I have started making current affairs notes for the past 3 weeks and am getting 4-5 pgs of notes/day after going through all the sources(TH+IE+RSTV+PIB). If this goes on by the time I write prelims in 2019 I will have close to 2500+ pgs of CA notes and I doubt that anyone can revise so much.How do I minimise notes I take per day yet get the important news? I currently note down facts and try to analyse a bit and end up doing too much unwanted research which alone occupies 60% of the notes, is that the way to go about taking notes? I read insights and iasbaba daily CA too and make notes based on that style , should I change it?
Comments
What kind of notes are you making? Are you including the editorials as well?
Ideally, a single page (one side of the paper/sheet) is just enough to jot down important points. And because you must have gone through the story, subsequent revisions would reinforce what you have written in points. Dont write all those lines - as in the real news - in your note. They eat up spaces, and our brains, at times.
I was a regular follower of Insights. But problem with their daily CA is that they often copy paste stuffs from the paper directly. Their detailed approach includes many things which can be winnowed off. If you dont have biases, please try Vision CA booklets once. They are pocket version of Insights but as relevant. By writing this, I'm not black brushing the Insights entirely. Their other offerings are awesome.
I am looking for vision daily CA actually but I am only getting the monthly and yearly compilations and they haven't been updated for time. Do they do a daily analysis or just monthly and yearly complications?
Vision doesn't have daily stuffs coming out like Insights. They have the monthly thing. If you are not in Delhi, you can order the booklets via flavido. You can also try this. Write down the important stuffs from a single paper (eg. The Hindu). At the end of the month, get the vision booklet and cross check the entries made. This way, you'd come to know your standing vis-a-vis note making. But let me reiterate once again, please cut down pages consumed per day in notes making. Just the view of those papers can give serious headache in days leading to mains.
Itne notes mat banao, been there, done that. Doesn't help much. 100 questions prelims me current affairs se nahi aate na !
हर हर महादेव | जय माँ भवानी |
If you are new to the preparation,
first, read the newspaper thoroughly and daily. If you just do that, you will know more current affairs than some people who teach current affairs on various websites. Current Affairs stories develop over a period of time, and at the end of even 3 months of newspaper reading - with 100% attention, you will love the genius you would have become.
This however requires two things - first is, hav patience while reading and second is read daily. Dont miss a single day.
If you do not know which articles to read and which to skip ( this is a big issue for first timers ) , you can refer to the Must Read News Articles , which is now pretty refines and covers at least The Hindu very throughly.
You can also get the info of important news items in print edition from this page
http://blog.forumias.com/dailynews
Secondly, for Prelims , you can supplement it with any ONE magazine of your choice, you can do the magaxine 3-4 months before the exam ( or monthly and timely) . That will be enough.
Most of the facts and editorials will be coming in compilations later , and if you have been doing newspaper sincerely and daily, your learning and memorizing curve will be really small.
In case you still decide to make notes, you must go for just writing points , and not full reporting. Create headings and just write down the points.
For example, few days back UP Assembly passed the UPCOC Bill.
Arguments against
Firstly, the UPCOC Bill could be misused against political adversaries and the press.
Secondly, there were sufficient provisions in the IPC and the CrPC to keep a track on crimes which curtails the need of a specialized Bill.
Thirdly, the Bill can be used to suppress the voice of politicians, farmers, social workers and journalists.
Fourthly, it also breaches the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
The Opposition has instead demanded the Bill to be sent to the select committee of the House for further scrutiny.
Even shorter than above. You can refer to a sample summary here
In case you would like to do, you can go for note making on e platform such as Evernote and One Note, They are pretty sleek and these days a lot of people use them.
However, you must make sure you do not just copy and paste, because if you dont write in own words, you wont remember. If you copy paste just to compile, the guys at vision, insights and forum will do a better job that you - so wait for their compilation.
If you are new to the preparation,
first, read the newspaper thoroughly and daily. If you just do that, you will know more current affairs than some people who teach current affairs on various websites. Current Affairs stories develop over a period of time, and at the end of even 3 months of newspaper reading - with 100% attention, you will love the genius you would have become.
