IPPB is conducting preliminary exam on 7th/8th Jan for recruitment to 650 posts of scale 1 officers. Lakhs of candidates have presumably applied for this exam and competition is going to be stiff. We will share the strategy today for preliminary exam, the areas that one should target and a safe score for cruising through to the mains exam.
Section Wise Strategy
English
English ideally takes minimum time and carries the possibility of awarding maximum marks. Questions from following topics are usually asked:
- Reading comprehension
- Para Jumbles
- Fill in the blanks
- Error Spotting
- Sentence improvement
- Cloze Test
What should you target?
Reading comprehension- 10 out of 30 questions will be from RC. Attempt it in the last and that too go for questions where you have to answer for "locate the meaning or opposite" of the word mentioned in BOLD.
- Leave the questions where answer options are " (1) only, (1) and (2) only, (1) and (3) only" etc. These kind of questions required in depth comprehension of the passage which will eat a lot of your time.
- Easiest section that is! Attempt all of the questions.
- Practice some mocks to check what kind of questions are asked.
- Remember: These are almost free marks, Do not skip on them.
- Difficulty for Para Jumbles ranges from Easy to Moderate usually in preliminary exams.
- Read twice/thrice to reach your answer. Sometimes, we get stuck on a couple of sentences and rest all are sorted. If done correctly, 5 or 6 marks straight to you.
- Again, 10 questions are expected to come from this topic.
- Remember: "Correct answer will be the one which fits in that context" , not the literal meaning of that word.
- Attempt all of these questions.
Reasoning
Reasoning is the most important section for any exam. Questions are generally asked from following topics:- Puzzles
- Syllogism
- Inequality
- Input output
- Data Sufficiency
- Blood relations
- Direction sense
- Coding Decoding
What should you target?
Puzzles & Input Output- Keep this topic for the last. You start attempting 1 puzzle and 5 minutes are gone.
- These are the scoring topics in reasoning. Almost every other candidate will attempt all these questions and so should you.
- These 3 sections would make up 10-15 questions in the paper.
- Another area where you can score full marks.
- Questions from these topics are usually easy in nature. You are advised to attempt all of them.
- Attempt this topic when you are done with scoring topics as questions from this usually contain an element of confusion or doubt. Take calculated risk if time permits.
Quantitative Aptitude
This section is usually the most difficult and time consuming section. Questions asked are from following topics:- Number Series
- Simplification and Approximation
- Table chart /pie chart / Bar Graph - DI
- Time & Work, STD, Probability, Percentages and other related topics.
- Quadratic Equations
What should you target?
- Simplification/ Approximation - Try to attempt this topic first and that's the most easy one.
- Quadratic Equations & Number series - This should be attempted after simplification.
- DI - Go through the scenario. Out of 5, 1 or 2 questions demand simple calculations only.
- Other individual topics - Attempt as per your comfort level with the topic.
Over all Strategy
Time Management
Customize the time allocation as per your comfort level & keep it realistic. The one we advise is as follows:- English: 25- 27 questions (12-15 min)
- Reasoning: 25- 26 questions (22 min)
- Quants: 23- 25 questions (23 min)
Safe Score
Nobody can guess the difficulty level as of now. Ideally, a score > 65 should be considered safe and 60-65 may constitute the borderline scenarios. We will come up with complete analysis and cut off prediction after the exam.All the best to you, Cheers!
