If you are preparing for UPSC, reading newspaper daily should be on your priority list along with completing the syllabus. But just reading the newspapers may not help you. You need to make notes so that you can revise from it regularly and the day before your exam.
Selecting the Right Newspaper:
The very first thing that you need to do is to select the right newspapers. You can go through newspapers like Dainik Jagran ePaper which is available in Hindi language and The Hindu PDF that is English language daily newspaper.
But often going through the whole newspaper each day can waste much of your time. Hence, the best way is to select the right topics and go through it. One of the ways is to understand the syllabus of UPSC well. When you have understood the syllabus properly, you can understand which topic in the newspaper is suitable for your preparation. You should note these topics down and should go through them. This will help you in going through all the necessary topics in the newspapers without wasting much of your time.
Making Notes from Newspaper for UPSC
As mentioned above, just going through the newspapers every day is not going to help. You also need to make proper notes so that you can go through it regularly and can revise it from time to time. Here are some of the important ways through which you can make notes properly from the newspaper for UPSC.
- Selecting the Right Pages:
There are so many topics covered in different pages of the newspaper. You should select the right pages and the right topics to cover. Try to cover up the editorials of most of the newspapers. Try to stay away from the local news, entertainment and similar news. You should rather focus on the news from the fields of defense, economy, constitutional amendment, government schemes and bills, environment, social issues, international affairs, and so on.
- Noting Important Points:
Gather information from important sources such as PRS, Yojana, and PIB. While you are making notes, note down important facts such as benefits, reasons, theme, and similar others. Write the summary of the news or the article in your own words and highlight the important keywords.
- Connect to the Syllabus:
While you are going through particular news or article, you can relate it to what you have read in the syllabus. This will help you in understanding the jest of the news better.
- Focus on Hot Topics:
Not just in the Prelims and Main written test, but preparing from the newspapers will help you in the interview round also. There are so many times when the panel may ask you questions over some of the hot topics in the current times. It can be about anything such as water conservation, cultural debate, and many others.
- Revise Well:
The notes that you are making from the newspapers have to be kept properly so that you can revise it from time to time. The best way is to keep the notes digitally so that you can open it and go through it whenever you want to. Make a routine to go through the important topics and points every few days so that you do not forget them easily.
Schedule for UPSC Preparation
When you are preparing for UPSC, you cannot just rely upon the books that you have gathered based on the syllabus of UPSC. You need to make a proper schedule that you need to follow so that you can crack through the exams and the interview properly.
- Completing Syllabus:
Offer an hour to each of the subjects that are mentioned in the syllabus each day. This way, you will complete the syllabus on time for all the subjects and can have time in hand for revision for all the subjects too.
- Extra Time for Newspaper:
Apart from the books, take out at least one hour each day for reading newspapers. Go through the important topics and articles and make notes from them so that you can revise them later on accordingly. While you are collecting notes from everyday news, from time to time, keep on revising on the notes that you have already made.
- Practicing Question Banks:
Just reading and revising is not going to help. You also need to practice questions papers so that you can gain confidence in answer the actual questions in the exam. You can get various test papers of UPSC and can practice at least once a week. You can also gather the last few years question papers to practice them. Practicing the last few years question papers also help you in understanding the pattern of questions that you may get in your exam. The more you practice, the better you get in terms of confidence.
- Revision:
Revision is another crucial thing that you should not miss out. You should always follow the schedule strictly so that you can complete your syllabus on time and can have sufficient time in hand for the revision purpose. Remember that you need to revise the syllabus as well as the notes that you have collected from the newspapers. Hence, you should have a good amount of time in hand before your exams for your revision. Ideally, you should complete your syllabus at least a week before your exams so that you can do revision as much time as possible.
- The Continuous Habit of Reading Newspaper:
One thing that you need to understand is that your habit of reading newspapers should not go away till the time you have cleared the interview round. It may happen that the interview may ask you a question on a topic that has come up in the newspaper just a day before. Thus, reading newspapers is quite different from reading your syllabus books. You need to be alert of every news and notifications of each and every day till your interview day. Of course, afterwards also you have to stay updated if you get crack through the positions of UPSC.
UPSC is one of the toughest exams in India. You need to stay updated with the happenings around and also need to complete your syllabus. Thus, along with the books, you also need to thoroughly go through the newspapers. Making proper notes from the newspapers similar to your syllabus books not only saves time but also helps you in preparing in the most efficient manner.
