“Hardships often prepare ordinary people for an extraordinary destiny” – C.S. Lewis
Just like the above quote mentions, hardships only refine your work and redefine your journey. All examinations have their share of toughness and difficulty, how you prepare to tackle them decides your path in the future. Renowned exams like UPSC, SSC CGL, Bank PO, IBPS, CLAT, CAT, BMM and BMS and many others have a few preparation tips in common. Therefore, we would be looking at those comprehensive preparation methods to enhance your approach.
The most generic tips that we all follow when preparing for any exams are:
- Having a dedicated study time
- Keeping an organized desk space
- Taking regular breaks to rejuvenate
- Having a proper diet plan
Within this blog, we would be going a step further and looking into the study plan and prep that students should make for their competitive exam preparation. We would be looking into the Books, YouTube channels, Coaching Institutes and Previous Year question papers that can be utilized by students at any stage of their preparation.
Government Job Examination Books and Resources
As part of a good student guide, utilizing resources like books, ebooks, RSS-Feeds, journals and expert reviews are crucial for any preparation path. Books are the primary vessel for exchanging and absorbing information. There is a famous saying “Opening books is like opening your mentality”. Therefore, they are the perfect primary guides for exam preparation. The more content you utilize the more ideologies you come across, this widens your thought process and develops your critical thinking. Although, referring to everything at the same time is not the best option. For example, when you are preparing for your UPSC exams, sticking to a certain set of books is always better given the vast syllabus if the exam.
Also, for SSC exams, Bank exams and exams like CAT, you should look for books dedicated just to a certain topic. For example, for your data interpretation and logical reasoning preparation, you should look for books just dedicated to the topic. Similarly, when preparing for english verbal ability, you should refer to books made specifically for the same.
Coaching Classes
Having an extra hand of help is always better for your preparation. Therefore, taking up coaching classes gives you the leverage to learn from expert individuals who have training and experience in their hands. By joining a coaching class online or offline you not only get expert advice but also, notes, resources, books, previous year question papers, mock tests along with preparation exposure through seniors, guest lectures and much more. For example, UPSC IAS 2019 Topper Rank 3 Pratibha Verma, although prepared by herself for UPSC, she did enroll in a coaching institute for her interview preparation. This shows that coaching institutes give live experience for the exam you would be sitting for in the future.
Practice Previous Year Questions
Through previous year question papers, you can assess your level of preparation and track your improvement. The more question papers you solve, the more you understand your weaknesses and strengths. This would enable you to modify your preparation plan and concentrate more on your weaknesses. It is mostly recommended that students should solve the last 10 years question papers as they give you an idea of what the exam pattern and questions have been. Also, you get to time your writing given the strict time allotment each exam has. Another perk of attempting previous year question papers is that you can assess which topic is important and which can be skipped.
Current Affairs
General Knowledge and Current Affairs are an essential part of any competitive exam. Even if you look in your daily lives, GK plays an important role. Within exams, they can become the easiest to score and the quickest to finish if you read and update yourself well enough. Therefore being well aware of Year Books, Magazines, Websites offering daily current affairs become a super crucial part of the revision and prep.
Online Mediums and Applications
Education has moved to the online platform these days and therefore, websites, YouTube channels and various educational apps have become a part and parcel of any student’s life. According to may platforms, the retention capacity of students has increased via online channels. Through visual and more creative outputs students tend to learn more and better. Many of these online platforms, websites and applications are free of cost and provide quality content. Hence, for you these websites can be your student guide for competitive exam preparation, language learning, programming, current affairs and even mock test preps!