Get Started

Time Management Tips for SSC CGL Tier I Exam – Solve Paper before Time!

6 years ago 5.1K Views

Most of the students want to know, how to solve SSC tier 1 exam before time? Here are the effective time management tips for SSC CGL tier I and bank exams to finish the paper in time.

The Staff Selection Commission Combined Graduate Level Examination 2018 is coming ahead and it is high time that you get ready with all your plans to score well in the examination so that you get your desired post through the recruitment.

Given the stiff competition, you need to be a master strategist in order to crack this examination with flying colors. The first step for the examination is the Tier-I Examination and marks scored in this are considered for the final selection.

Therefore, it is very important that you score well above the cut-off marks in order to get your desired post after the Tier-II Exam. Tier-I Examination is mainly about management of time since you have to attempt four different sections and the total time allotted is only 60 minutes or one hour. 

For saving your time you can also know how to crack SSC CGL exam in first attempt

That is why in this blog, I am going to share with you the strategy to attempt this exam properly so that 160+ does not seem impossible after the examination. 

What is there in Tier-I Examination of SSC CGL?

The Tier-I examination is the first round of screening of candidates for the SSC CL Recruitment Examination and you need to score well in order to be in the race after the Tier-II examination. The Tier-I Examination is an objective examination consisting of four subjects:

  • English Language: 50 marks (25 questions)
  • Reasoning and General Intelligence: 50 marks (25 questions)
  • General Awareness: 50 marks (25 questions)
  • Quantitative Aptitude: 50 marks (25 questions)

The total allotted marks in this examination are 200 whereas the combined time allotted is 1 hour to attempt 100 questions. It may seem easy but if you are prepared, you are destined to fare poorly in the examination. With negative marking of 0.50 marks for each wrong answer, it becomes very difficult to keep your calm and score well after taking care of the negative marking. This is a computer-based examination though no sectional timing is there for individual sections. There is also no sectional cut-off for individual sections in this exam. 


How should you approach Tier-I Examination with conviction?

Attempting 100 questions within 60 minutes appears to be easy but when you start the examination, you can understand that it is not at all easy rather it is quite challenging. You may face the following issues if you are not prepared enough:

  • You will waste too much time on one question whereas the easy questions will be left unanswered at the end the exam 
  • There will be too many wrong answers if you just try to increase your number of attempts without giving any importance to accuracy. If you don’t know something, please don’t attend just for the sake of it. It will actually bring down your marks 
  • If you understand just before the time that you have too many questions left, you will try to attempt them in a hurry thereby increasing chances of error and also negative marking 
  • English Section is the most confusing section in the SSC Examination with the options being very confusing and close to each other. Please be careful while attempting questions in this section about which you have little or no idea at all 
  • Questions often seem very easy and while attempting during the exam it feels that whatever you are answering is the correct answer but it is not so at all. So, guesswork should be based on logic and not intuition 


Time Management Tips for SSC CGL Tier I Exam:

So, how to go about the Tier-I Examination Time Management? Let’s discuss in details.

Time Management is an art since it is said that nobody is busy in this world but it is all about priorities. If you can master time it will be your best friend but otherwise, it may destroy you as well. In order to understand the ideal approach to attempting SSC CGL Tier-I Examination, you need to follow these tips:

  • Start with the section in which you are most comfortable and devise this strategy before entering the exam hall. Don’t change your strategy all on a sudden in the exam hall. It will be nothing short of suicide 
  • While attempting mock tests at home, plan accordingly which section you will start with and which will be the last section to attempt. Also, allot time for each section during this time only 
  • If the allotted time in a section exceeds the limit you need to jump to the next section without giving much thought. Don’t spoil your chances of selection because of one section in the examination 
  • Never ever waste time on a single question. Please remember it is the objective of the question-setter to make you do this so that you miss the other questions. Be smart and attempt the questions in which you are comfortable first 
  • It is never possible to attempt all the questions in the examination. Hence don’t keep unrealistic targets while going to take the test. If you attempt 80 questions correctly, it will fetch you 160 marks but if you attempt 100 questions and get 20 wrong, you get 150 marks. This is enough to make you understand which is the smarter thing to do 
  • In the English question, don’t attempt any question in which you are too much confused, especially the vocabulary questions. These are very much prone to fetching you negative marking 
  • The ideal timing for individual sections should be: General Awareness – 7-8 minutes, Reasoning Ability- 15 minutes, Quantitative Aptitude- 15minutes and English Language- 12-13 minutes. It will still leave you with around 10 minutes to spare. You may now attempt the questions you couldn’t do during your first attempt 
  • Please don’t miss out on any question. Go through the whole question paper at least once so that you don’t miss out on any easy or common question which will certainly fetch you 2 marks 
  • An order of attempting the sections is suggested here but please keep in mind you can always tweak it to your own comfort zone. Your comfort level is the most important thing and any order is correct till the time you are able to handle it with ease and convenience. The suggested order of attempts is- General Awareness – English Language – Reasoning Ability – Quantitative Aptitude 
  • If you have attempted everything you know please go for a revision. For revision, don’t miss out on a question thinking that it was very easy and you just can’t get it wrong. Silly mistakes can ruin your chances of final selection since we often think about other questions while attempting easy or common questions only to get them wrong at the end. Hence, revise thoroughly 
  • For General Awareness, don’t attempt questions you have no idea about or you have never heard of. Don’t give too much time to this section because here either you know or you don’t and there is nothing in between 
  • For the English Language, read the questions carefully and then answer. Sometimes questions are tricky but if you read it twice you will get the meaning. With continuous practice, you will definitely be able to ace this section 
  • For Reasoning Ability, try to think in mind rather than always drawing or calculating since it will save a lot of your time. For non-verbal reasoning, be prepared in such a way that you can just imagine the answer once you see the image 
  • For Quants, the best bet is mind calculation. However, don’t apply shortcuts if you are not too sure of them. Either learn them properly or try to be quick in the normal calculation. For geometry, please remember the inferences in detail since these properties are the favorite chapters of the question-setters 
  • In any case, don’t ever deviate from the time limit set for each section. That will ruin your rhythm as well as chances for selection. It is very difficult to manage it at the last moment in an examination where lakhs of candidates are there to give you stiff competition 

The Bottom Line: 

Time Management is all about deciding something keeping in mind the factors at play and then abiding by it at any cost. SSC CGL Examination is a test which evaluates your planning and the execution of the same from the beginning until the end of your preparation. 

To crack SSC CGL 2018, you can know easily how to crack SSC CGL in one month day by day process to follow for sure shot success this year by visiting here.

Take as many mock tests as possible and be adapted to the time schedule that you have set for yourself. Just act like an alarm clock in the exam hall and never, in any circumstances, try something new there. 

Practice and practice until you are a robot following your own orders. 

Keep in touch with Examsbook.com for study material and questions of GK, Current affairs and notifications, Aptitude/Maths, Reasoning, Verbal abilities and Computer awareness.

All the Best!!

Related categories

Very important related articles. Read now

The Most Comprehensive Exam Preparation Platform

Get the Examsbook Prep App Today