- Introduction
- SSC CGL General Awareness (Tier I)
- Topicwise Analysis: 2010, 11, 12
- Indian Polity
- Indian History + Culture
- Geography+Biodiversity+Environment
- Economy
- Science
- CRAP (Misc.GK, Sports, PIN etc.)
- Final Touch to preparation
- Summary: Plan for SSC-CGL (GK)
- Free Download material for SSC General Awareness
- SSC CGL Tier 1 Cutoffs (2011, 2012)
- SSC CGL Tier-2 Cutoffs (2011, 2012)
Introduction
Notification for SSC-Combined Graduate Level exam was released on 19th Jan 2013. Click ME to read it
SSC-CGL exam is made up of three stages: Tier 1, 2 and 3.
Tier I (prelims)
Subject | |
General Awareness | 50 |
Reasoning | 50 |
Maths | 50 |
English | 50 |
Total | 200 |
- Time-2 hours. No. of question =200
- Negative marking: 0.25 marks
Tier II (mains)
Those who qualify in the Tier-I, have to appear for Tier-II. But unlike the UPSC mains, the SSC tier-II doesn’t have descriptive paper. You just have to face Multichoie Questions (MCQ).
Total | Duration | Negative marking? | |
Paper I (Maths) | 200 marks | 2 hrs | – 0.50 |
Paper II (English) | 200 marks | 2 hrs | – 0.25 |
Total | 400 marks |
- These two papers are compulsory for all candidates.
- But If you’re applying for Statistical Investigator Grade-II, then you’ve to appear for one more paper, that is Paper III for Statistics, worth 200 marks.
Tier III (interview/CPT)
Those who qualify in Tier II (Mains), are called up for third stage (Tier III)
- For some posts you’ve to appear for Interview worth 100 marks.
- For some posts, you’ve to give computer proficiency test or Skill Test.
- For example, Candidate for Tax Assistant job, will have to give test for data entry speed.
What’s the reform/change?
candidates qualifying in Tier-II of the Examination, will be subjected to a short descriptive paper of not more than one hour’s duration, with questions drawn from
- English Language and Comprehension
- Quantitative Abilities
- General Awareness
- Please note: The main objective of above “Descriptive-Paper” reform is to prevent cheaters and dummy candidates.
- So there is no need “fear” the descriptive paper. If you’ve the guts and brains to clear Tier II (Mains), then you can handle this descriptive paper without much trouble.
- And SSC chairman says if possible, they’ll conduct this descriptive paper via computer.
Anyways, let’s start. The studyplan is divided into four articles.
General Awareness Tier I | Explained here in this article. |
Maths / Quantitative Aptitude for Tier I and II | Click me |
Reasoning / General Intelligence for Tier I | Click me |
English Grammar, Vocabulary, Comprehension for Tier I and II | Click me |
Job profiles of various posts offered under SSC-CGL | Click me |
Tier I (Prelims)
- Here you’ve to face Multichoice questions on General Awareness, English, Maths and Reasoning. (50 questions each).
- This article only deals with how approach General Awareness.
- How to approach Maths, Reasoning and English= will be explained later, in separate articles.
General Awareness (Tier I)
First of all, throw away Manorama Yearbook from your study-desk. That book doesn’t have much use for competitive exams.
Topicwise Analysis: 2010, 11, 12
Topic | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | |
Static | Polity | 7 | 5 | 8 |
Indian History+Culture | 5 | 6 | 5 | |
Geograhpy (Physical+Indian)+Biodiversity | 6 | 11 | 6 | |
Economy | 11 | 7 | 4 | |
Subtotal (Static) | 29 | 29 | 23 | |
Science | Biology | 6 | 4 | 8 |
Chemistry | 4 | 4 | 3 | |
Physics+Space | 7 | 6 | 4 | |
Computer | 1 | 2 | 2 | |
Subtotal (Science) | 18 | 16 | 17 | |
Crap | Misc.GK, Sports, PIN, Books, Current Affairs | 3 | 3 | 6 |
Yearbook (institutes, schemes, dates etc.) | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
Subtotal (Crap) | 3 | 5 | 10 | |
Grand Total | 50 | 50 | 50 |
- I’ve divided the General awareness portion of SSC-CGL exam, into
“S+S+C”= Static + Science + Crap.
(^in decreasing order of priority and importance.)
- In the SSC exams, new players tend to pay too much attention to the ‘crap’ part. They keep buying books and magazines all the time as if there is nothing else to prepare except current-affairs.
- But you must keep in mind that the Cost-benefit ratio is not really great for crap questions = “no. of data entries to be mugged up vs probability of getting a question vs probability of recalling the correct answer in actual exam.”
