Useful Mnemonics for Easy Revision

TThe Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) is the sole constitutional body which conducts various examination to recruit candidates for various posts in the Government of India. Civil Services Examination is one among them, which is conducted every year. The IAS Syllabus, which is set by the commission, is indeed vast and to cover the entire syllabus is challenging. However, we are not saying it is impossible. But the question is, is it worth to cover the whole syllabus, how useful will it be while writing the exam and even if you cover the entire syllabus how much will be retained in your memory?

As every aspirant is aware to clear the Civil Services Exam and get the desired posts like IAS, IPS, IFS and others, one needs a right strategy, proper guidance along with sheer dedication and determination.

To make preparation easier, aspirants can follow some shortcuts while making notes that would make their revision easy and enhance their memory. And, a mnemonic is one such shortcut technique which candidates can use in their preparation.

What is mnemonic?

Mnemonic is a method or technique where a pattern of letters or ideas is designed in remembering something. There are no rules or any defined way to design or form a mnemonic. You can create your own, which is easy for you to remember.

Here we bring some mnemonics that would be useful in the UPSC Exam Preparation and easy to revise and memorize.

1 Trick to remember G-20 Countries (Total No. of Countries – 20)

It is a bit difficult to remember 20 specific countries in a group, so here’s a trick on how to remember all the 20 countries of Group 20.

Remember Vowels and Consonants? We apply this here. Read below to know how.

Vowels: A, E, I, O, U

Consonants: The rest of the alphabet

There are countries name in the group that start with vowels, i.e. A, E I and U and O is missing, so replace the missing O with the countries name that begins with consonants as given below

A, E, I, BFGMCJRST, U but how to remember the other countries that have consonants in their starting letter, i.e. which has replaced the vowel O, so here’s the trick within a trick.

BFGMCJRST: watching BFGM & CJ7 on RSTv (read it as watching Big Fat Greek Marriage and CJ7 on RSTv –Rajya Saba Tv (BFGM & CJ7 movies)

Hope you would have watched or heard about Big Fat Greek Wedding Movie and instead of a wedding make it as marriage and CJ7 also a movie name.

MNEMONIC:  A, E, I, BFGM  CJ RSTv

1. Ar- Argentina
2. Au- Australia
3. EU- European Union
4. Id- Indonesia
5. In- India
6. It- Italy
7. B-Brazil
8. F- France
9. G- Germany
10. M- Mexico
11. Ca Canada
12. Ch- China
13. J- Japan
14. Ru- Russia
15. Sa Ar- Saudi Arabia
16. So Af- South Africa
17. SK- South Korea
18. Tu- Turkey
19. U- U.K.
20. U- U.S.

2Trick to remember ASEAN countries (Total No. of Countries 10)

Please Turn oVer Left In Cambodia to meet the MBBS

Mnemonic: PToVLICMBBS

1. P- Philippines
2. T- Thailand
3. V- Vietnam
4. L- Laos
5. I- Indonesia
6. C- Cambodia
7. M- Malaysia
8. B- Brunei
9. B- Burma
10. S- Singapore

3Trick to remember G7 countries (Total No. of Countries 7)

Mnemonic: G7 countries are wealthy nations. So, they all drink JUICE & have GF (Girl Friend).

JUICE GF

1. J- Japan
2. U- USA
3. I- Italy
4. C- Canada
5. E- England
6. G- Germany
7. F- France

4Trick to Remember SAARC Countries (Total No. of Countries 10)

Mnemonic: MBBS PAIN

1. M- Maldives
2. B- Bangladesh
3. B- Bhutan
4. S- Sri Lanka
5. P- Pakistan
6. A-Afghanistan
7. I- India
8. N- Nepal

5Trick to remember Rainbow Revolution (an integrated development of crop cultivation – Total No. of RR 7)

Mnemonic: HFPASHF (HARD to find FISH, PIG, A SWEET HUSBAND in FOREST)

1. H- Horticulture
2. F- Fishery
3. P- Poultry
4. A- Agriculture
5. S- Sugarcane
6. H- Animal Husbandry
7. F- Forestry

6Trick to remember Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Countries (Total no. of countries 6)

Mnemonic: LIMCa TV

1. L- Laos
2. I- India
3. M- Myanmar
4. Ca- Cambodia
5. T- Thailand
6. V- Vietnam

7Trick to remember 8 Core Industries in Indian Economy

Mnemonic: CCC FRENS

1. C- Coal
2. C- Crude Oil
3. C- Cement
4. F- Fertilizers
5. R- Refinery Products
6. E- Electricity
7. N- Natural Gas
8. S- Steel

8Trick to remember countries bordering Caspian Sea (total no. of countries 5)

Mnemonic: ATRIK (Read it as A trick)

1. A- Azerbaijan
2. T- Turkmenistan
3. R- Russia
4. I- Iran
5. K- Kazakhstan

9Trick to remember countries bordering Red Sea (Total no. of countries 6)

Mnemonic: YES DES (Read it as S Days or yesterday)

1. Y- Yemen
2. E- Egypt
3. S- Sudan
4. D- Djibouti
5. E- Eritrea
6. S- Saudi Arabi

10Trick to remember Countries called as Horn of Africa (Total No. of countries 4)

Mnemonic: SEED

1. S- Somalia
2. E- Ethiopia
3. E- Eritrea
4. D- Djibouti

11Trick to remember countries bordering Black Sea (Total No. of countries- 6)

Mnemonic: BuRGURT (Read it as Burger but remember to add T at the end keep it silent)

1. Bu- Bulgaria
2. U- Ukraine
3. R- Russia
4. G- Georgia
5. R- Romania
6. T- Turkey

12Trick to remember countries bordering Baltic Sea (Total no. of countries: 9)

Mnemonics: SELLurRGD&PF (read it as SELL your RecurrinG Deposit & PF)

1. S- Sweden
2. E- Estonia
3. L- Latvia
4. L- Lithuania
5. R- Russia
6. G- G Germany
7. D- Denmark
8. P- Poland
9. F- Finland

These are some of the mnemonics which we come up with to remember countries of certain groups and organizations. These will especially be beneficially for the UPSC Prelims examination where candidates have a lot of memorizing at an objective level.

Hope, this would be useful for IAS Aspirants; also candidate can share if they have their mnemonics in the below comment section.

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