Current Affairs is a dynamic and undefined part of the UPSC Syllabus that puts aspirants in a dilemma thinking how and from where to start current affairs preparations for IAS.
To clear all the doubts and give aspirants a fair idea on how to deal with the current affairs, here is a strategy on how to cover the current affairs part of the UPSC Syllabus for UPSC aspirants. Before going on how to cover current affairs portion let's know where to
There is a deluge of reading material both online and offline on current affairs which makes it difficult for the aspirants to understand what to read. Aspirants are pilling CSR, Pratiyogita Darpan, EPW, Chronicle, Yojana, and every random magazine on their desks but they do not even open them due to lack of time. Here are the sources one must cover for Current Affairs:
One must start with a comprehensive reading of at least one standard newspaper like The Hindu or Indian Express.
One drawback of newspapers is that you need to follow a particular topic every day to know everything about it. With magazines, this is not the case. Magazines usually have a cover or a feature story that covers the entire story together.
Some of the best magazines for Current Affairs UPSC Exam are
Practicing current affairs on daily basis is important so that you are able to retain and keep in mind the information gathered.
Week-wise and month-wise current affairs provide you a compilation of current events of the week and month.
The problem with most aspirants is not that they neglect newspapers, but they overplay its importance. Some read newspapers for almost 3-4 hours a day, leaving them with no time to read other subjects. Current affairs are important; newspapers are important, but not so much that you invest time disproportionately. Ideally one should finish reading day's current affairs in 1-2 hours.
You can divide your time for Current Affairs/Newspaper Reading like this:
Civil servants aspirants should look beyond news and headlines. They must be curious about issues. UPSC generally asks questions on issues that are in news. So you must understand the issues in news thoroughly and make notes on them. You may follow the following points to understand any current issue:
Even though current affairs are vast and seem never-ending, it is advised that the UPSC aspirant should make their own notes, as students tend to understand and learn concepts better if they have written them down a couple of times. The most important point aspirants should remember while preparing the current affairs notes are:
The aforementioned methods will ensure that you capture 90-95 percent of current affairs in a manner relevant to this exam. But current affairs are a continuous and evolving field that keeps piling up by the day. The best way to retain the content is through constant revision.
The best methods of revision are:
Practice writing on a daily basis. There is no substitute for answer-writing so you must learn it before it is too late. You should prepare yourself well and keep answering keeping in mind how an IAS officer would answer.
You should learn from your mistakes and improve from them. Pick up an editorial from a newspaper or a topic from the syllabus, and frame a question on it and write its answer. EduRev has also curated 100+ answers for UPSC Mains Preparation to help you understand how you can write the answers: Check: Essay Writing for UPSC Mains
Check out these documents and prepare your strategy for UPSC-CSE accordingly.
Happy Learning with EduRev!
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