How to prepare for SSC CGL Examination?

There has always been and will always be a great craze for government jobs among Indians. That’s why many students prepare for exams like UPSC Civil services examination, SSC CGL, Bank PO, etc.

In this article, our focus will be on Staff Selection Commission - Combined Graduate Level Examination (SSC CGL). It’s an exam that any graduate is eligible to sit in. We will discuss its pattern, preparation tips, etc.

While Group A officers in Indian government are recruited by exams conducted by UPSC, Group B, and C staff is mainly recruited by SSC.

Though SSC CGL is the most famous exam conducted by SSC, it also conducts many other exams, such as SSC CHSL (for 12th pass), SSC MTS (for 10th pass), etc. Also, state SSCs also conduct their own state-level exams. However, if you have prepared for SSC CGL, then in general you need not prepare for other exams separately.

Note

I had prepared for MBA exams (CAT, XAT, etc.) and got calls from XLRI-Jamshedpur, IIFT-Delhi, IIT-Mumbai, etc. Also, I prepared for UPSC Civil Services Examination and wrote its Mains 4 times. That’s why I never had to prepare for SSC or Bank exams separately.

Still, I cleared them easily. In fact, in IBPS-II conducted in 2012, I secured 90th All-India rank out of 17 lakh students that appeared, without studying for it even for a single day.

So, once you prepare for Aptitude (Maths, Reasoning, English) and General Studies for any exam, it will help you out in other exams too.

If you want to prepare for Aptitude exams like SSC, Bank, CSAT or MBA from the comfort of your home, then you may refer to our Online Guide for Aptitude exams:

• Online Guide for Aptitude exams (In English)
• Online Guide for Aptitude exams (In Hindi)

Table of Contents

• SSC CGL Pattern
• How to prepare for SSC CGL?

SSC CGL Pattern

There are three rounds that you will have to clear in SSC CGL. These are:

• Tier I – Online objective Preliminary Round
• Tier II - Online objective Mains Round
• Tier III – Pen and Paper based

For some posts candidates also have to give a Tier IV exam, that tests one’s computer skills.

Note

Earlier, there used to be an interview round too for some SSC jobs. But now Indian Government has removed Interview stage for all Group B, C and D central government jobs. This was done to reduce instances of corruption and biasness, and make the entire recruitment process more transparent and objective.

Now, let’s delve into these three stages in more detail.

Tier I

This is the first round of SSC CGL. It has 4 sections, and is conducted online. It has 100 questions, with 25 questions in each section. The four sections are:

• Maths or Quantitative Aptitude – 25 questions and 50 marks. Here we have topics like – Percentage, Profit and Loss, Work and Time, etc.
• General Intelligence & Reasoning – 25 questions and 50 marks. Here we have topics like – Clocks, Directions, Series, Coding-Decoding, Image-based questions, etc.
• English – 25 questions and 50 marks. Here we have topics like – Vocabulary, Sentence Correction, Reading Comprehension, etc.
• General Studies or General Awareness – 25 questions and 50 marks. Here we have topics like – Polity, Science (Physics, Chemistry, Biology), Geography, Economics, etc.

So, the maximum marks in Tier I exam is 200. Total time is 60 minutes, i.e. 1 hour. This paper is of objective type, and conducted online.

Warning

There’s a negative marking of 25% for each incorrect answer, i.e. 0.5 marks are deducted for each wrong answer. No marks are deduced for unattempted questions.

Those candidates that qualify this round will go to the next round, i.e. Tier II. However, this cut-off is calculated on the basis of the total score. There are no sectional cut-offs here.

Reasoning and General Awareness are two sections in Tier I that are not asked in Tier II. So, students need to prepare for them separately.

As far as Maths and English are concerned, they are also asked in Tier II exam. So, if you are preparing for Tier II, then there’s no need to study for Maths and English of Tier I separately. The difficulty level in Tier I is comparatively lower than that in Tier II.

Tier II

Candidates that qualify Tier I will get to sit in Tier II exam. There are two papers in this stage:

• Paper I: Maths or Quantitative Aptitude – 100 questions and 200 marks.
• Paper II: English – 200 questions and 200 marks.

Both these papers are objective type, and conducted online. These two papers are the backbone of SSC CGL examination, and are the most challenging. If you can score good in these papers, then no one can stop you from fetching a job, or maybe even become one of the toppers.

For some jobs, candidates also have to give Paper III, i.e. Statistics and Paper IV, i.e. General Studies (Finance and Economics).