- I’m not saying ignore current affairs, all I’m saying is, “don’t invest too much time and energy in them”.
- On the other hand, If you look at “bigger picture”, almost 80% of General awareness questions come from Static + Science portion alone. Hence they should form the priority.
- The “Action-Plan” of SSC General awareness, rests on three pillars
|
Static + Science. |
Filling up any missing details in Static + Science Part | |
|
For crap current affairs. |
Indian Polity
- If you’re simultaneously preparing for UPSC or State PSC exams, then just go with Indian Polity by M.Laxmikanth.
- Same book available in Hindi, under the name “Bharat Ki Rajya Vyavastha”
- So, if you’ve Laxmikanth, don’t bother much with NCERT/NIOS/Lucent etc.
- But If you don’t have Laxmikanth there is no need to specifically buy/borrow Laxmikanth for SSC Exam alone, because the questions are very rudimentary in nature and can be solved via NIOS zip files (given @Bottom), in combination with Lucent.
- Also prepare current affairs associated with polity. But “major” current affairs only.
- For example Shree-Krishna Committee =Telengana. Who is the chairman of new Finance Commission, who is the new CJI etc.etc.etc.
Indian History + Culture
- In SSC exam, History means Indian History only.
- So donot waste time preparing World History.
- Sometimes one question may comes, but that is not worth the Cost-benefit.
Approach Indian History?
Indian History is subdivided into three parts
Ancient | Harappa, Vedic Age, Maurya, Sangam etc. |
Medieval | Delhi Sultanate, Mughals etc. |
Modern | 1857 Sepoy Mutiny + Freedom struggle. |
- Start with TN State education board books class 11 and 12 (they’re better than NCERT for the history portion, free download at bottom).
- Then use Lucent to fill up the missing details.
- SSC questions on History, are mostly from the important personalities and events. So, Please donot waste too much time in mugging up trivial names, dates etc.
Approach Culture?
- Culture= art, painting, dances, temples, mosques, Architecture etc.
- Most of the “Culture” happened during Ancient + medieval. So, you’ll simultaneously prepare it while going through NCERT Textbooks.
- Also use the NIOS ZIP file. Given @Bottom of this article.
- Lastly Lucent to fill up the missing details.
- +Winner of Gyanpith award, Sangeet Natak etc. (ONLY IF you’ve time, else don’t bother much.)
- That pretty much sums up History + culture. Although revision =essential.
Geography+Biodiversity+Environment
- For SSC exam, we’ve to prepare only Physical Geography + Indian Geography.
- World Geography doesn’t come into picture. (sometimes a question or two, but that’s again not worth our trouble, remember the “Cost-benefit”.)
- Lately SSC too has started asking questions on Biodiversity and environment. Although they overlap with biology/science portion.
Source?
- NCERT textbooks: Social Science Class 7 to 10
- NCERT Geography Class 11, 12.
- Environment and biodiversity ZIP file of NIOS.
(^free download links given @bottom of this article)
Finally Lucent to fill up any missing details, such as names of multipurpose river valley projects. But here again, don’t waste time with numbers.
- Hirakud=Mahanadi River in Odisha=important.
- Hirakud=4800m long = useless.
Economy
- Generally very straightforward questions based on definition and concepts of Economy.
- NCERT Economy book Class 11. (India’s economy and Development.)
- NIOS Zip file given @bottom.
- Only major “current affairs”. Usually SSC’s Economy questions are based on budget. (if at all they ask from current affairs.)
This concludes reading sources for “Static.” Moving to the next important portion for SSC-General Awareness.
Science
Physics | Chem | Bio |
|
|
|
- By and large the science questions come from ^above topics. (it doesn’t mean other topics are not important though!)
- Best way to prepare science=NCERTs.
- Science tech related current affairs are usually not asked in SSC exam.
- At most sometimes current-affairs question on NASA satellite launch etc. So just keep an eye on major events, without doing any Ph.D.
- Candidates from science background shouldnot ride with overconfidence. Because whatever you have learned in college = not asked here. And whatever you had prepared in highschool= long evaporated from your memory.
- Hence start with the basic NCERT Science textbooks of Class 7 to 10, irrespective of graduation.
Source
- NCERT Science Text books from Class 7 to 10
- NIOS material almost overlaps with whatever science is discussed in NCERTs. So not much point in doing “double-majoori”, unless you’ve time and mood.
- Finally Lucent to fill up any missing details Big inventions/inventors, applications of various chemicals, computer related terms etc. (again don’t go in trivial details, for example Lucent has even given long chemical reaction formulas= useless.)
