World Geography
What the official syllabus says
UPPCS Preliminary Examination, Paper I: General Studies-I:
India and World geography: Physical, Social, Economic geography of India and the World.
India and World Geography - Physical, Social, Economic geography of India and the World: In World Geography only general understanding of the subject will be expected. Questions on the Geography of India will relate to Physical, Social & Economic Geography of India.
Topics in detail
Only a general understanding of world geography is expected. The list below covers the physical geography concepts and the world map knowledge that general understanding means.
The Earth and the universe
- The solar system: the Sun, planets, satellites, asteroids, comets
- The Earth's shape, rotation and revolution; seasons; latitudes and longitudes; time zones and the International Date Line
- Eclipses; phases of the Moon; solstices and equinoxes; heat zones of the Earth
- Maps and map reading: scale, projections in outline, contours
Geomorphology
- Interior of the Earth: crust, mantle, core; discontinuities
- Rocks: igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic; the rock cycle
- Continental drift, sea-floor spreading and plate tectonics
- Earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis: causes and world distribution (the Pacific Ring of Fire)
- Landforms made by rivers, glaciers, wind, groundwater and waves; weathering and erosion
Climatology
- Structure and composition of the atmosphere
- Insolation, heat budget, temperature inversion
- Pressure belts and planetary, seasonal and local winds (for example chinook, foehn, sirocco, harmattan, mistral)
- Air masses, fronts, tropical and temperate cyclones
- Humidity, condensation, precipitation types; world climatic regions (Koppen's scheme in outline)
Oceanography
- Relief of the ocean floor: continental shelf, slope, deep-sea plains, trenches
- Temperature and salinity of ocean water; tides; ocean currents of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans; El Nino and La Nina
- Coral reefs; marine resources
Biogeography and human geography
- World biomes: tropical rainforest, savanna, desert, Mediterranean, temperate grassland, taiga, tundra
- World distribution of major crops, minerals and energy resources
- Major industrial regions; world transport routes (canals such as Suez and Panama; trans-continental railways)
- Population distribution, migration and urbanisation in the world; major tribes and peoples (for example Inuit, Bedouin, Maasai, Pygmies, Bushmen, Sami)
- Temperate grasslands by name: prairies, pampas, steppes, veld, downs; hot and cold deserts of the world
The world map
- Continents: major mountains, plateaus, rivers, lakes and deserts; the longest rivers and largest lakes
- Fold mountains (Alps, Andes, Rockies, Himalaya) and block mountains; major plateaus (Tibet, Deccan, Brazilian)
- Countries and capitals; important straits, gulfs, seas and islands
- Places in the news, located on the map
Overlaps
Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, cyclones, ocean currents, winds and glaciers, and world resources, migration and boundaries, are written topics of Mains General Studies I.