CBSE CTET 2021: Follow these study tips, important books

CBSE CTET 2021: After postponing the Central Teacher Eligibility Test (CTET 2021) earlier in 2020, CBSE has now announced the exam dates of CTET 2020-21. While many competitive exams have shifted to the online proctored mode, CTET is scheduled to be conducted on January 31 in centres across the country. The admit card of the CTET has been released, and is available on the official website- ctet.nic.in.

With just two weeks time left, hence the candidates who have already covered their syllabus should follow these last-minute study tips along with suggestion for some important books.

The CTET exam pattern includes two papers where paper 1 is for teacher’s eligibility for class 1 to 5 and paper 2 is for teacher’s eligibility for class 6 to 8. In both papers, the section on child development and pedagogy consists of 30 questions carrying 1 mark each.

Those who have already referred to the CTET previous year question papers must have noted that the CBSE asks somewhat conceptual questions from this topic. Particularly, topics such as stages of child development require a critical understanding of fundamental concepts in order to answer the questions in the exam. Candidates are therefore advised to invest significant time to clear out any confusion in the understanding of basic concepts not only in child development and pedagogy but also in other topics such as mathematics / science/ EVS.

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One of the most useful practices during the last few days is solving CTET mock tests. In CTET, candidates have to solve 150 questions in each paper within a duration of 150 minutes. As such, while solving mock tests, candidates must develop their strategy for adequate time management. After all, it is only by securing a high number of good attempts that a candidate can expect to see their names higher up the CTET merit lists.

During these last few days, instead of attempting to indulge in an in-depth study of any topic that might have been left out, candidates can adopt smart strategies for CTET preparations that are effective when time is a constraint. CTET previous year papers can be immensely helpful in such a context.

Candidates can identify the most important topics/ questions asked in the last few years and divert their revisions to cover these topics at first. Referring to the CTET answer keys of the corresponding year in conjunction with the question papers can also help as candidates can refer to the official solutions for CTET preparations.

In addition to the aforementioned suggestions for CTET preparation, there is always the scope to refer to textbooks, guidebooks, question banks etc. for preparations. This saves a lot of time and allows candidates to study in a focused direction by preparing for selected topics that they are lacking in.

Candidates may refer to publications from Pearson such as CTET CDP for paper 1, 2, mathematics and science for CTET, social science for CTET. One can also refer to important publications from Arihant such as CTET success master maths and science and success master CTET.