"Toufaanu sy dar kar Noka Paar Nahi Hoti"
"Koshish karnay walu ki kabi haar nhi Hoti"
"Nani Cheeti jab Daana Le Ky Chalti hai,
Chadti diwaar Pay Wah Sau Baar Girti hai,
Chad kar Girna, Gir Kar Chadna,
Wah Bardasht karti hai,
Akhir us kii Mehnaat Baikaar nahi hoti,
Koshish karny walu ki kabi haar nhi hoti"
It was when i had just completed my PU school, I started writing these competative exams way back in 2010. Call it a fortuity, circumstances were too facile those days. All you need to do was read one book thoroughly along with current affairs and test your luck.
The situation has changed in last ten years or so, JKSSB has ameliorated its standard to the next echelon. Gone are the 'One size fits all' days, I mean that one book which covers whole syllabus doesnt exist anymore.
Given that, the competition has also uprisen, there is lot of material available in the market as well as online, and candidates have became kind of "exam hardened" as well metaphorically speaking. Now what one needs to do is to have that extra bit of knowledge than the average threshold.
On the other hand, the best thing to happen oflately is abolition of Interview stage. Oh Man! that was the most abhorrent part of exam process atleast for me. I failed in three interviews way back in 2013-14 after passing the written test and it took a toll on mental well being.
Shouldn't it be hurtful that when you work hard for months, qualify the exam then fail in interview process perhaps because you failed to answer, after how many months an eve gives birth to a lamb, or who is tehsildar of my town.
So with out wasting your time more let me come straight to the point.
1. STRATEGY FOR EXAMS:
First thing first is your strategy vis a vis approaching your exam. You need to keep motivated yourself all the time and inspire yourself with positivity that yes you can do it. Besides that count your strength and identify the weakness and address the weaknesses hardly.
Secondly, 70% to 90% syllabus is same for all exams be it Naib Tehsildar, Teacher, Junior Assistant and oflately PAA, FAA, Finance Sub Inspector et al, So if you are fresh graduate, you should go for a general preparation for that ninety percent syllabus. That syllabi includes English Grammer, Maths and Reasoning, Indian General Studies, J&Ks General Knowldge, Computers.
2. CURRENT AFFAIRS
Current affairs form the backbone across the gamut of competitive exams. Be it class 4th exams or UPSC. One should be always updated with day to day happenings in the part of world he belongs to. One should have the habit of reading newspaper, magazines etc. Many call on The Hindu newspaper or Vision IAS magazine or Yojana for JKSSB which i think is way above standard of such exams. I would reckon one should go for one daily newspaper e.g, GREATER KASHMIR, A weekly journal, I reckon ZIRAAT TIMES and last but most importantly a current affairs magazine coveing national and international current affairs e.g, COMPETITION SUCCESS REFRESHER or Pratiyogta Darpan.
3. GENERAL STUDIES:
General Studies form a base of competitive exams. One should have thorough knowledge of History, Polity, Geography, Economics, Art and Culture.
My best bet is NCERT or JKBOSE BOOKS of class 9th , 10th , 11th and 12th standard especally that of economcs. If it is not possible for someone go through so many books due to lack of time, I recommend general knowledge 2021 by Manohar Pandey (Arihant), others include McGraw hill, Lucent for history, polity and Geography.
4. J&K GK:
For J&K related general knowledge, One should go for "khaleel publications" book authored by Mr. Zahoor Mir or Arihant publications authored by Mr. Abdul Rashid.
Besides that make sure to have adequate updates about recent events vis a vis Article 370, Reorganization of J&K, Panchayat Raj Acts, Forest Rights Acts etc
5. QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE AND REASONING:
This is a tricky part for especially Non Mathematical, Non Commerce candidates. They should start with basic books, e.g, Aptitude and Reasoning book by Arihant for Postal Assistants, sorting assistant, VLW, Lab assistant and other 10+2 level exams, or 8th standard Maths for understanding basic maths. They should focus on learning short formulas, tricks and solving problems on daily basis.
Once one gets grip on formulas and enhance problem solving, One should start solving R.S. Agarwals' Quantitative Aptitude published by S. Chand, Arihants book for J&K Bank "Banking Associates" which should suffice for JKSSB level Aptitude & Reasoning.
It is pertinant to mention here that one should learn key concepts like syllogism, Analytical reasoning, Coding decoding from youtube as well because there are proper rules to solve such problems which otherwise cant be understood from books.
6. COMPUTERS:
There was time when it was highly scoring but not anymore. I recall by 2011- 12, no one ought to study computer portion for Jkssb exams, What they asked for was about input and output devices, Full form of RAM and ROM etc. Now one need to seriously study this part if he/she has to Pass. I would suggest a book by Lucent publication or book by Neetu Gaikwad, Published by Arihant.
