Let me begin the answer by saying “Nothing is impossible”, and then let me add “for those who try”.
If you want to crack SSC in 2 months, you would have to count your seconds.
A SWOT analysis is necessary. If you are weak in maths, give it more time and if you are good at it, don’t neglect it altogether.
You should note few things about the new pattern-
- The number of questions have been halved but the time has been reduced by only 37.5% (previously it was 120 minutes and now 75 minutes).
- Online mode will save at least 15 minutes that you squandered for OMR filling.
- A wrong answer will leave you 2.5 marks behind and 2.5 marks are enough to sabotage your AIR.
Table of Contents
Introduction to SSC Paper
TIER 1: The paper for the Staff Selection consists of four sections. The questions are asked from
- Subjects like General Awareness
- English Comprehension
- Quantitative Aptitude
- Reasoning.
The total time allotted is 2 hours and there are 200 marks in total; 50 for each section of the SSC exam paper.
TIER 2: This consists of two sets of papers.
- Quantitative Abilities comprising
- English Language & Comprehension
Paper I is of Quantitative Abilities comprising of 200 marks to be done in 2 hours. Paper II consists of questions from English Language & Comprehension. It also comprises of 200 marks to be done in 2 hours. All the questions are multiple choice questions (MCQs) in the section.
Tips how to crack SSC exam
- The candidates must first of all be updated with the syllabus for each section which is to be asked in the examination.
- They must then collect all the relevant study material for the concern of examination. They must not waste time pondering over the irrelevant study material.
- The section of Reasoning consists of questions from areas like analogy, classification, odd pair, dictionary based, missing characters and logical sequence of words. The candidates must have a grip over this to master this section.Regular practice and time management will help to crack this section.
- The General Awareness section consists of one-third questions from the science section. Rest of the questions are asked from current affairs and static general Knowledge. Candidates must study accordingly.
- To score well in English comprehension, candidates must be good at English along with grammar portions like antonyms, synonyms, idioms and spellings.
- In Qualitative Aptitude, the questions are generally from Mathematics. This is elementary mathematics.
How to attempt the paper
- The candidates must have a pre-plan as to how much time they are going to devote a particular section.
- For better time management and also to get the thrust of the examination, the candidates must solve previous year question papers.
- The candidates must first begin with the questions of that section at which they are likely to score the most.
- They must waste time over the answers they are not sure with; instead they must move to the next question.
The above two points suggest that this year you won’t face paucity of time in Tier-1, which you used to face earlier. So I think most of the people would be able to finish their paper on time and accuracy will be more important than the total attempts (point 3 above)
Let me break the preparation strategy into Quantitative Aptitude, English, Reasoning and General Knowledge.
- Quantitative Aptitude –This section can make you or break you, so tread carefully. It has the potential of making a topper out of you or throw you out of the list. If you are devoting 8 hours daily for CGL, then 4 hours should be earmarked for Quants. Solving questions is important but solving them quickly is paramount. Learn tricks and practice them. Since only 2 months are left, I would like to suggest you the SSC Hack Book-This book covers some really useful quant tricks that will cut short the time you take to solve each question. It is a must buy for all!
- English – 2 months are enough to improve your grammar, vocab, etc. But be regular with them. Learn new words daily, revise them frequently. Download any useful app so that you can learn words on the go!
The best book according to me is MB publication– - Reasoning – The best way to practise reasoning is solving past year question papers. No book covers reasoning holistically. Although you will find some reasoning tricks in the above SSC Hack Book. But to get confident in this section, solve all the 50 questions from the previous years in 25 minutes. The best book for past year paper is Kiran’s
- General Knowledge – The syllabus of GK is huge and you can never be sure of your preparation. But don’t devote much time here. It will entice you, beg for your attention, but don’t give up! Lucent is all you should read-
2 months are enough if you focus and work hard. Don’t indulge in debauchery for these couple of months and you would be fine. Moreover, since this is a competition, you should be equally good in all the sections. Don’t allow any section to become your Achilles heel. Practise Quant, read English, decode Reasoning and mug GK.
