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How to use the Internet for IAS Exam preparation

The world is becoming tech-savvy. The IAS Aspirants cannot be left behind. While the old fashioned way of reading the textbooks is still essential, one cannot ignore the online world. The internet is an ocean, but if you lay your nets properly, the catch will be huge.

The internet is not a substitute to any resource or activity that is traditionally done as part of preparation. But it is a good enabler. The Internet can be used for information collection, interaction with fellow aspirants, updating of knowledge, source of reference, a means of gossip and finally to know your results.

Let us now discuss the various aspects of preparation that can be enhanced by use of internet.

“The Newspaper is the UPSC bible in installments”. This is a quote attributed to the Author. No one can deny the importance of reading (read taking notes from) the Newspaper. I would say that its not reading but actually studying the relevant news in the paper for the purpose of the examination.

There are two types of newspapers in the online world. One is the online edition of a newspaper viz. www.thehindu.com . The other type is the epaper in which the regular newspaper is converted to the digital image format. Its exactly a replica of the physically printed newspaper. For example: www.epaper.indiatimes.com .

In both editions the news articles are the same, but their classification and presentation are different. The news articles are to be read and notes are to be taken from them. Some newspaper sites provide the option to email an article or newsitem or to clip it for future reading. However too much of clipping will make it unmanageable. For the purpose of exams it is better to read one article and take notes than clipping a hundred articles.

It is here that sites like www.GsCurrentAffairs.blogspot.com help in reducing the effort taken to read and take the notes by providing the notes in an easily digestible format. Alternatively one can copy paste the relevant lines of an article and compile them in a MSWORD file. One can call it the “enotes”.

In the Hindu Online edition, the news is published under various sections namely the Front Page, Nationals News, Internationals News, Opinion, Business, Business, Sports sections. Apart from these regular sections the Science and Technology and Magazine are two supplements that need to be focused upon.

Similarly in Magazines, Frontline has an online edition in which one can read the articles and collects ‘enotes’ as mentioned above. The Frontline also has a free digital download facility of the issues. Some magazines like the Economic and Political Weekly (www.epw.in) which is not easily available on the stores can be read online without any charge.

Getting used to reading in the online format is a bit difficult in the beginning. With little patience one gets used to it. Ofcourse all these activities require an internet connection. There are many more to increase study efiiciency. More of it in subsequent articles.

Happy Learning,

Nagarajan M,

The author is an IAS Officer of the 2009 Batch and is presently under training. He helps all IAS Aspirants through his blog www.GsCurrentAffairs.Blogspot.com