What to Study?

In order to figure out what to study, you must diligently study the previous year question papers first. You may find them here. They are your guiding light. Nothing will prepare you more in terms of the syllabus and level of questions asked as much as the previous year papers. 

Be it pre or mains, your study resources will look more or less like this:

• Bare Act: Procure bare Acts of all the subjects included in the syllabus. Double check that you have the latest, amended version. You can note down minor amendments in your old bare Act, or print and attach them, or buy a new bare Act; whatever floats your boat. Bare Acts are your primary source of knowledge. Never ignore even a single section. Read them as many times as you can. Needles to say, the sections that are most frequently asked must be on your fingertips. While examining previous-year papers, you can tick the sections that have been asked. In the end you will see some sections have more number of ticks than the others but all of them are important. Never skip reading sections that don't look important to you. Give each section a simple, plain read and put more emphasis on sections that have been frequently asked.
• Reference Material: This can be your coaching notes, or student-level textbooks of the subjects. Kindly refrain from voluminous books that are only for research purposes, howsoever popular they may be. Do not refer to too many books for a single subject. Too many cooks spoil the broth. Pick the best ones. Some examples are:
• CPC: Takwani
• CrPC: Kelkar
• Constitution: V.N. Shukla, J.N. Pandey
• Contract Act: Avtar Singh
• Torts: Bangia
• Notes: Do not, I repeat, DO NOT study from someone else's notes. It's not the end-product that is beneficial, but the process. In the process of making notes, you will study a section and then refer to it from your coaching material/textbook. After understanding all nuances of the topic, you will jot down what seemed important to you and try to give it a structure. You might need to refer to the bare-Act or textbook again. You will only note down something after you have clearly understood it. It is this process of reading and re-reading which will give a definite structure to the concept in your head. Now, who do you think will have a better understanding of the topic? You, who read the bare-Act, textbook, Cases, previous year questions and then made the notes or your friend, who simply picks up your notes and heads to mug it up? Take part in this beautiful process and then make your notes, but make them in such a way that at the eleventh hour, a simple reference to the notes would do.
• Caselaws: You will find the relevant/landmark cases on each topic in your reference material. For latest cases, follow websites that report latest cases and note the relevant ones subject-wise in your notebook. Do not write more than a paragraph. Summarise the issues and the ruling. If it is a landmark judgment like the Aadhaar Judgment, Sabrimala or the Ayodhya verdict, then you may write longer case-summaries too. Try to also pay attention to the bench in such landmark cases. If there is a landmark judgment related to a topic you are reading, also write the case-name under the relevant topic in your notes.