However seeing previous years jkssb exam questions and preparing them as well helps a lot.
7. ENGLISH:
English is highly scoring part of exam. If one has qualify, he is expected to score atleast 8 out of 10.
You need to focus on Comprehension, Articles, Prepositions, Antonyms, Synonyms, Voice (Active, Passive) and Narration (Direct, Indirect), and Modals.
I think any Grammer book will be sufficient for it, provided you are avid reader of news, articles etc.
Lastly, i would suggest to always use internet, youtube, telegram for supplementary knowledge so as to have edge over others.
I think few youtube channels like Beyond Classes, Wings Aik Udaan etc are doing a commendable job and must be given a shout out.
To conclude, i would say if a person reads a half dozen books/notes for his/her matric, 11th and 12th, Another dozen for Graduations and Post Graduations, why shouldn't he/she study another half dozen for such an exam which can change his/her future in true sense.
Thank You,
All the best for your future endeavours.
So with out wasting your time more let me come straight to the point.
1. STRATEGY FOR EXAMS:
First thing first is your strategy vis a vis approaching your exam. You need to keep motivated yourself all the time and inspire yourself with positivity that yes you can do it. Besides that count your strength and identify the weakness and address the weaknesses hardly.
Secondly, 70% to 90% syllabus is same for all exams be it Naib Tehsildar, Teacher, Junior Assistant and oflately PAA, FAA, Finance Sub Inspector et al, So if you are fresh graduate, you should go for a general preparation for that ninety percent syllabus. That syllabi includes English Grammer, Maths and Reasoning, Indian General Studies, J&Ks General Knowldge, Computers.
That being said, there are some candidates on other side of the spectrum who consult two to three books for every subject, which i believe is uncalled for. They should trust the material on their hand and desist from wasting time. However it is fruitful to consult google, youtube where they feel is dearth of literature, my two cents on that.
Next obvious question is for how much period of time one should study. It depends on how much of the experience you have with respect to these exams. I think for a candidate with an experience of two to three exams, a dedicated self study of atleast six months should suffice. For fresh graduates it might take atleast one to one and a half year. However, i must acknowldge that there are some people, I know who passed Jkssb exams in their first attempt. There were many fresh graduates who qualified Teacher exam in 2018-19 despite having no B.Ed, M.Ed or PG degrees which otherwise fetched 12 free points to other candidates.
Once you start a general preparation, you should start writing as many exams as you can, be it JKSSB, SSC, IBPS, JKPSC, J&K BANK, RRB, SBI etc. With 48% unemployment rate in J&K, the strategy should be to grab the opportunity with three hands.
All the way I wrote about the pre-exam stuff. What one does during the exam is important as well.
Remember the "Chak De India" movie where Sharukh khan as a coach of Womens hockey team encourages them by saying, "Yeah Nabay Minute tum sy koi bi nhi Scheen sakhta."
Next obvious question is for how much period of time one should study. It depends on how much of the experience you have with respect to these exams. I think for a candidate with an experience of two to three exams, a dedicated self study of atleast six months should suffice. For fresh graduates it might take atleast one to one and a half year. However, i must acknowldge that there are some people, I know who passed Jkssb exams in their first attempt. There were many fresh graduates who qualified Teacher exam in 2018-19 despite having no B.Ed, M.Ed or PG degrees which otherwise fetched 12 free points to other candidates.
Once you start a general preparation, you should start writing as many exams as you can, be it JKSSB, SSC, IBPS, JKPSC, J&K BANK, RRB, SBI etc. With 48% unemployment rate in J&K, the strategy should be to grab the opportunity with three hands.
All the way I wrote about the pre-exam stuff. What one does during the exam is important as well.
Remember the "Chak De India" movie where Sharukh khan as a coach of Womens hockey team encourages them by saying, "Yeah Nabay Minute tum sy koi bi nhi Scheen sakhta."
Similar is the situation here. Some candidates skip atleast if not more than one-third of questions to which they do not know the answers of, due to the fear of negative marking. This way they exclude themselves from the competition even before the final results itself. Attempts should be made to answer all the questions asked. One can start with those which he/she knows with certainity, then in second round those where one can answer by 'cancelling the wrong answer' approach, or 'most probable answer' approch and lastly those of which one has no idea about.
Now it may raise few eyebrows here but my logic is purely based on probability rules. There are 4 options for an MCQ with 1 mark for right answer and -0.25 for wrong answer. If you answer four questions of which you dont know answers of, atleast out of 4, you must get 1 out of 4 right. So for every 4 questions you attempt blindly, you have 3 wrong answers, i.e, loss of 0.25 × 3 i.e 0.75 marks , But that 4th question which you must do right will fetch you 1 marks. Overall you will be getting 1- 0.75, i.e. 0.25 marks.
