In this article let’s take a look at weather laptop is necessary or not for UPSC preparation and how you can use laptop & technology in UPSC preparation in detail.
If you are confused regarding how you should use technology and what are the ways you can use laptop if you are not convinced to buy a laptop for yourself then
you should read this article till the end because the methods I mentioned in this article are the ones which I have also practiced during my UPSC preparation, the methods are tried & tested ones.
So without further ADO let’s get started.
Is laptop necessary in UPSC preparation?
Before we understand how you can use laptop and technology for UPSC preparation first of all you need to know whether purchasing a laptop and having it necessary for UPSC preparation or not.
To be honest you do not need a laptop in order to prepare for UPSC but having one can help you regarding both saving money, time and energy while during UPSC preparation.
If you don’t purchase laptop you will have to do all the things manually in the most cases even if you have a smartphone which means that
you will have to purchase a number of books and you’ll have to create notes in a paper notebook of all the subject you read and take test physically visiting the coaching centre and
many more which is both time consuming and also requires a lot of effort and money so let’s take a look at how you can use laptop and Technology during your UPSC preparation.
Note:
You might argue that you can still use technology in UPSC preparation using a smartphone but when we compared it with a laptop because laptops have more screen size and
better screen resolution and performance it can be more convenient and comfortable to use laptop for specific reasons compared to using it with smartphone like reading a enewspaper or attending online class and test.
So I will let you know all the methods you can use technology and laptop together for UPSC keeping smartphone aside.
How to use laptop and technology in UPSC preparation?
Download PDFs & save money
One of the main benefits of using laptop and technology for UPSC preparation is that you can download unlimited number of books online through PDF and you can save a lot of money which you would instead spend on purchasing books for UPSC.
For example if you want to get a book of Indian polity of Laxmikanth which will cost around 500 rupees for paperback version but you can easily download the book and its PDF version for free of cost by clicking here.
You can also download various NCERT books online for free of cost instead of spending money to purchase the physical copy of the book.
If you choose history as your optional subject in the mains exam then you can download the PDF of popular history books like History of mediaeval India by doing a simple search on Google.
Similarly you can find many books you can download the PDF version by searching them on Google.
Sometimes you may not have the free version of PDF then you will have to purchase the ebook which will be of lesser cost compared to the paperback version.
What’s really amazing about PDFs is, they are free in most cases, you can easily save all the books in a folder of your
laptop so the books cannot consume physical space on your desk, you don’t have to worry about the condition of the book because it is in a virtual copy Stored on your laptop.
Get current affairs knowledge online
Second main benefit of using laptop and technology for UPSC is that you can get current affairs knowledge online.
If you are a UPSC aspirant and you must know what is the importance of current affairs in the UPSC preparation then using the help of laptop and technology you can find lots of current affairs sources apart from just reading newspapers.
By the way you can also use laptop to read enewspapers if you don’t get access to read important newspapers in your hometown like the Hindu or the Indian Express.
For example you can subscribe to the Hindu to get the latest news and current affairs instead of getting the paper version of the newspaper to your home every day and online subscription for many newspapers is quite cheaper compared to offline,
apart from taking paid subscription you can also subscribe to many news websites like Times of India, India Today, Jagran Josh and business standard, NDTV, and Al Jazeera, the economist, BBC, CNBC, to get national and international current affairs everyday.
And you can also download the PDF of Yojana and kurukshetra magazine online which are popular monthly magazines for current affairs,
you can also subscribe to many YouTube channels which will help you keep updated with all the current affairs & some popular YouTube channels are study IQ, study glows, world affairs, mrunal, let’s crack UPSC, etc.
And the best thing about using laptop for UPSC is that all important websites whether it is for current affairs of news websites or pdf that you have downloaded of important books for UPSC you can always bookmark all the important one’s on your Chrome browser so you can always get back to them later whenever you want.
You can learn more about how you can get current affairs knowledge about from reading the newspaper for UPSC by clicking here.
Use it for side hustle
Another benefit of using a laptop is that it can be used in a side hustle.
Many UPSC aspirants always look for options where they can make money and side income apart from preparing for UPSC and if you have a laptop then you can get a chance to make money online while doing UPSC preparation.
For example because of covid-19 pandemic Many students and children are taking online classes and tuitions instead of offline classes and you can also start any online tuition classes to students on zoom and
Google meet using your laptop for example if you have good knowledge in mathematics then you can teach mathematics subject to students of 8th 9th 10th class online on Google meet and zoom.
