How to make Current Affairs Notes for UPSC

A newspaper is said to be often contemplated to be the most easily accessible platform for world news. Newspapers bring the most extravagant news from every part of the country and the world.

When you are a UPSC aspirant, being updated with all the current affairs around the world is important. Newspapers are considered the best material for study to attempt questions related to current affairs.

Making notes is said to be the most important and potential method of studying. Jotting down notes must be made in your best creative manner, like; flow charts, mind maps, Cornell method, etc., as it helps you to be psychologically drawn towards the urge to study, and it also helps to keep your mind active if you take out some time to give it some color.

When considering the UPSC Civil Services Exams, reading and analyzing different newspapers has been considered crucial since the marks given to the active part of the UPSC Prelims syllabus and mains syllabus is high.

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Important Things that we can Keep in Mind When are Making Notes

Note-making is undoubtedly an art, and one grasps it over time. Notes must be made brief, productive, and legible as well.

How to assemble notes for the IAS exam is a question to whom the answer could vary from individual to individual. Two efficient methods help prepare notes:

1. Some aspirants would prefer to religiously maintain a register or book or pages or flip cards and categorize them by their months, subjects, and topics.
2. When we consider the dynamic portion of the syllabus while preparing, some aspirants may prefer to make notes on digital levels as it appears to be much easier to assort and edit or append in the notes. The internet cannot be prevented from current affairs, and this method makes it simple and efficient to update from the net altogether.

A newspaper’s editorial is essential and particularly suggested when notes are being made as it is said to comprise contemporaneous information regarding government schemes, geographical issues, RBI initiatives, poverty, drought, monsoon conditions, and so on.

One can use them while jotting down notes as they prepare for UPSC current affairs. A very important factor is to be taken into notice here: Ignore articles that happen to involve information on the political parties.

The problems faced due to the elections or political parties that appear to have no particular pertinence to the constitution or administration of our country must be avoided as much as possible while making notes.

Entertainment and its criticism cover play a big role in the newspaper but on the contrary, it would not have anything to do with the UPSC syllabus, so you must not consider them when you happen to be making notes.

The newspaper columns that give us information on science and technology are very important and essential as they give us all the updates concerning current research and projects happening worldwide. So, it is highly insisted that you pay the most amount of attention and also jot down the latest discoveries from recent research.

Never slip out on the social issues and challenges that our society or country happens to be experiencing. It might also aid you while you are writing down essay-type questions.

Make sure to keep yourself updated on the hot topics that comprise of the linking of rivers, water conservation, water disputes, etc., and note them down as well. Categorize your notes well with respect to subject subjects as it will give you a quick revision and also locate the topic easily when in need of it.

Try to avoid procrastination when a news update regards a specific topic. If you happen to miss out on the update at the right time, you might end up missing the data completely which will be considered an incorrect answer during the examination.

There are five important sources provided to UPSC aspirants by the government to analyze daily news to aid in the exam:

• PIB: Government policies, programs, and schemes.
• PRS: Bills and acts
• Yojana: For analysis of all the government schemes and policies

(magazines from the previous twelve months are essential)

• Indian yearbook in its latest edition.
• All India radio

Reading Less Analyzing More

Visualizing the topics to remember those you have already covered helps as well. It is very natural for someone to forget the studied topics, but revising over and again is the key to this examination. Civil service examination is not based on bookish knowledge but beyond the limitation of books.

So, keep on enlarging and filling in your bag of knowledge, not just by books alone but also by analyzing and revising the topics in practicality, that is, understanding the topics innately.