If you believe the probability paradox over 'suppose' 16 questions, you will get 2 marks extra. And 2 marks must make a huge difference in your rank, as you may have observed in recently published PAA results. The plus point is you can even mark more than one out of four MCQs right as well.
Now it may raise few eyebrows here but my logic is purely based on probability rules. There are 4 options for an MCQ with 1 mark for right answer and -0.25 for wrong answer. If you answer four questions of which you dont know answers of, atleast out of 4, you must get 1 out of 4 right. So for every 4 questions you attempt blindly, you have 3 wrong answers, i.e, loss of 0.25 × 3 i.e 0.75 marks , But that 4th question which you must do right will fetch you 1 marks. Overall you will be getting 1- 0.75, i.e. 0.25 marks.
If you believe the probability paradox over 'suppose' 16 questions, you will get 2 marks extra. And 2 marks must make a huge difference in your rank, as you may have observed in recently published PAA results. The plus point is you can even mark more than one out of four MCQs right as well.
Last but not least, one should make sure to cross that two third score to be on safer side.
2. CURRENT AFFAIRS
Current affairs form the backbone across the gamut of competitive exams. Be it class 4th exams or UPSC. One should be always updated with day to day happenings in the part of world he belongs to. One should have the habit of reading newspaper, magazines etc. Many call on The Hindu newspaper or Vision IAS magazine or Yojana for JKSSB which i think is way above standard of such exams. I would reckon one should go for one daily newspaper e.g, GREATER KASHMIR, A weekly journal, I reckon ZIRAAT TIMES and last but most importantly a current affairs magazine coveing national and international current affairs e.g, COMPETITION SUCCESS REFRESHER or Pratiyogta Darpan.
3. GENERAL STUDIES:
General Studies form a base of competitive exams. One should have thorough knowledge of History, Polity, Geography, Economics, Art and Culture.
My best bet is NCERT or JKBOSE BOOKS of class 9th , 10th , 11th and 12th standard especally that of economcs. If it is not possible for someone go through so many books due to lack of time, I recommend general knowledge 2021 by Manohar Pandey (Arihant), others include McGraw hill, Lucent for history, polity and Geography.
4. J&K GK:
For J&K related general knowledge, One should go for "khaleel publications" book authored by Mr. Zahoor Mir or Arihant publications authored by Mr. Abdul Rashid.
Besides that make sure to have adequate updates about recent events vis a vis Article 370, Reorganization of J&K, Panchayat Raj Acts, Forest Rights Acts etc
5. QUANTITATIVE APTITUDE AND REASONING:
This is a tricky part for especially Non Mathematical, Non Commerce candidates. They should start with basic books, e.g, Aptitude and Reasoning book by Arihant for Postal Assistants, sorting assistant, VLW, Lab assistant and other 10+2 level exams, or 8th standard Maths for understanding basic maths. They should focus on learning short formulas, tricks and solving problems on daily basis.
Once one gets grip on formulas and enhance problem solving, One should start solving R.S. Agarwals' Quantitative Aptitude published by S. Chand, Arihants book for J&K Bank "Banking Associates" which should suffice for JKSSB level Aptitude & Reasoning.
It is pertinant to mention here that one should learn key concepts like syllogism, Analytical reasoning, Coding decoding from youtube as well because there are proper rules to solve such problems which otherwise cant be understood from books.
6. COMPUTERS:
There was time when it was highly scoring but not anymore. I recall by 2011- 12, no one ought to study computer portion for Jkssb exams, What they asked for was about input and output devices, Full form of RAM and ROM etc. Now one need to seriously study this part if he/she has to Pass. I would suggest a book by Lucent publication or book by Neetu Gaikwad, Published by Arihant.
However seeing previous years jkssb exam questions and preparing them as well helps a lot.
7. ENGLISH:
English is highly scoring part of exam. If one has qualify, he is expected to score atleast 8 out of 10.
You need to focus on Comprehension, Articles, Prepositions, Antonyms, Synonyms, Voice (Active, Passive) and Narration (Direct, Indirect), and Modals.
I think any Grammer book will be sufficient for it, provided you are avid reader of news, articles etc.
Lastly, i would suggest to always use internet, youtube, telegram for supplementary knowledge so as to have edge over others.
I think few youtube channels like Beyond Classes, Wings Aik Udaan etc are doing a commendable job and must be given a shout out.
To conclude, i would say if a person reads a half dozen books/notes for his/her matric, 11th and 12th, Another dozen for Graduations and Post Graduations, why shouldn't he/she study another half dozen for such an exam which can change his/her future in true sense.
Thank You,
All the best for your future endeavours.
.............
