How to prepare for SSC CGL Tier 1 in 30 days - Prep Strategy, Tips & Tricks!
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As you all know SSC CGL Exam is approaching very soon. At this time, when you are only 30 days away from the exam and you have completed almost everything from your preferred study material and books.
But still you are worried about your performance!
It’s okay! Just think about your aim of cracking the CGL Exam and getting recruited in one of the most prestigious government jobs offered by SSC.
Almost 8 lakh students are going to appear in the exam for roughly around 8000 vacancies. In such critical situation when competition is really very high, the aspirants develop an aura of anxiety, confusion, and stress.
To remove the candidates’ anxiety of performing well in the exam, we have prepared a 30 days plan for all the SSC CGL Tier-1 aspirants. Please have a look!
What are the best ways to prepare for SSC CGL Tier-1 in last 30 days?
As you all know, the SSC CGL Exam Tier-1 is the very first stage to move towards your dream job and this is also a gateway to your next competitive phase i.e. SSC CGL Tier-2.
The candidates will be placed on these posts only after qualifying SSC CGL Tier-1 and Tier-2 followed by the Interview process.
‘Conquering the SSC CGL Exam Tier-1 is more than just about conquering Math, General Knowledge and English. If you want to score higher, you will need to generate a strong approach towards each section of the exam.
Recall the SSC CGL Exam Pattern every time you take a new topic to prepare
The first step in preparing yourself for SSC CGL Tier-1, is to have a complete idea about exam's format and structure.
Take a thorough and detailed look at the Revised Scheme of Examination for CGLE-2017.
Exam Pattern Highlights | |
1. | The SSC CGL Tier-1 is broken down into four sections - General Intelligence & Reasoning, General Awareness, Quantitative Aptitude and English Comprehension. |
| 2. | Each section consists of 25 questions. (Total – 100 questions) |
| 3. | Nature of the questions asked is objective type with multiple choices. |
| 4. | For each correct answer, you win 2 marks and for each wrong answer, you lose 0.50 marks. |
| 5. | The test takers have to solve the complete paper (100 questions) in 60 minutes only. |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Day Wise Study Plan - Check here!
Always keep the above pattern in mind, so that you have a clear picture about what to attempt at first and what to at last.
As per the above pattern, the candidates have to attempt total 100 questions in 60 minutes only. And amongst all the sections, Quantitative and Reasoning part takes more time, so the candidates are advised to attempt the question paper wisely.
Below we have mentioned the time details for each section to ease out your worries during the exam. Please check below –
You can save less time for English & GK as QA Section consumes more time to solve the numeric type questions.
Follow the time schedule and attempt each section smartly.
Tip: Solve Mock Test Papers and Previous Years Question Papers to enhance your speed & accuracy and score well in SSC CGL Exam Tier-1.
Prioritize Important Topics and take them first while preparing
Here I would like to tell you about the important topics, you should give more emphasis on.
As per the advice or suggestions or recommendations from Eduncle’s SSC CGL experts, we have listed the important topics that every aspirant must cover while preparing for the tier-1 exam.
For General Intelligence and Reasoning Section
The questions asked from this section are usually easy but ‘Finding the missing number questions’ are little difficult to solve.
