How To Make Notes For UPSC Current Affairs

Current affairs are very important for the UPSC exam. Our contemporary awareness is checked through essay papers. Geography and Social science need current affairs to support your answers. General studies papers second and third are based on current affairs. In general studies papers, you will need daily current affairs for UPSC to give examples and make your point of view for a better answer.

some genuine sources for current affairs

• The Hindu newspaper
• Yojana 
• Kurukshetra 
• All India radio spotlight discussions
• Mann ki baat of prime minister
• PIB Features
• Rajya Sabha and lok Sabha TV discussions 
• Niti aayog report 
• Websites of some ministries

How to make notes for UPSC current affairs

Preparing notes for UPSC current affairs in Hindi is very necessary for the IAS exam. This is the only way to revise and remember current affairs during examinations. If we have revised current affairs at least for 3-4 Times, it will be very easy to remember them under tremendous pressure of the IAS exam. Also, include these current affairs in the mains answer writing practice.

There are two ways to prepare notes.

Handwritten notes

Making handwritten notes helps in writing practice, but some topics require continuous updates, and you cannot edit handwritten notes.

Online notes

You can make your online notes on Evernote or Google docs. It may be uncomfortable for few aspirants, but it is quite easy to edit them and gather them in one place.

Making notes for current affairs

Take four notebooks and make an index on the first page to update current affairs easily.

Notebook 1- Indian society, population, globalization, Geography characteristics, women issues, distribution of resources and industries

Notebook 2- Indian polity, social justice, governance, NGO s

Notebook 3- Agriculture, Indian economy, infrastructure, budgeting investment, disaster management, internal security, science, and technology

Notebook 4- international affairs, ethics and case studies

Try to cover the whole UPSC syllabus in the notebook and whenever you get any new updates, add them. A period of six months is enough to prepare current affairs material.

Keep these topics in mind while making notes for current affairs

Indian society Issues of women and women organization examples, population issues, government policy, various schemes like poverty from Yojana magazine, globalization effect on children, women and disabled person, regionalism, communalism, secularism

Indian polity Questions from polity are based on current affair issues. Understand the positive and negative aspects of each issue and make an unbiased view.

Social justice

Cover the issues like budget, education issues, health issues, water issues, food security, and some ministry websites

Governance cover this topic from Yojana magazine

International affairs

Prepare notes for international affairs from the newspaper, especially the last six months before the IAS exam. Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha's discussions are also beneficial.

Indian economy

Focus on Economic survey and budget, government initiatives, discussion in Rajya Sabha TV, History, agriculture issues, examples of infrastructure, power, and PPP projects.

Science and technology

The Hindu, Rajya Sabha TV, and disaster management examples

Internal security

This is a difficult topic for preparing notes. Choose topics like money laundering, Naxalism, and what steps the government has taken to stop them.

Ethics

Be cautious while making notes on this topic. This topic gives examples of all good initiatives about the decision-making situations and life of great people.

Some basic rules

• Always prepare short notes, either written or in a digital format; it will help revise them quickly.

• Divide the whole syllabus topic wise and divide every topic into subtopics, and then prepare notes so that one topic will be in one place

• Deep knowledge of the syllabus is very necessary. Mug up the syllabus and then prepare notes.

• Regular answer writing practice is essential for the IAS exam. Improve yourself via current affairs in answer writing practice

• Enrich your answer with contemporary issues

• There is no need to collect so many sources and newspapers. It will not help you. Limit your resources, and get basic knowledge and a balanced view about every current issue.

Benefits of notes making

• We forget 40% of new information after one day when we hear or read it for the first time. If you prepare notes and revise them, you can remember 100% information in the examination.

• The syllabus of UPSC is very vast, so it is practically impossible to make a complete revision for all the books and notes just before the examination. That is why making notes play a vital role in preparing for the IAS exam so that you can score good marks to crack this examination. You can prepare self-made notes for a quick revision during exam days.

• It is almost impossible to clear the IAS exam without preparing notes. So making notes should be an integral part of your IAS exams preparation strategy. Making notes improves your learning capacity. To write down things is very necessary otherwise, you can forget it. Note-making is very crucial but doesn't waste so much time in making notes.

• The purpose of making notes is to write out things. Otherwise, you can forget them. These notes will help in revision at the time of the IAS exam.

• Note making of current affairs for UPSC is an art. Read the news carefully and write them down in a crispy and precise manner so that you can revise them later.

• Always collect the right information for note-making.

• Many of us forget what we have read after some time. This is a quite common problem. But you do not need to worry because it is quite natural. Revise the notes of current affairs for UPSC time and again. It will help memorize current affairs in the exam hall.

• Bookish knowledge is not enough for civil service examination; it is beyond your limited bookish knowledge. Expand your knowledge beyond the limit. Understand the concepts naturally and analyze them with a practical approach.

• Make a flowchart for notes making. It will also be helpful in mains answer writing. When you do not have a lot of time writing an answer, you can draw a diagram or flowchart; it will help you bring good marks.