SSC CGL Tier II exam date will be released soon. The exact dates when the exam would take place are not released yet. This is going to be a major factor why a majority of applicants wouldn’t have started their preparation. But you can beat them all by starting your Tier II preparation right away without waiting for the dates. This way you will simply get more time for preparation when compared to other applicants and you will be leaps and bounds ahead of them. In this article, we will brief you on how to go about the preparation of the Mathematical Abilities section.
Some Important Points to Note:
- This Mathematical Abilities section is one of the 6 sections which will be asked in the SSC CGL Tier-II exam.
- This section will have 30 multiple choice questions with 90 marks and you will get 1 hour time to complete this section & Reasoning & General Intelligence.
- There is a combined sectional time limit (for this section & Reasoning & General Intelligence together) which means you can’t use any other section’s time in this section.
- There will be a negative marking of 1 mark (unlike 0.50 mark which is there in Tier I exam).
- The questions will be set both in English & Hindi for this section.
- This section (Paper-I) is compulsory for all the posts.
- It will be mandatory for the candidates to qualify all the sections of Paper-I.
Official Syllabus of Mathematical Abilities section for SSC CGL Tier II
Understand this! If you are aboard a train but don’t know your destination, which station will you egress at? Similar is the case when you are preparing for this section. Only if you are completely aware of the syllabus, you can put your complete dedication towards its preparation. You know which all topics need to be covered; you know which topics you are good at and which topics need improvement. Below is the official syllabus as mentioned in the SSC CGL Official Notification.
The questions will be designed to test the ability of appropriate use of numbers and number sense of the candidate. The scope of the test will be
- Computation of whole numbers
- Decimals
- Fractions
- Relationships between numbers
- Percentage
- Ratio & Proportion
- Square roots
- Averages
- Interest
- Profit and Loss
- Discount
- Partnership Business
- Mixture and Alligation
- Time and distance
- Time & Work
- Basic algebraic identities of School Algebra & Elementary surds
- Graphs of Linear Equations
- 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
- 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
- Trigonometric ratio
- Degree and Radian Measures
- Standard Identities
- Complementary angles
- Heights and Distances
- Histogram
- Frequency polygon
- Bar diagram
- Pie chart
Now that you have access to the complete syllabus, there should be nothing stopping you from getting acquainted with all of these topics, gaining mastery in most of these and practising profusely. Below are some important tips for you to follow:
How to Prepare Mathematical Abilities Section
- Take a topic. Say, you take ‘Time & Work’. Understand the concept by solving 5-10 simple questions. There are plenty of free quizzes available here.
- Do you find the topic easy? Easy-peasy! Now, all have to do is to start practising a lot of questions on this topic.
- Solve at least 100 questions on this topic.
- Watch online videos to check if there is a trick/ shortcut which you readily understand.
- Don’t use any such trick which you don’t understand. Remember: it’s a death trap. If you don’t understand a shortcut, and the question twists itself even slightly; chances are you are ending up with the wrong answer.
- Now, back to Step 2. Do you find the topic difficult? Now starts your drill.
- Read more about the topic online. Watch videos which explain that very concept.
- Try to solve at least 100 questions. If you are getting incorrect answers, revisit the concepts via online content & videos.
- Keep practising. Try solving 100 more questions (200 questions in total). Remember: If you gain mastery on this difficult topic, you will be ahead of a majority of your competition.
- Once you have mastered a majority of the topics mentioned in the official syllabus, you are ready to take sectional tests. The first sectional test is free. Take it now!
- Sectional tests will highlight the areas you still need to improve on. Don’t panic, don’t get demotivated; just revisit the concepts and keep practising. Once you clear the exam, all these efforts would be worth it.
- Keep a track of your All India Rank as well as you take the sectional tests.
Utilizing the above strategy will definitely help you clear the Mathematical Abilities section in the SSC CGL Tier-II exam. Wishing you good luck with your preparation.