Tips and strategies to crack SSC CHSL examination

Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has recently notified for the posts of lower division clerk, data entry operator, court clerk and sorting assistant through the Combined Higher Secondary Level Examination (CHSL) to be conducted in the month of January- February 2017, while the tier II is scheduled on 9-04-2017.

Last year, more than 70 lakh students appeared for SSC CHSL Exam. The Overall difficulty level of the paper is that of 12th level, however, due to high competition and limited seats i.e. only 5,134 vacancies, SSC CHSL Exam has become a very difficult exam to crack.

About 500 vacancies are to be filled through this recruitment process. In order to get selected in this examination, so that you land a government job after you pass your school, it is an opportunity for the aspirants to pass the exam, with the following tips and strategies.

Exam Pattern:
From 2015 onwards, SSC has changed the examination pattern for the Combined Higher Secondary Level Examination, in order to align it completely with the requirements of the government departments and organizations.

Changes in Exam Pattern

• Now SSC CHSL also will be conducted Tier -I through Online Mode.
• Tier -II Introduce a descriptive paper of 100 marks within 60 minutes in pen and paper mode.
• Reduce the time limit for examination of Tier -I from 120 minutes to 75 minutes.
• Reduce the Number of questions of Tier -I from 200 to 100.
• Negative marking will be 0.50.
• Tier II and Tier -III will remain same.
• No Sectional Cut off.

Exam is a three tier process:

• Level 1: Tier-1 Written Exam – Objective Type – 200 Marks – Online Mode
• Level 2: Tier-2 Written Exam – Descriptive Type – 100 Marks – Offline Mode
• Level 3: Tier-3 Skill Test – Typing Test (candidates who qualify the tier-2 exam will be called for Skill Test / Typing Test)

Tier I Examination
In the Tier-I examination, there will be objective type questions from English, General awareness, Reasoning and Mathematics. Every section carries 25 questions of 2 marks each and the total marks allotted will be 200 for the paper. The total time allotted is 75 minutes. The examination will be computer based, in multiple shifts.

Tier II Examination
It is a descriptive type paper for those candidates, who qualify the first hurdle and entails 100 marks examination, where your essay and letter writing skills will be assessed. The marks obtained in this paper will be counted for final evaluation, whereas the minimum cut off marks will be 33 percent for this paper. The total time allotted is 1 hour for this examination.

Sections	No.of questions	Maximum marks	Duration
Letter/ Application	1	50
Essay writing	1	50	60 minutes

Tier Examination
This is the skill test for data entry operator posts and typing test for other posts. This is merely qualifying in nature and marks in this examination will not be added to the final merit list compilation.

Skill Test (DEST) Pattern:
It is of QUALIFYING nature. Candidates should possess Data Entry Speed of 8,000 key depressions per hour on computer. They will be given printed matter in English which they have to type on computer. The test is of 15 minutes and candidates should have a minimum speed of 2000-2200 strokes/key-depressions in order to qualify. Also typing speed of MS office will also be tested.

Typing Test Pattern:
Typing Test will be conducted only in English or Hindi and candidates while applying for the Examination will have to indicate his/her choice/option for Typing Test Medium in the Application Form.

Candidates opting for English medium should have typing speed of 35 words per minute and those opting for Hindi medium should have typing speed of 30 words per minute. 35 wpm.

Corresponds to 10500 key depressions per hour and 30 wpm corresponds to 9000 key depressions per hour. The speed will be adjudged on the accuracy of typing on the computer of a given text passage in 10 minutes.

Visually Handicapped candidates (with 40% disability and above) will be allowed 30 minutes. In English the passage to be typed in 10 minutes has 1750 key depressions and in Hindi it has 900.

Strategies:
It is a good opportunity for candidates, who have just passed out of school, since it provides with an opportunity to get a government job after coming out of the school and at the same time, for others, it is a good opportunity because you get plenty of time to prepare for other examinations even after doing this. So how to crack this exam?

General Intelligence and Reasoning is important:
You will have 25 questions from this section and will include questions on Analogy, Symbolic operations, Symbolic/Number Analogy, Space Orientation, Venn Diagrams, Symbolic/Number Classification, Drawing inferences, Figural Classification, Punched hole/pattern-folding & unfolding , Series, Figural Pattern – folding and completion, Number Series, Embedded figures, Figural Series, Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, Emotional Intelligence, Word Building, Social Intelligence, Coding and de-coding, syllogisms, mirror images and water images, cube and dice etc.

Quantitative Aptitude
Syllabus for Quantitative Aptitude section includes: -
Arithmetic: Number Systems: Computation of Whole Number, Decimal and Fractions, Relationship between numbers Fundamental arithmetical operations: Percentages, Ratio and Proportion, Square roots, Averages, Interest (Simple and Compound), Profit and Loss, Discount, Partnership Business, Mixture and Alligation, Time and distance, Time and work.

Algebra: Basic algebraic identities of School Algebra and Elementary surds (simple problems) and Graphs of Linear Equations.

Geometry: Triangle and its various kinds of centres, Congruence and similarity of triangles, Circle and its chords, tangents, angles subtended by chords of a circle, common tangents to two or more circles.

Mensuration: Triangle, Quadrilaterals, Regular Polygons, Circle, Right Prism, Right Circular Cone, Right Circular Cylinder, Sphere, Hemispheres, Rectangular Parallelepiped, Regular Right Pyramid with triangular or square Base

Trigonometry: Trigonometry, Trigonometric ratios, Complementary angles, Height and distances (simple problems only) Standard Identities like sin20 + Cos20=1 etc.

Statistical Charts: Use of Tables and Graphs: Histogram, Frequency polygon, Bar-diagram, Pie-chart
General Awareness is not dependable:

You will have 25 questions from this section, but due to its vast syllabus, it is not possible to cover everything. Therefore, try score as much as possible in other three sections to cover for the uncertainty surrounding this particular section.

English holds the key:
Syllabus for English language section consists of Spot the Error, Fill in the Blanks, Synonyms/Antonyms, Spellings/ Detecting Mis-spelt words, Idioms & Phrases, One word substitution, Improvement of Sentences, Active/Passive Voice of Verbs, Conversion into Direct/Indirect narration, Shuffling of Sentence parts, Shuffling of Sentences in a passage, Cloze Passage, Comprehension Passage.

General reasoning and Quantitative Aptitude questions can either be attempted or not but the same does not hold good for English. In case of English, you have to be cautious since you are more likely to lose marks, in negative marking, if you go on attempting questions guessing.

Practice makes it perfect:
Practice is the ultimate key to success to anything and everything and the same is true for SSC CHSL examination as well. You have to practice as much as possible so that you get an idea regarding your strength and weakness and work on those areas accordingly.

Mock tests make it easier:
Once you are done with your syllabus for the examination, go for standard mock tests especially for practice of quantitative aptitude and reasoning. Try to score well but one thing you should remember is that in the examination hall, it is a different ball game altogether. So score well but do not let the score make you complacent.

SSC CHSL Examination is a good opportunity for aspirants who want to land a government job without much pressure. You can live your life peacefully since you will never be held accountable for anything.

At the same time, for ambitious lots, you get a lot of time to study bigger and better jobs and at the same time, can interact with government servants to get an idea the way things move.

It is useful for applying for a government jobs as well because it offers age relaxation in that case. So this is the time to step up your preparation and make it a success for you.