This however requires two things - first is, hav patience while reading and second is read daily. Dont miss a single day.
If you do not know which articles to read and which to skip ( this is a big issue for first timers ) , you can refer to the Must Read News Articles , which is now pretty refines and covers at least The Hindu very throughly.
You can also get the info of important news items in print edition from this page
http://blog.forumias.com/dailynews
Secondly, for Prelims , you can supplement it with any ONE magazine of your choice, you can do the magaxine 3-4 months before the exam ( or monthly and timely) . That will be enough.
Most of the facts and editorials will be coming in compilations later , and if you have been doing newspaper sincerely and daily, your learning and memorizing curve will be really small.
In case you still decide to make notes, you must go for just writing points , and not full reporting. Create headings and just write down the points.
For example, few days back UP Assembly passed the UPCOC Bill.
Arguments against
Firstly, the UPCOC Bill could be misused against political adversaries and the press.
Secondly, there were sufficient provisions in the IPC and the CrPC to keep a track on crimes which curtails the need of a specialized Bill.
Thirdly, the Bill can be used to suppress the voice of politicians, farmers, social workers and journalists.
Fourthly, it also breaches the constitutional right to freedom of expression.
The Opposition has instead demanded the Bill to be sent to the select committee of the House for further scrutiny.
Even shorter than above. You can refer to a sample summary here
In case you would like to do, you can go for note making on e platform such as Evernote and One Note, They are pretty sleek and these days a lot of people use them.
However, you must make sure you do not just copy and paste, because if you dont write in own words, you wont remember. If you copy paste just to compile, the guys at vision, insights and forum will do a better job that you - so wait for their compilation.
I think it's when you go back and revise, your note-making also improves as per your style.. just keep trying, you'll find a way to reduce the notes you make while not missing out what you want to note down. : )
Are you new to preparation? That could also be another factor, back when I was new, so many things look important, like the usage of some set of words pertaining to governance/polity/etc - I used to note them down as well, and look up general terms like GDP, repo rate, adjournment etc etc etc - but as time passes - you'll get used to such words or 'things' and will not be wasting any more time on either looking 'em up or noting them down, because you must've noted it down sometime before and are well-aware, so your notes will get shorter with time...
You can also look up efficient note-making techniques on google, you may find new ideas. : )
Best wishes
I went through Forum,Insights, Vision Material and saw that for Prelims a lot of things can be cut down in the monthly compilations. Like half of it can be eliminated.
I am compiling the magazine backwards, like from December onwards , so that news that has already been settled such as Triple Talaq - is not repeated in May or July '17 issue so that size of the study material gets reduced.
While studying we tend to be greedy and think that this is also important - this is also important and we end up reading everything. We also end up studying for Mains before Prelims, but the truth is that for Prelims , largely facts + some understanding is required.
If you are doing daily newspaper, just reading it , you develop a god understanding. For facts, we end up reading bulky material - in the greed that it will also help in Mains.
But when you write Mains, you will realize that we need all the Mains issues at one place and prepare dedicatedly those issues.
I will update you when I am done.
The goal is to have everything for Prelims, cutting down all from which questions cannot be asked and have the bare essentials for Prelims.
Also, you can now follow the must read news articles - which I am personally seeing ( and hence can vouch for it ). I refer to the print edition before doing it,so some web-only articles may not be there, but trust me it is sufficient.
For 2017 I made notes from GKToday, only selecting those issues which were relevant for Prelims. The final notes came to be around 250-300 pages (vs. 1000 pgs of Vision). Even in these 250-300 pages I could identify the more important ones (schemes, reports etc.) which I could revise more intently.
I'll have to make the notes again this year, and it will be very helpful if someone else makes them (by Feb, Mar preferably?)
I have started following rau's dns current affairs videos which they upload in their you tube channel regularly. Each and every part of the ca is properly explained and simultaneously it is also taught how to make notes.it have benefited me alot. You all can also check it out in youtube.I am leaving the link in case you are finding difficulty to find it-