EXAM STRATEGIESOTHER STRATEGIESSSC

SI Delhi Police & CPO Exam STRATEGY

SI Delhi Police & CPO Exam STRATEGY

SCHEME OF EXAMINATION OF SI DELHI POLICE & CPO EXAM 

1. PAPER-I (Tier-I) —- 2 hours —- ONLINE EXAM

1. Reasoning 50 questions
2. General Knowledge 50 questions
3. Mathematics 50 questions
4. English 50 questions

3. PET/PST

2. PAPER-II (Tier-II) —- 2 hours —- ONLINE EXAM

English 200 questions

 4. Medical Exam

 

HOW TO START

1. First of all do one question paper of tier-I and both the papers of tier-II of any of the last year’s exam at home in exam conditions. You must not take any model paper as exam paper is always a standard. This not only will help you know the pattern/style of the questions asked in the exam but also will help you find your weaker areas of a particular topic/section. This will also give you better chances to frame the best strategy to overcome them. Candidates are to remember here that they don’t have to give even a minute time extra for solving the paper/s.

2. Now I come to the approximate time that one should spend on doing each subject component of Tier-I, though one can change it according to one’s suitability as every person has different difficulty levels for each section. Here it is:

Reasoning 36 minutes
General Knowledge 14 minutes
Mathematics 50 minutes
English 20 minutes

3. After doing this you should practice to remove your weaker areas found. For this I’d suggest you do things from their basics as otherwise it’ll be a cramming of things, which is very harmful really.

 

ON SSC  GK, REASONING & ANTONYMS/SYNONYMS) 

i) ON GK

Reading GK for 2 hours a day, one hour for GK books/study material and one for a good monthly magazine/newspaper.

I think you should read Lucent’s GK book thoroughly. In addition NCERT Science books from class 6th to 10th as well are a must if time allows as GK can really be made very strong then.

If this is done with utmost sincerity it will also help in building one’s vocabulary part of SI Delhi Police and CPO Exam English i.e. antonyms/synonyms/idioms & phrases/one word substitution etc  stronger if his or her medium of studies is English.

ii) ON REASONING

For reasoning practice of previous SSC papers and model/practice papers is sufficient. Also don’t forget to consult any good book if you find a question not under control. One should also take help of a book on reasoning for the type of questions which are not in practice sets while they fall into a topic of the syllabus provided.

But, no matter if you fail to find a topic or two of REASONING in any of the book/s you have; better to leave it cause dealing many a book at a time could really spoil the things. Whatever you do; do it with mastery. That way you could score better marks as I personally feel. Yeah if you happen to get time after; try to find a proper book for those left out topics.

iii) ON ANTONYMS/ SYNONYMS

I’d advise you that you should not spend much time on antonyms and synonyms. The reason is that they are endless in number and therefore you can’t learn them much. Any word could be there in the question paper, so it will be better if you utilize that precious time in making your other areas of the paper stronger.

Dear friends, word power can’t be made strong just by cramming words for a few months; rather it’s a long term process that starts from one’s school days itself. I mean only to say if you are behind words more than the actual requirement, output won’t be that good.

The same thing applies to IDIOMS/PHRASES and ONE WORD SUBSTITUTION, but here you should spare some time for going through them from a good source/study material as without practising them in a good number your result won’t be that good.

 

SUGGESTIVE TIMETABLE FOR TIER-I

As I think a person who is not in job should devote at least 7 hours time each day to his preparation according to the time shown against each component of the syllabus for the SI Delhi Police and CPO Exam though it’s purely suggestive.

Reasoning 30 minutes
General Knowledge 2 hours
Mathematics 2 & 1/2 hours
English 2 hours

In addition to this if an hour time or so is spent on some activities of sports and some time on programmes of entertainment on TV etc; will really be nice for maintaining mental state in good condition. But not more than it.

NOTE-I: For reasoning doing exercises given in the past and practice papers should be enough. But don’t forget to consult any good book if you find a question not under control. One should also take help of a book on reasoning for the type of questions which are not in practice sets while they fall into a topic of the syllabus provided.

NOTE-II: A person already in job too should try to spare more and more time for the preparation; I think almost 4 hours a day in addition to the full day timetable for the days of holidays.

 

Do Both Tier-I & Tier-II Simultaneously

Guys plz note ENGLISH is part of both  Tier-I and Tier-II. For Tier-II we get roughly 2 & a half month time for preparation after Tier-I. And as I believe that time may not be well sufficient to master English. So my advice we should prepare Tier-II English also right from this moment and not leave it to practise at the later stage i. e. after the exam for Tier-I.

