General Awareness
OSI Layer Mnemonic — "All People Seem To Need Data Processing": Application, Presentation, Session, Transport, Network, Data Link, Physical layers (top to bottom).
Internet Protocol Versions — Remember IPv4 uses 32 bits (4 octets × 8), IPv6 uses 128 bits; IPv4 exhaustion led to IPv6 adoption around 2012.
MS Office Shortcuts Cluster — Ctrl+Z (Undo), Ctrl+Y (Redo), Ctrl+C/V/X (Copy/Paste/Cut), Ctrl+S (Save), Ctrl+P (Print)—practice as muscle memory for speed.
Computer Generation Memory — "Very Large Integrated Circuits": 1st-Vacuum tubes, 2nd-Transistors, 3rd-ICs, 4th-Microprocessors, 5th-AI/ML (1940s-present).
Andaman Capital Triple-A — Port Blair is capital; remember "3 As": Andaman, Archipelago, Administrative hub—located on South Andaman Island.
Union Territories Count — Post-2019 reorganization: 8 UTs including J&K, Ladakh, Delhi, Puducherry, A&N, Chandigarh, D&NH, Lakshadweep—remember "JALDI PCL".
Economic Survey Release — Always presented one day before Union Budget (late January/early February); authored by Chief Economic Adviser, not Finance Minister.
Five-Year Plan Abolished — 12th Plan ended 2017; replaced by NITI Aayog's 3-year action agenda and 7/15-year strategy documents—no 13th Plan exists.
General Intelligence and Reasoning
Blood Relation Gender Traps — Assume gender-neutral unless specified: "Sibling/Parent/Child" can be male/female; don't assume doctor=male or nurse=female.
Clock Angle Formula — |11M - 60H|/2 degrees, where M=minutes, H=hours; quick check: at 3:15, angle = |165-180|/2 = 7.5°.
Odd-One-Out Classification — Check 5 properties in order: Type, Function, Size, Relation, Pattern—whichever differs first is the answer.
Coding Shift Pattern — If A→C (+2), check consistent shift; if mixed, look for reverse alphabet (A=Z, B=Y) or position-value swaps.
Direction Sense Square Rule — Visualize as clock: Right=+90°, Left=-90°, About-turn=180°; facing North+Right=East, track cumulative turns.
Mirror Image Symmetry — Vertical mirror flips left↔right only (b↔d); water image flips top↔bottom (p↔q); asymmetric letters change (R≠Я).
Dice Opposite Faces — Sum of opposite faces on standard die = 7 (1-6, 2-5, 3-4); if two views shown, track which numbers can't be adjacent.
Calendar Day Advancement — Odd days: 365 days=1 odd day, leap=2; century: 400-divisible=0 odd days, else=5; January 1, 2000 was Saturday (anchor date).
Series Missing Term — Check differences, ratios, squares, cubes, primes sequentially; for alphabet: check position values, skip patterns, or vowel/consonant grouping.
Numerical Aptitude
Divisibility by 11 — Alternating digit sum difference: (sum of odd-position digits) - (sum of even-position digits) must be 0 or multiple of 11.
LCM×HCF Product Rule — For two numbers A and B: LCM(A,B) × HCF(A,B) = A × B; use to find missing value quickly.
Percentage-Fraction Equivalents — Memorize: 12.5%=1/8, 16.67%=1/6, 20%=1/5, 33.33%=1/3, 37.5%=3/8, 62.5%=5/8, 66.67%=2/3—saves calculation time.
Average Addition Formula — When new number added: New Avg = Old Avg + (New number - Old Avg)/(New count); for removal, reverse the sign.
SI vs CI First-Year Trick — First year SI = CI always; difference emerges from 2nd year; 2-year CI-SI difference = P(R/100)² formula.
Time-Speed Proportionality — Distance constant: Time ∝ 1/Speed; Speed constant: Distance ∝ Time; if speed increases by 1/n, time reduces by n/(n+1).
Mensuration Quick Formulas — Diagonal of square = side√2; diagonal of cube = side√3; sphere volume = (4/3)πr³; remember "square 2, cube 3".
Ratio Unitary Method — Convert "A:B = 2:3" into A=2x, B=3x immediately; total parts = sum of ratio terms (here 5x).
Work Formula Shortcut — If A completes in 'a' days, B in 'b' days, together = ab/(a+b) days; for A+B then B alone, use (Total - A's share).
BODMAS Trap Awareness — Division/Multiplication are equal priority (left-to-right); same for Addition/Subtraction; brackets always first; 6÷2(1+2)=9 not 1.
English Language
Subject-Verb Agreement — Singular subjects take singular verbs even with intervening phrases: "The box of chocolates is here," not "are"—ignore middle words.
Commonly Confused Homophones — Affect(verb)/Effect(noun), Principal(main)/Principle(rule), Stationary(still)/Stationery(paper), Complement/Compliment—learn pairs with example sentences.
Idiom Pattern Recognition — Body parts (cold feet, eye to eye), Animals (cash cow, red herring), Colors (green light, red tape)—group by category for recall.
Error Spotting Priority — Check in order: Subject-verb agreement, Tense consistency, Preposition usage, Article errors, Pronoun reference—first error type found is usually the answer.
Hindi Language
संधि त्रिक स्मरण — स्वर+स्वर=स्वर संधि, व्यंजन+व्यंजन=व्यंजन संधि, स्वर+व्यंजन=विसर्ग संधि; पहचान के लिए पहला-दूसरा वर्ण देखें।
लिंग पहचान सूत्र — आ/ई/नी अंत=स्त्रीलिंग (लता, नदी, रानी); अ/आ अंत अक्सर पुल्लिंग (घर, कमरा); अपवाद याद रखें (राह-स्त्री, चाय-पुल्लिंग)।
समास त्वरित भेद — तत्पुरुष=परसर्ग लुप्त (राजपुत्र=राज का पुत्र), द्वंद्व=और जोड़ें (माता-पिता), बहुव्रीहि=तीसरा अर्थ (दशानन=रावण), कर्मधारय=विशेषण+संज्ञा।
उपसर्ग-प्रत्यय पहचान — उपसर्ग शब्द के आरंभ में (अ, सु, वि); प्रत्यय अंत में (आ