Semantic Analogy, Series and Semantic Classification Symbolic/Number Analogy Venn Diagrams Puzzles Symbolic/Number Classification Figural Pattern – folding and completion Mirror Image Ranking Water Images Number Series Coding and de-coding Problem Solving Data sufficiency Statement and Conclusions
You can also go through the previous year’s question papers analysis for Reasoning in SSC CGL Exams. We have provided the data below-
| Reasoning Important Topics | Years wise occurrence of questions | Expected Number of Questions in 2018 | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| Analogy | 08 | 09 | 09 | 08 | 04 | 02 | 04 | 2-3 |
| Blood Relations | 01 | 02 | 00 | 01 | 00 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Symbols & notations | 03 | 01 | 02 | 00 | 02 | 00 | 00 | 0-1 |
| Direction & distance | 02 | 04 | 02 | 04 | 02 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Day, date & time | 01 | 01 | 01 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 0-1 |
| Coding-decoding | 02 | 02 | 04 | 03 | 03 | 02 | 03 | 1-2 |
| Syllogism | 02 | 01 | 02 | 02 | 05 | 00 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Sitting arrangements | 02 | 02 | 02 | 01 | 00 | 02 | 00 | 0-1 |
| Cubes &dices | 01 | 00 | 00 | 02 | 00 | 01 | 00 | 0-1 |
| Venn diagram | 02 | 01 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Miscellaneous | 02 | 02 | 02 | 02 | 03 | 00 | 03 | 0-1 |
| Alphabetical arrangements | 02 | 02 | 01 | 01 | 03 | 03 | 02 | 1-2 |
| Mirror image | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Paper cutting and folding | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Figure problems (deviation, embedded, completion) | 01 | 02 | 02 | 03 | 07 | 04 | 02 | 1-2 |
| Classification | 06 | 06 | 07 | 06 | 06 | 03 | 02 | 1-2 |
| Series | 08 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 04 | 03 | 03 | 2-3 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Day Wise Study Plan - Check here!
For Quantitative Aptitude Section
Focus on Advanced Mathematics like – Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry and Percentage/ Profit, Data Interpretation, Loss & Discount and Mensuration.
Decimal and Fractions Relationship between numbers Ratio and Proportion Square roots Averages Number System Interest (Simple and Compound) Time and distance, Time and work Use of Tables and Graphs: Histogram, Frequency polygon, Bar-diagram, Pie-chart.
Also check out the previous year’s question papers analysis for SSC CGL Quantitative Aptitude Section. We have provided the data below-
| Quantitative Important Topics | Years wise occurrence of questions | Expected Number of Questions in 2018 | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| Algebra | 06 | 00 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 06 | 03 | 2-3 |
| Average | 03 | 03 | 02 | 02 | 02 | 01 | 01 | 0-1 |
| Percentage, Profit & Loss | 06 | 14 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 02 | 04 | 1-2 |
| Trigonometry | 00 | 00 | 09 | 08 | 07 | 03 | 03 | 2-3 |
| Geometry/ Mensuration | 03 | 05 | 12 | 09 | 14 | 04 | 03 | 2-3 |
| Basic Maths | 11 | 11 | 05 | 01 | 03 | 02 | 02 | 2-3 |
| Ratio & Proportion | 03 | 03 | 01 | 03 | 01 | 01 | 03 | 0-1 |
| Number System | 06 | 05 | 02 | 02 | 03 | 01 | 00 | 1-2 |
| Data Interpretation | 03 | 04 | 05 | 07 | 05 | 04 | 05 | 3-4 |
| Time & Distance | 06 | 05 | 02 | 05 | 03 | 01 | 01 | 1-2 |
| Miscellaneous | 03 | 00 | 02 | 02 | 00 | 00 | 00 | 0-1 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Day Wise Study Plan - Check here!
For English Section
The important topics from this section are: synonyms & antonyms, one-word substitution and spotting errors.
Fill in the Blanks Spellings/ Detecting Idioms & Phrases Cloze Passage Comprehension Passage Active Passive Voice.
| English Important Topics | Years wise occurrence of questions | Expected Number of Questions in 2018 | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| Common Errors | 05 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 03 | 04 | 3-4 |
| Synonyms/ Antonyms | 10 | 10 | 10 | 06 | 06 | 04 | 03 | 2-3 |
| Fill in the blanks | 05 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 03 | 03 | 2-3 |
| One-word substitution | 05 | 05 | 05 | 07 | 07 | 03 | 02 | 2-3 |
| Idioms & phrases | 00 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 05 | 03 | 03 | 2-3 |
| Spellings | 10 | 00 | 05 | 00 | 00 | 01 | 02 | 1-2 |
| Sentence Improvement | 05 | 05 | 05 | 10 | 10 | 03 | 03 | 1-2 |
| Reading Comprehension | 05 | 10 | 05 | 10 | 10 | 05 | 05 | 4-5 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Day Wise Study Plan - Check here!