 

BOOKS Vs INTERNET

Sorry all I cant agree with you for not to purchase books. The net can’t ever compete with a real book. Several reasons are there! A book is always very convenient in use as compared to the net. You can take a book anywhere in the house or to any other location also whereas it’s not applicable on a computer. A laptop even can’t help all the time.

Sometimes one has to go to a certain page for referring to any other topic which can’t be so comfortable while using that book on the computer. Also books (specially those for SSC exams) are not so expensive that a person can’t afford. Sitting on computer screen/mobile for long also a great cause of one’s tiredness.; the eyes especially. Many more reasons in addition.

Yeah the net is important but mainly when a book is not easily available or when one wants to see some particular topic/s as to purchase so many books of a kind is certainly not advisable.

 

BOOKS/STUDY MATERIAL FOR  BOTH TIER-I & TIER-II 

ENGLISH

1. Maha English Grammar for Competitive Exams (Written by Maha Gupta)
CLICK HERE TO BUY & SEE SAMPLE PAGES

2. Maha English Practice Sets for Competitive Exams (Written by Maha Gupta)
CLICK HERE TO BUY & SEE SAMPLE PAGES

MATHS

1. Quick Arithmetic of Aashish Aggarwaal

2. Elementary & Advanced Mathematics of Kiran Prakashan (Very good book for GEO and TRIGO indeed)

3. NCERT & R D Sharma (IX & X standard–OLDER EDITIONS) for Geometry, Trigonometry & Graphs of linear equations. As they are only descriptive in nature you must practise objective questions on these topics from Ashish Aggarwal or/and any other good books available in the market. But remember you can’t be a master in ‘Maths Objective’ unless you are good in descriptive.

Also read these, they are all prepared/solved by me.

ARITHMETIC
S. No. Name of the Topic Link
1. Numbers, LCM/HCF, Finding of Unit digit, Sum of Series, etc. download
2. Remainders & Divisibility download
3. Simplification download
4. Allegation or Mixture download
5. Average/Ratio & Proportion download
6. Partnership download
7. Percentage/Profit & Loss download
8. Interest & Installments download
9. Time & Work download
10. Time, Distance & Speed download

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ALGEBRA
Graphs of Linear Equations download

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AREA AND VOLUME (MENSURATION)
1. Frustum download
2. Pyramid & Prism download
3. Area & Volume (other topics than above) download

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GEOMETRY
1. Geometry (except Circle) download
2. Circle download

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TRIGONOMETRY
1. Trigonometric Ratios & Identities download
2. Heights & Distances download
3. Minimum & Maximum Values of Trigonometric Expressions download

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CALENDAR
Calendar download

PRACTICE SETS (Maths)
download

NOTE: SSC CGL/CHSL: Important Properties/Concepts of Geometry 

Geometry is extremely important in SSC or other exams today. I have seen people good in Maths as a whole but not so good in Geometry. Hence I have compiled some important properties/concepts which are integral part of Geometry. If one understands and memorizes them well, I’m sure he will definitely do very good in it. Highly advisable it is that friends take the print-out of the matter and keep it along while practising questions on Geometry.

English Medium download Hindi Medium download

GK

1. GK of Lucent (descriptive)

2. NCERT books for Science from 6th to 10th (If time allows they are really fantastic)

3. Monthly Magazine ‘Pratiyogita Darpan

4. Some good quality English newspaper like ‘The Hindu’

Also read these, they are all prepared by a good hand

1. GK (History) download 5. GK (Science download
2. GK (Political Science) download 6. Gk (Computer Science) download
3. GK (Geography) download 7. GK (Miscellaneous) download
4. GK (Economics) download

REASONING

Practicing of past papers and the model papers should be enough or you can refer to a good book on Verbal and Non Verbal. But never forget to practise previous papers and model papers to master it all. Papers of Kiran Prakashan are better than others in my opinion.

Also read the contents of the following link on Reasoning 
download

NOTE: For Combined Higher Secondary Exam (CHSL Exam) the books/study material are the same as above, the level of questions in the CHSL exam becomes a little easier.

 

TIER-II: HOW TO START

i) First 1, 2, 3 Days Time After Tier-I
Better take leave for 1, 2 or even 3 days from hard study after the tier-I exam. Mind too needs rest; if it’s fresh and relaxed it does better. Too much stress on mind could be fatal really.