This concludes science. Now the final part
CRAP (Misc.GK, Sports, PIN etc.)
“Duration”
Based on SSC-CGL Tier I conducted in July 2012.
- They had asked question on Shree Krishna Committee report. (which was released somewhere in Jan 2011)
- Author of book Kurukshetra to Kargil. (again launched in Jan 2011)
- Santosh Football trophy (somewhere in May 2011)
So, Duration of Current affairs for SSC-CGL, is last one calendar year. (i.e. if you’re preparing for 2013, then prepare major events starting from Jan 2012.)
- PIN=persons in news, like xyz person won ICC cricketer of the year award, new CJI, new army chief, sports winners etc. There is no dearth of magazines and books circulating this garbage.
- But always remember, your mind has a limited memory capacity. So prepare the big personas, major events, avoid the small timers.
- Same for books and authors.
- Same for places in news.
- Same for [Yearbook]: Government schemes, location of various Government institutes etc. (you’ll find them in Lucent.)
- Most importantly: these things don’t stay in long term memory. Hence frequent revision essential.
Source?
Competitionmaster.com (they release monthly updates) OR Pratiyogita Darpan (PD).
Extra-preparation
- Once you’ve sufficiently prepared Maths+English+Reasoning+General Awareness, solve the as many old question papers of SSC exam as you can. (Blank answersheets given @bottom)
Why should you practice old papers?
- SSC recycles questions. You solve 10 papers, then 11th paper has hardly anything new, surprizing or challanging for you.
- Trains Your Brain For Negative Marking
- Improves Your Speed.
- Google search will lead you to many download links for SSC papersets.
- Problem?
- 1) scanned PDF files are in very poor quality. + the half mile long watermark only blocks the view= very tiresome for the eyes to read.
- 2) most of the time, they don’t contain solutions. Hence makes the whole exercise frustrating. Because you can’t evaluate your performance without going wasting another hour and so in searching the answers manually (for GK etc.)
- So if you can afford, just go for the Paperset of Kiran Prakashan.
- Good thing: they give detailed solution of each and every question.
- Same way, if you can afford, buy the NCERT textbooks from market (even second hand-used books will work).
Summary: Plan for SSC-CGL (GK)
Revise minimum three times, practice a few old papers. General awareness shouldn’t give much trouble. |
This concludes how to approach General Awareness for SSC-CGL Exam. In the upcoming articles, we’ll see how to approach
- English vocabulary, Grammar and Comprehension (Tier I and II)
- Maths (Tier I and II) (update: article published-CLICK ME)
- Reasoning (Tier-I)
Free Download material for SSC General Awareness
NCERTs (English) Free download
TN State edu Books (for History) https://files.secureserver.net/0fnzZYT7SDNuC9
NIOS (for Culture) https://files.secureserver.net/0fdAWETp4sONW5
NCERT files: topicwise: https://mrunal.org/download
NCERT file: classwise (they’ve same pdfs as above)
Science Class 7 | Download |
Our Pasts Part 2 – Class 7 | Download |
Social and Political Life Part 2 – Class 7 | Download |
Our Environment Class 7 | Download |
Science Class 8 | Download |
Our Pasts Part 3 – Class 8 | Download |
Resource and Development Class 8 | Download |
Social and Political Life – Class 8 | Download |
Science Class 9 | Download |
Contemporary India Social Science for Class 9 | Download |
Economics for Class 9 | Download |
India and Contemporary World 1 for Class 9 | Download |
Science Class X | Download |
India and the Contemporary World 2 Class X Social Science | Download |
Democratic Politics Part 2 for Class X Social Science | Download |
Contemporary India Part 2 for Class X Social Science | Download |
Understanding Economic Development Class X Social Science | Download |
Fundamentals of Physical Geography Class 11 | Download |
India Physical Environment Geography Class 11 | Download |
Indian Economic Development Economics Class 11 | Download |
Themes in World History Class 11 | Download |
India People and Economy Class 12 | Download |
Introductory Microeconomics Class 12 | Download |
Macroeconomics Class 12 | Download |
Fundamentals of Human Geography Class 12 | Download |
Themes in India History 1 Class 12 | Download |
Themes in India History 2 Class 12 | Download |
Themes in India History 3 Class 12 | Download |
If it doesn’t work visit (or you want Hindi version): http://www.ncert.nic.in/ncerts/textbook/textbook.htm
Description | Download Link | |
NIOS study Material |
Economy, Environment n Biodiversity, Polity etc.Many zip files on various subjects. Download as per your requirements. | click ME |
Blank Answersheets |
For practicing mock questions @home | click ME |
SSC CGL Tier 1 Cutoffs (2011, 2012)
Out of 200 marks.