Warning

There’s a negative marking of 25% for each incorrect answer, i.e. 0.5 marks are deducted for each wrong answer in papers I, III and IV, and 0.25 marks in case of paper II. No marks are deduced for unattempted questions. Total time allotted for each paper in Tier II is 2 hours.

Process of Normalization

Tier I and Tier II exams are conducted in multiple shifts and on multiple days. So, obviously questions and their difficulty level may vary from one shift to another. That’s why a process of normalization is done by SSC by considering the average marks obtained by all the students in various shifts.

For example, if average marks of students in shift I are 160, and that in shift II are 150, then final marks of the students of second shift will be increased a bit, and that of first shift will be decreased a bit.

Tier III

Unlike Tier I and Tier II, this round is pen and paper based and is of subjective type (i.e. it’s a descriptive paper). That is, it is the kind of exam that we used to give in schools an colleges.

The paper can be given in English or Hindi. Total marks are 100 and candidates are given 1 hour to write this paper.

You will be asked to write:

• Essay
• Precis
• Letter / Application, etc.

Tier IV

For some jobs, candidates also have to appear in an extra stage, called the Tier IV round. Here, the computer skills of candidates are examined. It has 2 papers:

• DEST Test – It’s a test of your English Typing skills. You will be asked to type 2000 words in 15 minutes (i.e. 8000 words per hour). Typing has to be done in English on a computer.

• CPT Test – It checks a candidate’s proficiency in Word Processing, creation of Slides (PPT), and Excel Spreadsheets.

How to prepare for SSC CGL?

The main two subjects in SSC CGL exam are Maths and English. However, students also need to study Reasoning and General Awareness.

Though many candidates join some offline or online coaching for SSC exams, it’s not absolutely essential. Self-study is the most important aspect of one’s preparation. So, you may clear SSC by just referring to some standard books and studying online from free YouTube videos.

Note

Leading coaching institutes for SSC preparation are KD Campus, Paramount, and Career Power. However, new coaching institutes keep mushrooming every year. Then there are many online learning platforms such as upGrad, Unacademy, etc.

If you want to find out how good an institute is, just have a look at their material. Better the material, the more serious that institute is in helping you out.

Moreover, you should focus more on the teacher who is teaching you, and not the name of the institute. Anyways, it is your self-study that will make you a topper. No teacher can help you, if you can’t help yourself.

I have seen many students testing their teachers a lot, rather than focussing more on learning from them. It’s kind of an immature behaviour. Whether you clear the exam or not will depend on how good you are, not how good your teacher was. Believe me, there’s a lot that you can learn from most of the teachers out there.

For Maths you may refer to material of some coaching, e.g. TIME, or Career Power, etc. Students also refer to the books written by some teachers, such as Rakesh Yadav. Just refer one or two sources, and then give a lot of mock tests.

Books such as R. S. Agarwal are for beginners. So, if you are very weak in Maths/Arithmetic, then you may start from here. However, it won’t be enough if you have to successfully tackle Tier II stage of SSC CGL.

Make sure you maintain a diary containing all the Maths formulae and important properties and theorems. Revise it on a regular basis.

Note

You should start giving mock tests from the very first month. Also, have a look at various previous year papers. It will clear a lot of your doubts regarding what to study. Apart from offline tests, you may attempt SSC CGL mock tests online too, e.g. at testbook, byjusexamprep (formerly GradeUp), etc.

As far as English is concerned, there are many books written by teachers, such as Neetu ma’am of KD Campus. You may also refer to the material of leading coaching institutes, such as Career Power, and TIME, etc. However, in my opinion you must refer to a standard book for Grammar, such as Wren and Martin.

Vocabulary can be learnt from any good source, some coaching material, or books like Word Power Made Easy (by Norman Lewis), etc. However, the best way to improve one’s vocabulary is to read widely, be it newspaper, books, novels, stories, etc. It will also improve your reading comprehension skills.

If you are a lazy soul like me, and find it difficult to open the dictionary again and again to look for the meaning of words you are reading, then take help of technology. Install some dictionary or thesaurus app in your mobile, or read books in Amazon’s Kindle. I have a Kindle, and the best thing about it is that you can get the meaning of any word that you read in there.

Reasoning only comes in Tier I and is comparatively less challenging than Maths. Same is true for General Awareness. So, for these two subjects you may just refer the material of a coaching, or some standard book like Lucent’s GK book, etc.

Note

Reasoning section in Bank exams is much tougher and much more important, than it is in SSC exams.

Focus more on General Awareness, only once you have mastered English and Maths section. Till then just refer material of a good coaching, and a good newspaper. Some coaching institutes also release their current affairs capsules. You may refer them if you do not get time to read a newspaper yourself.