Always remember QUALITY PAYS QUANTITY DOES NOT. Do gossiping, be with friends, watch movies and estimate your marks etc. But you can plan tier-II during this period, e.g. making of time table, formation of strategies, etc.

ii) Role of Newspaper/Magazine
Now the question—should newspaper & magazine be read as GK is not a part of tier-II? I’d say yes. Newspaper gives us awareness bout what is happening around us; which is very important for one’s personality development etc. This also helps in the interview and in making one’s vocabulary part stronger by a great deal.

Yeah we can exclude it from our time table package; we can read it casually. Half an hour for this will do. But the magazine for one full hour with proper seriousness is a must. As tier-II paper is English; read newspaper and magazine both in English language. Hindi medium candidates note it. You’ll certainly see how the magazine if read with seriousness helps your English paper; mainly word power, idioms/phrases, phrasal verbs & comprehension etc

iii) TIMETABLE for Tier-II
Well, after it has been decided what things are to be read one should make one’s timetable. Fix hours of study and make timetable at your ease. But once the timetable is made stick to it, though a little flexibility can’t be denied. The number of hours of study should remain the same for each day. I’ll suggest almost 8 hours a day for extensive study should be there. Here is a suggestive timetable:

9.30 to 11.30 English
1.30 to 3.30 English
5.30 to 7.30 English
9.00 to 10.00 English
10.00 to 11.00 Magazine

This timetable is purely suggestive; you can change it according to your suitability. But at least 8 hours a day time should be there for studies.

NOTE: A person already in job too should try to spare more and more time for the preparation; I think almost 4 hours a day in addition to the full day timetable for the days of holidays.

iv) JUT JAAO!
Believe or not tier-II is the easiest among all three stages of  the exam. In tier-I one has to study 4 subjects including GK which has no depth and is boring for almost all. We are now left with English only. As it’s only now a one subject affair in tier-II, it’s BALLE BALLE time. Also you have read this subject while preparing for tier-I. Therefore it should not be a big problem this time.

But time left for for tier-II exam after tier-I is generally two months or so; so it becomes important not to take it that easy. Still you will need to work hard with total dedication. TO JUT JAAO FRIENDS!

 

How to do  the sentence arrangement in less time?

In a question on SENTENCE REARRANGEMENT (PQRS) we are given a jumbled paragraph or sentence, but the sentences or parts of a sentence are not in right order.  We have to rearrange the order so that it makes a logical sense. Whenever you solve such questions apply the following tricks.

1. There are four jumbled sentences/parts of a sentence in each question; try to link any two of them in proper order. Then see that order (PQ, PS, RP, or any other that you find right) in the answer options. That answer option will be the correct one. However, if such pairs are more than one in the options, you should check the adjoining choices also to know whether their order is sensible.

2. Once you are successful in doing that you are also advised to check the order of all the choices in the option you selected.

 

How to do  Comprehension Passage in less time

  1. Read the passage first; not the questions. If we’ll read the questions first our whole concentration then will divert on finding the answers of those questions, and thus we’ll be unable to understand the passage, which is so important. Without understanding the passage well we can’t answer the questions well.
  1. Read the passage 2-3 times to grasp it well; only then you’ll be able to answer the questions comfortably.
  1. Read questions one at a time and answer it immediately after. If you are not getting the answer, leave it to attempt it at a later stage, and go to the next question. As you have read the passage already you will get some idea of the location of material in the passage l that answers the question.
  1. After doing all the questions of a particular passage read the left out questions carefully, they might be analytical in nature which requires the analysis of a certain part of the passage, and you might need to use your logical mind.

NOTE-I: For both comprehension passages and cloze tests your basic understanding of English language should be right. Without this, things are going to be really difficult. For comprehension you should have sharp and quick mind. If you want your comprehension of a passage improved you should read the passage very carefully 2-3 times and keep the content of the passage in mind so that while answering questions you do not need to go back to it time and again.

Students normally think that reading the passage 2-3 times is a sheer wastage of time and won’t fetch them desired results. But in my experience – and when I say experience it comes from thousands of students and a decade of time that I have been in this profession – reading the passage first is the best strategy as it not only will save your time but also will help you get more and more marks.

When you are through with the passage and its contents you are ready to read the questions and answer them without ambiguity and with complete clarity of what the examiner is asking. That read between the lines concept works very well in comprehension while answering the questions, and that can only be developed by investing a couple of extra minutes by going through the same passage at-least 2 times.

