Newspaper Reading for UPSC Mains Exam

Current Affairs forms a crucial aspect of Mains exams. Keeping in mind the changing nature of Mains exam; it is very crucial to be very rigorous in Current Affairs. And the best source for preparing for Mains current exam is your daily newspapers. But it is often observed that students spend too much time on reading newspapers, they are often bogged down by the sheer volume of news that one has to read. In this post I will try and give some tips about how to make newspaper reading more effective and reduce the time spent on it. 

     During my preparation, I read two newspapers – Indian Express and The Hindu; and when I was preparing for the interview, I added Economic Times or Business Standard to it. The magazines that I referred were: Yojana and Civil Services Chronicle.  There is no need to refer to any current affairs material from any coaching institutes (at least I did not refer to any). Generally it has been seen that questions asked in Mains are from the events/issues that have occurred in the last 8-10 months.  So for 2012-Mains being aware of happenings from Januray 2012 is sufficient, especially the period from May to September. 

    The questions that we term as Current Affairs questions in Mains GS paper are linked to the topics mentioned in the syllabus. Hence it is very important to be thorough with the syllabus. For example, under National and Social Issues (Paper-I); sub-topic is mentioned – Issues in Good Governance. So any good news article that you see regarding new governance initiatives, governance reforms becomes relevant for us. Like in 2010 GS Mains exam, we had a question on Wadhwa Committees recommendation on PDS system, most newspapers had carried detailed news-reports and analysis on the same. So, be very clear about the syllabus, and when you read the newspaper, the syllabus must be at the back of your mind, this will make it easy for you identify the relevant articles in the newspaper.

    Among the pages/sections mentioned in the newspaper, it is important to go through the National, International, Economy/ Business. OP-ED(Opinion and Editorial) pages. News from sports section will normally get asked for 2,3 or 5 mark questions.

When you find and important article/column then underline the key points, make a cutting of the article and paste it in a file/notebook. You can divide your notebook into two section – Paper I and Paper II.  You can have further sub-categories but it will unnecessarily become complex. So stick to a simple categorization. This file/notebook will be really helpful as the exams come closer and you can just revise from it.

     You can also jot down some important points from a newspaper article in the above mentioned file/notebook. Thus what you have is one single source of current affairs with you. And take my word, to maintain this notebook/file regularly; you do not require much effort or time; but just some discipline on daily basis.  Make it a daily habit and you do not require more than an hour for newspaper reading daily.   

    Supplement your newspaper reading with Yojana and Civil Services Chronicle.  Chronicle helps you to cover news that may have been missed by the newspapers. Sections like – Economy watch, S&T watch, World watch etc are very useful. 

    Do not ignore newspaper reading at any cost for your Mains preparation. Relying on readymade notes/ coaching notes for current affairs is not advisable.  Best luck with your efforts; remain persistent and any doubts/clarifications, feel free to ask them.