In the UPSC examination, preparing short notes is considered essential for candidates — among other things like practising answer writing and studying reliable study material.

IAS officers say preparing notes helps candidates revise the concepts easily before the exam. Three IAS officers share how to make efficient notes for last-minute revision.

Make short notes on big topics: Pawan Gupta, who cleared the UPSC Indian Forest Service (IFS) examination 2022 with an AIR of 90, suggests making short notes of in-depth topics to help with easy revision.

“I had short notes for every topic. But your content should be condensed. For example, convert a 20–30 page topic into 3–4 page short notes,” he says.

Do not make notes bulky: IAS Dongre Revaiah cleared UPSC CSE 2022 with an AIR of 410 on his second attempt. He says that one of the reasons he failed in the first attempt was that he did not prepare short notes initially.

Sharing how he prepared the notes, he says, “I write keywords for any topic that will help me remember the topic. Also, we should not make notes very bulky, because you won’t be able to quickly revise it,” he adds.

Read first, make notes later: Dongre also suggests that aspirants should avoid making short notes while reading any subject for the first time.

“One should prepare short notes only after one or two readings of the topic. This will help us understand what information is important and what isn’t,” he says.

Be selective in making notes: A 2015 batch IAS Shashank Mani Tripathi says he made notes for subjects where the material was not readily available and was somewhat abstract. For example, political science and ethics papers.

“Subjects like history and geography are objective streams; if you read enough material and are decent at writing your answers, it will be possible to do well,” he says.

Make notes with a focus on clearing exams: “The notes you make specifically for CSE are for just that. Do not aim to make them very scholarly. That will completely defeat the purpose,” says Shashank.

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