SSC CGL tier-I 2021: Follow these last minute preparation tips to crack exam

SSC CGL Tier-I exam 2021: The Staff Selection Commission’s Combined Graduate Level tier-I exam is scheduled to be conducted from August 13 to 24. The SSC CGL tier-I admit cards are already available for download at the official website of SSC. During these last few days, instead of preparing core topics, candidates are advised to shift their focus to revising important formulas, theories, and rules for the numerical aptitude section. In addition, candidates can learn shortcut tricks to solve mathematics problems quickly.

The paper consists of four sections — English, numerical aptitude, general intelligence and reasoning and general awareness. Each section contains 50 questions carrying one mark each. Questions will be of objective multiple type choice. The questions will be set in Hindi/English apart from the English comprehension section. Thus, before the last-minute revisions, candidates are required to understand exactly what they have to study.

Once known, candidates must refer to short notes that they prepared during early preparations and revise important facts and figures. For the language section, candidates can do a revision for the vocabulary part during the last few days.

During the last few days, candidates are advised to strategise their revision schedule in a manner that allows them to improve the overall number of good attempts within the stipulated time. As the English and general awareness section do not require calculation, candidates should not spend extra time in cracking these questions.

For general awareness, you either know an answer or you don’t. Hence, do not spend extra time on guesswork or mark it for later if you are close but unsure about the answer. Not more than 15 minutes should be spent solving the general awareness questions.

English section should be completed in 20-25 minutes given the type of questions asked. Focus on keywords while answering the comprehension questions. It will save time in multiple readings of one passage.

Candidates are advised to refer to SSC CGL previous year papers and mock papers for this part. Additionally, one should also develop a specific understanding of grammar and language comprehension to get the highest marks in this section.

The reasoning section should be completed in 25-30 minutes in the exam hall. Thus, working on one’s speed and accuracy in solving this paper is of crucial importance during the last few days. The more one practices from solved papers and undertakes mock tests for this section, the higher are the chances of improving the number of good attempts.

Candidates are advised to save maximum time for the mathematic part as calculations and serving an answer may take much longer than anticipated. Referring to popular free mock tests and previous year question papers, some of the most important and high scoring topics in this section include number systems, profit and loss, geometry and mensuration, algebra, trigonometry and heights and distances.

SSC releases the answer keys after the exam which means that candidates can utilise last year’s answer keys and question papers to have a specific idea about the type and nature of the questions asked in these parts. Another important last-minute tip is to focus on memorising important formulas, problem-solving techniques, and other important factual data for the exam.

Particularly for the quantitative ability part, sharp memory of arithmetic formula, trigonometric ratios, and identities etc. are very important.