sschub - Current affairs is the only thing, you will have to make in your daily habit. Either it is UPSC (prelims, essay or interview), State PCS, IBPS, SSC CGL or any govt. job competition, you have to read it. Not all but most of exams have a major proportion of current affairs. Also if you read current affairs regularly then some portion of GS like bills/acts = polity, locations/summits = geography, events = culture etc are prepared automatically.
Many of us are always confused about following questions:- Which newspaper to read ?
- Which books or magazines to read ?
- Is monthly magazines are enough ?
- and most important How to read newspaper ?
yes, before going to read any book, magazine or newspaper, it is most important to collect previous years papers (not more than last 4-5 yrs) and make your own analysis that what type of questions are being asked. It is must before any study plan.
Which newspaper to read ?
Because the local newspapers give only the “hot-shot” news of politics, cricket and Bollywood and exams are not asking much about it. So i prefer The Hindu. If not possible then Indian Express. Note that TOI is not recommended.
Which books or magazines to read ?
Not compulsory but to revise your monthly preparation it works like a tonic. You can read Civil Services Chronicle OR Wizard (only one but regularly). No need to mug-up every page, focus only important section like constitution watch, economy watch and environment. When reading = revising topics from magazines, remind it if you have read it earlier. In this way you are doing best monthly revision of current affairs.
Yes when you are going for mains then The Frontline works a lot. The Frontline = analysis of editorials/journals = good for essay writing.
Also you should listen AIR news - 8AM, 2PM, 9PM. It gives the idea what to read in newspaper next day. If the issue being discuss is not important or is political then you can ignore it.
So finally get ready for following:
SSC, IBPS -
- The Hindu + Arihant GK Book (small but very useful)
UPSC Prelims -
- The Hindu
- Civil Services Chronicle OR Wizard
UPSC Mains -
- The Hindu
- Civil Services Chronicle OR Wizard
- The Frontline + Yojana
Is monthly magazine/s are enough ?
No never. Keep in mind we are reading monthly magazines for two things. One is to revise our The Hindu preparation and Second to get any important topic which is not covered initially. So only reading magazines is not equals to preparing complete current affairs.
How to read newspaper ?
It is discussed in How to read The Hindu in 1 hour.
