The most important aspect of UPSC preparation is current affairs. There is no fixed syllabus, and the range of questions is varied in current affairs. Candidates have to keep themselves updated with all recent events in the news and be aware of current happenings both nationally and internationally.
Close to 40% of questions asked in the preliminary and mains examination of UPSC are directly based on current affairs. One can assume that current affairs dominate all other areas of the syllabus of UPSC exam. Therefore, being efficiently updated on current affairs will get you multiple steps closer to your Civil Services Exam vision.
Now that you understand and comprehend the importance of current affairs in UPSC, it is also important to know how you have to proceed with mastering current affairs.
6 Ways to Cover Current Affairs for the UPSC Exam
- Read newspapers every day – The very first step is reading standard national newspapers. One can choose The Hindu or The Indian Express to follow important developments in India and abroad. Do not choose too many newspapers but the ones that cover important news comprehensively.
- Magazines can contribute to your prep – Reading the newspaper alone is not sufficient for current affairs preparation for this coveted exam. There are some useful magazines such as Pratiyogita Darpan, Manorama Yearbook, Yojana magazine, Kurukshetra magazine, Economic Survey, Matribhumi Yearbook, etc. The monthly magazines of the Government of India are important in the point of preparing a topic descriptively and will help you keep abreast with the latest happenings.
- Be friends with India Year Book – One of the most important topics included in the current affairs syllabus for UPSC is the schemes and policies released by the Government of India. Hence, regular reading of the India Year Book is highly necessary. This book is the one source that covers all the information needed regarding various programmes and policies launched by the government, which is very helpful for the CSE exam for both prelims and mains while writing descriptive answers.
- Use past years’ question papers – While preparing for the current affairs section, keep the previous years’ question papers handy and understand what type of questions has been asked as it will give an idea on how to prepare for current affairs. Also, to get a fair knowledge of what kind of questions can be asked from the current affairs section, solve current affairs quizzes on a daily or weekly basis.
- Keeping maps at hand – To cover up issues related to international affairs and geography, keep a map aside. It will help you to understand and analyse the issues with the neighbouring countries as well. Also, you will get a complete picture of political, geographical or societal problems faced by the people regionally.
- Make a separate current affairs notebook – Making notes of the important developments is vital in this process of current affairs preparation. Creating separate sections of your notebook earmarked for different aspects is a wise step.
Current affairs are included in the UPSC CSE exam, but the syllabus of current affairs is not defined for both prelims and mains exams. Hence all an aspirant has to do is to read major newspapers and magazines every day, which cover all the major news that is relevant with regards to UPSC current affairs, and make notes out of it. Before you plan to register online UPSC, plan your current affairs preparation by following the necessary steps given in the above article.