24 Nov 2025

How to prepare Current Affairs for UPSC Prelims 2026 with GOALTIDE IAS?

No matter what the trend of the exam is, every year we expect 40–45 questions from Current Affairs. The basic meaning of Current Affairs is simple: it refers to news that is current, i.e., not very old.
But as you know, UPSC does not follow this rule. They ask CA topics from anywhere they want, irrespective of recency. But don’t worry—we will clarify everything today.

We will discuss two points:

1. How UPSC chooses topics
2. How they frame statements from those topics

How they are choosing topics?

Suppose I am an examiner assigned to set the Prelims paper. Am I going to read any coaching’s magazine? Or coaching notes? Or watch CA videos?
No. I won’t do any of that.

So, what will I do?

I will frame questions from authentic sources:

• Newspapers
• Important national/international magazines (not related to any coaching)
• Outcomes of major conferences
• Reports, indices, government documents, etc.

These are the actual sources.
But the real challenge is—how will you cover all these?

There are two ways:

• Do it yourself, or
• Take help from a mentor or coaching

How to do it yourself?

If you want to prepare without guidance, you must focus on prelims test series for UPSC from the very beginning, because it requires daily effort.

You must:

1. Read the newspaper and note down every new term, organisation, scheme, policy, and concept.
2. Cover 3–4 topics daily from the newspaper.
3. Use any coaching centre’s monthly magazine.
4. Solve daily quizzes from different websites.
5. Solve Current Affairs Test Series.

This is the maximum any person can realistically do without coaching help.
It is possible only if you’re preparing over 2 years.

But if you have only 8–12 months of preparation?

Then you must take some coaching support because:

• You cannot make notes of every minor topic;
• It consumes too much time.

So why do students still fail to handle daily current affairs for UPSC prelims even after using coaching materials?

Because of the way those materials are made.
They are usually prepared by students working month-to-month. They are paid per topic, so why would they invest time in deep research?
They simply compile whatever is seen everywhere—and UPSC does NOT ask those topics.

Thus, finding the right mentor becomes extremely important.

How GOALTIDE helps with Current Affairs?

1. We do not depend only on Test Series. Test Series alone cannot help.
   b. We take 10–20 minutes daily from you to work on CA questions.
   c. You don’t need to search for articles. Just read and solve the questions we give on a daily/weekly basis.
   d. This builds your confidence and analytical ability every day.
   e. Prelims is never about 2–3 months of preparation. You must learn daily how topics and statements are framed.

How we cover Current Affairs (5 Layers System)

We have five layers for complete CA coverage for UPSC Prelims 2026:

1. Abhyaas Session – We take an article directly from the newspaper and ask you to solve questions live without options.

Example:

Q1. National Defence Academy was formed after 1971 Indo-Pak war?

Q2. NDA was formed by a law passed by the Parliament?

Q3. The idea of establishing this Joint Training Academy was conceived by a committee headed by?

You have to recall and try to find answer for each statement. There is no elimination technique used here.

Explanation to all three-above question:

The idea of establishing this Joint Training Academy for training officers of three services was conceived by a committee headed by the then Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army, Field Marshal Sir Claude Auchinlek in 1945 and Academy commenced functioning in its interim location at Dehradun as Joint Service Wing in Jan 1949. 

The foundation stone of the Academy at Khadakwasla, Pune. was laid on 06 Oct 1949 and inaugurated on 16 Jan 1955.

1. CA Weekly Practice Sheets – Same pattern; given as weekly assignments.
2. Daily Quizzes – Free for everyone.
3. Monthly Tests – One test for each month (June test, July test, and so on).
4. 5 Topics Per Day Series – A complete current affairs revision in the end phase.

We revise every month thoroughly so that you gain full confidence.
These five layers complete your entire Current Affairs.
You don’t need to read a single extra word from any other source.