Learn the Art of Reading Newspaper for UPSC Exam Preparation

As we all know, newspaper plays a crucial role in keeping us updated about current affairs that help a lot in UPSC examination. But while taking up the newspaper as study material,

Learn the Art of Reading Newspaper for UPSC Exam Preparation

As we all know, newspaper plays a crucial role in keeping us updated about current affairs that help a lot in UPSC examination. But while taking up the newspaper as study material, you have to keep in mind that the newspaper is written for everybody and you do not need to read every bit of it. Find out your study material from the newspaper. Pick up the topics that have long term perspectives in terms of time and connect to a large number of people. And most importantly, see if it is connected to the syllabus. Do make the newspaper reading a habit since it is the best source to know about the most updated information regarding Indian as well as world politics. 

So, here is the art of learning from the newspaper for your UPSC examination:

First, learn what to avoid reading in a newspaper. The things to be omitted are -

• Reading about the political parties
• Issues regarding the elections or political parties having no relevance to the constitution or administration of India
• Entertainment and its criticism

Now getting into the discussion of what are the things you must read and give attention to while reading a newspaper.

• You must focus on the editorials having content related to government schemes, geographical issues, RBI initiatives, poverty, drought, monsoon conditions, etc. The write-ups are important for conceptual, critical and analytical approaches too.
• The newspaper part related to international events is mainly important for preliminary examination because many direct questions appear from here. But, be careful about the choice of the content because the incidents having significance for our country and related to our country is important.
• Since we know being updated with science and technology is crucial for preparing for the UPSC examination, do not forget to check out the Thursday newspaper. Because it has mostly all the information regarding science and technology in it.
• The business section of the newspaper requires attention, though the macro-economy mentioned in the UPSC syllabus is something you should especially research about. The topics related to Inflation, employment growth, demographic dividend, etc should be picked for better performance in the UPSC examination.

The things that should be focused while reading a newspaper is mentioned below:

• Efficient analysis and a conceptual reading of current affairs and issues
• The verdicts brought by the supreme court and high court as well
• National issues as well as international issues and their co-relationship
• Parliamentary debates
• Policies and orders launched by governments and their application

Additional tip:

Reading all the articles thoroughly to check its importance may take up your much valuable time unnecessarily. So, do not go for it, rather just skip through the headlines to check what the articles are all about. Generally, the headlines portray the main point of the whole article. If the point appears to be important and related to the UPSC syllabus, then only start reading the whole of it. Maintaining this strategy while reading a newspaper can let you consume lesser time than usual.