoology, instrumentation methods along with model answers.

Meanwhile I am sharing a few ebooks I have. Click on the following to download.

Taxonomy introduction 
Non Chordates
Chordates
Ecology 
Ethology
Comparative anatomy