Year | 2011 | 2012 |
General | 86.75 | 82 |
SC | 63.5 | 64 |
ST | 63.25 | 62 |
OBC | 70.25 | 70 |
EXS | 60 | 25 |
OH | 50 | 60 |
HH | 50 | 25 |
VH | 50 | 25 |
(excluding Statistical Investigator/Compiler.)
SSC CGL Tier-2 Cutoffs (2011, 2012)
category | 2011 | 2012 | |||
Interview posts | Non-Interview posts | Interview posts | Non-Interview posts | ||
General | 354.75 | 315.25 | 349 | 313.5 | |
SC | 281.25 | 247.25 | 284 | 251 | |
ST | 295.75 | 251.75 | 282 | 242 | |
OBC | 323.75 | 283.75 | 319 | 281.5 | |
EXS | 293 | 180 | 308 | 211 | |
OH | 246.5 | 208 | 274 | 227 | |
HH | 200 | 150 | 191 | 123 | |
VH | 246.5 | 150 | 261 | 225 |
(excluding Statistical Investigator/Compiler.)
sir, plz refer some good book of mock test papers for SSC CGL 2013
Dear mrunal,
Can you tell me which is the better to read either Lucent General knowledge(3rd edition) or Lucent Objective General Knowledge
Tier II Cut offs 350 out of 400?? Isnt the cut offs too high? @ Mrunal Sir.
350 out of 600 not out of 400(200 pre+400mains)
iam the final year of engineering..am i elligible for examor not?
is there any sectional cut- off in tier-1 / tier -2?
bcom graduate can apply for this pls reply and for which post murnal sir
arre bhai any graduate from a recognized university can apply……
any graduate can apply for SSC-CGL, as long as his degree is from a recognized college/university and he has finished course on or before 1st Jan 2013.
sir ,can u plz help meh out with the coming ibps specialist exam,,,,,
sir , what is ideal time required for preparation for CGL i.e. getting at least 400 marks out of 600.
murnal sir which post is ideal for bcom graduate and what is exam date of csir exam pls reply sir
mrunal sir,
kya flipkart se book purchase karna secure hoga,kyunki me gujarat ke ek chote se villege su hu aur flipkart us pin pe cash on delivery ka facility nahi deta,to kya debit card se shopping karna secure hoga aur wo muje ghar tak book kaise bheje ge by courier or by post??..plz sir replay fast….
Yes flipkart is perfectly safe.
I think you better check with flipcart customer care. They will give you the better answer.
sir,
Please tell me study strategy for the sbi po 2013, and which publication book refer for model paper set.
MRUNAL BHAI,
I HAVE ARIHANT GK BOOK ,DO I NEED TO BUY LUCENT GA BOOK
Arithant will also work.
can anyone just tell what were the cutoffs of in ASSItnt in CSS and extrnl affairs.. for SC .. last year….
can anyone tell me about the job profiles of assistant in ministry of external affairs (and cypher )which is filled through ssc cgl.
Pradeep, job profiles of MEA assistants (Cypher and Regular), is given on this link: https://mrunalmanage.wpcomstaging.com/2013/01/job-profile-ssc-cgl-desk-jobs-field-jobs-css-assistant-auditors-inspectors-income-tax-excise-preventive-officer-promotion-posting-job-profiles.html#mea
Sir i have not applied for compiler and statics so do i need to go thru the Ncert Economics books?
And i much pleased with the Site it is best..!thnx Mrunal sir
Hope you will guide me soon
from that NCERT Class 11 Statistics for Economics, Just get overview of following topics:
Representation of Data (chapter 4).
Mean, Median Mode (Chapter 5)
it’ll help you in Data interpretation questions and basic questions on stats.(in tier 1 and tier 2 maths portion)
Mrunal
can you please provide work culture and workload in IB/MEA vs.CSS?
hello sir,
i want to apply for cgl exam & m persuing icwa,so cud u plz tell the preferences of posts so that i can….and how much time will it take for proper prepration….and plz provide me the link too for applyng
thankz
Jyoti
1. Here is the mrunal’s link for job profiles:
https://mrunalmanage.wpcomstaging.com/2013/01/job-profile-ssc-cgl-desk-jobs-field-jobs-css-assistant-auditors-inspectors-income-tax-excise-preventive-officer-promotion-posting-job-profiles.html#145
2. There is no benchmark. Some get ITI with 2 months of preparation, some take 1 year.
3. link to apply: http://ssconline2.gov.in
Thanks for the info… but my ques was for which post should i go first and one by one…tell me the prefrences for the post…
Thankzzzz
Whether sectional cutoffs applied to both tier1 and tier2? Pls reply Mrunal sir..
