Tips to Prepare for the SSC CGL Preliminary Exam 2021

Staff Selection Commission conducts the SSC CGL -Combined Graduate Level Exam for the recruitment of candidates for Group B and Group C posts in various organizations, ministries, and departments of the Government of India. There are around 6506 vacancies released this year.

The recruitment of the candidates is based on four tiers – Tier-I and Tier-II are Computer Based Exams, Tier III is a descriptive exam, Tier IV is Computer Proficiency Test/Data Entry Skill Test/ DV. The CGL exam will be conducted soon, the candidates planning to appear for the exam must make an exam preparation strategy and follow it as soon as possible. Before you start preparing for the exam you should know the detailed SSC CGL Syllabus and exam pattern.

To crack the CGL exam, it will be very helpful if you know the entire SSC CGL Exam Pattern, as it will allow you to make the best exam preparation plan suited to you. It will help you get a clear idea of the structure of the paper, the difficulty level of the exam, and the important topics that carry more marks in the exam on which you will need to focus more. By knowing the entire syllabus and the exam pattern you will be able to prioritize the topics.

This will help you to plan accordingly for the preparation for the SSC CGL exam. It should be noted that apart from just covering the entire CGL syllabus, you will also have to work on and improve the other important exam aspects like questions solving speed, time-management, accuracy, etc. Let us have a brief look at the SSC CGL syllabus to know the exam better.

SSC CGL Syllabus

There are three tiers in the exam that have a proper syllabus, Tier 1,2, and 3. Let us look at the sections that will have further subtopics of each section. This will give you an idea of the types of questions that can be asked in the exam.

There are 4 sections from which questions are asked in the Tier 1 exam –

1. General Intelligence and Reasoning
2. General Awareness
3. English Language and Comprehension
4. Quantitative Aptitude

There are 4 papers from which questions are asked in the Tier 1 exam –

1. Quantitative Aptitude
2. Statistics (for Junior Statistical Officer)
3. English Language & Comprehension
4. Finance & Economics (For AAO)
   1. Basics of Accounting
   2. Economics & Governance

SSC CGL Tier III Syllabus

The CGL Tier III will be a descriptive Paper that will include Application Writing and Letter Writing. Letter writing includes both formal letter (to the municipality, to the editor, etc) and informal letter (to a friend, etc)

Let us discuss some tips to prepare for the SSC CGL exam.

Preparation Tips for SSC CGL Exam

The SSC CGL exam has a similar syllabus for tier 1 and tier 2 exams. The preparation tips to study for the sections that are similar in both the tiers are given below –

English Language Preparation for Tips

This section tests the candidates’ basic English language proficiency and some basic English grammar knowledge. Some important topics from which questions can come are basic English grammar, spotting errors, comprehension, fill in the gaps, cloze test, and vocabulary. While preparing for this section you must daily read magazines and newspapers. This will help in increasing your reading speed and vocabulary. Make use of flashcards to learn words with their meaning. Strengthen all the basic grammar rules. Make it a habit to practice questions.

Quantitative Aptitude Preparation Tips

This section is kept for testing the candidate’s ability of mathematical and problem-solving skills. This section is considered to be the most difficult section among the others as there are lots of formulas. But with ample practice and proper study, this can be the most scoring section. Some important topics from this section are Syllogism reasoning, Symbolic Operations, Calendar, Venn Diagrams, Problem-solving, and Counting Figures. While preparing for the quantitative aptitude section, you will have to solve questions every day. Get practice on various problems and get comfortable solving them. It will be even better if you can remember all the important formulas from all the topics by heart. The questions from this section also include methods, shortcuts, and tricks to solve the problems faster. You must learn the, and use them for the exam.

General Intelligence and Reasoning Ability Preparation Tips

The questions in this section test the candidate’s ability of processing and thinking logically and give an appropriate output or conclusion. Some important topics from this section are blood relations, analogy/classification, coding-decoding, coded and mathematical inequalities, linear and circular seating arrangements, distance and directions, puzzles, and syllogisms. This section can be prepared well with a good amount of practice.

Hope you found this article on the preparation tips for the SSC CGL exam useful. If you prepare by following the tips given above, it will help you cover the complete CGL syllabus more efficiently and score well in the exam.