For General Awareness Section
The candidates can learn more about General Science, Constitution, History and Indian Geography.
| GK Important Topics | Years wise occurrence of questions | Expected Number of Questions in 2018 | ||||||
| 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | ||
| Science (Biology, Chemistry & Physics) | 17 | 14 | 15 | 17 | 15 | 07 | 07 | 4-5 |
| Computer | 01 | 02 | 02 | 02 | 02 | 01 | 01 | 1-2 |
| Economy | 11 | 07 | 04 | 06 | 05 | 04 | 02 | 3-4 |
| Geography | 06 | 11 | 06 | 06 | 07 | 02 | 02 | 2-3 |
| Indian History and Culture | 05 | 06 | 05 | 06 | 05 | 03 | 06 | 3-4 |
| Miscellaneous GK (Includes sports, honours, awards, current affairs, important dates) | 03 | 05 | 10 | 08 | 10 | 06 | 04 | 4-5 |
| Polity | 07 | 05 | 08 | 04 | 06 | 02 | 03 | 1-2 |
SSC CGL Tier-1 Day Wise Study Plan - Check here!
If you have the knowledge, however, of everything that is related to your test and if you know exactly what to do when and how to do it, then there won’t be any hassle on the test day.
Check Out the 30 Days Preparation Plan and Schedule your Study Activities Accordingly!
Now, you don’t need to be worried about your preparation time schedule for last 1 month. Below in this blog, we have provided the day and topic wise study schedule to ease out your worries of completing your exam preparation on time.
Follow the plan and fulfill your dreams.
Daily Section wise Time Management Plan
| Section | Time Duration (In this duration, solve/learn all the questions by following the proper methods and formulas) | Time for Revision (In this duration, only revise the short tricks or formulas for concerned topics) |
|---|---|---|
| Reasoning | 2.5 hours (1 or 1 and half Topics) | Revise all the learned formulas or questions for 15 minutes |
| General Knowledge | 1.5 Hours (Best Study in Morning Hours) | 15 Minutes Revision |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 4 Hours (Cover 1 Topic) | 30 minutes for Revision |
| English | 1 Hour (You can study whenever you want to relax your mind) | 15 minutes of Revision |
Note: You can take breaks in between your time schedule and also divide the study hours in different time slots.
But it’s beneficial to spend these hours on your study tasks in a day.
Important Points:
The last one month should only be dedicated to the revision but you can utilize these days and revise all the syllabus widely.
And in the last week of exam preparation, only focus on the quick revision techniques.
For quick revision, you can prepare some short notes or cheat sheets containing short tricks and formulas.
As per the SSC CGL Tier-1 Syllabus, there are total 25 topics in Reasoning Section, 26 topics in Quantitative Aptitude, 22 Topics in General Awareness and 10 topics in English.
So you will have to do wise revision for these topics in 20 days only and in remaining last 10 days, dedicate your all the time for quick revision.
Check out the Study plans given below.
