30 Day Preparation Strategy for SSC CGL Exam

With close to 10 lakh students taking the SSC CGL exam every year, it is essential that every candidate puts in her 100% during preparation, as the competition is so intense. SSC CGL (Staff Selection Commission - Combined Graduate Level) is an examination conducted to recruit staff to various posts in ministries, departments and organizations of the Government of India. The SSC CGL Exam is conducted in a 4-tier procedure followed by an interview and a physical endurance test for certain posts.

Candidates are often doubtful about cracking this examination in a short span of 30 days. However, with proper planning and effective execution, it is totally possible. Solving online mock test for this exam regularly forms an important part of the preparation and the Glow & Lovely Careers (formerly known as Fair & Lovely Career Foundation) provides free SSC online tests for aspirants.

SSC CGL Exam Syllabus

The first step to making a 30-day study plan is understanding the syllabus in detail. The SSC CGL exam is conducted as a 4-tier process.

Tier I Syllabus: General Awareness, Reasoning, Quantitative Aptitude and English Language

Tier II Syllabus: Quantitative Aptitude, English Language and Comprehension, Statistics, General Studies (Finance and Economics)

Tier III Syllabus: Descriptive exam to test the written skills of the candidates in English/Hindi (only for certain posts)

Tier IV Syllabus: DEST (Data Entry Speed Test), CPT (Computer Proficiency Test) (only for certain posts).

Tier I and Tier II exams are mandatory for all candidates

Preparation Strategy

1. It will be required of you to spend at least 8 hours a day studying as you have only 30 days left for the exam. You can divide your time in the following manner to cover the 4 sections everyday:

   Reasoning 2.5 hours

   General Knowledge 1.5 Hours

   Quantitative Aptitude 3 Hours

   English 1 Hour

   This would be an ideal time-table to follow as you definitely need more time to master the Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning sections than the other two.

2. Next, make sure you follow the topics to study based on priority. Since you have only 30 days for study, make sure you cover all topics from which questions are expected to be asked for sure. Then go for the less certain topics. These are the important topics to follow in each section:

   Quantitative Aptitude: Decimal and Fractions, Relationship between numbers, Ratio and Proportion, Square roots, Averages, Number System, Interest (Simple and Compound), Time and distance, Time and work

   Logical Reasoning: 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 decoding

   English: Fill in the Blanks, Spellings/ Detecting Errors, Idioms & Phrases, Comprehension Passage, One-word substitution

3. The competition is quite intense and hence, speed and accuracy should be on point. It is essential that you practice tips and tricks to speed up calculations in Maths and improve your reading speed. There are many speed-Math techniques available online that can be referred.

4. Take the help of memorization techniques to keep in mind the things you study in History, Polity and General Science.

5. Make sure you take SSC online mock tests on all 30 days so as to develop speed, to understand the pattern of questions and also to realize where you stand at each stage.