Monday, April 20, 2009 HOW TO CRACK COMPETITIVE EXAMS IN INDIA FOR JOBS.

INTRODUCTION Competitive exams are held in India for selection of different posts in the Gove rnment(State/Central) ,Public sector and Private Sector.Every year more than 100 exams are conducted in India for filling up of different positions of different organiations. The different exams that are conducted like Bank Probationary Officers,Clerical, LIC (AAO) ,NABARD etc. The different Banks like State Bank of India,United Bank of India,PNB,Syndicate Bank,Central Bank of India etc conduct exam for PO and Clerical positions. Different PSU like IOCL,HPCL,ONGC etc conduct exams for different positions. To know about their openings just visit their websites and also their advertisem ent are published in the leading newspapers. There are a lot of exams that are conducted by different organizations and the l ist will be go on. This BLOG is basically a description about the pattern of exams and the process of selection which might be helpful for the freshers who have just graduated and is on job hunt. This is also helpful for those who want to appear for this exams. Its not related to IAS or IPS exams conducted by UPSC.

WHY IT IS CONDUCTED It is conducted to test the whether the candidate is fit for the given position or not. Also, it checks the different skills that are required to carry out the responis ibilties that are given to the individual when he/she joins the organization. STRUCTURE OF EXAM Broadly, classified all competitive exams follow the same pattern. It consits of written (objective,descriptive) followed by Group discussions and Final Interview.There are also organization that conduct only a written exam (Ob jective paper) and then interview.For technical positions organization keep another technical p aper in addition to the written objective paper.The technical paper is also an o bjective based upon the course content of particular stream.Many organization re cruit Engineering pass out people for the positions of Management Trainees.The d ifferent streams where openings are based are like Information Technology,Comput er Science,Mechanical Engineering,Electrical Engineering,Metallury,Automobile,Ci vil and Electronics Engineering. PHASE 1 OBJECTIVE PAPER:The objective paper that contains questions of the following main sections:1.General Awareness/General Knowledge 2.English 3.Reasoning 4.Quantitative Aptitude. PHASE 2

DESCRIPTIVE PAPER :This paper consits of following topics depending upon the organizations conducti ng the exams: 1. Essay Writing 2. Letter Writing 3. Paragraph Writing 4. Precis Writing 5. Comprehension.

PHASE 3 GROUP DISCUSSION AND PERSONAL INTERVIEW:This is the final or the last stage of selection. Some organization conduct GD b ut not all.They only conduct the Personal Interview after the written. NOTE:The competitive exam pattern in India mainly consits of these three phases. Phase 2 is optional as many organization conducts only Phase 1 and Phase 3. Phase 1 and Phase 3 are the primary selection process for many organizations. In some cases of Phase 3 only Interview is taken. HOW TO PREPARE:As a beginner or fresher its very difficult where to start with. You have just passed out.You have your graduation degree in your hand .Now the n ext step is to find a job.You see an advertisement for a job and you fulfill the eligibility conditions and you apply for the job. After applying you need to prepare for the exam. The pattern of exam will be known to you later on when you get your Hall ticket/ admit card. You don t know where to start. So, here is an insight to how to start your preparation. Lets, first of all focus on PHASE 1 which is common for all organizations The PHASE 1 is the written objective paper consits of mainly four sections:General Awareness/General Knowledge:This section mainly tests the competency of the candidate how much he/she is aware of the world that he/she lives in.So, to know about the things that is happening around is a slow continuing process.You cannot do it one day or in one week.Its a daily activity starting from morning till night. As such no specific time can be dedicated for this section.Only. thing you have to include a simple excerise in your daily life. You can gain knowledge from different sources like when you read a morning newspaper with your cup of tea.There are many important things in a newspaper. So, first make a habit of reading a good newspaper which suits you. There can be a lot of things that can accumulated which will be a great help for your exams.You can note it down important points/events/news from the newspaper in your diary/notebook. The main news could be sports,business,politics,geography,social etc. Other sources could be your Television like News Channels, Business Channels(CNBC,NDTV Profit,UTVi etc),Sports Channels, Discovery and National Geographic. So, this activities can be just be your part of daily life. There can be a lot of questions that can be asked for this section

as there is no defined syllabus.Some important topics from where questions can be asked are as follows:1. Current Affairs (Political,Science,Sports) 2. Sports 3. Business . 4. History 5. Geography 6. Science 7. WHO S WHO (Eg- Who is the present chairman of Planning commision) 8. Books and Authors (Eg-Who is the author of the Novel WHITE TIGER?) 9. Abbreviation and Acronyms. (Eg-SAIL Steel Authority of India) 10. Sobriquets (Places and Persons)(Eg: City of Golden Temple - Amristar) 11. Awards and Honours REFERENCES There are lot of books available in the market for the preparation of this secti on but I will suggest some more for your help. Moreover,as I have said that this is slow and continuing process you can start y our habit of reading a good newspaper from today itself. Newspapers (Times of India,The Hindu,Economic Times) GK YEAR BOOK (Manorama Year Book , CSR Year Book) Magazines.(Banking Services Chronicle,Civil Services Chronicle,Renu Monthly) (* Renu monthly magazine is very low in cost and is good for preparation for thi s section). TIP: Buy one Year Book and then buy one the monthly magazine and rest you start with your newspaper reading habit. This will be sufficient for this section and if you strong in this section then you can get the advantage of doing well in re st of the sections of your exams. ENGLISH:This section test the candidate s English knowledge mainly grammar and vocabulary. It also examines the individual s understanding of particular English content wher e the answers are to be given for questions asked. The syllabus of this section are which you have already studied in your high sch ool. The contents are: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Parts of Speech (Eg. Noun,Pronoun) Direct and Indirect Speech Correction of sentences. Articles and Prepositions Idioms,Phrases and Proverbs Fill up of sentences and paragraphs Synonyms and Antonyms. Passage Reading Sentences with double blanks and matching order of sentences.

