Some frequently asked Questions
1. Is it necessary for note-making?
- Not really, it varies from person to person. This is not something mandatory for clearing the
examination. You can still clear this examination without making notes, however, note-making
eases the preparation hard work.
- If you don't want to make notes, you can choose another way of highlighting text,
make an important word bold if you are making notes online.
2. Is it necessary to make notes for the static portion?
- For longer subjects, it is mandatory to make notes. e.g. History, Geography, and current
affairs, as these subjects are voluminous and you need to revise it again and again. Only you
can revise them when you have collected the information in one place.
- Choose what you want, whether you want to make notes or not, even if you want the later one it
will not have any major impact on your success. It depends upon you what suits you; it is you
who will decide your success or failure. Neither this article nor tips goanna help you neither
is I. So, work on yourself of what you want rather than taking tips from others and implementing
it on a trial basis.
3. What should note consist of?
- Your notes should ask the questions what? Why? How? When? Where? Examples? Benefits?
Cons? Suggestions? Data? Committees? Schemes? Alternatives to the phrase of the
syllabus in question.
- Your notes consist of information that you have read and the information that you
have collected in a more precise manner and crispy manner. It means that your notes
should be in your words and the pattern of your notes should be like asking
questions from you.
- Your notes should also consist of a diagram and flow chart wherever it is necessary and it
should be in linear form which should follow the pattern.
4. Should I make notes online or offline?
- Again, like I have said earlier above it is your call to decide whether you want to make notes
online or go offline. The most convenient you feel in which you should adopt that method. No
matter where you make notes but you should remember that you have to revise multiple times. So,
keeping that thing in mind you should decide the things which are more suitable for you.
5. How to make notes from NCERT?
- NCERT Is a basic book, yet it is the foundation stone for your civil services preparation so,
don't take NCERT lightly and read it for just fun. Take it sincerely and understand every
concept of NCERT and utilize your reading in your example by understanding the crux of the
material.
- Understand this through an example suppose you have read; the difference between GDP
and NDP SO, here write down what GDP includes .e.g. Goods services produced within
boundary of the territory of a country within a limited period, In NDP You can write
in your notebook NDP=GDP-Depreciation.
6. How to make notes from News Paper?
- When you read the newspaper daily, understand the whole dynamics first then write down the
important points in your language. Let's understand this concept through an example; read the
article given below, which is taken from The Times of India:
Article source: The Times of India
- The above article is about Universal Basic Income, in which the writer is depicting a broader
picture of UBI merging it with rural distress; so, your notes making should be like this:
- What is UBI?
- Reasons for the emergence of the UBI concept?
- Reasons for Agrarian distress?
- Government policies (short term/long term) to tackle this problem.
- Benefits and Negative aspects associated with UBI.
- The above article also mentions about Rythu Bandhu scheme of Andhra Pradesh, so google
it and know about it and write it down in your notebook.
At last, I would say that "less is more" .so, stick with this mantra and read your notes
again, again and again rather than running here and there for the collection of new information.
Collection of information is a good thing but, it will become useless once you will not be able
to revise it. Make your notes in your word and revise it and stick with it and you will see the
difference in the coming time. Good Luck…….
How to make notes for UPSC preparation
- The Civil Services Examination is mainly a test to choose suitable administrators. It tests the
candidate right from the stage when one starts the preparation. A candidate should be in the
right frame of mind and have the willpower to succeed in the exam. Note-making is of great
importance for a student. This is because there are a few good reasons for making notes:
- One is that you cannot make notes without understanding the given topic, since you have read
out the important points and tried to summarize them.
- Next is that writing down any information helps you to remember it better. It makes good
practice for thinking and writing out essays. Well-organized notes make the writing process much
more efficient.
- It will prompt you to revise your work since it does not take a long time to go through a
set of well-made notes.
- It helps you in your final revision by reminding you of the most important points of each
topic.
- Note-making habits will help to train a critical mind, and it helps a student pass his
examinations as well as develop a discerning, insightful mind which is quick at grasping
relevant information.
- On the occasions when one is called upon to give a lecture, speech, or to participate in a
discussion, note-making skills help in providing a record of the essential points so that the
speaker does not have to read out what he has prepared. The notes remind of the contents and
sequences of lectures or contributions to a discussion.
- It allows you to focus on the points relevant to your purpose.
- Make your notes brief and be selective. Understanding, a topic would be easy for you but
remembering certain points might be difficult, hence it is important to make notes of important
points as this would make it easy to summarize and have a glance whenever you want.
- Keep them well-spaced so you can see individual points and add more details later if
necessary.
- Show the relationships between the main points.
- Use your own words to summarize.
- Illustrations, examples and diagrams can help to put ideas in a practical context.
- Make them memorable using: color, pattern, highlighting and underlining.
- Read through to make sure they’re clear and understand them when you come to
revise.
- File with care! – use a logical system so you can find them when you need them, but
keep it simple or you won’t use it.
- Writing down points helps you to remember it better, it is also a good practice for thinking
and writing; it is easy to revise your notes as it helps in your final revision making it easy
for you to recall important points of each topic.
Here is the list of some strategies that should be followed
while making notes:
Try to write on loose white sheets as they help in organizing and adding content relating to a
particular topic.
- Try to use different colored pens for headings, sub-headings etc.
- Maintain separate folders/files for each subject.
- Always keep revising the notes or just have a glance at the important points once in a
while.
- After analyzing the syllabus and selecting the recommended books-Make note of the particular
chapters from the recommended books as you study.
- Whenever you read some other books or come across a news/update about a particular topic,
directly go to your notes, add one page and write down all the new things you learned.
Notes For Current Affairs:
Try to segregate the news/articles/features etc. in following categories:
- Polity (PIB, PRS, Yojana etc.)
- Diplomacy and International Relations (The Hindu, IDSA etc.)
- Economics (The Hindu – Economy, Industry , EPW etc)
- Environment and Bio-diversity (The Hindu – Environment, Indian Express etc.)
- Science and Technology ( The Hindu, Indian Express)
- Collect news from various sources and take notes from it on day to day basis.
- Try to group the similar news/features/articles under the same heading and you will get a bigger
picture after some time.
- Also update the corresponding sections of GS subjects/ optional by adding one extra page in
between their notes.
Note: For comprehensive coverage on Current Affairs Check out Chahal Academy's Six-point Current
Affairs Program.
Importance of Notes Making for UPSC Preparation:
- Writing down any information helps you to remember it better and makes good practice for
thinking and writing out essays. Moreover, Well-organised notes make the writing process much
more efficient.
- Note-making habits will help to train a critical mind, and it helps a student pass his
examinations as well as develop a discerning, insightful mind that is quick at grasping relevant
information.
- It will prompt you to revise your work since it does not take a long time to go through a set of
well-made notes and helps you in your final revision by reminding you of the most important
points of each topic.
On the occasions when one is called upon to give a lecture, speech, or to participate in a
discussion, note-making skills help in providing a record of the essential points so that the
speaker does not have to read out what he has prepared. The notes remind of the contents and
sequences of lectures or contributions to a discussion.