NOTE-II: In an objective exam the speed is very important, and it can only be improved by doing sufficient amount of practice. So read sufficient number of passages and cloze tests from a good source well in time.

 

How to do  Cloze Test in less time

1. In a question on CLOZE TEST you are given a text passage with some words missing; and you have to replace the missing words from the given options. For this one needs to have a strong command of grammar along with good vocabulary.

2. In order to fill in the missing words, you should read it slowly 2-3 times first without filling up the blanks. Certainly this will help you to develop an idea about the topic and figure out what the text is about.

3. Once you are known with that you should fill in only those blanks you are 100% sure of. This process will enable you to fill in the remaining blanks well.

4. A Cloze Test is a passage with sentences that are logically connected to each other, so we should keep it in mind that we must not treat each sentence individually while filling in the blanks. Instead we should think of logical connections that link up the sentences together.

 

SOME QUERIES ON PROPER STRATEGY FOR SSC EXAMS

1. How can we be fast in calculation?

  • One has to learn quick Maths for increasing the speed. But every technique of doing questions fast is not given in a book; we too have to devise our own formulas of solving a question with speed. Learning tables of multiplication, squares, cubes help a lot. While solving a question one must keep his eyes on the answer options as sometimes this help in solving a question with speed (sometimes in seconds). There is actually many a thing which helps.

1. Minimize the use of pen and paper while doing a sum

2. Devise your own techniques as every quick trick isn’t there in a book.

3. Understand a question by its basics/concept-wise. If the concept is clear you can really do the sum in possible quickest time.

4. Some questions can be solved with answer options given in no time; so always try to do this while practising , and always keep your eyes on them.

5. More and more sincere/dedicated practice from a good book/study material.

2. What is the best way to succeed in this exam?

Well, the simple formula to succeed is learning the things from their roots/basics. Unless you do this you can’t gain much. The second most important thing is doing the past/practice papers once a week (not more). This way you can find your weaker areas with quite ease. Spend the remaining six days to remove those weak areas that you found. Prepare a time table for 7-8 hours a day and try to stick to it.

3. Say something about note-making for the CPO exam.

I disagree with you in one thing. Note making is so time consuming; it can work if it’s a descriptive paper; that too other than Maths. In Maths we should prepare notes only of limited things like multiplication tables (Upto 25 is more than sufficient), square tables (upto 25 again), cube tables (upto 10 or so), some useful identities, theorems and sub-theorems, important formulas etc. Otherwise I think it’s total time waste. Better if you spend that time in learning the things. After a time everything will be on your tips I’m of the opinion.

4. About time management and Geometry for the SI Delhi Police and CPO Exam.

Remember one thing EXCESS OF EVERYTHING IS BAD. To much of studying too may backfire. 10 hours a day is perhaps too much. I’ll suggest you should bring it to 7/8 hours or so. I’m not saying you must not read for 10 hours a day; I just to mean if you think you are not feeling fresh at anytime you could be at a loss. THINK OVER IT.

But I’ll must say you should prepare the time table and do according to it. Suggestive time table is given above. As you are finding troubles in Maths you can do it 3 hours a day. 2 hours for what you doing at the moment and 1 hour for Geometry.

Doing geometry from the start is very very important. This is not the topic that you can start from any chapter. Geometry is well understood if it’s practised from the first chapter itself—The POINT. If you do like this you’ll succeed surely you’ll see.

5. Whether Tier-I & Tier-II should be prepared simultaneously or separately?

You can’t draw a line between tier-I & tier-II for English both. Let me tell you here that English for tier-I is tougher in level as compared to that in tier-II. But still you can’t draw a line. So it becomes important to prepare these two subjects simultaneously for both tiers. Just read the past papers and see the difference it’s my advice.

6. Time Management

Study is best done when both body and mind are fresh. Quality pays quantity does not.

Have you ever thought over why you tend to loose your confidence after 4-5 wrong attempts continuously or why you feel that time is running out after this. This is because of loosing patience, this is because of you are always doing things in an unwanted hurry. Believe once you start feeling fresh, the things wont be that wrong. It’s always better to do syllabus partly with efficiency rather than doing the whole with no confidence.

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Maha Gupta

Maha Gupta

Founder of www.examscomp.com and guiding aspirants on SSC exam affairs since 2010 when objective pattern of exams was introduced first in SSC. Also the author of the following books:

1. Maha English Grammar (for Competitive Exams)
2. Maha English Practice Sets (for Competitive Exams)