i m going to apply cgl n i m fromm rajasthan.
sir i want to know that what should i post perfence for rajasthan
my first perfance is rajastan then its border state i.e. MP, UP etc
then post is second perfance
so plz plz sir advice me
and also tell me what was the last year cut off for all post for rajastan
i m avarage student
thank u sir
@Deepu, go through job profile article, and decide the posts accordingly:
https://mrunalmanage.wpcomstaging.com/2013/01/job-profile-ssc-cgl-desk-jobs-field-jobs-css-assistant-auditors-inspectors-income-tax-excise-preventive-officer-promotion-posting-job-profiles.html
No idea about cut off for Rajasthan posts. But you can file and R.T.I to that.
no details are given through rti regarded any job profile i mean as per rti section 6 which recently described by sc that no information regarded any post vaccancy,transfer ,promotion related file wouldnt provide through rti .
thanks
deepu i am also from rajasthan. for cut off in various post of rajasthan just check the result section of ssc.nic.in where u will find the final write up for ssc cgl 2011 (cgl 2012 yet not published). u will get an idea about how many post in rajasthan. (the code is “V”) also each post category wise cut off can be found. in tear 1 tear 2 and final selection.
i have also filled the application form this year.
Hi Mrunal!
Besides everything, I am not able to upload the pic and signature as I have conformed to all the requirements given except I am not sure about the first point, i.e. JPG 8-bit image. I have tried to look into the properties of the image, it showed Bit-depth as 24. How to change it if that signifies the actual bits of an image?
mrunal sir i am working in govt psu i want to fill ssc cgl 2013 exam form .i want to know is i required to mention in the form of my current job if i mention it than my office may not give noc.in this situation what i do .either i mention my current job or not kindly guide me sir
hi mrunal, mein English ki tyari kis book se karo jisse english tier 1 and 2 dono ke liye thik ho jaye meins exam crack ho jeay please sugest me some goods book jo upsc exam mein bhi use ho jaey
plz rply
Get Wren n Martin…
read this article on how to approach English for SSC tier 1 and 2: https://mrunalmanage.wpcomstaging.com/2013/01/studyplan-ssc-cgl-english-vocabulary-grammar-and-comprehension-preparation-strategy-tips-booklist-analysis.html
sir objective general english is better for civil services exam or wren n martin
sir , i have filled all the job preference in my online ssc cgl form,in the order given in options unknowingly…can i change it later?????or i have to fill another form??? if i fill another form,my form can be rejected????????????? any sujjestion ,,plz,reply me…….
fill another form.
I have already applied it without analyzing the job preferences. Now, I want to change my job preferences after reading your article. I f I want to apply again, will my application be rejected as I have applied two times??
u can fill another form
Hi Mrinul,
Are there any sectional cutoffs in the SSC CGL Exam..?? Plz do rply.. Thanks.!!
yes this time there is sectional cutoff
himanshu, in general, ssc does not apply the method of sectional cut off despite mentioning in the notification. this time also they have mentioned that sectional cut off can be applied under sole discretion of ssc. but their are very less chances that it will do so.
sir,
is there sectinal cutoff for tier 1?
please reply.
Sir, Plz suggest me a book which has last 10 years paper of SSC CGL. You said in your post buy such book but in kiran prakshan too I could find only 2-3 previous year question papers.
hey neha go through this link.
this book is useful.
http://www.flipkart.com/ssc-graduate-level-previous-years-papers-practice-test/p/itmdyuhqbtfehz4f?pid=9788178124285&ref=aac9e282-6c6b-4c97-9d84-732166b320ee&srno=m_1_4&otracker=from-search&query=ssc
IT WAS A NICE INFORMATION.
SIR PLS SHARE STUDY PLAN FOR SBI(PO) ALSO
THANX
Hello Mrunal Sir,
This is regarding CGL 2013.
Liran Publications SSC All Graduate level Exams solved papers 1997 Upto Date is sufficient to study or shud we buy separate buk to study English and Maths as u have mentioned in your post.The following link for the buk which i mentioned above. Please do reply sir
http://www.flipkart.com/ssc-all-graduate-level-exams-solved-papers-1997-upto-date-chapterwise-algebra-trigonometry-geometry-mensuration-81-sets-tier-2/p/itmdezczyydnccmz?pid=RBKDEZ5FG28RMQ6Q&icmpid=reco_pp_personalhistoryFooter_regionalbooks_3_nr
Sorry its Kiran Publications