This is a popular quote in English which says that,
A great way to understand any concept and subject is to simply explain it to others.
And by teaching a particular subject to others students you not only make money in your free time but also learn more about the subject and
apart from teaching you can also make money from other methods like become a freelance content writer and you can also learn skills like app development or video editing and graphic designing and make money freelancing which can only be done if you have a laptop available.
You can check out more ways on how you can make money as a UPSC aspirant on the side during your UPSC preparation by clicking here.
Great for note making
Another benefit of using laptop & technology is that it can be great for note making.
Creating notes regularly of whatever the subject you study is a crucial part of UPSC preparation because you have limited time for UPSC and
you’ll have to revise the subject over and over again so creating a notes and summary of what you have read can help you understand the concept and remember it for long period of time and you can use many online tools like Google docs and word document in order to create notes of whatever the subject you read and
you can also easily save it which is going to be secured for a long time instead of creating a physical notes where physical notes can get lost or get stolen but there is no chance of it getting lost or stolen in creating notes on laptop.
Another interesting feature of this tools like Google docs and word document is that you can always voice record & type important notes such as any important information you found while reading a PDF book but you don’t want to type on the keyboard which can also save you a lot of time while typing, and the best thing is that
you can download the applications of Google docs and word document on your mobile phone from Play Store and if you connect both using the same email ID which you have used in your laptop then because both of them have sync options, you can easily edit notes from both mobile phone and laptop.
And you can also copy and paste important current affairs and information you find in books and newspapers from pdf that you downloaded to Google docs and word document directly which is also great for note making.
Note:
Even though I have mentioned Google Docs and word document you can use anyone depending upon your interest and convenience to create notes for UPSC, my favourite one is Word document of Microsoft.
Attend online classes and take online tests more comfortably
Another benefit of using laptop is that you can use it to take many online mock tests & attend online classes of UPSC more comfortably.
Compared to a smartphone, laptop has more screen size more Ram and storage and better performance so you can easily both attend online classes of your coaching centre & you can also attempt online exams like mock tests conducted by your coaching centre on your laptop.
You should know that because of covid-19 pandemic majority of the coaching centres are now shifting their coaching to online so that people from remote distances can also get coaching services for affordable price compared to offline coaching like you can take coaching of unacademy or byju’s for online UPSC preparation.
Use Google sheets or Excel to create a timetable
If you are doing UPSC preparation then you must know the importance of creating a time table and routine.
And with the help of using laptop and technology you can use many popular tools like Google sheets or Microsoft Excel to create a timetable and you can either download the time table or make a print and xerox copy of it instead of creating a physical one on a piece of paper which can be more time consuming.
Use it for understanding concepts through visuals
Another benefit of using laptop and technology is that you can use it to understand concepts such as geography or anthropology using visuals instead of just reading the book.
For example you can use Google maps and Google Earth to understand different locations and concepts in geography subject which is also a key subject in UPSC preparation, and you can also subscribe to many YouTube channels which
explain the various subjects which will easily simplify and also understand the concepts of chemistry physics, biology and anthropology or other subjects which will help you during UPSC preparation like during mains optional subjects, etc
Use Chrome extensions to increase productivity
Another benefit of using laptop for upsc preparation is that you can install many chrome extensions on your laptop such as Grammarly, onetab, google keep, todoist, high clockify time tracker, ad blocker,
noisili, stay focused, and many other productivity increasing extensions which not only save you a lot of time but also money, effort and energy during the upsc preparation.
Start a blog to improve your essay writing skills
Last but not least you can also consider creating a blog on free blogging platforms like blogger and write articles on your website using your laptop so that
you can improve your essay writing skills which is a critical part of UPSC preparation because you will have to write a lot of essays in mains exam of Civil Service exam.
You can learn more about how you can create a free blog on blogger and write articles for free by clicking here.
You can write about anything such as your favourite subject like history or any current event that has happened on a particular day and you can describe it on your blog and publish it and writing articles on your blog can help you improve your vocabulary,
improve your reading skills communication skills, critical thinking, creativity and you can also make money by getting traffic from Google and make money placing Google AdSense ads.
With that said let’s end the article.
Conclusion
These are all the various methods you can use laptop and Technology for UPSC preparation.
Do let me know what are the other methods of using laptop and Technology for UPSC preparation which you have personally used or know in the comment section below.
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