Top 10 Myths about SSC CGL Exam Preparation

SSC is expected to release the notification for the combined graduate level exam on 14^th March, 2015. This year, SSC CGL (Tier-I) exam is going to be conducted on 14^th June, 2015 and 21^st June, 2015. As always, the students have begun their preparation for the exam. Although the commitment level of students is beyond question, yet there are certain wrong notions or myths surrounding SSC CGL which create obstacles in this preparation. So to make the students aware, the best SSC coaching centre in Delhi has listed and dispelled these myths.

MYTH-1: Sectional cut-offs don’t matter.

REALITY: You will hear this one from a lot of people that when it comes to taking an SSC exam, you should focus only on the areas which you are good at because there are no sectional cutoffs. Although, SSC has not enforced the sectional cutoffs in the past that does not mean it can’t do so. The official notification for SSC CGL clearly reads: “The Commission shall have the discretion to fix different minimum qualifying standards in each component of the Tier-I Examination taking into consideration among others, category-wise vacancies and category-wise number of candidates. Only those candidates, who have scored above the cut off marks fixed by the Commission, would be required to appear in the Tier –II Examination.” Thus, it will be highly unwise of you to not take into consideration these cutoffs.

MYTH-2: English language section can be cracked only through grammar.

REALITY: A lot of students believe that the English language section of the exam can be mastered by only and only learning grammar. Nothing could be further from the truth. The English language section has 50 questions out of which only 10 are dedicated to spotting sentence errors, where the fundamentals of grammar need to be applied. Rests of the questions (40) are dedicated to reading, vocabulary and English usage. So, you must focus not only on grammar but also on these areas if you wish to do well on the language section of the exam.

MYTH-3: GK section is unpredictable and can’t be scoring.

REALITY: Those students who are not able to decode the pattern of the GK section are bound to feel that it is unpredictable and haphazard. If you analyze the GK sections of past year SSC exams, you will realize that certain question types are repeated almost every time in the exam. The firsts in India, Constitutional articles & amendments, commonly used chemicals, folk & traditional dances of India etc. are some of these question types. Focusing your attention on such question types will make even the GK section a scoring one for you.

MYTH-4: Math is only about shortcuts & tricks.

REALITY: Math (Quantitative Aptitude) section of the exam is considered by many students to be the most difficult and time consuming one. It has questions from all the major areas such as arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry. Out of these areas it is primarily arithmetic, where learning the shortcuts and tricks assumes greatest importance. Concept clarity is the corner stone of developing a strong foundation in the Math section. Without this foundation, it is most difficult to get a good score on Math. The knowledge of shortcuts and tricks must, therefore, be supplemented with concept clarity.

MYTH-5: Current affairs aren’t a part of the GK section.

REALITY: The GK section of the SSC exam is undoubtedly inclined towards General Studies. History, Polity, Geography, Science and Economics are the major subjects which comprise the GK section of the exam. But, it is a misconception that there are no questions on current affairs and that it can be safely ignored. Around 4-5 questions on this section are related to recent national and international developments. In an extremely competitive exam like SSC CGL, you can’t take 4-5 questions for granted.

MYTH-6: CGL Tier-II preparation is different from CGL Tier-I preparation.

REALITY: The Tier-I exam has a total of 200 questions. It has 50 questions on each of the four sections: Math, Reasoning, English and GK. The time duration for the Tier-I exam is 2 hours. In comparison, the Tier-II exam has only 2 papers: Math & English. Each of these papers has a weight age of 200 marks and time duration of 2 hours. The difference in the pattern of the Tier-I and the Tier-II exam gives rise to the myth that the preparation required for them must also be absolutely different. The reality is that the syllabus of Math and English for both Tier-I and Tier II is the same. The areas of questioning within Math and English are the same. The only thing that varies is the difficulty level of the questions. You can expect a higher level of difficulty in Tier-II. So if you are studying well for the Tier-I exam, you are automatically preparing yourself for the Tier-II exam as well.

MYTH-7: Reading comprehension can be neglected.

REALITY: Many students are of the opinion that time should not be invested in reading comprehension passages. They believe that comprehension passages are quite lengthy and time consuming. However, it is not so. The best thing about these passages is that with good reading speed and some practice you can easily master them. Moreover, questions related to the passages don’t require memorizing any facts and formulae. This way such questions provide you with a wonderful opportunity to score some sure shot marks.

MYTH-8: Knowledge of higher math is required.

REALITY: Students are mistaken when they think that SSC CGL Math section has questions from higher (Class 11^th & 12^th) mathematics. As regards the level of difficulty of the Tier-II exam, the SSC notification clearly reads: “Questions in Paper-I (Math) will be of 10^th standard level, Paper-II (English) of 10+2 level.” So the question of higher Math being there in SSC CGL does not arise, neither in Tier-I nor in Tier-II. However, as explained earlier the questions on Tier-II may be more difficult than those on Tier-I.

MYTH-9: One can’t prepare for vocabulary questions (synonyms, antonyms & one word substitution).

REALITY: Students often don’t give significance to improving their vocabulary and many a time it becomes their downfall in the exam. Often their argument for not giving significance to vocabulary is that one never knows which word is going to be asked on the exam, so it is futile investing time on it. To think so is a grave mistake as most often the words asked on the exam are high frequency words. These high frequency words often get repeated on different exams conducted by SSC. You can be greatly benefited here if you go through the previous SSC exam papers and analyze it yourself. Moreover, by seeking guidance from the best SSC CGL Coaching in Delhi, you can learn special vocabulary improvement techniques and take an edge against your competitors.

MYTH-10: Performance on the interview doesn’t have a great impact on your overall score.

REALITY: The marks allotted to Tier-I, Tier-II and Interview is 200, 400 and 100 respectively. Some students have the misconception that if one scores good marks on Tier-I and Tier-II, then their selection is pretty much assured. But, the truth is that the score on the interview does have a great impact on the final merit list. The interview is a great opportunity for you to impress the interviewers from SSC and get them to give you a high score. If you score well on the interview, then your aggregate score shoots up taking you high on the merit list. This ensures that you get your choice of department and city at the time of posting.

Through this article, your SSC CGL preparation will undoubtedly get the direction it needs. It will ensure that you don’t become victim to a lot of misconceptions that prevail in the student community about the pattern of the exam and how to prepare for it.