How to Make Notes for UPSC👇👇
Kickstart :-
A4 spiral exercise book with separators for different subjects.
Use a pen and colour highlighter.
Don’t Record every line.
To differentiate between the major and minor points, use capital letters, boxes, asterisks, underlining and highlighting.
Don’t write complete sentences, streamline with abbreviations and symbols, organize – leave out the small connecting words.
Link your notes to your syllabus
Revise your notes regularly
Paste sticky note to add recent updates.
Guidelines for structure
What- When-Why-How- Current relevance- Final comments
Follow personal abbreviation system and form your own short forms for common, frequently-used words.
Jot down the previous year UPSC mains questions related to it.
Do include the arrow to denote increase and decrease.
A structure of main points and supporting information or facts.
For example:
Major Heading
Subheading 1
Details
Subheading 2
Details
Major heading
What to take down
Principles, Concept and theories
Key highlights
Examples and real-life illustrations
Simple diagrams and charts
Timelines and any new words
All quotations, definitions, and summaries.
After making notes
After making notes, critically review your notes and do a regular revision. This is an essential initial step to help you get an overview of the topic and decide whether it is relevant. This process is not a time consuming one. Scan through the main contents, reasons, key features, advantages, disadvantage, impact on different spheres, pros and cons etc. Briefly examine any lists of key points, dates or events. This technique will save you time and allow you to discard any texts that are not relevant.
Krishanpal Yadav