How to prepare current affairs notes for UPSC preparation?

The Civil Services Examination, more commonly known as UPSC exams, is conducted by the Union Public Service Commission for the recruitment of officers for the posts of Indian Police Service, Indian Administrative Service, and Indian Foreign Service. UPSC exams are conducted in three stages: Prelims, Mains and Personality Test, all of which test the candidate’s general knowledge.

Current Affairs play a vital role in the preparation for UPSC. Being dynamic (changing from time to time), aspirants find themselves struggling to prepare notes or find the right strategy or method to study the news, especially from UPSC’s point of view. In every stage of UPSC exams, keeping up to date with the news and the background of the affair gives the candidate a major advantage.

How many months of Current Affairs are required for UPSC?

The UPSC exam takes place in three rounds: Prelims, Main Exam, and Interview. For all the rounds, it is suggested to prepare at least 12 months of current affairs. If possible, you must prepare even further but at least 12 months is advised.

A good amount of possibility is there that questions even before 18-30 months can be asked. Once, a question from 9 years back was asked. Hence, to be on the safe side and to avoid filling your notes with hundreds of pages and studying more than required, it is advised to prepare at least 12 months of current affairs.

How to prepare a “Current Affairs Strategy” for UPSC?

The UPSC has mentioned clearly, “Current events of national and international importance” which refers to both national as well as international news. Since the commission does not define the exact topics or subtopics that need to be studied under this section of the syllabus, the only possible way to strategize for this is to study major newspapers, magazines, articles, and other publications.

Making notes out of your selected sources is very important. It is advised to keep previous years’ question papers beside you while preparing your notes as it makes your note-taking process more efficient and relevant from UPSC’s point of view. You learn to better understand the subject of matter to the point which results in you scoring your best.

Here are some ways to analyze your source:

• Focus on taking a constitutional approach towards the matter. Find bills or amendments which can be related to the issue at hand.
• Try to find legal judgments or arguments related to the matter.
• Try correlating it with bills or issues from the past.
• Brief yourself with the workings of the parliament and how it is connecting with the subject at hand.

Some other ways to study for UPSC are:

• Do not prepare your notes date-wise. Preparing them according to the date won’t help you remember the points very easily. Rather try to prepare them according to the various topics. In this way, it’s easier for you to remember a topic and update notes on that particular topic as well.
• Maintain separate notebooks for separate subjects like Economy, Business, Technology, etc. That way your current affairs notes won’t be a mess.
• Write your notes on loose sheets. In that way, you can add to your previously prepared notes conveniently.
• Do not rely on too many sources. Aspirants tend to pick as many sources as they can trying to find the best documentation to study from. Try to prepare consistently using limited, valuable sources. Prioritize quality over quantity. Do your research and find out the best sources to study from and rely on those sources only.
• Don’t spend too much time reading newspapers. Aspirants tend to spend 3-4 hours reading newspapers. Doing this only takes away precious time which you can utilize on studying other subjects. A maximum of 2 hours is suggested for going through current affairs.
• Focus on finding out the root of the matter. Ask questions like why the matter is in the news? What is the whole concept and background of the matter? What is its current status?
• Revise. After preparing your notes, revision is important for you to retain what you have studied.
• Do not compromise on sleep. Being a UPSC aspirant is not an easy job. Compromising sleep is one of the worst things one should do while studying. Hence, follow a sleep schedule no matter what.

What sources should you rely on while studying Current Affairs?

Apart from reading newspapers daily like The Hindu, and The Indian Express, a few magazines and PIB (Press Information Bureau) releases should also be gone thoroughly. Some sources that you will need while preparing for UPSC are:

• Indian Year Book: It is a yearly publication that contains all the reports of all ministries under the Indian Government.
• Manorama Year Book: A yearly published encyclopedia containing all the important people, roles, resigns, etc.
• Mathrubhumi Year Book: Another yearly published encyclopedia
• Yojana Magazine: A monthly published magazine by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting which covers all the socio-economic issues in the country.
• Kurukshetra Magazine: It is a monthly published magazine containing the recently launched government policies, initiatives, etc.
• Pratiyogita Darpan: It is an Indian bi-lingual magazine specifically for the preparation of Civil Service Examinations
• All India Radio
• Economic Survey of India: It contains the financial statistics of India along with major development programs and policy initiatives by the government.

You can also visit our blog for the Best Newspaper for UPSC and our daily publication Edukemy Gazette.