17 TIPS TO READ NEWSPAPER WISELY FOR UPSC PREPARATIONS:

Newspaper reading is a very important part of UPSC preparations, but, at the same time, an aspirant cannot afford to spend too much time in reading newspaper. Given below are 17 tips which will help you in reading newspaper precisely yet without wasting much time:

1. Read either THE HINDU or THE INDIAN EXPRESS. Do not waste time in reading both the newspaper. Please do not waste time in reading any other newspaper.
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3. Reading Financial newspaper will hardly help you in your studies. So do not waste time in reading them.
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5. Cutting and pasting articles from newspapers is a tedious job and consumes a lot of time. Avoid doing that.
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7. Rather try to make everyday short notes of the news articles. P.S.: Keep them really short, mostly keywords, only you should understand them during revision.
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9. Front page of the newspaper mostly contains political news. Generally, there would be a news of some politician playing their favorite game, the BLAME game. Of course it is interesting to read but wouldn’t help you in your studies. Read only the headlines and move ahead.
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11. Completely avoid or ignore the state section of the newspaper. Every state has their own edition of state section. UPSC won’t ask questions related to local news.
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13. Read only the National news or the Inter-State news. Avoid reading the Intra-State news unless they fulfill the criteria of your Syllabus.
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15. Next comes the Editorial Page. This is the most important page of the newspaper for your preparations (specially Mains). Many aspirants get exhausted till they reach this page. Follow the above guidelines and you wouldn’t be exhausted.
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17. Editorial page looks bulky and huge to read, so mostly people procrastinate reading the editorial. Trust me! Procrastination will not help you at all when it comes to editorial reading. Once the day has passed, your newspaper is a mere scrap.
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19. Read the news article only if you find an important keyword in it. Eg: National Schemes, Environment, Medical sector, Health Policies, Unemployment, Inflation, RBI, Agriculture, Archaeology, Space, Constitutional Amendments, Supreme Court, Geography, Women Empowerment, etc. P.S.: You’ll be able to identify the keywords only if you’re thorough with the syllabus.
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21. The page might say Perspective, but do not create one just after reading only article. Read more articles on that topic and then be a critique.
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23. International page is hardly of any use. It will mostly contain the political ball game. Read the headlines, dive deep into the news only if you think it will help your studies. Choose your news wisely!
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25. Economy/ Business/ Finance section of the newspaper is quite important. Take a detailed follow up of all the Financial Committees, investment of funds in various government schemes, RBI, SEBI, etc.
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27. Do not read the news related to Stock Market or Sensex unless you’ve invested your money in them.
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29. Explained page of The Indian Express is also of very much importance. Almost all the articles on this page are important.
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31. AVOID the sports section completely. UPSC rarely asks any question related to sports. One can cover those areas from the magazines or any General Knowledge book.
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33. The Supplement page can be used to spread on your book shelves. Please suggest me if you find any other use of them. Use them wisely!

ALL THE BEST !!!