Topic wise Study Plan from Day 30 to Day 21
| No. of Days | General Intelligence & Reasoning | General Awareness | Quantitative Aptitude | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 30 | Analogy or Similarity | Indian History + Daily Current Affairs | Number System + H.C.F & L.C.M | Reading Comprehension |
| Day 29 | Blood Relationship | Indian History + Daily Current Affairs | Simplification | Vocabulary |
| Day 28 | Symbols & Notations | Indian History + Daily Current Affairs | Square roots & Cube Roots | Common Errors |
| Day 27 | Classification | World History + Daily Current Affairs | Problem on Ages | Fill in the blanks |
| Day 26 | Direction & Distance Test | World History + Daily Current Affairs | Average | Grammar |
| Day 25 | Scheduled Day / Date / Time | Indian Art & Culture + Daily Current Affairs | Percentage | Spellings |
| Day 24 | Series | Indian Polity & Constitutions + Daily Current Affairs | Profit & Loss | Synonyms |
| Day 23 | Mirror Image and water image | Indian Polity & Constitutions + Daily Current Affairs | Ratio & Proportion | Antonyms |
| Day 22 | Paper Cutting, Folding & Punching | Indian Economy + Daily Current Affairs | Chain Rules | Idioms |
| Day 21 | Coding - Decoding | Indian Economy + Economics + Daily Current Affairs | Time & Work | Phrases |
Topic wise Study Plan from Day 20 to Day 11
| No. of Days | General Intelligence & Reasoning | General Awareness | Quantitative Aptitude | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 20 | Completion of Figural Pattern | Economics + Daily Current Affairs | Pipe & Cisterns | - |
| Day 19 | Syllogism | Physical Geography + Daily Current Affairs | Time & Distance | - |
| Day 18 | Ranking Arrangement | Geography of India + Daily Current Affairs | Problem on Train | - |
| Day 17 | Embedded Figural | Geography of India + World Geography + Daily Current Affairs | Boats & Stream | - |
| Day 16 | Deviation of Figure | Physics + Chemistry + Daily Current Affairs | Allegation & Mixture | - |
| Day 15 | Word Formation | Physics + Chemistry + Biology + Daily Current Affairs | Simple Interest | Learn Remaining Topics |
| Day 14 | Trends and Operations | Biology + Daily Current Affairs | Compound Interest | Learn Remaining Topics |
| Day 13 | Arithmetical Problems | Computer & IT + Discoveries & Inventions + Daily Current Affairs | Stack and Shares | Learn Remaining Topics |
| Day 12 | Arrangement of words in logical order | Science & Technology + Daily Current Affairs | Permutation & Combination | - |
| Day 11 | Cubes and Dices | Honor & Awards + Books & Authors + Daily Current Affairs | Probability | - |
Topic wise Study Plan from Day 10 to Exam Day
| No. of Days | General Intelligence & Reasoning | General Awareness | Quantitative Aptitude | English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day 10 | Logical Venn-Diagram | Important Dates (National Events and International Events) + Daily Current Affairs | Discount | - |
| Day 9 | Miscellaneous | UNO, International & National Organizations + Daily Current Affairs | Number Series | - |
| Day 8 | Seating Arrangement | Sports + Daily Current Affairs | Data Interpretation | Revision |
| Day 7 | Coding & Decoding | Learn remaining topics/subjects | Data Interpretation | Revision |
| Day 6 | Miscellaneous | Learn remaining topics/subjects | Approximate Value | Revision |
| Day 5 | Revision | Revision | Revision | - |
| Day 4 | Revision | Revision | Revision | - |
| Day 3 | Revision | Revision | Revision | - |
| Day 2 | Revision | Revision | Revision | Revision |
| Exam Day | Quick Revision with Quick Notes
|
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Apart from these, take online mock tests or join online test series.
Learning Tricks for each section - Please have a look!
Qualifying SSC CGL Exam with a perfect study plan is not as easy as it looks. It requires great deal of efforts and dedication to score more than the cut off marks in each section.
We can benefit you with the time schedules, important topics and anything but unless you push yourself to make efforts and dedicate your precious time in exam preparation, you can’t achieve success.
Many of you must be facing problems in understanding the topics and deciding the right method to prepare for the exam.
Here, let me guide you with some section wise tips which are important for you to understand and follow as well. Please check below-
Reasoning
This section contains simplest questions and so is very scoring.Reasoning questions are less time taking than Aptitude questions in SSC exams, so you can ‘either take them at first and solve the QA questions later or you can take them at last after solving the complete paper.’
The candidates need to showcase their mental ability in Reasoning Section as its questions’ require presence of mind instead of formulas.
In order to polish your reasoning skills, you need to improve your concentration and critical thinking skills so that you can attempt the tricky questions very easily.
The reasoning score plays a very crucial role in deciding the candidates’ merit in exam, so prepare well for reasoning.
