General Awareness and Current Affairs: Polity, Geography, History, Economy
Core topics
Indian polity - the Constitution, fundamental rights and duties, Parliament, the judiciary and panchayati raj; geography - physical features, rivers, climate, states and capitals; history - ancient, medieval and the freedom struggle; economy basics - RBI, banking, budget and GST; static GK such as awards, sports, books and first-in-India facts; plus current affairs of the past six to eight months.
Traps that cost marks
The Constitution was adopted on 26 November 1949 but came into force on 26 January 1950 - questions deliberately swap these two dates. Read "first Indian" against "first woman" carefully. Keep award founding years separate from the year a person received them; the Bharat Ratna was instituted in 1954. Do not trust memory for Article numbers or scheme launch years; verify from a revision sheet. In current affairs, avoid over-learning trivia and focus on national schemes, appointments, sports champions and major summits.
Rule of thumb
Maintain one page of timeline per subject (polity, history, economy) and a single monthly current-affairs sheet; revise the sheets, not the newspaper.
Worked example
If asked when the Constitution came into force, answer 26 January 1950 (Republic Day); 26 November 1949 is the date of adoption by the Constituent Assembly.