REFERENCES For this particular section you can go through any standard High School grammar book. Wren and Martin Grammar is a good book. REASONING

This section tests candidate s analytical ability.The contents of this particular section is large as compared to other section.But to master this section you onl y need to practice and be aware of different types of questions that can be aske d. I am putting down some important contents of this section:1.Number and Letter Series 2.Number and Letter Analogies 3.Coding and Decoding 4.Odd Man Out 5.Venn Diagrams 6.Clocks 7.Calendars 8.Symbols and Notations 9.Direction sense 10.Blood Relations 11.Analytical Puzzles 12.Logical Deductions 13.Statements and Assumptions 14.Statements and Conclusions 15.Inferences 16.Strong and Weak Arguments 17.Courses of Action 18.Assertions and Reasons 19.Cause and Effect 20.Decision Making and Problem solving 21.Input and Output 22.Fictious Symbols and visual ability 23.Logical Diagram 24.Problems on some types such as reflection tests and cube/ dice problems. REFERENCES There are many books in the market for this section you can buy. One of them is Reasoning by R.S Agarwal . You can also use the practice papers from magazines like Banking Service Chronic le.

QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE This section tests candidate s numerical ability.The contents of this particular s ection are the same of the syllabus of your tenth standard maths.Here you have t o solve questions based on different topics. The contents are can be divided into two section which are as follows:SECTION I:1. Numbers 2. HCF & LCM of Numbers 3. Decimal Fractions 4. Simplication 5. Square roots & Cube Roots 6. Average 7. Problems on Numbers 8. Problems on Ages 9. Percentages 10 Profit and Loss 11. Ratio & Proportion

12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33.

Partnership Chain Rule Time and Work Pipes and Cistern Time and Distance Problems on Trains Boats and streams Alligation and Mixture Simple Interest Compound Interest Area Volume & Surface Area Calendar Clocks Stocks and Shares Permutations and Combinations Probabilty Height and Distances True Discounts Data Sufficiency Appoximations Series problems

SECTION II DATA INTERPRETATION 1.Tabulation 2.Bar Graphs 3.Pie Charts 4.Line Graphs REFERENCES You can use your tenth standard books for this sections.There are also some good books that you can buy. R. S Agarwal a)Quantitative Aptitude b)Quicker Maths M. Tyra

TIP: You can start first to practice with R.S Agarwal as it is easy for beginner s.You can also try M.Tyra as there are lot of shortcuts.It will help you to reme mber some formulas and shortcuts for this section. STRATEGIES Each candidate can make their own strategy how to solve the paper depending upon the the section you are very confident about.The key to the success is to

JUST PRACTICE AS MUCH AS YOU CAN.

One of key factors is time management as you have to dedicate time for each of t he section. There are sectional cut off marks. So, you need to do well in each sections so t

hat you come out with a good total score. The exam paper may consits of 200 questions, 50 questions each from each section and you will be given 3 hrs to solve it.So, you have less than 1 minute to solv e one question. Nobody can solve the whole until and unless the candidate is a whizkid.So, the m ain strategy could be like dividing your whole time equally for each of the sect ion.Then you can start attempting the section you are very strong with. Many peo ple start with the GK section as there is only direct answer to be given.No calc ulation or reasoning required. You can just attempt correctly 30-40 questions within the time you have allocate d for that section.The next section you can attempt with English,Reasoning and Quantitative as you may like it.The order of answering the paper totally depends upon the ca ndidate.Don t try to answer it randomly as there are NEGATIVE MARKING which many o rganization keep like marks is deducted for every wrong answer.So,best strategy is to attempt section wise and try to answer correctly as much as you can.If you can answer 30-40 questions correctly from each of the section then you stand a chance to be called for the next round. PHASE 2 DESCRIPTIVE PAPER :This paper is optional like many organization conduct and many not. But any how the contents of this section are as follows:1. Essay Writing 2 . Letter Writing 3 . Paragraph Writing 4 . Precis Writing 5 . Comprehension. These are the same topics you have done in your High School.

REFERENCES Any Good Grammar Book will be useful for the preparation of this section. You can also use some Essay writing books and magazines also for your preparatio n. NOTE:- Nowadays, some organization are also introducing a Computer Awarness and Marketing knowledge questions .So, I will discuss more on this next time and put some model questions on this topics. PHASE 3 GROUP DISCUSSION(GD) AND PERSONAL INTERVIEW(PI):Many organizations conduct group discussions (GD) and many not.Some of them dire ctly conduct Personal Interview. For Group Discussion You can follow magazines,TV programmes and make your own po int of view for particular topic.You and your friends can make a group and selec t a topic for discussion. For personal interview prepare your resume and then prepare yourself for every q uestions that the interviewer may throw at you.There could be hudndred of questi ons asked about you.It may educational or personal.May be it can be your hobbies or any current affairs topic. You can also get many mock interviews question in internet or books that might b

e helpful for your preparation.

REFERENCES Lot of books and magazines cover about this topic in a large scale. Internet is another good resource for preparation. CONCLUSION Through this bolg this is an attempt to help out students who are in job hunt an d hoping for a bright career in a prestigious organization. It s a sincere request to all of you to write your feedback or any query you have. I will be highly obliged to answer.You can reach me at nayanb2k6@gmail.com In near future there will be more in depth discussion of different exams specifi c to organizations. Till then wait and watch for more new posts .