A lot of people consider the UPSC Civil Services Examination as the toughest examination in India. The UPSC exam is not only challenging in terms of its vast syllabus, but it is also daunting because of the huge number of participants and the unpredictable nature of the questions.
Interestingly, the significance of current affairs in the Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC is increasing. Trends show that majority of questions asked in both Preliminary and Mains are based on current affairs.
In the UPSC syllabus, Current Affairs comes as a section under the title “Issues of national and international importance.” For Mains, there is no specific mention of the Current Affairs section, but aspirants are required to answer several descriptive questions based on recent events.
Sources to Prepare Current Affairs for UPSC Exam
It is not possible to crack the UPSC exam by memorizing matter or being a bookworm. One must acquire information and insights into the current affairs or latest happenings within the country and beyond.
Here are some newspapers that provide current affairs insights for UPSC exam aspirants:
- The Hindu
- The Indian Express
- PIB websites
- Other government publications, such as Economic Survey and India Year Book
- Yojana Magazine
- Pratiyogita Darpan
- Kurukshetra Magazine
Apart from these sources, BYJU’S Exam Prep Latest Current Affairs cover all important and relevant events from across the globe.
There are plenty of online and offline sources for current affairs content. It is advised to follow some authentic sources and study them comprehensively and repeatedly instead of following a lot of sources.
Making notes on current affairs for UPSC
Making relevant notes is a practical step to save time and keep all important topics/articles/issues handy. However, this task of note-making is an art that can be learned over a while. Preparing notes may vary from person to person, but the notes need to be concise, relevant, and readable in a brief timeframe.
Techniques to be followed for making Current Affairs Notes
- Maintaining a dedicated register, book, or flip cards on current affairs helps many UPSC aspirants keep all information in one place.
- Categorising the register/book/cards by months, topics, and subjects is highly suggested to track any event or information.
- Nowadays, some aspirants make notes digitally as it helps them to classify, edit, and append notes using the internet.
Points to follow while preparing notes from newspapers
Note-making is very important for UPSC aspirants, and they need to decide which technique would work best for them before proceeding with the note-making process. Here are a few points to keep in mind while making notes effectively on current affairs.
- Areas of current affairs that need to be focused on from the newspaper:
- Editorials
- Constitutional amendments
- Government bills and schemes
- Economy
- International affairs
- Defence News
- Court ruling
- Social issues etc.
- Topics of low priority level:
- Politically-biassed news
- Celebrity-related news
- Hyperlocal news
- Most of the sports news
- Making notes in your words is an effective way to memorise things. While doing it, an aspirant can highlight or underline important events and keywords.
- While reading an article, you should note down the following:
- Summary
- Facts
- Reasons
- Benefits
- Implications etc.
- When making notes from newspapers, it is also important to mention any recent or relevant incident to create an in-depth understanding of the entire matter.
- Keeping a check on certain grave topics, such as environmental conservation, water disputes, and the linking of rivers, are often asked in Prelims, various GS papers in Mains, and the Interview.
- Editorial sections of the newspaper are extremely significant. These sections contain in-depth analysis and significant opinions on various topics. However, it is also imperative to follow only unbiased editorial sections so that an individual can build a neutral perspective.
- In preparing current affairs for the UPSC exam, the note-making process from newspapers is extremely important. Although many aspirants read the newspapers, they fail to streamline the entire process.
Keeping in mind the immense significance of current affairs in the UPSC exam through newspapers, BYJU’s Exam Prep has come up with the Current Affairs section that can ease the preparation for UPSC Civil Services examinations.
