{"id":1175,"date":"2020-02-11T21:43:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T16:13:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2020-04-02T18:15:17","modified_gmt":"2020-04-02T12:45:17","slug":"upsc-ias-topper-pratishtha-shares-strategy-for-current-affairs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knowledgekart.in\/blog\/upsc-ias-topper-pratishtha-shares-strategy-for-current-affairs\/","title":{"rendered":"UPSC IAS Topper Pratishtha Shares Strategy For Current Affairs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A graduate of St Stephen\u2019s College, Delhi, Pratishtha started preparing for the exam in 2016\u2014the same year she passed out of college. A year later, she appeared for the Civil Service Examination for the first time and secured an All India Rank of 50. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pratishtha is currently undergoing her district training at Vishakhapatnam and is posted as an Assistant Collector (training).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this conversation, she discusses her preparation tactics and gives some helpful tips for UPSC aspirants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI primarily referred to The Hindu and the Indian Express. Up until \nthe prelims I used [The] Hindu as my main source of information and gave\n a cursory glance to IE, but after the prelims, I switched it up. IE \nbecame my main source of information, while I continued reading the \neditorial in The Hindu,\u201d she begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why asked about the switch, she explains that she was deeply \nimpressed with IE\u2019s weekly explainers, which offered her great insight \non varied topics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So how much time should one dedicate to reading the newspaper?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"UPSC
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Speaking from her own experience, Pratishtha says, \u201cI would read the \neditorial every day, and apart from that, go through the explainers very\n thoroughly. I would also spend some time making notes for issues that \nwere very new to me, and I felt that there was a need to get into \ndeeper. I would dedicate a couple of hours each morning only to read the\n newspaper.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Besides these two newspapers, Pratishtha also referred to the monthly\n magazine Yojana, published by the government of India and the Vision \nIAS booklets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How does one decide what newspapers and magazines to read?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDuring my college years, I spent a lot of time reading topper interviews and watching videos in which the toppers would share their strategy and tips. I saw that a majority of them had read these newspapers and referred to these magazines. I also made a consolidated list of books that were commonly used and referred to them while studying.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pratishtha mentions that the first thing she did after waking up, was\n to read the information that needed to be memorised \u2013 \u201cFor \nexample\u2014details, like names, places, dates and facts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would then move on to reading the newspaper and spend two odd hours doing that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At around 10:30 am, she says that she would go on to studying either \nfor the optional paper or general studies. At night before going to bed \nshe would go through the Vision IAS booklet, she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked if she resorted to making notes while studying, Pratishtha says, \u201cI would make notes only for topics that had content in several different places or something that needed to be memorised.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many others, Pratishtha too struggled with retaining \ninformation, initially. \u201cI would forget things easily, but soon realised\n that this was something that could be overcome only with several \nrevisions. I would set a target for myself in terms of how many times I \nneeded to revise a particular topic or book and not stop until I \nachieved that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, she says that aspirants must remember to follow these pointers a week or so before the examination:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n