How to prepare for GK (SSC & Other competitive examination)

While going for any competitive exam, before you start preparing  have a through look on exam structure and syllabus. For Example: For IAS exam, you have to be a master in  General Studies. For Constables Mathematics is not of that much importance as compared to GK, although the person who is good in Mathematics will be able to get merit if he has good hold on GK, but you cannot expect 50 out of 50 in GK as this field is unlimited.

Our prime concern is to crack SSC CGL, so my articles will be mostly devoted towards SSC CGL. With the passage of time, i will write more articles for other exams also.

Keep one thing in mind, you are not preparing for IAS exam and GK is just only of 50 marks out of 600 marks and requires a knowledge of  History, Polity, Geography, Science, Current Events and Economics.

Once again From SSC CGL point of view, don´t give so much time to GK. Use smart approach and devote your quality time to Mathematics and English.

For SSC:

If you take a look at previous SSC papers, you will find that most of questions have been asked from Static+ Science 

Static: Static means simple questions based on History, Polity, Geography from NCERT text books.

Science :  Science questions from NCERT text books. Up to 10th

Current Events:  person in news, books published bla bla bla

While preparing for GK(SSC) keep one thing in mind, you will give most of time preparing for STATIC + SCIENCE part. New comers waste most of time in memorizing facts and other irrelevant data that come in magazines.

Most of static questions are from Indian Polity & Indian History not from World History,  basic question are asked in Economics which are based on current events , some questions in economics are definition based  and these question should not be attempted because they are not beneficial from cost of time point of view.

How to Prepare for History

For SSC,  History mean Indian History, hardly a question is being asked from world history, so it is recommended to read Indian History only.

What to prepare from History: Major preparation should be done from Medieval India to freedom of India. Some time one or two questions clash with Polity, about constitution of India but i will account them in History.

While studying don´t overload your mind by memorizing dates. In SSC question are asked from major events and major persons. As every person has limited amount of memorizing capacity, you will have to forgot something for something new. So use your memory smartly.

Try to understand and co-relate the events in Indian History and try to make relationship with your life. Its  your duty to create memory link up with the events.

Like you know your father´s birthday and some event has happened on this day in History, you may link it with your father´s birthday. :)

How to Prepare for Economy:

It's good to prepare Economy from book named Indian Economy by Ramesh Singh (Click to Buy ),   it will help you to grasp concepts of Economy and how things works and inter-related. . This book also contains important data like Economic Survey of India; Remember you are here to crack SSC not to do PhD on Economy, this book is more than enough to prepare for Economics section. You are not recommended to read micro and macro economics from XI and XII th class and if you have time, you can go for it.

Beside STATIC part, there will be one or two questions from current events in Economics. I will publish them time to time.

For Geography:

SSC most of time asks questions from Indian Geography. So don´t prepare for world Geography. Because it will not be beneficial to you from SSC exam point of view.

For IAS exams, it is mandatory to prepare for World History and World Geography, but from SSC point of view, don´t go for it.

Use NCERT books for proper concept building and finally use LUCENT GK for quick revision of facts.

What to read: 

Many information is factual in Nature but many concepts are scientific, like Monsoon, Rocks, soil type etc. Try to understand them. One or two questions always come from these concepts. Understand them with proper concentration and try to make relationship with outer space with soil, rocks, coal etc.

Note down major current events from Newspapers or some other magazine of good publication but keep in mind to note down major events only.

Don´t mess with irrelevant data.

For Polity

For Indian Polity I recommend to read from Indian Polity by Laxmikanth. This book is written in a great manner. The language is easy to understand. Hindi version of this book is also available.

Try to read chapter by chapter basis and try to relate with local government, central government, how do they work etc.

In that way you will be able to understand better and to secure marks It is necessary to have interest toward Indian Political System even though it is corrupted and need many reformations.

So like it or not, you will have to show some interest to understand anything.

Science:

 I mean to prepare for general science up to matric level from NCERT TEXT BOOKS and to understand it properly. Finally use lucent for quick revision of facts.

Tip: Now a days, many B.Tech students are also appearing for SSC exams, a tip for them, not to be overconfident that you are from Science and you can do it easily. B.Tech have specific specialization and you will not be able to attempt SSC questions properly and if somebody have issue over my tip then they can judge themselves by picking up previous SSC question papers.

Current Events:

What to read from Newspapers: Read Indian Express or THE HINDU

Major Events, For example:

Sports:  IN IPL who won, which team was against them, RED CAP holder etc.

Major events like Wimblendon Singles champion, doubles champion, chances increases if there is some major twist in results. Like Andy Mary (England )defeated Nowark Djovik No.1 tennis player. 

National Events like : Government Policy, Plans, Bills, Big Mega fests,  ISRO launch, SARC, G8 summit etc.

Strictly NO CRIME REPORTS, it hardly have importance in competition exams.

Major technological events, but not mobile launch by SAMSUNG, Car Launch by AUDI etc.

Two-three questions are now being asked from Computers, so prepare for them also. So far they are easy in nature but may be typical as competition increases.

With the matter of quality time devoted to the studies, your mind  will automatically start to sort out the necessary from unnecessary. If you have some time try to read editorial pages, it will help you to make decisions if a  typical question is being asked in interview and it will increase your vocabulary also.

For other Competitive Exams

For other competitive exams like Bank PO, clerk, LIC etc strategy will be same but  major changes in GK are not to prepare for History and Geography. Majority of questions will be asked from Economics & current events based on Economics and Computers Knowledge is necessary for Bank Exams. So prepare for them accordingly.

For example : For SBI PO exam, there is separate section for computers and Mangement Principles and in Numercial Aptitude (For Banks): Question are not asked from trigonometry and Geometry. So prepare accordingly after through studies of last year papers and syllabus.

Now this concludes strategy for SSC GK & other competitive exams in my next article i will guide you to prepare for English Tier I & Tier II.

Take care of yourself and have a  nice day!!