How to Read the Newspaper in Less Time?

UPSC exam demands in-depth knowledge of socio-economic issues, current affairs, and the latest government policies. The weightage of current affairs is high in all three stages(prelims, mains and the interview) of the UPSC CSE examination. Therefore, newspaper reading is a must for every serious IAS aspirant.

Some toppers suggest that only printed materials from reputed institutes would suffice for the UPSC preparation. But reading newspapers has many advantages. Newspapers help the candidate to understand the core issue and get updated every day on the current topics. The magazine is full of facts with less conceptual clarity. Current affairs magazines can be used as notes for preparation. But to gain a grip on the subject, newspaper reading is very important.

Tips to Read Newspaper in Less Time

The daily newspapers are thick with various issues. The aspirant might think that he/she is wasting time reading the whole newspaper. Given below are a few ways to read a newspaper in less time while preparing for UPSC.

• List out Topics to Read: It is very important for the UPSC aspirant to know the syllabus. Often questions in the UPSC examination are asked, linking current affairs with the static part of the syllabus. Therefore, the candidate must know the topics to read and the topics to avoid. This saves a lot of time and effort. List out the topics under 4 sections.
  • GS 1: Indian Heritage and Culture, History and Geography of the World and Society.
  • GS 2: Governance, Constitution, Polity, Social Justice and International relations.
  • GS 3: Technology, Economic Development, Biodiversity, Environment, Security and Disaster Management.
  • GS 4: Ethics, Integrity and Aptitude.
• Don’t miss the important pages: All the topics in the newspapers are not important from UPSC’s perspective. The candidate has to know the important pages to read. Local issues, political rivalry, are not important for the examination. More focus should be laid on issues of national and international importance. The important pages to read in the newspaper are
  • Front Page
  • Editorial
  • National and International News
  • Business and Economy
  • Sports
• Active Reading: Read the newspaper actively and spend time thinking about the issue’s history and future scopes.
• Read Regularly: Do not skip reading newspapers. Reading the newspapers regularly will enhance your reading skills and reduces the time taken to complete the newspapers.

• Make Short Notes: Segregate the topics under different subjects of UPSC and try to make short notes from the newspaper. Avoid writing full sentences while taking notes. Just write the facts important from the UPSC CSE perspective.

The current trend in the UPSC question papers shows that more than 50% of the questions are directly or indirectly related to current affairs. The market is flooded with current affairs material that can be used for revision purposes. But what matters is the thirst for knowledge. Reading many materials without basic knowledge is useless. Therefore, reading newspapers is important for gaining the basic knowledge required for the UPSC CSE.

Also, the candidate cannot spend more than 2 hours reading the newspaper. The maximum time that can be spent reading the newspaper is 1 hour. By adopting the above-mentioned practices, the candidate will be able to complete the newspaper reading required for UPSC CSE in less time.

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