SSC CGL Tier II 2014 Exam – ideal exam strategy for candidates
In today’s article, we will look at the strategy that candidates should use when appearing for the SSC CGL Tier II exam.
In
our previous article on the SSC CGL Tier II 2014 Exam, we had talked
about the likely cut-offs in the Tier II exam. We had also talked about
what candidates should do in order to prepare well for this exam.
Candidates can view the previous article at:
As
discussed in the previous article, a general category candidate should
target a minimum of 300+ marks in the Tier II exam. So what should
candidates aim for in each paper of the Tier II exam?
CGL Tier II 2013 Exam pattern:
Before we suggest a particular strategy for candidates, let us
first understand the breakup of the Tier II papers. Which are the
different topics/areas that are important for the Tier II papers? Which
are the easier sections? What are the different question types that are
important?
A quick look at the CGL Tier II 2013 Exam papers will help us understand the nature of the Tier II exam better.
The
CGL Tier II 2013 Exam Paper I (Quantitative Abilities) comprised 100
questions. This paper could be broadly broken up into 4 sections, namely
Arithmetic, Algebra, Mensuration and Geometry/Trigonometry. Among these
sections, Arithmetic was the most important section. This section alone
accounted for almost 50% of the paper. Algebra accounted for around 10
questions, Mensuration accounted for nearly 15 questions and
Geometry/Trigonometry accounted for nearly 20 questions. Statistics and
Data Interpretation made up the remaining 5 questions. Among these
sections, the Arithmetic section was the easiest while the
Geometry/Trigonometry section was the toughest. Algebra and Mensuration
were of moderate difficulty level.
Now that you know what Paper I
looked like, you can plan a proper strategy for scoring well in this
paper. First of all, you should try to ensure that you do not miss any
of the Arithmetic questions. After this, you can try to answer questions
from other topics. So first of all, you should go through the entire
paper quickly and solve all the arithmetic questions. Give yourself one
hour for this task. Try to ensure that you attempt at least 40 to 45
questions from the nearly 50 Arithmetic questions that the paper will
have. After this, you should aim to attempt at least around 7 to 8
questions in Algebra and 12 to 13 questions in Mensuration. Similarly,
you should attempt at least 12-13 questions in Geometry/Trigonometry.
From the remaining questions, you can target another 2 to 3 attempts.
This altogether gives you around 80 questions attempted. Do note that
each of these questions are worth 2 marks for a right answer and -0.5
marks for a wrong answer. So, assuming that you have about 90% accuracy,
80 questions attempted should give you about 140 marks comfortably.
Let
us now look at Paper II (English Language & Comprehension). The CGL
Tier II 2013 Exam Paper II (English Language & Comprehension)
comprised 200 questions. This paper could broadly be broken up into
three sections, namely Grammar, Vocabulary and Comprehension/Verbal
logic. The Grammar portion had questions such as Find the error in the
given sentence, Choose the best option, Active & Passive Voice,
Direct & Indirect Speech, etc. The Grammar portion accounted for
nearly 90 questions and was fairly easy. Comprehension/Verbal Logic
comprised about 50 questions of Reading Comprehension and Parajumble
types. This section was also quite easy. Vocabulary accounted for the
remaining questions. This section had questions of Fill in the blanks,
Synonyms/Antonyms, Incorrect Spelling, Idioms & Phrases, One-word
substitution types. Some of the vocabulary questions were relatively
difficult while the rest were easy.
In this paper, you should,
first of all, attempt all of the Grammar and Vocabulary questions. These
questions can be attempted very quickly while Reading Comprehension and
Parajumble questions are more time-taking. Hence, keep the Reading
Comprehension and Parajumble questions for the end. Out of the 150
questions from Grammar and Vocabulary, try to attempt at least 140
questions. You should be able to complete this portion in about 70 to 80
minutes. After this, try to attempt at least 40 questions from the
Reading Comprehension & Parajumble portion. This would give you
around 180 attempts. Assuming 90% accuracy, this should be good enough
to score about 160 marks. Do note that in Paper II, each question is
worth 1 mark for a right answer and -0.25 marks for a wrong answer.
In this manner, you should be able to score around 300 in Tier II comfortably.
In
the next few days, you should try to take at least one or two mock
tests on CGL Tier II pattern. This would ensure that you get a good feel
of the strategies that we have discussed today.
Finally, we are here for you!
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