The Daily Current Affairs section holds the utmost importance if you want to crack the UPSC CSE exams. Various UPSC aspirants have queries regarding how many months of current affairs they need to study. Well, through this article we will provide you with the significance of the current affairs section and the different topics you need to cover under the UPSC Syllabus.
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How Does the Daily Current Affairs Section Play a Vital Role in UPSC Exam Preparation?
In recent years, it has been perceived that current affairs have become an integral part of the UPSC Exam. The weightage of the analytical trend of current affairs questions has been proportionally increased in all the 3 stages of UPSC preparation, starting from prelims, mains, and even the Interview round.
However, there is no way to sense and analyse the particular trend in which UPSC asks questions from the daily current affairs. It is highly unpredictable. All you can do is check the last few years’ question paper covering current events questions.
Seeing every year’s UPSC papers, it is witnessed that 15 to 20 questions are asked in the prelims from daily current affairs. It is also important to note that all these questions are not direct fact-based questions. For example- questions like ‘who was the first vice-president of India’ are not asked in prelims; instead, questions related to the vice-presidents’ roles & responsibilities may be asked.
Plus, in prelims and mains, it has been observed that more than 50% of questions are related to current events in one way or another. Hence, it is imperative to study daily current affairs for UPSC preparation to clear all 3 levels, and correlate them with them with the UPSC Syllabus smartly.
Daily current affairs cover an extensive range of topics overlapping with subjects including Polity, Geography, History, Economics, Environment, and Science & Technology.
Weightage of Current Affairs Section in UPSC Examinations
By analyzing the past years papers, we can see the weightage of the Current Affairs in the UPSC Exam:
- 2012– 1 question
- 2013– 1 question
- 2014– 8 questions
- 2015– 22 questions
- 2016– 27 questions
- 2017– 15 questions
- 2018– 14 questions
- 2019– 22 questions
- 2020– 18 questions
- 2021– 8 questions
How Many Months to be Covered for Current Affairs?
Honestly, there is no way to determine any particular period or trend of current affairs questions asked in the UPSC exam. As it has been observed, some questions are asked from the window of the last 1 to 2 years of current affairs. However, it can be as old as 10 years. All you need to do is prioritise and do smart work.
Although, it may be challenging to cover the current affairs for the last 10 years in a short span. Therefore, solving the UPSC Mock Tests is recommended once you have prepared fully for the UPSC exams. It will help you see where you stand and define your weaknesses and essential areas for improvement.
