The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) is currently conducting the SSC-CHSL 2015 exam. While the first few slots of the exam already took place on 1st & 15th November and 6th December, 2015, the last slot is scheduled to be held on 20th December, 2015. This exam is held for the recruitments of Data Entry Operators, Postal Assistants & Lower Division Clerks. Aspiring candidates must be curious about the topic-wise break-up, detailed analysis and expected cut-offs. Through this article, we, at PaGaLGuY, bring you the detailed analysis of SSC-CHSL 2015 exam. 

Let’s first go through the exam pattern, which is as follows:

Section                         No. of Questions         Total Marks    

English Language                   50                              50

Reasoning Ability                    50                              50

General Awareness                50                              50

Quantitative Aptitude             50                              50

In the SSC-CHSL exam, there are a total 200 questions worth 200 marks that have to be solved in 2 hours. If we go through this year’s paper thoroughly, we can say that the level of difficulty was moderate. 

Topic-wise Analysis: 

Let’s discuss topic-wise analysis of the exam to understand the weightage given to different topics in each of the four sections. 

English Language:

Name of the Topic          No. of Questions

Antonym-Synonym                     08

Cloze Test                                    10

Para Jumbles                              04

Fill in the Blanks                          04

Change the voice                       02

Direct/Indirect                             02

Idioms & Phrases                        04

One-word Substitution               04

Spot the Error                              04

Spellings                                      04

Sentence Correction                   04

Almost 50% of this section was based on vocabulary questions. Candidates with good command over English language can easily secure maximum marks in these questions. Questions based on Grammar topics were easy & could be solved in a short span of time.  

Reasoning Ability :

Name of the Topic                  No. of questions

Find Odd one out                                09

Analogy                                                09

Visual Reasoning                                 05

Statement Conclusion                         02                                      

Puzzle                                                   02

Missing Number                                   03

Age-based Questions                          02

Letter-Number Series                           06

Word Arrangement                               03

Matrix-based Questions                       01                          

Directions                                              02

Coding -decoding                                 03

Venn Diagram                                       01

Word formation                                     02

This year, SSC placed emphasis on topics such as ‘Find the odd one out’ & ‘Analogy’. The questions asked in this section were easy to moderate in terms of difficulty level. With enough practice, candidates can attempt this section easily.  

Quantitative Aptitude :

Name of the topic                 Number of Questions 

 DI                                                            09

Trigonometry                                          05

Mensuration                                            05

Geometry                                                05

Algebra                                                    06

Number System                                      05

Arithmetic                                                 15

There were around 9 questions, in the form of two sets, based on Data Interpretation. These DI sets were based on bar graph & pie chart respectively and the difficulty level was fairly easy. Overall, questions on Geometry, Arithmetic, Mensuration, Algebra & Number System were easy to moderate in terms of difficulty level.

General Awareness :

Name of the topic                   Number of questions asked

History                                                           07

Polity                                                             04

Economics                                                    04

Geography                                                    05

Biology                                                          07

Physics                                                          02

Chemistry                                                      07

Computers                                                    02

Miscellaneous                                               12

General Awareness is very important in this exam and is the deciding factor in overall cut-off. This section in the exam was mostly based on static GK and there was greater emphasis on History, Geography, Biology & Chemistry. This year, the difficulty level of the questions based on science-related topics was moderate to difficult. Questions asked on other subjects were also quite easy.

Overall cut-off for Data Entry Operator (DEO):

The expected cut-off of SSC CHSL exam is:

Category               Expected cut-off           

General                           125-130

OBC                                116- 120

SC                                   102-107

ST                                    95 – 100

Candidates should note that the above mentioned cut-offs may vary in the range of +/- 3. (Further, there is some chance that the cut-offs may be lower than this. However, it is unlikely that the cut-offs would be higher than this.) Also, for LDC, the cut-offs might be fractionally lower than the numbers given above. 

Ideal Number of Attempts:

Let us now consider the minimum number of questions that candidates should have attempted to secure their chances of clearing SSC-CHSL exam.

Based on the types of questions and the difficulty level of the test, candidates should have ideally solved around 140 to 145 out of total 200 questions (to be on the safe side). With around 90% accuracy, candidates would then easily cross the overall cut-off. (Do note that fewer attempts would also be sufficient to clear the cut-off, especially if the candidate has ensured higher accuracy.)

Overall, the SSC CHSL exam was of easy to moderate difficulty. Among all the sections, quantitative aptitude was a little tough, but for students with good practice, it was a cake walk. 

Best of Luck!!!