The importance of newspapers can never be emphasised enough. The most important reason is, of course, the General Knowledge section. The fact that newspapers also provide benefits for other sections of the paper is often overlooked. Here’s why you should read newspapers if you plan on appearing for CLAT.
>General Knowledge
Newspapers are among the most important ways of imbibing information. It might be tempting to use compendiums which are faster to go through, but newspapers and magazines provide context to information, and thus aid memory.
Newspapers also often provide information that might not be found from news on other media. Moreover, by covering historical aspects of events covered, they are also helpful for static General Knowledge, aside from Current Affairs.
Check every nook and cranny of the newspaper, some obscure side column may have something relevant. Do not focus only on the headlines, but learn to sift wheat from the chaff; not everything printed is important for CLAT. Generally, national and international news from all arenas must be focussed on.
English/Verbal Ability
Reading newspapers regularly will benefit those who are having trouble with the language, and help improve vocabulary and speed of reading. This will, in turn, enable one to read and comprehend the Reading Comprehension passages within a short span of time.
Highlighting and looking up the meanings of new words is a good place to start. Newspaper articles also provide one with a general idea of sentence formation, which comes to use in questions based on sentence correction and even in logical and legal reasoning by helping one understand the context the questions are referring to.
Logical Reasoning
While the most common measure of the benefit of reading newspapers is in the context of English and General Awareness, it also plays a major role in improving one’s reasoning capabilities. Reading newspapers everyday sharpens one’s mind and hence, hones your logical abilities. This will hence help in the Logical Reasoning section.