This is how you should prepare for SSC CGL Tier 1 EXAM

PREPARATION GUIDE TO CGL EXAM 2016.

Staff Service Commission conducts Combined Graduate Level exam every year to recruit candidates for various posts. Graduation degree is a must for appearing in this exam. The selection procedure essentially includes three tiers. Tier 1 is the screening round wherein objective based questions are asked. Once you have cleared this tier, you will have to appear for Tier 2 i.e. the main examination. Tier 3 is the interview round.

SSC CGL Tier 1 is the most important phase in the scheme of examination. It not only opens the door for SSC CGL Tier 2 but is also relevant as Commission takes into consideration the marks obtained by you in this tier while making the final list.

SSC CGL Tier 1 is considered to be the easiest one among the three tiers. Ample practice and thorough understanding of subjects will help you clear this tier easily, ensuring your entry to the next tier of examination.

SSC CGL Tier 1 is an objective based written examination which comprises of 200 questions. These questions are asked in four section viz; General Intelligence & Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude & English Comprehension.

50 questions from each section are asked in the examination. For every correct question you earn 1 mark, also it is important to note for each wrong question there is a negative marking of 0.25 mark.

SSC CGL Tier 1 Question paper is set both in English and Hindi. 

Duration of the SSC CGL Tier 1 exam is normally two hours. Total duration for visually challenged and Cerebral Palsy candidates is two hours and forty minutes.

Let us find out how to prepare for SSC CGL Tier 1

The nature of questions asked in each section is as follows :

1. General Intelligence & Reasoning– This section is considered to be the trickiest and time consuming. Reasoning questions are asked to judge your decision making and logical thinking ability.Questions in this section consist of both verbal and non-verbal reasoning. Problems on analogy, syllogism, blood relationship, direction & distance, coding-decoding, Venn diagrams, mirror and water images, figure based problems, etc. are usually asked in this section.

Practice – It is important for you to practice all varieties of questions in reasoning, as many as possible. Try making short cuts and strategies to approach a particular set of problem in your own style.

If you look at the previous year question papers, the questions asked in this section are not very difficult.

Read Carefully – It is very important to read both the question and options given carefully.Many a times the options are similar to one another and a candidate ends up answering the wrong option even when he knows how the question needs to be solved.

Do not guess – You should try attempting all the questions of this section but avoid guessing as this will hurt your result badly owing to the negative marking.

To save your time, we have prepared a list of best books available for the preparation of SSC CGL Tier 1 reasoning section.

2. General Awareness – Questions in this sections are basically asked to check your knowledge of current events and every day observations.

It is important for you to keep abreast of the latest developments in and around the world. You should start preparing for this section way before the examination. A lot of people will suggest you to go through newspapers daily, but a smart way to cover up important current events is by going through latest yearbooks.

Since this section does not need detailed study of the topics like Civil Services aspirant would do, your awareness of diverse topics would be enough for attempting this section.

Notes- Make notes of all the major events so that you can go through them before your exams. This section comprises of questions from Science, History, Geography, Polity, Economics, and Arts & Culture etc.

Don’t forget to read our detailed post on how to prepare for SSC CGL General Awareness.

3. Quantitative Aptitude – The section consists of questions on ratio and proportion, profit and loss, time, distance and work, average, alligation, elementary mensuration, algebra, trigonometry,etc. The questions will be of 10+2 level.

Generally, this section is easy to score provided you have an understanding of the topic and are thorough with the basic concepts.

You should be well versed with all the important formulae, tables from 1 to 20 (at least), square root and cube roots till 20.

Find out the best books available for Quantitative Aptitude Section

4. English Comprehension- Questions based on comprehension are asked to gauge your ability to understand, analyse and apply information provided in the passage.

This section judges your ability to understand English and proper usage of grammar. Read newspapers and books on grammar. Make it a habit to learn new words daily.