How to Prepare for General Awareness Section for SSC – Tips to Score High

Hello Aspirants,

Almost every student who is preparing for SSC or any other competitive exam apparently lacks mostly in the General Awareness section. They seem eager to know about certain effective tips to prepare for general awareness. Well, through this article, we are going to describe a few effective tips to score high in General Awareness/GK section.

The Staff Selection Commission (SSC) recruits candidates for non-gazetted Group B and Group C posts in various departments and ministries of the central government. Lakhs of candidates appear for the SSC exams every year to try their luck in this competitive examination. 

General Awareness Section in SSC

The examination is generally conducted in four tiers – Tier I, II, III and IV. According to the SSC CGL Exam Pattern,  the Tier-II exam contains similar contains that of Tier-I, in addition to some other sections like Economy, Finance and Statistics etc. The common part of the syllabus comprises of the subjects like General Awareness, English Language, Numerical Aptitude and Logical Reasoning. Now, the most stressing part of the whole syllabus is the General Awareness section. In this blog, we are going to discuss the strategy to prepare for it.

You have to remember that scoring well in this section holds the key for scoring 160+ in the Tier I Examination. Without that, you hardly stand any chance in the Tier II examination and in the final list. The syllabus of GA consists of the following topics:

How to Prepare the General Awareness Section for SSC Exam?

Lots of candidates find it difficult to prepare for this section given the fact that the syllabus is too vast and it is quite impossible to cover this much of the syllabus. Well, to be very specific, there is 'NO Syllabus' for it which can describe some particular topics as apparently, every topic turns out to be very wide. But with proper strategy and planning, you can ace this section and score high as well. In order to achieve this target, you have to follow the tips mentioned below-

• Finish the Syllabus First: You have to first finish the whole syllabus without leaving any chapter. However, keep in mind that you need not be an expert in this subject. Hence don’t go into detail while preparing for it.
• Revise as Much as You Can: Retention of knowledge is the main issue in the GA section in SSC Exam since the syllabus is very vast. That is why you need to revise what you have already read time-to-time.
• Keep A Fixed Time for Revision Every Week: Keep one or two days for only revision of what you have read in the last week or in that week. This will help you in keeping information memorized in an effective manner.
• Take Mock Tests as Many as You Can: Once you are done with the syllabus and revision, start taking tests even if they are only GA tests. It helps a lot if you face a lot of questions before actually facing the questions in the examination.
• Make Mind Maps: It helps when you have many things to memorize since it is not possible to retrieve information as you wish. If you relate information to something else by making mind maps, it will help you in the retention of information.
• Study GA section regularly: In your preparation, you may leave one subject for a day or a couple of days, but it should not happen with GA section since you need to be in regular touch with this section lest you should forget anything in the long run. 
• Don’t Attempt Questions Just for The Sake of It: You need to understand that if you attempt more questions wrong that is harmful to you in the final results. So, attempt wisely and don’t answer if you have no idea about the question and the given options.
• Don’t Waste Too Much Time on This Section: The main advantage of the GA (general awareness) section is that it does not take much time to attempt this section. That is why don’t waste time if you are not sure about the answer. You can’t attempt all the questions and thinking will not help since in GA, either you know the answer or you don’t. 
• Attempt This Section First: Start with GA section in any examination since it will help you in devoting more time to other sections. If you are not sure about one or two options in the question but you know that you have read it, you may mark it for review and come back later to attempt that question. But the questions you have got common will be answered in the process.
• Solve Previous Year Papers Without Fail: It is a very common trend in SSC that questions get repeated from previous years and it is especially helpful for the GA section. Hence, solve the last 10 years papers of SSC Exams without fail before you step in to write the actual examination.

Best Books to Prepare the General Awareness Section For SSC

There are a lot of books in the market saying that they cover the entire syllabus of SSC Examination but you need to be very careful while choosing resources for your preparation. The following are the standard books to follow to cover General Awareness section:

• Lucent General Knowledge (Sufficient to cover the whole General Awareness Section)
• Banking Awareness capsule by Gradeup/ Bankers’ Adda/ Testbook (Anyone will do)
• Computer Capsule by any of the above websites
• GK Today website for government schemes and other current events of last 12 months 

Conclusion

General Awareness section may have a lot of topics to cover but at the same, it also promises you of right answers unless you are attempting blindly and it is also very less time-consuming. If you guys are preparing properly with the above-mentioned tips in mind, you will definitely be able to crack this section with good marks. So, mug up facts and then revise properly so that you can retrieve information quickly when required. 

It will help you score high in this section. Just keep it simple and effective and you will be able to reap dividends from a section which is a nightmare to many. I have shared with you important tips to prepare for the General Awareness Section in any SSC Examination. Hope how to prepare for general awareness tips will be of utmost help to you. If you have any query, you can ask me in the Comment section below. 

All the Best!!