Quantitative Aptitude
Quantitative Aptitude Section consists of basic Math questions, so you need to learn and understand all the mathematical formulas and shortcut tricks to solve QA questions.QA section requires time and efforts so save time in exam to solve the questions.
Prepare a strategy for QA section while giving the exam – Analyze the complete paper, understand the nature of questions and try to avoid the long questions so that you can score by solving short time taking questions only.
To answer this part candidates need to practice more on selected topics.
General English
To score well in English, make it a habit to use English in your daily life. Chat with friends in English, talk in English, read English in the form of newspapers, novels, online reading etc.The grammar section is the toughest in English so practice more to improve your grammar.
You can take mock tests or other online tests to improve your English Skills.
Also focus on your vocabulary. Try to learn and understand 10 new words daily.
General Awareness
SSC CGL’s general awareness section contains most of the part from Dead GK, so instead of focusing on Current Affairs, you can give more emphasis on History, Polity and General Science Paper. To stay updated with current affairs section, you can read daily current affairs or current affairs of last 3 months.
At Eduncle, you can get the daily dose of current affairs and weekly and monthly PDF’s also. The current affairs are provided in such an interesting way that only by reading them you can remember them for long.
To grab the weekly and monthly PDF copies of GK Eduwrap’s, you can please visit here – GK EDuwrap’s Free Downloads!
To score more in General Awareness section, you need to improve your memory with memorization techniques.
Here are - 10 Simple Habits to Boost Your Memory & Brain Power.
Prepare some notes that contains the important topics from your syllabus and read them on regular basis.
Above I have discussed everything about the 4 important components of SSC CGL Tier-1 and also discussed the SSC CGL Preparation Strategies that may help you in scoring more in the exam.
SSC CGL Tier-1 – Check out the Important Tips here!
Apart from these 4 sections, I would also like to share some important basic exam preparation tips to help you stay motivated and confident during studies and exam as well.
Stay focused. Don’t waste your time in thinking negative. If you are well prepared and confident, then no one else can stop you in reaching your goal.
Remember that these 30 days are going to be crucial or decisive for you, so instead of wasting your time, spend it in studying and preparing well for the exam.
Implement your study goals with perfect plans and strategies. Utilize every single minute in analyzing the topics and executing your strategies.
Only 1 month of dedication can take you to your dream job so spend this 1 month like a race where you only have to move ahead.
After reading the topics all day long, don’t forget to do over all revision before going to sleep.
Don’t get confused amongst various topics. If you are taking one topic from one subject daily then stick to it and accomplish it first, then take another topic.
Take short breaks during study hours and instead of getting stressed, study peacefully and confidently.
Take online mock tests and test series regularly till 1 month. This will definitely help you in increasing your accuracy and speed.
Prepare short notes. These will definitely help you at the time of revisions.
Eat well, sleep well and stay stress free. These 3 are vital keys to success in SSC CGL Exam.
#It doesn’t matter how well prepared you are, your composure during those 2 hours decide whether you will qualify this exam or not. So don’t lose hope and faith on your skills. Be confident that you can attempt all the questions accurately and timely.
If you have any suggestions or study plans for SSC CGL Tier-1, then please share out with us in the comments section below. We'll try to get in touch with you as soon as possible.
You can also stay in touch with us on Facebook and YouTube. For SSC CGL latest updates, keep visiting - SSC CGL 2017 Notifications | Exam Date, Last Date & Posts.
Happy Learning! Be A SMART Learner with Eduncle!
Sameeksha SinghA very helpful article. Just decide the time slots according to the new time duration of 60 minutes rather than 75 minutes. ThanksLikes(0) Reply(1)Eduncle TeamHello Sameeksha, We'd like to thank you to bring our notice to this point. It will be corrected at the earliest. Readers like you motivate us to provide latest updates. We have recently published a study plan for SSC CGL 2 Months Preparation. Hope you'd like it - https://scoop.eduncle.com/ssc-cgl-study-plan-strategy Kind Regards, Eduncle Team
